Despite CNN claiming that it "[continues] to be happy with the launch and its progress" just the other week, CNN+ is already being put to pasture by the media company's parent, Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ: WBD). The service is slated to be terminated at the end of April.
Folding within a single month hands CNN+ the dubious honor of being the shortest-lived streaming service as it lingers on its premature deathbed. The title was previously held by Quibi, the short-form streaming service that infamously folded within half a year.
Quibi was the victim of a saturated streaming market and stiff competition from YouTube, which hosts a vast free library of short-form content thanks to its extensive content creator community. The app's viewership was decimated after the expiration of its free trial, with barely any free users converted to paid. The company was later acquired by Roku (NASDAQ: ROKU) after financial difficulties.
CNN+, however, entered an even more saturated streaming market at a time when even titans like Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) are losing users.
To make matters worse, Warner Bros. Discovery was none too enthused about the project to begin with. Before its merger, Discovery had attempted to launch niche streaming services, each with respective steep costs related to their later failures. After merging with Warner Bros., executives from Discovery quickly voiced their reservations about the success of a niche news streaming service.
Like Quibi, CNN+ featured big names and original properties, with hosts from CNN network shows and from outside the network. However, despite securing over 100,000 subscribers, daily user numbers were rarely over 10,000. Already inheriting considerable debt from the merger, Warner Bros. Discovery opted to terminate the project entirely.
It's worth noting how much was invested in CNN+, however, given that the network's previous leadership had quite a bit of faith in the project. $1 billion was slated to be invested in the project over the long term, with the network reportedly even investing in an additional floor of its New York skyscraper to accommodate new staff. However, with the service due to end after April, the fate of much of CNN+'s programming remains unclear.