How Lisa Ling Has Attracted Younger Demographics To CNN By Exploring The Taboo On 'This Is Life'

(Credit: Lisa Ling)

In terms of etiquette in America, certain subjects are considered improper to raise.

Remember all those topics we were told not to discuss in job interviews or on first dates?

From religion to drug use, from money to sex, it was always made abundantly clear that there were certain controversial conversations one should avoid when initially meeting new people, if not forever.

On the first two seasons of her CNN show, This is Life with Lisa Ling, Ling has done the exact opposite. Whether she’s exploring Satanism,  putting a face to the surge of opiate addictions in the Mormon Church, profiling strippers who travel great distances to follow the cash flow, or actually finding out why men and women become Sugar Daddies and Sugar Babies, Ling has made the taboo terrain that so many Americans actively avoid, her comfort zone. 

Humanizing the edgier aspects of American society has paid off, ratings wise, for both Ling and CNN.

Mediaite reported that the second episode of the second season of This is Life - in which Ling rides with the Mongols biker nation – drew 705,000 viewers during its 9 pm slot on Wednesday, October 7th.

In early November, TVNewser reported that the second season of This is Life averaged 226,000 viewers among the coveted 25-54 age range, 58,000 viewers among the 18 the 34 demographic, and 642,000 viewers in total during its initial six 9 pm Wednesday night premieres.

With a median audience age of 57 years, This is Life attracted the youngest audience across cable newsduring that block of time. The show ranked second for cable news ratings during that time frame for both the 25-54 and 18-34 age demographics – Fox News’ The Kelly File ranked first for both categories, while MSNBC’s TheRachel Maddow Show came in third.

According to TVNewser, when combined with CNN’s hosting the December GOP debate and having highly rated New Year’s programming, the number of young people watching This is Life helped the networksecure its second 25-54 demographic win of 2015, with it’s first victory having occurred in September. Furthermore, CNN’s rating in the 25-54 demographic was 128% higher in December of 2015 than it had been one year earlier in December of 2014. Before the September and December 2015 wins, TVNewser stated that CNN hadn’t come in first for the demographic since February of 2008, and before that it hadn’t since November of 2001.

I spoke to Ling about what sets her show apart from other cable news programming. I was especially interested in how her treatment of traditionally taboo subjects managed to both attract young viewer demographics and maintain such high ratings.

(Credit: Lisa Ling)

Why do you think viewers love learning about these taboo topics? 

LL: I think because we as a culture are so prone to being judgmental. We have opinions about people that we don’t even know. When we get a chance to observe their reality, and learn what peoples’ lives are actually like,  I think at the end of the day, we all have the desire to learn more about each other. I think that’s something innate within all of us.

Why do you think the 25-54 demo in particular is drawn to ’This is Life?’

LL: I, frankly, think that the 25-54 demo is sick of crappy television that insults our intelligence. I truly believe that there is a desire amongst this demo to know more about how other people live in a nonjudgmental, sincere way.

Where did you get the idea for ‘This is Life?’

LL: So, I have spent much of my journalism career overseas. Before I was on The View, I did a show calledChannel One News, which sent me all over the world, many times over. Years later, when I started contributing for The Oprah Winfrey Show, that show was continuing to send me overseas. Then, when Oprah decided to have her own network, they asked me to kind of do long-form versions of what I’d done in the field overseas, but domestically. That resulted in a show called Our America, which we produced for five seasons.

After doing that for awhile, we thought that a better place for what we really do is the premier journalism outlet in the world, which is CNN. We brought the show to CNN, and they jumped, and so the show has evolved into This Is Life. And so while there is a lot that is similar between the shows, when you actually watch them I think they feel pretty different. This Is Life is a bit edgier, it’s a little more in your face. We cover more testosterone fueled topics, where with OWN, more of our topics catered to a more female specific demographic.