CNN’s Desperate Dance with Pod Save America and MeidasTouch: A Risk of Ratings Redemption

Bias: Smidge-Right

Quick Take

• CNN’s Desperate Move: In a bid to stay relevant, CNN partnered with progressive powerhouses Pod Save America and MeidasTouch to counter Fox News’ deals with Barstool Sports and the conservative podcast Ruthless.

• CNN Plus Revival Hopes: CNN is banking on Pod Save America’s earnest policy rants and MeidasTouch’s viral anti-Trump videos to revive CNN Plus, a platform so obscure likened to a 2025 MySpace fan club, despite MeidasTouch’s occasional YouTube wins over Fox.

• A Flailing Facelift: The partnership is less a strategic win and more a frantic attempt to polish CNN’s battered reputation, with experts calling it a feeble move that won’t stop Fox from dominating, leaving CNN Plus 2.0 as a hopeful but likely doomed venture.

Pod Play

In a desperate bid to seem relevant, CNN is set to unveil a partnership with progressive podcast giants Pod Save America and MeidasTouch, aiming to counter Fox News’ recent deals with Barstool Sports and the conservative podcast Ruthless.

he aim? To revive the lifeless CNN Plus, a streaming service so ignored it makes an abandoned Blockbuster Video seem like a thriving Times Square hotspot.

Fox News, the cable news titan, is bulking up its digital game, snapping up Ruthless, billed as the conservative counter to Pod Save America, and teaming with Barstool Sports for a daily FS1 show mixing frat-house banter with college football takes.

Unwilling to be overshadowed, CNN, in a frenzy of self-preservation, teamed up with the MeidasTouch brothers, fervent Trump critics with a YouTube juggernaut, and Pod Save America’s Obama alumni, whose self-righteous zingers are catnip for coastal progressives.

The strategy? Channel their impassioned, pro-democracy tirades into CNN Plus, a platform so overlooked it’s said to have fewer subscribers than a 2025 MySpace fan club.

“This is a daring, forward-thinking move to reach viewers where they are. lounging on their couches, swiping past our app with a grimace,” said an unnamed CNN executive. “Teaming up with Pod Save America and MeidasTouch lets us harness the unbridled passion of folks dead-set on saving democracy without a hint of irony.”

It’s a total game-changer for the three loyal souls still tuned into CNN Plus.” While Fox News reigns supreme across cable and digital, racking up 368.4 million YouTube views in February alone, CNN’s online presence is a veritable ghost town.

MeidasTouch, with its 4.5 million YouTube subscribers and viral hits like “Trump TANKS ECONOMY,” has occasionally eclipsed Fox on platforms like Playboard, but their blazing outrage can’t hide CNN’s glaring issue, nobody’s watching.

Pod Save America, essentially a support group for ex-Obama staffers, offers its signature blend of sincere policy nerdery. “We’re pumped to team up with CNN to bring incisive analysis, like why tariffs stink and everything Trump does is awful,” said a spokesperson in the know.

Meanwhile, MeidasTouch’s Ben Meiselas, former attorney to Colin Kaepernick, pledged to “outshine Fox” with a deluge of videos like “TRUMP’S NEWEST SCANDAL WILL FLOOR YOU (No, Really, This One’s the Worst).” But let’s be real: this is less a strategic masterstroke and more a flailing attempt to look like CNN is doing something.

The network’s reputation, battered by years of being called out for selective storytelling, is in dire need of a facelift. By aligning with Pod Save America’s polished progressivism and MeidasTouch’s unhinged anti-Trump zeal, CNN hopes to convince viewers it’s still relevant.

The relaunch of CNN Plus, which flopped during its first go-round, is the centerpiece of this Hail Mary.

In the end, CNN’s partnership with Pod Save America and MeidasTouch is less about winning the ratings war and more about signaling to shareholders that they’re not just sitting around basking in the aroma of their own flatulence.

Experts say it’s a feeble attempt to polish a tarnished brand and Fox is still going to mop the floor with them.

So, here’s to CNN Plus 2.0, where the viewership is hypothetical, and the dream of relevance lives on, just not on anyone’s TV screen.