The divide between so-called “creator media” and mainstream TV news continues to narrow — and quickly.
Starting on Sunday, June 28, MS NOW will move away from featuring live, hosted hours after 6 p.m. on weekends and as a substitute fill its schedule largely with taped video podcasts, expanding its use of a well-liked Saturday-night program from Crooked Media in addition to podcasts hosted by MS NOW mainstays Nicolle Wallace and Chris Hayes. MS NOW expects to expand its content partnerships tied to the strategy in coming weeks, based on a memo from Rebecca Kutler, MS NOW’s president, that was reviewed by Variety.
The moves may have a major effect on the network’s weekend schedule. MS NOW will cancel the brand new series “The Weekend: Primetime” after June 27, and one in every of its hosts, Antonia Hylton, will take up anchoring Saturdays and Sundays from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Alex Witt, the veteran anchor who has kept a news presence on the network since 1999 largely on weekend afternoons, will depart later within the 12 months. Ayman Mohyeldin, Catherine Rampell, and Elise Jordan, the opposite hosts of the primetime weekend program, are expected to stick with MS NOW.
The network will proceed to be staffed for breaking news during its evening hours on the weekend. Richard Lui has for a few years been on standby as an anchor during these time slots. MS NOW also has a take care of Sky News that permits it to simulcast international coverage. MS NOW has offered taped programming on the weekends at different times previously, including reruns of hours from its weekday primetime lineup, and, in earlier times, hours of “Dateline” or the prison documentary series, “Lockup.” Executives on the Versant Media-backed outlet expect that the weekend schedule will still have hours of live weekend programing which might be comparable to the number or live hours on CNN and Fox News Channel.
Many news and entertainment outlets are turning to podcasts as a programming strategy, and enlisting popular creators and subject-matter experts. Even Netflix, a specialist in premium video entertainment, has moved into the format, going to date as to tap former MS NOW mainstay Brian Williams in a conversational format. Younger audiences, specifically, find podcast hosts and digital influencers to be more authentic than traditional TV personnel, and help them understand issues with more depth, based on data from Pew Research. The organization present in 2025 that about 21% of U.S. adults get news from news influencers on social media, with 38% of those between the ages of 18 to 29 doing so usually — compared with just 8% of adults 65 or older. Licensing podcasts from a 3rd party or making use of podcasts already being created by current staff can even serve to maintain costs down.
One well-known TV-industry consultant, Magid, has counseled some clients to start out giving viewers programs that tout context, depth and emotional reassurance, quite than counting on breaking news and dozens of star anchors and correspondents. The recommendation follows audience habits; more people get first word on vital news stories from digital and social media.
Executives at MS NOW have been particularly encouraged by viewer behavior tied to the “Crooked on MS NOW” show, which curates clips from a series of podcasts hosted by people resembling Jon Lovett, Alex Wagner and Stacey Abrams, amongst others. Half of the viewers of the show have been recent to MS NOW on Saturday nights, with nearly two-thirds of viewers under age 55 also recent to the network.
Many traditional media firms are striking alliances with independent journalists and creators. Fox News has a licensing agreement with the principals of “Ruthless,” a well-liked conservative podcast, and its afternoon host Will Cain holds forth in a presentation that provides among the traditional podcast trappings. CBS News earlier this week unveiled the launch of a brand new podcast led by Jill Schlesinger focused on personal finance. NBC News is working with Joanna Stern, a former Wall Street Journal technology journalist, who has launched her own enterprise. CNN, meanwhile, has been seen experimenting openly on screen, putting anchors including Anderson Cooper and Jake Tapper in less formal settings that don’t at all times mandate suit-and-tie wardrobes or behind-the-news-desk presentations.
MS NOW could delve further into other non-traditional formats later this 12 months, when it’s scheduled to launch a brand new direct-to-consumer streaming service that goals to burnish a way of community amongst its viewers. The corporate is predicted to rent recent personnel for that service, based on two people conversant in the matter.
The weekend shift will end in some staffing reductions, which could involve lower than 2% of the organization, based on one in every of the people conversant in the situation. Employees who’re affected have been encouraged to explore nearly 40 positions which might be open. MS NOW is prone to post greater than a dozen recent roles in weeks to come back. Joy Fowlin, executive producer of “The Weekend: Primetime,” will function the chief producer for Hylton’s recent weekend hours starting later this summer.
When Witt departs, she’s going to take along with her one in every of MS NOW’s last ties to its early history, when it was generally known as MSNBC and was a three way partnership of NBC News and Microsoft. Witt’s long tenure on weekends, based on one person conversant in the network, comes from an easy achievement: Nothing else MSNBC or MS NOW placed on the schedule drew larger or more reliable numbers than her. After her departure, only Chris Jansing, the veteran anchor who continues to work for MS NOW as a correspondent, will offer similar connections to the past.
Witt “has been a continued, trusted, and regular presence for our audiences,” Kutler said in her memo, noting coverage of the 2003 Space Shuttle Columbia disaster and Ground Zero reportage following the terrorist attacks of 9/11, amongst other events. “We thank Alex for her countless contributions to the network and may have more opportunities to have a good time her in the approaching months.”