NBC News and its mainstay brands - “Today,” “NBC Nightly News,” “Meet The Press” - are trying to maintain linear audiences while creating new digital extensions, like moving the weekday version of “MTP” to streaming going after audiences of lifestyle journalism with a digital counterpart to “Today” and dialing up some direct-to-consumer initiatives at CNBC. Still, there’s no one solution for TV news chiefs, particularly when so many of them are new to the role and eager to shake up what they’ve inherited.Īt NBCUniversal, News Group chief Cesar Conde is betting on a broader portfolio of initiatives. As CNN set about launching the ill-fated CNN+ streaming service, NBCU launched a large promotional campaign aimed at defusing some of the enthusiasm around the project (which, in hindsight, might just have worked) NBCU certainly appears to be focused on CNN. When it comes to direct competition, only NBCU has the size and scope of CNN around the world. While Licht may be taking some inspiration from CBS News and some of his past achievements, it’s NBCUniversal that might absorb some of his focus. Executives may also be considering new combinations of talent for various programs as well as enlisting a group of people who will make semi-regular appearances on them. There is also speculation that CNN could shuffle its primetime personalities and their time slots, potentially injecting someone new into the mix. Changes to CNN’s “New Day” morning show are believed to be in the works as well, potentially with a cadre of “friends” who can add to the A.M. But he’s in the command chair now and has said the network is mulling a new Sunday block of programming that features Chris Wallace and a new newsmagazine-like program. He joined CNN officially in May, and cable news in general has suffered since Joe Biden was inaugurated as president in 2021. Licht didn’t create CNN’s current viewership downturn. Both events tend to generate bigger audiences, and advertiser interest in connecting with them. ![]() He is likely to put more of an imprint on the outlet just as new opportunity beckons: The entire news sector is gearing up for the 2022 midterm elections, which will kick off the race for the White House in 2024. In the second quarter, CNN’s primetime viewership among people between 25 and 54 - the audience most coveted by advertisers in news programs - was off by 31%, compared with 40% for MSNBC and just 2% for Fox News Channel. Now Licht has to make the strategy generate some new ratings. If you talk to executives who ran CBS at the time, gains at “CBS This Morning” and Colbert helped the economics of the network. “CBS This Morning” didn’t beat rivals “Today” or “Good Morning America,” but it captured some white space in the battle for aficionados of newsy conversation that Licht has been fighting since he helped launch “Morning Joe” at MSNBC in 2007, and continued when he became showrunner of CBS’ “Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” which became more reliant on newsmakers than promotional appearances by movie stars. Chris Licht boosted CBS’ morning fortunes by getting new attention for its morning-news show, a perennial third place in the ratings. He worked there for several years, to some noticeable effect. Costa in March worked with The Washington Post’s Bob Woodward to reveal that Ginni Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, texted then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and urged him to contest the 2020 presidential election results.ĬNN’s new boss knows a thing or two about CBS News. Caitlin Bernard, the Indiana doctor who treated a 10-year-old rape victim by providing abortion services. ![]() “CBS Evening News” anchor Norah O’Donnell, for example, recently landed an exclusive interview with Dr. These things may not shake up the TV-ratings war in outsize fashion, but in a world where more people get their news via streaming video and social media, they may just get more of the clicks that drive digital ad dollars. The mission at CBS News in recent months has been to land big scoops and ‘gets,’ with anchors doing both TV and streaming, and let the viral pass-along take care of itself. Indeed, CNN appears to be borrowing a page from CBS News, where co-president Neeraj Khemlani has been injecting new blood into the ranks in the form of correspondents like Robert Costa, formerly of The Washington Post, and Scott MacFarlane, who had been with WRC, NBC’s Washington, D.C. ![]() TV news outlets are being operated by new senior executives who aren’t necessarily tied to history or heritage. In case you haven’t noticed, it’s all the rage. CNN is just the latest news outlet under new early-stage management to swing out in a different direction.
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