CNN launched its website, CNN.com (initially known as CNN Interactive), on August 30, 1995. The site attracted growing interest over its first decade and is now one of the most popular news websites in the world. The widespread growth of blogs, social media and user-generated content have influenced the site, and blogs, in particular, have focused CNN's previously scattershot online offerings, most noticeably in the development and launch of CNN Pipeline in late 2005.
In April 2009, CNN.com ranked third place among online global news sites in unique users in the US, according to Nielsen/NetRatings; this is an increase of 11% over the previous year.
CNN Pipeline was the name of a paid subscription service, its corresponding website, and a content delivery client that provided streams of live video from up to four sources (or "pipes"), on-demand access to CNN stories and reports, and optional pop-up "news alerts" to computer users. The installable client was available to users of PCs running Microsoft Windows. There was also a browser-based "web client" that did not require installation. The service was discontinued in July 2007, and was replaced with a free streaming service.
On April 18, 2008, CNN.com was targeted by Chinese hackers in retaliation for the channel's coverage on the 2008 Tibetan unrest. CNN reported that they took preventive measures after news broke of the impending attack.
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The company was honored at the 2008 Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards for development and implementation of an integrated and portable IP-based live, edit and store-and-forward digital news gathering (DNG) system. The first use of what would later win CNN this award was in April 2001 when CNN correspondent Lisa Rose Weaver covered, and was detained, for the release of the US Navy crew of a damaged electronic surveillance plane after the Hainan Island incident. The technology consisted of a videophone produced by 7E Communications Ltd of London, UK.
On October 24, 2009, CNN launched a new version of the CNN.com website; the revamped site included the addition of a new "sign up" option, in which users can create their own username and profile, and a new "CNN Pulse" (beta) feature, along with a new red color theme. However, most of the news stories archived on the website were deleted.
Blogs
The topical news program Judy Woodruff's Inside Politics was the first CNN program to feature a round-up of blogs in 2005. In 2006, CNN launched CNN Exchange and CNN iReport, initiatives designed to further introduce and centralize the impact of everything from blogging to citizen journalism within the CNN brand. CNN iReport which features user-submitted photos and video, has achieved considerable traction, with increasingly professional-looking reports filed by amateur journalists, many still in high school or college. The iReport gained more prominence when observers of the Virginia Tech shootings sent in first-hand photos of what was going on during the shootings.
In April 2010, CNN announced via Twitter that it would launch a food blog called "Eatocracy", which will "cover all news related to food—from recalls to health issues to culture". CNN had an internet relay chat (IRC) network at chat.cnn.com. CNN placed a live chat with Benjamin Netanyahu on the network in 1998.
CNNHealth consists of expert doctors answering viewers' questions online at CNN's "The Chart" blog website. Contributors include Sanjay Gupta (Chief Medical Correspondent), Charles Raison (Mental Health Expert), Otis Brawley (Conditions Expert), Melina Jampolis (Diet and Fitness Expert), Jennifer Shu (Living Well Expert), and Elizabeth Cohen (Senior Medical Correspondent).
Other digital offerings
In early 2008, CNN began maintaining a live streaming broadcast available to cable and satellite subscribers who receive CNN at home (a precursor to the TV Everywhere services that would become popularized by cable and satellite providers beginning with Time Warner's incorporation of the medium). CNN International is broadcast live, as part of the RealNetworks SuperPass subscription service outside the US. CNN also offers several RSS feeds and podcasts.
CNN manages the YouTube channels "CNN" and "CNN-News18", which ranked among the 20 most subscribed news publishers in January 2025, with 17.4 million and 8.8 million subscribers respectively. In 2014, CNN launched a radio version of their television programming on TuneIn Radio.
On March 7, 2017, CNN announced the official launch of its virtual reality unit named CNNVR. It will produce 360 videos to its Android and iOS apps within CNN Digital. It is planning to cover major news events with the online, and digital news team in New York City, Atlanta, London, Hong Kong, San Francisco, Dubai, Johannesburg, Tokyo, and Beijing.
CNN Newsource is a subscription-based affiliation video service that provides CNN content to television station affiliates with CNN, including terrestrial stations and international stations. Newsource allows affiliates to download videos from CNN, as well as from other affiliates who upload their video to Newsource.
CNN also maintains a wire service known as CNN Wire.
In addition to news articles, CNN produces articles and videos that recommend products for consumers to purchase, in a category of content branded as CNN Underscored. CNN Underscored operates separately from CNN's newsroom. CNN says the editors and writers use their own judgment about which products they choose to promote, but their recommendations are published with links to where the recommended products can be purchased, and they collect revenue from the sellers when people use those links.
In 2021, CNN Digital had an average of 144 million unique visitors in the United States according to Comscore, making it the most viewed digital news outlet, ahead of The New York Times, NBC News, Fox News, The Washington Post.
CNN 10
The network also hosts CNN 10, a daily 10-minute video show visible at the CNN website or YouTube. It replaced the long-running show CNN Student News which had been aired since 1989. It is aimed at a global audience of students, teachers, and adults. First hosted by Carl Azuz, then in the fall of 2022 replaced by Coy Wire. Carl Azuz left CNN due to a "personal decision" according to a CNN spokesperson in a newsletter published on September 18, 2022.
Beme
On November 28, 2016, CNN announced the acquisition of Beme for a reported $25 million. On November 29, 2016, Matt Hackett, co-founder of Beme, announced via an email to its users that the Beme app would be shutting down on January 31, 2017. Since the shutdown of the app, it was announced that CNN intended to use the current talent behind Beme to work on a separate start-up endeavor. Beme's current team will retain full creative control of the new project, which was slated to be released in the summer of 2017. Beme have also brought on other internet stars such as the host of Vsauce 3, Jake Roper, as head of production, who features prominently in Beme co-founder Casey Neistat's vlogs. Beme News has since begun uploading news related video on YouTube.
Films
In October 2012, CNN formed a film division called CNN Films to distribute and produce made-for-TV and feature documentaries. Its first acquisition was a documentary entitled Girl Rising, a documentary narrated by Meryl Streep that focused on the struggles of girls' education.
Radio
In July 2014, Cumulus Media announced that it would end its partnership with ABC News Radio, and enter into a new partnership with CNN to syndicate national and international news content for its stations through Westwood One beginning in 2015, including access to a wire service, and digital content for its station websites. The service was unbranded, allowing individual stations to integrate the content with their news brands. On July 9, 2020, citing "extraordinary circumstances in the current marketplace" and a need to prioritize the company's resources, Westwood One announced that the service would be discontinued on August 30.
The audio simulcast of CNN is distributed on the Audacy website and app.
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