Brian Williams may have found his next TV-news job….except it won’t be on traditional TV.
The veteran NBC News and MSNBC anchor is in late-stage discussions to host a live Election Night special on Amazon Prime Video, according to five people familiar with the matter. The aim, these people say, is to have a non-partisan discussion of that evening’s events. If the project comes to fruition, it could mark the first entry into news-related programming by one of the industry’s stand-alone streaming giants, which have largely focused on movies, scripted original series and reality programming.
The concept isn’t necessarily guaranteed to be completed, these people cautioned. Amazon declined to make executives available for comment. Through a spokesman, Williams declined to comment.
Amazon would potentially vie for attention on one of the biggest nights for traditional journalism. Many media companies see a presidential election cycle as a time to win new viewers and capture a larger share of advertising dollars, as the race for the White House generates interest beyond the typical news aficionado. At the same time, many traditional TV-news outlets, including CBS News and CNN, have been cutting costs and in some cases shedding anchors and contributors. One of the selling points of the Williams’ concept, according to one of the people familiar with the matter, is that the anchor could bring in guests from a wider-than-expected pool of analysts and newsmakers.
Amazon would test these waters as traditional players like NBC News, CNN, CBS News, Fox News Channel and ABC News are still experimenting with new ways to appeal to younger audiences who often prefer screens other than those that belong to a TV set to get news and information. Approximately 86% of U.S. adults say they sometimes get news from a smartphone, computer or tablet, with 57% of that group saying they do so often, according to analysis from Pew Research Center. Meanwhile, the number of Americans who say they often get news from TV has stayed steady at 33%.
Streamers have recently started to see the appeal of live programming — particularly as they try to get closer to Madison Avenue. Both Amazon and Netflix, each of which wooed viewers with the promise of never having to watch commercials while they binge through high-quality programs, have over the past two years debuted ad-supported subscription tiers. Big advertisers still crave large, simultaneous audiences, like the kind that tune in football games, awards shows and series finales, and will pay more to get their pitches in front of such crowds. Streaming scripted programs don’t generate that kind of viewership, which is one of the factors behind Netflix’ recent live comedy specials and, this Christmas, a telecast of NFL games.
People familiar with the matter cautioned against viewing the Williams project as a sign that Amazon intended to start producing news programming on a regular basis. After all, the company has not hired legions of journalists. One of the options under discussion could have Williams holding forth with a range of guests or contributors, according to three of the people familiar with the talks. Jonathan Wald, a former executive producer of Williams “11th Hour” on MSNBC, who has worked in senior production roles at CNN and NBC News, would serve as executive producer of the program, according to one person familiar with the matter. Was, who helped launch Don Lemon in primetime at CNN, was recently involved with that anchor’s new program distributed via streaming video and social media.
Amazon’s Election Night special would likely have Williams relying heavily on the Associated Press to determine how candidates were faring state by state. The show would stream from a studio in the Los Angeles area, one of the people said, and could start as early as 5 p.m. eastern. Williams would be prepared to stay at the desk for as many as seven to eight hours — and potentially more. In the case of a close election in which results are too close to call, this person says, Williams would broadcast for as long as it might be sustainable.
The show is aimed more toward explaining the news, this person says, rather than breaking individual pieces of it. Producers have lined up well-known names, this person adds, and was aided by the fact that many traditional TV-news competitors have trimmed the ranks of their contributors as economic pressures have weighed on them. The show, this person says, would aim to be big and accessible and offer a lot of famous guests.
Efforts to stream news programming are still nascent, and the only thing certain about the idea is that there is no one single way to do it.
NBC News, for example, has worked to grow an ad-supported live-streamed outlet called NBC News Now, stocking its schedule with original hours staffed by anchors including Tom Llamas, Hallie Jackson and Savannah Sellers. Meanwhile, Fox News Channel has built its streaming business around Fox Nation, a subscription-based broadband hub that has widened its purview beyond news into comedy, documentaries and even movies. CBS News recently rechristened its service CBS News 24/7 and introduced a new “whip-around” show that takes viewers to breaking events via personnel at the local stations in its portfolio. ABC News recently assigned the weekend anchors of “Good Morning America” to also take on late-morning streaming duties.
Warner Bros. Discovery’s CNN has been more tentative. The news outlet launched a subscription hub called CNN+ in 2022, but it was shuttered within weeks after new corporate ownership felt the project wouldn’t generate the appropriate financials. Since that time, CNN programming, some of it live, has been featured on the company’s Max streaming hub in a special “beta” section that is still being developed.
An appearance by Williams on Election Night would mark his first big project since leaving NBCUniversal and MSNBC in December of 2021 after a run of nearly three decades. The anchor, who worked his way from a daily evening-news program on MSNBC to the anchor chair at “NBC Nightly News” before developing a late-night program called “The 11th Hour” at MSNBC, was one of the company’s best-known personalities, translating a gift for oratory and narration into appearances on late-night talk shows and even “Saturday Night Live.”
He ran into some headwinds after a “Nightly News” broadcast on January 30, 2015, when he repeated a claim he had made that a Chinook helicopter he was traveling in while on a reporting trip to Iraq was hit by enemy fire and forced down. In fact, Williams and his crew never faced enemy fire and landed safely while traveling in the country. The account was challenged by soldiers who were aware of the true nature of the incident and had begun to complain, and NBCU suspended the anchor for six months and replaced him at “Nightly” with Lester Holt.
Since his exit from NBC, Williams’ name has continued to surface. He signed CAA to represent him in finding new projects. Speculation in recent years had him being considered for roles at CNN and CBS News’ “60 Minutes.” People familiar with the anchor’s thinking have suggested that he would be more interested in programs that let him show more than just his abilities behind an anchor desk. When Williams signed off from “The 11th Hour,” he devoted his final minutes to a monologue during which he urged viewers to consider the frailty of American democracy.
At the end of his remarks, however, Williams hinted that he’d like to take some more turns in front of an inquisitive audience. “I will probably find it impossible to be silent and stay away from you and lights and cameras after I experiment with relaxation,” he said at the time, “and find out what I’m missing, and what’s out there.”