The CNN broadcast of the Broadway play “Good Night, and Good Luck” reached 7.34 million viewers. The penultimate performance of the George Clooney and Grant Heslov drama was broadcast live from the Winter Garden Theatre on the evening of June 7 on CNN and streamed on Max.
The aforementioned 7.34 million viewers spanned the presentation on CNN U.S. television, CNN international, CNN’s website and on Max. Within the United States, 5.64 million people interacted with the event and an additional 1.7 million interacted internationally.
Two million viewers tuned in specifically on television, rendering the broadcast the most-viewed cable program on June 7. On Max, the stream was the third largest CNN event of 2025.
Concurrent digital viewing across all platforms reached a peak at 8:33 p.m. E.T., reaching 67,100 viewers during the closing monologue.
The event was preceded and followed by special coverage by CNN anchors Anderson Cooper and Pamela Brown.
While other Broadway productions have been livestreamed or filmed in front of a live audience in the past, this occasion marked the first time a Broadway play had been broadcast and televised live around the world.
Adapted for the stage from Clooney and Heslov’s screenplay for the 2005 film of the same name, “Good Night, and Good Luck” dramatizes the historic on-air battle of real-life CBS journalist Edward R. Murrow (played by Clooney in a Tony-nominated turn) in exposing the lies and corruption of senator Joseph McCarthy’s communist investigation.
Following previews that began on March 12, the David Cromer-helmed play opened on April 3. The drama completed its limited engagement on June 8. The production, which recently recouped its $9.5 million investment, has broken the Winter Garden house record many times over. During its final week on the Main Stem (which included the CNN broadcast), “Good Night, and Good Luck” earned $4,331,226, the highest single-week gross for a nonmusical play in Broadway history. Moreover, the drama is the only play to surpass $4 million in weekly box office revenue in Broadway history.
“Good Night, and Good Luck” was produced on Broadway by Seaview, Sue Wagner, John Johnson, Jean Doumanian and Robert Fox.
