Amazon Snags Brian Williams to Anchor Election Coverage on Prime Video
The veteran anchor will bring his talents to Prime Video in its first foray into live news.
Longtime anchor Brian Williams is set to return to television to cover one of the most consequential elections in living memory. That’s according to the Los Angeles Times, which is reporting that Williams has been chosen by Amazon to lead its first attempt at offering news coverage when it goes live on election night to cover the 2024 United States presidential election.
Key Details:
- **Williams has not been signed to a deal yet, but the report calls such an agreement “imminent.”
- The election coverage show will use calls by the Associated Press, mixed with analysis from Williams.
- The special is not intended to be a transition to more regular live news coverage from Prime Video as of now.
Williams is no stranger to presidential election coverage, having led NBC’s election nights in 2008 and 2012. In 2016 and 2020, Williams moved to the cable channel MSNBC, having lost his position as anchor of “NBC Nightly News” after a scandal involving false statements he made regarding his time covering the Iraq War.
The Times says that Williams has not signed a deal with Amazon quite yet, but such an agreement is “imminent.” Unlike traditional TV studios with their own decision desks, Amazon will rely on the Associated Press to decide which states and races should be called and will use Williams to analyze the results with the help of guests.
The plan for the stream would be to keep Williams on screen for Prime Video until a winner can be determined, if the AP feels comfortable calling the election on the night of Nov. 5. The production will be overseen by Jonathan Wald, who worked closely with Williams at NBC.
Is Prime Video Getting Into Regular News Coverage?
The L.A. Times says that while this is a revolutionary step forward for Prime Video, it should not be seen as an initial step into greater news coverage just yet. Amazon executives were persuaded to try the election night special as a one-off, especially since so many young viewers will turn to non-traditional TV networks to get coverage of the race.
If Prime Video sees good ratings during its election coverage, however, there could be an incentive for the company to get further into news offerings. Amazon once had a 12-hour, daily bloc of sports news programming, but shut it down about a year ago, likely because it couldn’t get enough people to tune in.
Legacy media companies are trying to figure out what to do with their traditional news operations as revenue from cable continues to decline. Warner Bros. Discovery, for example, is still trying to figure out how to bring CNN content to viewers, even after launching the CNN Max hub on Max and watching the CNN+ experiment fail spectacularly.
If Williams knocks his election-night coverage on Prime Video out of the park in November, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Amazon get more deeply into the news business. Fans can tune into Amazon’s streaming service to watch Williams discussing the 2024 U.S. presidential election on Nov. 5 starting at $9 per month.
Amazon Prime Video
Amazon 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 Amazon Prime Video Channels. Prime Video also offers exclusive live access to NFL Thursday Night Football.