Not such a draw: Less than half a million people tuned it to watch Piers Morgan interview Kim and Kourtney Kardashian on his CNN show on Thursday night
Over 2.1 million tuned in to watch Piers Morgan interview Oprah Winfrey on his CNN debut two weeks ago.
But the British talk show host saw his ratings plummet over 75 per cent from his debut when he interviewed Kim and Kourtney Kardashian on Thursday night.
Rather embarrassingly, it appears more American viewers preferred to watch a behind-the-scenes documentary about supermarkets on a rival cable channel than the reality TV stars giving away yet more information about their private lives.
Just 498,000 tuned in to watch the Kardashians discuss their breasts and Kim's infamous sex tape during the 9pm slot - with conservative talk show host Sean Hannity pulling in 1.87 million on Fox.
In second place was the Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC with 983,000 and Supermarkets Inc with 504,000 on CNBC.
The ratings slip suggests the average CNN viewer isn't interested in reality stars like the Kardashians, whose new TV show Kourtney And Kim Take New York attracted 3million viewers to the celebrity-centric cable channel E!
The drop has been noted by some U.S. TV critics, TV presenter Carol Vorderman and Lord Alan Sugar.
King of chat: Morgan's Thursday night ratings were a far cry from his debut two weeks ago
Keeping abreast of the issues: Kim insisted her breasts were real, while Kourtney spoke about having implants 10 years ago
Miami Herald TV critic Glenn Garvin wrote: 'Morgan dropped below half a million viewers Thursday night even with a bunch of crazed half-naked Kardashians sitting at the desk with him. Really. You can't break the half-million mark with Hollywood's most beloved trollops bragging about their boobs?
'(The scoop from Kim: "They're 100 per cent real!" Kourtney, not so much.) And their sex tapes? (Poor Kim says she's embarrassed by hers, though not embarrassed enough to stop talking about it on national television.'
Morgan's old adversary Vorderman wrote on her Twitter page: 'Seems (Jeremy) Clarkson not on Twitter for real. Shame... just found latest CNN Morgan ratings and they are soooo bad, Jeremy would love it.
'And so everyone understands we all go back a long way, indeed I was happy to be around when Jeremy punched Morgan all those years ago.
Drawing a crowd: CNBC's documentary Supermarkets Inc, billed as 'a fascinating look at today's supermarket industry' received more viewers
'Morgan's ratings fallen to 498,000 in 9 days, wiped out - CNN now 4th news network in slot, beaten even by CNBC. Interesting Stephen Fry, Lord Sugar? See for yourselves.'
After Lord Sugar found out the ratings from Vorderman, he began teasing Morgan on Twitter.
He gloated: 'Piersy is this true..? Piers Morgan beaten by CNBC oh dear! I got more ratings on CNBC when they ran UK version of Apprentice a couple of years ago.'
Defending his ratings and teasing Lord Sugar in return, Morgan Tweeted: 'Don't you worry about my ratings Lordy, they're ticking along nicely. You worry about your American ratings, which don't exist.
Twitter feud: Morgan hit back at Lord Alan Sugar's accusations his ratings were falling
'Tell you what I'd REALLY worry about, I just closed the gap by another 2k overnight.
'Hmmm, yes, I remember your Apprentice airing on CNBC...they cancelled it before end of 1st series didn't they Lordy.
'Hurricane Morgan is blowing stronger by the day... Let me explain again Shugs: my show airs to over 300 million people nightly on CNN America and CNN International.
'Right, Biggles, you toddle off in your little plane for a bit - I'm going for breakfast in Beverly Hills.'
Although Morgan scored huge ratings with his debut on January 17 debut, figures have been averaging in the 700,000-800,000 over the past two weeks.
Last Monday, he was in third place with 763,000 tuning in to watch him interview former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
Morgan's predecessor Larry King was averaging 657,000 during the last three months of 2010.
Big debut: Morgan's first show on CNN with Oprah Winfrey drew 2.1million viewers
Source:Dailymail