CANNES – Original CNN programs like “Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown” and “The Hunt with John Walsh” has given the network “an entirely new dimension”—along with a whole new audience and advertiser slate, says CNN Worldwide President Jeff Zucker. In an interview with Beet.TV, Zucker says that CNN “is a very different network than it was four years ago.”
Zucker boasts that CNN brings more resources to bear on the presidential election than its competitors. “CNN has shown the most growth of any television network in America because of its coverage of the presidential election this year and we’re only half way through the year,” says Zucker. “It’s been an incredible year for us.”
According to Zucker, CNN’s original programming—12 series this year and 12 planned for 2017—has brought “a whole new audience to CNN. It’s brought a whole new slate of advertisers to CNN. It has given us an entirely new dimension that we’re not just a news network.”
Likewise, Zucker feels that CNN anchor Anderson Cooper also is flying high, between interviewing presidential candidates, moderating debates and writing a best-selling book with his mother, Gloria Vanderbilt.
“His coverage of what happened in Orlando at the Pulse nightclub was some of the most heart warming, gripping and sensitive coverage of that story anywhere and I think really was another defining moment for his career,” Zucker says.
This video was produced at the OMD Oasis at Cannes Lions 2016 as part of the Future of TV Advertising Leadership Forum, a series presented by true[X] and hosted by OMD Worldwide. Please visit this page for additional segments.
