Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen are getting a summer edition of their New Year’s Eve gig.
CNN announced Thursday that the duo will host Independence Eve Live with Anderson & Andy: Celebrating 250, a special that will count down to America’s 250th birthday live from Times Square.
The special will air Friday, July 3, from 8 p.m. ET through 12:30 a.m. ET, with Cooper and Cohen presiding over New York’s special summer midnight ball drop honoring the nation’s semiquincentennial.
For CNN, the special effectively turns Cooper and Cohen’s annual New Year’s Eve franchise into a patriotic one-off, complete with correspondents stationed around the country, special guests, and stories from communities marking the milestone coast-to-coast.
The move also gives CNN another bite at the live countdown apple. Cooper and Cohen have become CNN’s signature New Year’s Eve pairing, and their Times Square coverage has been gaining ground in the annual ratings race.
This past New Year’s Eve, ABC’s Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest still dominated the field, averaging 19.5 million viewers in the 11:30 p.m. ET hour and peaking at 30.25 million viewers at midnight, according to Nielsen Live+Same Day ratings. But CNN’s final hour of New Year’s Eve Live with Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen grew 33% in total viewers and 61% in the demo, moving into second place among adults 18–49.
CNN’s July 3 special will lead into a full day of special July 4 programming under the banner The Fourth in America: Celebrating 250. The network’s Independence Day coverage will include anchors and correspondents in Washington, Boston, New York, San Diego, Philadelphia, Nashville, Los Angeles, and other cities, with Cooper also anchoring from Boston during CNN’s exclusive broadcast of the Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular.
