CNN Partners with Kalshi: The First Major News Network to Integrate Prediction Markets into Live Coverage

In a landmark move for journalism and financial technology, CNN announced on December 4, 2025, an exclusive multi-year partnership with Kalshi, the CFTC-regulated prediction market platform, to embed real-time event contract odds directly into its global newsroom and broadcast coverage.

Starting immediately, CNN anchors, digital articles, and election-night graphics will display live Kalshi market probabilities alongside traditional polling data, marking the first time a major U.S. news network has formally integrated regulated prediction markets as a core reporting tool.

How the Integration Works

• Real-time Kalshi odds will appear on-screen during political, economic, and cultural segments (e.g., “Kalshi traders give 68% chance Fed cuts rates in December”).
• CNN.com and the CNN app will feature dedicated Kalshi widgets showing market-implied probabilities for everything from Supreme Court rulings to Oscar winners.
• Election-night coverage in 2026 and beyond will use Kalshi’s state-by-state contract prices as a primary forecasting layer, similar to how FiveThirtyEight aggregates polls today.
• CNN journalists will have direct access to Kalshi’s API and trader sentiment data for deeper context.

Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour called the partnership “the moment prediction markets graduate from niche betting to mainstream information infrastructure,” while CNN president Mark Thompson described it as “the most significant evolution in political and economic journalism since the rise of real-time polling.”

Why This Matters

Prediction markets have consistently outperformed traditional polls in forecasting accuracy (most famously calling Trump’s 2016 victory when polls showed Clinton ahead). By bringing Kalshi’s regulated, cash-settled contracts into the newsroom, CNN is effectively crowdsourcing probability from thousands of incentivized traders who put real money behind their beliefs.

Early examples already live:

• As of December 4, Kalshi traders gave 72% odds that the U.S. government avoids shutdown before Christmas (vs. 61% implied by Polymarket’s offshore market).
• 54% chance that Bitcoin closes 2025 above $150,000.
• 31% probability that Taylor Swift attends the Super Bowl halftime show as a surprise guest.

Industry Reaction

The partnership instantly legitimizes prediction markets in the eyes of traditional media and regulators. Rival networks are reportedly in late-stage talks with Kalshi and its competitor PredictIt, while Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal are exploring similar integrations.

For Kalshi, which has traded over $3 billion in volume since launching in 2021, the CNN deal represents the ultimate distribution moat: tens of millions of nightly viewers now exposed to its brand and odds every time they watch the news.

A new era of media has officially begun: one where the market itself becomes part of the story, in real time, on the most trusted name in news.