Yahoo News today will launch a live, daily streaming newscast anchored by Katie Couric. The show debuts at 1 p.m. ET. “Yahoo News Live will provide perspective on the stories that are trending around the nation, and often the world,” Yahoo said in a statement.
As Politico’s Dylan Byers reported earlier this year, live video newscasts have not been an easy sell online, with The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and Politico all pulling back on ambitious efforts to create appointment viewing with live streaming news:
Creating compelling television, it turned out, meant more than putting talking heads around a table. It required millions of dollars, new innovations, and, most important, experienced producers and compelling on-air talent.
AdvertisementNow, the hope for live digital television is all but dead, and the entire industry is on a “course correction.” The focus has shifted from live programming to brief video packages requiring minimal cost and production efforts. Even here, news organizations have struggled to turn video into a lucrative business, let alone a robust revenue generator. In 2013, the Times couldn’t even draw enough viewers to deliver on its advertisement deals.