CNN's Big, High-Profile New Morning Show Premiered To Dreadful Ratings

Despite the hype surrounding its launch, CNN's new high-profile morning program, "New Day," delivered lackluster ratings during its first day on air Monday.

According to Nielsen Media Research, "New Day" drew only 247,000 total viewers in the 6-9 a.m. period, as well as 95,000 adults in the 25-54 age demographic.

Those numbers put the show — which is hosted by Chris Cuomo, Kate Bolduan and Michaela Pereira — well behind competitors "Fox & Friends," which garnered 1.06 million viewers and 256,000 in the 25-54 demo in Sarah Palin's return to Fox News. "Fox & Friends," incidentally, saw more viewers in the key age demographic than "New Day" did overall.

"New Day" also finished well behind MSNBC's "Morning Joe," which averaged 355,000 total viewers and 132,000 in the 25-54 demo. It also trailed sister network HLN in the key demo, but did beat it in total viewers.

Overall, CNN's ratings in the 6-9 a.m. timeslot were down 18 percent among the 25-54 demo from the same day last year.

"New Day" is perhaps new CNN President Jeff Zucker's most high-profile attempt at reshaping the network thus far. He replaced anchor Soledad O'Brien's morning program by hiring Cuomo, formerly of ABC, and moving Bolduan and Pereira to the morning show. Zucker said in May that his new morning show cast reminded him of his time producing "Today" in the 1990s.