‘The Lead' Makes Soft Debut on CNN

Jake Tapper's new 4 p.m. show trails cable news competition in premiere

By Andrea Morabito -- Broadcasting & Cable, 3/19/2013 10:22:58 PM

CNN's new 4 p.m. show The Lead with Jake Tapper got off to a slow start on Monday, ranking fourth in the hour among its cable news competition according to Nielsen data.

The Lead drew 400,000 total viewers behind first-place Fox News (1.1 million), sister network HLN (779,000) and MSNBC (479,000).

In the key news demographic of adults 25-54, CNN placed fourth with 87,000 viewers behind HLN's 211,000 viewers, FNC's 172,000 viewers and MSNBC's 100,000 viewers.

Compared to last Monday's 4 p.m. hour, The Lead declined 6% in total viewers but improved 61% in adults 25-54, according to TV Newser.

The Lead is the first show to be launched under the regime of new CNN Worldwide president Jeff Zucker, who helped recruit Tapper to join CNN from ABC News last December.