CNN host Chris Wallace new Sunday show, "Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace," barely reached 400,000 total viewers for its premiere this past weekend.
The New York Post reports Wallace's show had just 401,000 viewers, which is down 29 percent from the 2022 average for the 7 p.m. Eastern time hour. Worst of all, the show only had 44,000 viewers in the crucial age range of 25 and 54, meaning the hour was 64 percent down of its normal average.
A CNN source defended the abysmal numbers for a longtime T.V. host to the Post because the show is available to viewers on the streaming platform HBO Max three days before it airs on CNN and thus "doesn’t follow a typical linear distribution model so its success won’t be determined like one."
"Live domestic TV viewers represent only a fraction of its intended audience," the source said.
In contrast, Trey Gowdy, who hosts "Sunday Night in America with Trey Gowdy," had over 1.3 million total viewers during the same hour.
Wallace's show was originally placed on CNN+, the network's exclusive streaming service, but the show was moved to cable after CNN+ was shuttered a month after launch due to the poor number of subscriptions.
#WhosTalkingToChrisWallace tonight: White House @PressSec Jen Psaki on her time behind the briefing room podium and the current state of politics. pic.twitter.com/mXchOVaVkP
— CNN+ (@CNNplus) April 20, 2022
Wallace left Fox News to go to CNN after hosting its flagship Sunday show for almost 20 years. Wallace went to CNN for a reported annual salary that ranges between $8 million and $10 million, according to the Post.