Time Warner chief Jeff Bewkes (above) and Andersen Cooper can’t help fractured ratings. (Dimitrios Kambouris)
Time Warner brass is succession planning at CNN, but no one’s walking the plank just yet.
Senior management is putting together a short list of potential candidates to run CNN Worldwide to end the ratings death spiral at the flagship news channel, several sources confirm.
The once-mighty network, created in 1980 by Ted Turner, has been recording some of its lowest ratings in 20 years. Last month, CNN ranked 44th in prime time in the advertiser-coveted, 25-to-54-year-old demographic.
That lowly rank places CNN below even Oprah Winfrey’s OWN network and the Bio Channel — attracting just 114,000 viewers in the demographic. A lackluster primary season hasn’t helped the network rustle up its usual presidential election spike.
CNN has pulled in an average of just 633,000 primetime viewers in the year ending June 30 — about 20 percent fewer eyeballs than two presidential election cycles ago.
Such a rating meltdown demands action and TW higher- ups are brainstorming for ideas for new management candidates with an eye on potentially replacing Jim Walton, who runs CNN Worldwide, several sources said.
The 53-year old executive’s contract is said to end on Dec. 31. Nothing will happen before the Nov. 6 elections The Post has learned.
When asked if there’s a search on, one TW insider told The Post, “We’re always thinking about succession. Are there any changes right now? No.”
Officials declined comment.
The poor ratings come as Madison Avenue allocates its annual ad dollars.
CNN’s ad revenue growth over the last two years is roughly 12 percent — the smallest increase of any of its rivals, including younger sibling Headline News, which saw ad revenue grow 20 percent in the period.
“Its being looked at very hard by [Time Warner CEO] Jeff Bewkes,” said one source who is familiar with TW’s thinking, adding, [Turner’s] “Phil [Kent] has stuck by Walton through thick and thin. Until recently they had a good business story going for them, but they’re having to do a lot of make-goods.”
Other cable news outlets are doing make-goods, too.
At a recent media conference, Walton’s direct boss, Kent, chairman and CEO of Turner Broadcasting, said he was “very unhappy,” with the situation.
Kent backed the current primetime lineup, which only includes shows hosted by Anderson Cooper at 8 p.m. and Piers Morgan at 9 p.m. A Cooper re-run airs at 10 p.m.
“We haven’t put the best shows on the air,” said Kent, speaking of the line-up outside of prime time.
Several news business high-ups say one name being floated internally to come in and revive CNN ratings is Jeff Zucker, the former NBCUniversal boss. Zucker is friendly with both Bewkes and corporate adviser, Gary Ginsberg. The Zucker prospect has rattled some in the executive ranks. No outreach has occurred around that idea.
In any case, Zucker is tied to Walt Disney Co. until at least early next year, as exec producer of “Katie.” Zucker did not return a call for comment.
Meanwhile, CNN insiders are also carping about the hiring of chef Anthony Bourdain to record a weekend show as editorial staff are being downsized. “People were like, ‘whaaaat?’ They’re eliminating reporters and replacing them with a food guy?”