News Nation, One Year After Launch

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It’s been a year since Nexstar launched its cable news channel News Nation.

To say that the channel stumbled out of the blocks might be a major understatement. They have lost most of their top management in the first year, have made questionable hires, and seemed to make the wrong moves at the wrong times.

But, let’s forget about all that and just look at the ratings. Because let’s be honest, it’s the numbers that matter, and everything else is really just noise.

Looking at the same time last year, News Nation is down double-digits in total day - down 40 percent in overall viewers and down 60 percent in total day demo versus the same time last year, according to Nielsen.

In terms of primetime, the network is down a staggering 88 percent in total viewers and down 92 percent in the primetime demo.

It hasn’t gotten any better in the past month.

Looking at those numbers, News Nation is averaging 29,000 viewers in primetime total viewers and 5,000 in the key 25-54 primetime demo.

Nexstar CEO Perry Sook sent out a congratulatory note to the staff claiming that News Nation might be the most successful of a new national cable news network of all time.

Has some been messing with the watercooler outside Uncle Perry’s office?

I had high hopes for News Nation when they claimed that they would be launching an unbiased cable news channel that would do just straight news.

But, this has been a car wreck since the day they launched and if Nexstar was smart, they would blow it all up and start over.

This cable news channel dies at the scene.