AM anchor, assemble!
Peacock is gearing up to release a morning news package that will include all of NBCUniversal’s various AM offerings from CNBC, MSBC and NBC News. For the first time, under the right circumstances, a single viewer can have real-time access to Savannah Guthrie, Joe Scarborough and Becky Quick, all from the same media source.
MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” and CNBC’s “Squawk Box” will make their Peacock debuts on March 28, joining NBC News Now. the NBC News live streaming service; and Today, which is available to Peacock’s Premium Plus subscribers via local NBC broadcast channels. “Morning Joe” will be broadcast live weekdays from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. Eastern Time and “Squawk Box” will be broadcast live weekdays from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m
“We’re constantly looking for ways to expand Peacock’s premium live content, and creating this unique morning news hub, powered by trusted sources across NBCUniversal, is something only Peacock can do,” said Brian Henderson, executive Vice President of Programming, Peacock, in a statement. “With ‘Morning Joe’ and ‘Squawk Box’ live every morning, not to mention ‘Today’ for our Premium Plus users, we’re giving subscribers a new reason to start Peacock every morning.”
Peacock is spreading its news wings as more consumers gravitate to other streaming video sites for information. For example, according to a 2022 study by Pew Research, the proportion of US adults who say they regularly receive messages from TikTok has roughly tripled, from 3% in 2020 to 10% in 2022. A study by Pew Research conducted a year earlier, which has now tripled, found that 86% of US adults said they get their messages from a smartphone, computer, or tablet “often” or “sometimes,” including 60% who said they do this “often”.
Ad dollars will likely follow part of this movement. According to Magna, a media research unit of advertising giant Interpublic Group, digital advertising in the US is expected to grow by 9% in 2023, “while linear advertising formats, which are more vulnerable to the uncertain economic environment, will erode by -4%.”
The Peacock move will offer shows normally connected to a cable or broadcast network, available for those who don’t or no longer use traditional methods of watching video favorites. Counting those viewers and adding them to the totals Nielsen normally credits to those programs will no doubt be an issue that could surface during the industry’s annual “upfront” market, when US media companies seek to sell the bulk of their commercial inventory determine, often based on the number of viewers who watch their various programs.
NBCUniversal did not provide details on how it managed to address the concerns of cable and satellite distributors that carry MSNBC or CNBC.
