Prime Video mulls expanding live news offerings
Prime Video mulls expanding live news offerings
The streaming service could offer live news surrounding more big events after drawing decent ratings on Election Night 2024.
Is Prime Video about to start its own news division? The idea might give some Washington Post readers pause, but the idea that Amazon is getting further into the news business isn’t so farfetched. According to an exclusive reporting from Variety, Amazon is mulling a larger entrance into the news broadcasting space after drawing good ratings to its 2024 Election Night coverage med by veteran anchor Brian Williams.
Key Details:
- Amazon reached around 4 million viewers with its Election Night coverage.
- The company is in early talks to offer more news coverage around select, important events.
- Available, veteran anchor talent abounds should Prime Video want to continue its news offerings.
Prime Video’s stream of Election Night 2024 coverage was its first foray into live news as former NBC and MSNBC anchor Brian Williams headlined the night for Amazon. Variety reports that the coverage reached around 4 million people.
That’s more viewers than CBS or the Fox broadcast network attracted during the evening, though it should be noted that Amazon’s viewership may not have been tracked by Nielsen as those channels’ were, so an apples-to-apples comparison may not be completely accurate.
Talks at Amazon about expanding its news coverage are still in the early stages, and Variety reports that the company isn’t pondering a permanent regular expansion into the zone. Rather, it will offer coverage of select important events, as it did with election night.
If Amazon does want to start covering more big news events, veteran reporters and contributors like Candy Crowley, Abby Huntsman, Don Lemon, Shepard Smith, and many others are available. Most broadcast and cable news networks have cut back their on-air talent in recent years, as younger Americans are increasingly getting their news from other sources.
Much like Williams’ Election Night special, Amazon stresses that it wants to offer “down the middle of the road” coverage and avoid bias as much as possible. Whether it will hew to that course of action remains to be seen, but programming expansions on Prime Video have been successful in the past, as evidenced by the growing inventory of live sports now available on the streamer.
Prime Video
Prime Video is a subscription video streaming service that includes on-demand access to 10,000+ movies, TV shows, and Prime Originals like “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power,” “Jack Ryan,” “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” “The Boys,” and more. Subscribers can also add third-party services like Max, Showtime, STARZ, and dozens more with Prime Video Channels. Prime Video also offers exclusive live access to NFL Thursday Night Football.