The encyclopedia · Strategy & Leadership · Strategic decision · Mar–Apr 2022
CNN+ cost $300M and lasted 32 days — fewer than 10,000 people were using it daily
CNN spent $300M building CNN+, a $5.99/month streaming service that drew under 10,000 daily users. Warner Bros. Discovery shut it down 32 days after launch.
CNN · Warner Bros. Discovery · 2022-03-29
What happened
CNN+ launched on 29 March 2022 as CNN's standalone streaming service — $5.99/month for original shows and live programming, staffed by a team that grew past 600 people, with an estimated $300 million invested in the project.
Three weeks later, on 21 April, new parent Warner Bros. Discovery announced the service would shut down on 30 April. New CNN chairman Chris Licht recommended the closure; CEO David Zaslav approved it after deciding the service was incompatible with his strategy for CNN's streaming future.
At the time of the shutdown CNN+ reportedly had fewer than 10,000 daily active users — almost nobody was watching every day. The app was pulled on 30 April 2022, 32 days after launch, and the staff was dissolved into the broader CNN organisation.
Why it happened
- WarnerMedia spent $300M building CNN+, then Discovery's new leadership killed it weeks after launch — the strategy that approved the spend and the strategy that inherited it disagreed completely.
- The product launched with almost no audience: fewer than 10,000 daily active users meant the service was burning money for an audience that barely existed.
- CNN+ was a subscription news product in a market where CNN's own linear channel was already free with most pay-TV bundles — it asked viewers to pay for content they already got.
The lesson
A product approved under one owner can be dead on arrival under the next. $300M, 600 staff and 32 days — when the strategy that built a service is replaced, the service rarely survives the transition.
Aftermath
CNN+ shut down on 30 April 2022. The closure became a case study in streaming overbuild and merger-era cost-cutting: Warner Bros. Discovery, burdened by ~$55B in debt, pruned streaming bets across the company. CNN later folded its streaming ambitions into the Max platform. Chris Licht left CNN in June 2023.
Sources
- WWD, 2022 — After One Month and $300 Million, CNN+ Shutters (~$300M invested; shutdown effective 30 April; announced 21 April; 500-employee target)
- Hollywood Reporter, 2022 — CNN+ Shutting Down (some $300 million invested; announced 21 April; effective 30 April; launched 29 March)
- CNBC, 21 April 2022 — CNN is shutting down effective April 30 (600+ employees; fewer than 10,000 daily active users; Chris Licht recommended closure; David Zaslav approved)
- CNBC, 12 April 2022 — CNN+ low viewership numbers (fewer than 10,000 daily active users; $5.99/month or $59.99/year)
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