ABC News’ Jonathan Karl sits down with Eric Adams, Karen Bass and Sylvester Turner on “This Week.”
When cable TV came out, it offered live events and news, a one-upmanship that broadcast news could never match. But it was also linear, limiting viewers’ ability to time-shift.
When streaming arrived, it offered a way to deliver news any time, anywhere. The audience’s choice of news channels and topics became less constrained, allowing new players to enter the fray. This new wave of innovation is creating kindling for more creative newscasters.
Streaming has allowed for news analysis and documentaries. As well, major news networks have spent hundreds of millions of dollars in streaming operations. For example, CBS News has invested in local streaming news initiatives. They plan to beam 45,000 hours of local news in 2022.
The news networks were confident that they would have a competitive advantage in the streaming marketplace. They began repurposing programming from their traditional broadcasts. These efforts helped attract both a mass and niche audience.
Free news streamers are taking a similar approach. Their messages are designed to lure viewers away from their cable subscriptions. In return, they hope to earn a share of the $3 billion profit CNN, Fox, and MSNBC will make in 2020.
However, some observers argue that this free model could encourage polarization in the newsroom. After all, commercial averse viewers may not pay for television news, which has been a profitable business for decades.
A number of news outlets have entered the streamer marketplace, including Bloomberg, Newsy, Al Jazeera, Cheddar, and others. While some of them have failed to attract audiences, others have established themselves as the premier sources of online video news.
