CNN’s renamed CNN News Briefing – which it rebranded to the CNN 5 Things podcast in February – now accounts for 43% of the network’s total podcast downloads. Based on that success, Senior VP of Digital Productions Courtney Coupe tells Digiday that CNN is looking to expand the show beyond its current morning and evening editions.
Coupe said CNN is looking at launching weekend editions as well as to begin publishing updated 5 Things podcasts throughout the day. To produce the content, Coupe said CNN is hiring a dedicated team of ten people to work on the 5 Things podcast. Digiday says CNN is also looking at creating an early-morning edition of the podcast to target the European market which is several time zones ahead of the U.S.
The podcast is an outgrowth of the 5 Things email newsletter, which launched in 2015 and has also become a segment on television. The newsletter is also a big deal for the network as it reportedly contributes more than a third of CNN’s total newsletter subscriptions. Digiday says based on the gains made by the email, CNN began publishing a 5 Things newsletter on Sundays.