President Donald Trump's attempt to replace mainstream television coverage with his own 24-hour livestream has drawn a fraction of the audience he predicted, in another humiliating flop for the former reality TV star.
The audience never materialized for his alternative programming after NBC, ABC, CBS and Fox News suspended their pooled coverage of the president in solidarity with CNN, MS NOW and Politico, whose reporters had their White House credentials revoked days earlier, reported The Daily Beast.
The YouTube stream opened Monday evening with about 8,000 viewers, but that number fell below 4,000 within 90 minutes and to roughly 3,000 by 9 p.m. Eastern. By 10:40 p.m., only 2,425 people were watching — a sliver of the channel's 3.18 million subscribers.
Viewership bottomed out around 3:30 a.m. Tuesday at 1,123 people watching a year-old rerun of Trump's remarks alongside Britain's King Charles, and dipped below 1,000 again as the channel cycled through old speeches during the morning news hours.
Deputy White House assistant Kaelan Dorr had hyped the channel as a corrective to outlets he said had "reported inaccurately or not at all on the Administration's many record-breaking accomplishments."
Trump announced the press ban on Sept. 18, accusing the three outlets of "FAKE NEWS" coverage and telling reporters in the Oval Office the decision reflected "cumulative stories over the last two years" he considered "purposely negative."
The White House pulled the outlets' hard passes on Saturday and removed CNN from the shared pool rotation Monday.
CNN, MS NOW and Politico responded with a federal lawsuit alleging First and Fifth Amendment violations, stating jointly: "Without notice or process, the White House revoked our journalists' credentials because it objected to our reporting."
The Wall Street Journal has reported that the ban followed an episode in which Trump aide Natalie Harp, who screens news coverage for the president and earns $150,000 annually, showed Trump clips of MS NOW anchors criticizing his administration.
With no network pool present, a ribbon-cutting for Trump's $13 million helipad reportedly became disorganized, with his remarks largely inaudible. The dustup comes as Trump's approval rating has fallen to 32 percent, which Reuters polling cited by The Hill describes as the lowest point of his political career.