The Rise and Fall of Chris Licht at CNN

CNN experienced a nearly 40% drop in digital and on-air advertising revenue through the first four months of 2023 compared to the same period last year, which was before Chris Licht took over as network chief. Licht was brought on by Warner Bros’ Discovery chief David Zaslav last year to replace longtime CNN president Jeff Zucker. During Licht's tenure, CNN's ad revenue and number of advertisers have significantly declined, with major corporations such as Thumbtack, The Walt Disney Company, Apple, and Cisco Systems all dropping their ad expenditures with CNN by 90% year-over-year, according to MediaRadar.