CNN announces new layoffs and bets on digital TV and artificial intelligence

Chain CNNa world pioneer in continuous news and which has been experiencing a crisis for years among traditional television channels due to the emergence of streaming, announced new layoffs on Wednesday and a decisive commitment to digital television and artificial intelligence.

Mark Thompsonthe CEO appointed last year to relaunch and modernize this chain founded 44 years ago, said in an internal note, later transmitted on the chain’s own website, that the layoffs will affect 100 employees, 3% of the chain’s workforce.

Thompson has already referred on several occasions to the fact that they were necessary “dramatic measures“to reorient the network towards the digital world, in the face of the unstoppable loss of audiences from traditional television channels in favour of streaming platforms and digital content.

To respond to this challenge, Thompson announced a new digital-only subscription model (outside the cable business) that it hopes will generate $1 billion in revenue, starting later this year. It didn’t give many details but said it will include “products that will provide essential news, analysis and context, in new formats and engaging experiences.”

Nor was he much more precise about the commitment to artificial intelligence, and limited himself to defining it as “a strategic push (to) determine the best way to leverage this new technology to make it useful to our audience”, and that helps produce content “responsibly”.

The latest ‘success’ that was scored CNN That was when Donald Trump and Joe Biden, the two main contenders for the presidency of the country, agreed to hold a debate inside their studios. That debate – which was broadcast by all the mainstream networks – had an audience of 50 million viewers, but only 9.5 million watched it on CNN.

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