Vice didn’t end up programming HLN, but Vice’s vision for news on television–and beyond–is directly competing with that of CNN.
Writing in Fast Company, Jeff Beer argues “Vice and CNN are both fighting for the same pool of advertising, sponsorship, and subscriber revenue, and both are pursuing remarkably similar strategies to win the future of the news business.”
Beer notes that as CNN expands from television into digital, Vice is broadening its reach from digital into traditional TV, with deals on HBO and elsewhere:
With its hold on cable subscriber fees, strong ratings among younger viewers, and embrace of native advertising and digital video, CNN could maintain its dominance as the destination news brand of the future. Vice’s business model, though, is built for growth, and underestimating it will come at CNN’s own peril. So the fight comes down to this: Which tattooed aging rebel in a black T-shirt do you want to be your guide to understanding today’s world—Bourdain or Smith?