CNN’s Disaster Coverage: Profits or General News?

Do media outlets such as CNN drive their disaster coverage with profits in mind or to alert the general public of the occurring situation

When you think of the word “disaster”, do you think natural? An epidemic? An aircraft falling out of the sky? I think of all of these things, but one major issue I have with the word “disaster” is when humans control the event and cause it. In turn, the recent shooting in Oregon where Chris Harper-Mercer took the lives of 9 students and faculty at Umpqua Community College, peaked my interest. I believe a change in gun laws is mandatory in today’s society. As a result, I wanted to follow this event to see where the injury and death count would increase to, in turn frustrating me with each new death listed.

As I followed CNN.com, who always has fantastic “disaster” coverage, I noticed something interesting. Why is it that when I clicked on the link titled “The shooter asked for the victims religion”, pop up ads featuring Mazda and big businesses such as Capital One and Amazon appeared on the side bars and were bright for everyone to see. Yet, when I clicked on the link “92 year old women runs a half marathon” no pop up ad appeared and small companies’ ads were less apparent and smaller in size. I wondered, does CNN make a huge profit off of disasters? Do they control their media scheme towards the viewer with the mindset of getting as many visitors as possible, and in turn place their highest paying ads on the page with the most views? If so, I would be appalled.

I dug deeper. And here is the evidence I came up with.

Their advertising scheme on ‘CNN: Advertise’ is pretty simple. They list it all and they brag with their highly successful statistics. The media outlet reaches an unbelievable amount of wealthy and influential individuals. This is evidenced by the simple fact that the median household income is nearly $78,000. The crowd CNN is able to reach is educated. They are successful. They are interested in the (most of the time) important information being expressed. CNN proudly explains how they are the #1 news site since 2007, especially via mobile users, their mobile app (#1 in downloads in the new category on the Apple store), and their mobile website. They also have loyal viewers such as myself who only stick to their website. 46% of CNN network viewers do not visit other major news competitors, I am one of these 46% for sure. So from a marketing standpoint, one can see how they get companies to be attracted to their brand.

Next, we need to focus on the advertising packages they offer.

 As we can see, there are many ad options. The actual ad depicted goes hand in hand with the user’s preference via a software on nearly all devices that many of us don’t even know about called “AdChoice.” This software controls the ads we as a viewer use through looking into our “cookies” which basically tracks history and past advertisements we clicked on, liked, or had interest in. A general “sponsor logo” ad through CNN runs for 3 months on their website will cost upwards of $20,000 and will only appear to users who have interest via the software AdChoice’s assistance. A 3 month “skyscraper” ad costs 2.5x a sponsor logo (roughly $75,000.) A Half page ad is about $200,000. These are the lowest, median, and highest costing general website ads, and all will run via AdChoice. With this said, my interest which was sparked via the concern that they choose their big company ads to be displayed when large consumer traffic numbers are pouring in over natural disasters doesn’t seem likely. But wait, recent reports can make you wonder.

According to multiple news outlets such as Fotune.com, CNN boosted their general ad cost for the most recent Republican debate held on September 18^th of this past year, by 40 times! According to Fortune,  “A 30-second ad spot on CNN would cost around $5,000 under normal circumstances. Citing ad buyers, Ad Age reports that CNN will be charging up to $200,000 for the same time slot during the debate, 40 times the original rate.” Of course this has much to do with the success Fox news had with the prior debate. “The Fox News debate held early last month (August 2015) brought in a record 24 million viewers, 7.9 million of which were between 25 and 54 years old, making this the most-watched GOP primary debate ever.”

My question to CNN is if they will upcharge based on viewership for commercials, how do we know whether or not they put their highest paying ads for all to see during these Breaking News Disasters that occur. All we can go off of is what WE SEE as the consumer. According to CNN, it has to do with AdChoice, all their slots on their website are the same pricing no matter the business, and each business gets equal exposure in the long run. The answer to whether or not CNN posts their highest paying ads to their highest traffic links will remain a mystery. I am positive they wouldn’t want it to be released if that were the case. We do know one thing though: “disasters” boost their overall ratings, and as a result, their pockets get a major boost as well.

                                                                        Works Cited

"Audience Profile." CNN. Cable News Network. Web. 13 Oct. 2015.

            http://www.cnn.com/services/advertise/audience_profile.html

Addady, Michal. "This Is How Much Money Donald Trumps Says He's Bringing in For CNN." Fortune CNN Boosts Ad Rates for Debate Trump Claims Credit Comments. Time Inc., 6 Sept. 2015. Web. 13 Oct. 2015.

            <http://fortune.com/2015/09/06/trump-cnn-ad/>.