After he was tapped to anchor CNN’s new foray into late-night live news programming, Los Angeles-based anchor Elex Michaelson suggested that cable news habit of airing reruns in the post-midnight time slots that’s left much of its potential audience in the dark.
“I don’t think that works anymore,” Michaelson told Deadline last month, adding that many viewers are “watching dated news in a media environment that is faster and faster.”
A month after the premiere of The Story Is with Elex Michaelson, however, the network is still waiting to see if the West Coast will tune in during their primetime to watch live cable news. Besides coming in a distant third to the repeats airing on Fox News and MS NOW (previously MSNBC), Michaelson’s two-hour show isn’t yet drawing the ratings that CNN’s encore presentations were.
According to Nielsen, The Story Is – which airs at midnight ET/ 9 pm PT – is averaging 213,000 total viewers a night and 35,000 in the key advertising demographic of adults aged 25-54 since debuting on October 27 and through November 21.
The program, which also airs on CNN International and broadcasts in the morning hours in several overseas time zones and boasts a large global footprint of more than 300 million households and hotel rooms, is currently trailing the US viewership numbers that repeats of Erin Burnett Outfront and Anderson Cooper 360 had scored in the same time slot last quarter and in September.
During the third quarter of this year, CNN’s late-night reruns averaged 242,000 viewers overall and 41,000 in the key demo. In the month of September, the encore broadcasts of Burnett and Cooper attracted a nightly total audience of 225,000 and 37,000 in the 25-54 demographic.
As for its current head-to-head competition, Michaelson’s show is attracting less than one-third of Fox News’ total viewership and barely half of MS NOW’s.
Since The Story Is debuted, Fox News’ post-midnight programming – which generally consists of repeats of Jesse Watters Primetime and The Five – has averaged 676,000 total viewers and 80,000 in the 25-54 demo.
Over on MS NOW, the encore telecasts of The Rachel Maddow Show, The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell and The Briefing with Jen Psaki have nabbed a nightly total viewership of 411,000 and 50,000 in the key demographic.
Perhaps even more startling for Michaelson’s show, though, is how it compares to CNN’s late-night reruns from a year ago. At this same time in 2024, the network’s midnight to 2 a.m. ET repeats averaged 387,000 total viewers and 124,000 in the advertising demo – representing a 72 percent drop for The Story Is among younger viewers.
Of course, much of the year-over-year comparison includes the stretch run of the 2024 presidential race and the election of Donald Trump, which saw inflated ratings across the cable and broadcast news landscape. At the same time, though, both CNN and MSNBC saw immediate drop-offs in their viewership following Trump’s second electoral victory on November 5.
Still, it seems that Michaelson’s two-hour broadcast could be on the cusp of building an audience. After averaging just 197,000 total viewers in its first two weeks on the air, The Story Is pulled in a nightly viewership of 242,000 and 41,000 in the key demo last week. Both of those numbers are on par with CNN’s late-night programming last quarter.
On top of that, Michaelson broadcasting live while the other cable news networks were airing dated reruns allowed for his show to be ahead of the competition in terms of breaking news, such as Marjorie Taylor Greene quitting Congress or Trump’s high-stakes meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea. Furthermore, other networks — including Fox News — have picked up several clips and quotes from Michaelson’s interviews with California Gov. Gavin Newsom and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, among others.
Michaelson is also dealing with the headwinds affecting all of cable and broadcast television, particularly news broadcasting. The combination of continued cord-cutting, the glut of streaming services, and younger demographics increasingly turning to online sources for news has been a drain on the cable news industry – not to mention Trump’s return to the White House, which has prompted a wide swath of disillusioned viewers to turn the dial.
During the third quarter of 2025, CNN experienced a 42 percent drop in total primetime viewers and a 58 percent decline in the 25-54 demo compared to the same quarter last year. MSNBC was also down 46 percent in total primetime audience and 64 percent in the key demographic year-over-year.
Even Fox News, which saw a post-MAGA ratings boost following Trump’s win, has begun to see a bit of erosion in recent months. Compared to last year, Fox News dipped nine percent in total viewers and 34 percent in the advertising demographic this past quarter. The network was also down six percent in total viewers and 20 percent in the demo during primetime compared to the second quarter.
Prior to joining CNN, Michaelson had made a name for himself as a highly respected local anchor in Los Angeles, winning eight Emmys and being named TV Journalist of the Year in 2023 by the Los Angeles Press Club. At KTTV-Fox 11, where he created and hosted The Issue Is with Elex Michaelson, he scored interviews with Trump, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, among others.
“I am so excited to join CNN and learn firsthand from some of the most talented journalists on the planet,” Michaelson said when CNN announced his hiring in September. “I’m especially grateful that CNN is expanding its investment in my hometown as the West Coast houses so many global leaders in politics, entertainment, technology, sports and more. This is truly a dream job.”
While Michaelson told Deadline that he had long pitched the network on the idea of a live show for the late-night time slot, the California journalist wasn’t CNN’s first choice for the midnight spot.
Earlier this year, Jim Acosta decided to leave the network after it pulled his morning time slot and offered him the “graveyard” shift that Michaelson currently occupies. The move would have also entailed Acosta relocating to Los Angeles, and his show would have been simulcast on CNN International.
