ViacomCBS Signs Deal to Bring John Krasinski’s ‘Some Good News’ to Company’s Networks
Though John Krasinski may have started his YouTube show “Some Good News” to simply bring some levity to fans during quarantine, the show’s success has gotten him some attention from the big guns. According to Variety, “The Office” alum signed a deal with ViacomCBS to bring “Some Good News” to the company’s streaming and linear networks.
Reports say the series will premiere on CBS All Access, with the possibility of spreading across ViacomCBS outlets, including CBS News. Produced by Comedy Central Productions, the series will provide weekly, short-form content. Though Krasinski helmed the show while it was on YouTube, he will not be the weekly host when it moves to ViacomCBS, but he’ll have a “recurring on-air presence,” Variety says.
“Could not be more excited and proud to be partnering with CBS/Viacom to be able to bring ‘Some Good News’ to so many more people,” Krasinski said in a statement. “From the first episode, our goal was to create a news show dedicated entirely to good news. Never did I expect to be joining the ranks of such a historic news organization as CBS.”
“Some Good News” debuted on YouTube on March 29. Though Krasinski had been holding onto the idea for seven years, circumstances brought by the COVID-19 pandemic pushed the actor into executing it. He hosted eight episodes of the show, and to date, it has garnered 2.6 million subscribers to the channel.
CBS All Access has had a stellar year and has solidified its position as a competitor in the streaming space. In January, CBS All Access announced that the premiere of “Star Trek: Picard” helped in breaking its record for subscriber sign-ups in a month. Along with the livestream of the Grammys and football, January 2020 beat the previous monthly record of February 2019. The company also announced the week of January 20 was the second-best sign-up week ever for the service. Definitive numbers were not released.
Earlier this month, ViacomCBS reported that the streaming service, along with Showtime, surpassed a combined 13.5 million subscribers, up 50 percent year-over-year.