‘CNN Heroes’ Performs Admirably For CNN Sunday Night

CNN’s annual live awards show, “CNN Heroes,” placed first in the demo in its timeslot Sunday night.

From 8-10 PM ET, “Heroes” drew 540,000 total viewers, including 188,000 adults 25-54. Fox News placed first in total viewers, drawing 745,000, but placed third in the demo, drawing 119,000 A25-54. MSNBC drew 331,000 total viewers, including 170,000 A25-54.

Because it was live, the program actually went a few minutes past 10 PM, we will update our numbers to reflect those extra few minutes if and when we see them.

The program was down slightly in total viewers but up in the demo compared to last year’s “Heroes,” but that is not a perfect comparison, as last year’s edition of the program was pre-taped, and aired on Thanksgiving night, a much smaller night for TV viewing.

All told, CNN almost certainly wanted higher ratings for the special. A highly-promoted red carpet gala that draws “only” 500,000 viewers would almost certainly be canceled on just about any other channel. That said, given CNN’s often precarious position in the cable news ratings means that it is hard to view the “Heroes” ratings as a flop either–even if they were just about on par from last week’s (much cheaper to produce) “Larry King” special.

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