CNN had a rough Wednesday night. Despite ongoing coverage of the health care hearings, the cable news network pulled in its lowest primetime ratings in over year -- approaching the record lows from summer 2012 and falling below both HLN and CNBC in primetime.
The big three (Fox News Channel, MSNBC and CNN) all saw lifts earlier in the day during the hearing's live coverage of Secretary of Health Kathleen Sebelius, and CNN even posted second place status to FNC during the key 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. hours, but it faltered in the evening.
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The network averaged just 67,000 viewers in the targeted adults 25-54 demographic between 8 and 11 p.m. That put CNN behind H LN (93,000) and CNBC (79,000) and, more distantly runner-up MSNBC (127,000) and first-place FNC (396,000).
CNN's ratings haven't been as low since Aug. 10 of last year (62,000), when it was contending with the 2012 London Olympics.
Among total viewers, CNN fared slightly better. The network was in third place with an average 285,000 viewers, behind runner-up MSNBC (683,000 viewers) and leader FNC (2.312 million viewers).
