Brian Williams talks long on Amazon Election Night debut

Brian Williams came to election night not to break the news, but to recap.

The NBC News veteran launched an interesting American experiment on Tuesday night, using Amazon's Prime Video to host a live, hour-long election night special on the streaming giant's massive platform. Williams was able to use his gift of oratory, while his corporate backer was able to experiment with attracting viewers with broadcasts centered around significant live events that weren't an NFL game or other sporting event.

“Election Night with Brian Williams,” which was made available free to anyone who wanted to watch it — whether they had an Amazon Prime subscription or not — started at 5 p.m., well before the official coverage on MSNBC, Fox News Channel, CBS News, or ABC News began, and just as CNN began to do the first poll of the evening, NBC News took over its broadcast network for 24-hour coverage. Amazon placed the live special right at the top of its busy homepage, ensuring it caught the attention of Amazon shoppers.

“Election Night,” which was scheduled to last at least eight to nine hours, is just one of several moves by new technology aimed at reaching a younger generation of news viewers. CNN offered live vertical video on its app, providing unique coverage for mobile audiences. NBC News launched a special “Kornacki Cam” on its streaming service Peacock and MSNBC's YouTube channel, giving subscribers the opportunity to focus entirely on Steve Kornacki, best known for his interactive political maps and statistics.

The pressure to master digital tactics is growing. According to a Pew Research Center analysis, about 86% of U.S. adults say they sometimes get news via a smartphone, computer or tablet, with 57% of that group saying they do so frequently. Meanwhile, the number of Americans who say they frequently get news from television remains steady at 33%.

Amazon has indicated that it is not interested in getting into the news business, but appears interested in tackling live events. Competitor Netflix is ​​also moving into the venue, as are many other broadcast networks, and Disney recently secured the rights to show the Grammys starting in 2027. Live spectacles are one of the few things that bring large audiences together in the way big advertisers crave, and with more and more streamers offering ad-supported tiers, it's no wonder they offer their fair share of such things want. Sport is on everyone's lips, but the games are very expensive.

Amazon made good use of the Williams special. The company used commercial breaks to advertise on the many messaging apps it offers, its new movie “Unstoppable,” and its broadcast of expensive NFL games on “Thursday Night Football.” However, some of the commercials that supported the program were no better than what you might see on Fox News, MSNBC, or CNN on a normal evening. One spot came from Balance of Nature, the nutritional supplement company that often runs direct-response ads on cable news.

Williams' Amazon show included dozens of contributors, some of whom were well known to news audiences. One of them was Candy Crowley, the CNN political veteran who hasn't appeared much on television since leaving her Sunday morning show “State of the Union” in 2014. Crowley showed up Tuesday night to help analyze voters' differing attitudes. Abby Huntsman, the former Fox News anchor and panelist on ABC's “The View,” played a large role in the show, as did CNN and ABC News veteran Jessica Yellin. Shep Smith, known for his long tenure at Fox News and his brief tenure at CNBC, was stationed at Vice President Kamala Harris' headquarters. Poppy Harlow, who recently left CNN, appeared as a correspondent in Paris and told Williams, “We lit up the Eiffel Tower for you.”

What was missing? Lots of the awesome graphics that help the major television networks get through on election night. Williams' screen was filled with, well, Williams and his guests and cast members. There were no scrolling chyrons at the bottom of the screen; no countdown clocks; no “important racing warnings”; and no rotating flashes showing voter percentages or turnout. And Williams was often shown with his back to the audience — once considered a cardinal sin in news production — as he turned to chat with distant guests. Is the YouTube and TikTok generation more forgiving of such production nuances?

In fact, Amazon and Williams chose to host an election night show without access to a specific decision-making desk, which, as the host said, would force viewers to focus on only one set of results, while likely many different polls and results from would be discussed with the public during the evening.

“We won’t be burdened by a decision switch tonight,” Williams told the audience. “We watch everything, so all you have to do is watch us.” Other television producers might disagree with this line of thinking. At some point earlier in the evening, Williams mentioned CNN data as a new topic of discussion for his panel.

However, the producers wanted to give viewers an alternative to the usual. According to a person familiar with the show, the show was aimed more at explaining the news rather than being the first to call a race for a particular state. Producers have been able to line up familiar names, this person added, helped by the fact that many traditional TV news rivals have reduced the number of contributors as economic pressures weigh on them. The show, this person said, wanted to be big and accessible and limited to a factual presentation.

The guests included all stripes from right and left. There were former Trump press advisers like Hogan Gidley and Baratunde Thurston, the writer and comedian.

But mostly there was chatting. Williams had three handfuls of guests to juggle. He spoke to them. He spoke to the audience. He spoke to every panelist on set. He welcomed “newsmakers” like North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper and former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman (also Abby Huntsman's father). The show began with a windy three-minute segment in which he addressed a letter to the nation's founding fathers to let them know how much life had changed in these United States.

Whether Williams gets to do more talking for Amazon in the future may depend on how many viewers clicked in to hear his chatter — and how long they stayed on a night full of other news fun.