Key Takeaways

• CNN will integrate Kalshi’s real-time prediction-market data across its programming to help viewers better gauge future events.
• The exclusive partnership marks a major milestone for Kalshi, which has rapidly expanded in 2025 with new deals, funding, and media integrations.
• While prediction markets offer deeper context for news, they also raise concerns around accuracy, interpretation, and overlap with gambling regulations.

In a move that could reshape how news outlets forecast events, Kalshi, the world’s largest federally regulated prediction market exchange, announced a partnership with popular US news network CNN on 2 December, 2025.

This deal reportedly positions Kalshi as CNN’s official prediction markets partner, allowing the network to weave real-time market data into its broadcasts and analysis. Prediction markets are platforms where people bet on the outcomes of real-world events, which can include anything from elections to weather patterns. These bets create odds that often reflect crowd-sourced probabilities more accurately than traditional polls.

The collaboration aims to give CNN viewers a fresh way to gauge future possibilities. Journalists can now highlight shifting odds on upcoming stories, moving beyond recaps of past events. This integration arrives amid booming interest in the two biggest prediction markets – Kalshi and Polymarket – with their cumulative trading volume having already crossed $43 billion in 2025.

How Kalshi’s data will enhance CNN programming

Kalshi’s platform lets users trade contracts on events in politics, culture, economics, and weather. Traders buy shares in “yes” or “no” outcomes, with prices fluctuating based on collective bets. CNN’s team will access this data via Kalshi’s API for live updates.

Led by CNN Chief Data Analyst Harry Enten, the partnership will embed these odds across programming, making use of market data as an extra layer to check facts and build visuals. A new real-time ticker will scroll odds during relevant segments, like election nights or cultural buzz.

“CNN is known for precise, fact-driven journalism and analysis that assist audiences in understanding what’s happening,” said Sam Felix, CNN’s Senior Vice President of Strategic Partnerships and Business Development, in a statement. “By using Kalshi’s prediction-market data, CNN journalists gain a fresh, data-based angle to explore and better understand the world.”

This setup is exclusive to CNN, barring it from similar deals with rivals like Polymarket, and marks the first such tie-up for a major US TV network.

Kalshi’s rise and recent milestones

Kalshi has surged in 2025, establishing prediction markets as a legit financial tool under US regulation. Reporters, politicians, and investors now rely on it for timely insights. For instance, it predicted the New York City mayoral race winner just eight minutes after polls closed, hours ahead of mainstream media.

The firm closed a $1 billion funding round on 20 November 2025, led by investor Paradigm, at a $11 billion valuation, fueling expansions. Earlier on 6 November 2025, it partnered with Google Search and Finance platforms for non-exclusive data sharing. In October 2025, its odds hit Bloomberg terminals.

Kalshi co-founder Tarek Mansour highlighted the shift, stressing that the deal will allow CNN to report more accurately on possible future events, not just on what has already happened.

Yet, challenges linger. Kalshi faces a class-action lawsuit filed on 27 November 2025, accusing it of unlicensed sports betting while touting better odds than sportsbooks. The suit underscores debates over whether prediction markets veer too close to gambling.

Broader impact on media and audiences

This CNN deal could inspire other outlets to follow suit. Time magazine recently teamed with Galactic for its own branded markets, while Yahoo Finance promotes Polymarket odds. With media embracing these tools, they seem well-equipped to deliver sharper storytelling to beginners.

For viewers though, real-time probabilities can add context to uncertain events, these markets also pose risks: probabilities can be misread as certainties, and turning future events into tradable outcomes raises ethical and regulatory concerns.