News networks are continuing to put significant resources into their streaming news efforts, and that includes the network that started it all: CBS News.
CBSN, which launched all the way back in 2014 with Jeff Glor as its lead anchor, is being renamed CBS News later this year and will use the former CBS This Morning studio as its new streaming studio. CBS’ weekday and Saturday morning shows recently moved to a Times Square studio, and, like CBSN, also experienced name changes (CBS This Morning became CBS Mornings and CBS This Morning: Saturday became CBS Saturday Morning).
Digiday first reported the CBSN name change.
CBS News president and co-head Neeraj Khemlani announced the upcoming change during an internal town hall last Tuesday (Sept. 14), telling staffers, “CBSN will be renamed CBS News, another example of how we are bringing our divisions together. CBSN local will be renamed CBS News Denver, for example, or CBS News Boston. Each stream contributing to the larger—now united—local to global CBS News. More on all of that later this Fall.”
Khemlani added in a separate statement to TVNewser: “As a unified organization, we’ll offer a choreography of coverage across all of our platforms, that includes unparalleled, expansive on-the-ground reporting from New York to L.A., Chicago to Dallas, London to Beijing and everywhere in between.”
In addition to rebroadcasts of the CBS Evening News and a news wheel, CBSN has found some success with an original early-morning newscast co-anchored by Ann-Marie Green and Vlad Duthiers (CBSN AM) and earned tons of traffic in 2020 with its live coverage of former-Gov. Andrew Cuomo‘s televised coronavirus briefings. In fact, the news-heavy year of 2020 was a record one for CBS News’ streaming news service with more than one billion streams, and in the first half of 2021, CBSNews.com’s average monthly traffic was up +14% compared to the first half of 2020.
“We’re not just seeing streaming growth nationally. CBS local news streaming is growing year-over-year as well,” McMahon said in a statement to TVNewser. “By unifying these organizations, we’re building on this momentum. When you bring together a highly-relevant local streaming service with a national and even globally resonant CBS News streaming network – that’s where you really see the audience fully served.
“For example, on the night of the California Recount, the collaboration across streaming and stations bolstered all of our platforms. By combining our local experts with our national political and polling unit led by Anthony Salvanto, we were able to provide insightful analysis and ultimately call the race before many outlets, including the AP.”