This is almost the perfect poster child for big upfront launch mandated by egotistical senior product people.<p>CNN+ could have been launched like a startup using Lean Startup/agility:<p>1. Take a third party streaming technology and create a simple solution and launch for free and see how many people start using it from friends and family. If lots then improve, if not then cancel and save a fortune.<p>2. If growth continues then launch to existing subscribers for free for 12 months, if not then cancel the project and save a fortune. Review how many people start using it over a longer time frame.<p>3. If growth continues launch as-is to everyone for free for 12 months and if not, cancel and save a fortune.<p>4. If growth continues introduce a cheap model after 12 months to entrap people and build out a better solution. If not cancel and save a fortune.<p>Cancelling and saving a fortune should be celebrated like success.<p>Instead a Senior Product person at CNN will have either jumped ship already or will jump ship soon to another senior role somewhere else with "launching a flagship online streaming platform" on their CV.<p>A lot of product people think they are Steve Jobs and shouldn't be questioned about their vision by the tech people. Only one was but a lot of companies still get hoodwinked by a charming Product person who paints a blue sky picture of possibility and the large scary threat of competitors.
> By the time the service was shut down, CNN+ had garnered around 150,000 subscriptions in a little over two weeks from launch.<p>This is baffling. Regular CNN has ~540,000 daily viewers, with less than 130,000 of those being younger than 54 years old [1]. It is just inconceivable in my mind that about a third of this largely geriatric audience would sign up for CNN+ in two weeks, AND that somehow they thought this was too few people.<p>[1] <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/markjoyella/2022/02/21/cnns-ratings-collapse-prime-time-down-nearly-70-in-key-demo/?sh=6ec84c26dda0" rel="nofollow">https://www.forbes.com/sites/markjoyella/2022/02/21/cnns-rat...</a>