*Update (Friday, Nov. 4): The final episode of Shep Smith’s CNBC newscast aired on Wednesday, Nov. 2. The network gave the show the option of continuing through the month, but Smith’s team requested it conclude immediately. An additional hour of markets coverage, not midterm elections coverage, will air in the 7 p.m. hour next Tuesday on CNBC.
CNBC’s media reporter Alex Sherman broke the news, and included the following statement from a network spokesperson: “We can confirm the last newscast was Wednesday, November 2. We’ve decided to do an additional hour of live market coverage next week at 7 p.m. ET as we are focused on identifying potential job opportunities for affected employees across the News Group. We thank Shep and the entire ‘News with Shepard Smith’ team for their incredible work and dedication over the past two years.”
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CNBC’s experiment in general interest news is coming to an end. At least for the foreseeable future.
The financial cable news outlet has decided to cancel its two-year-old evening newscast The News with Shepard Smith, and refocus the hour on business and financial market news coverage. As part of the cancellation, anchor and executive editor Shepard Smith will be leaving CNBC later this month.
The News team reportedly includes about 20 people. The company will assist show staffers in finding other potential opportunities across the NBCUniversal News Group.
According to CNBC’s Alex Sherman, the network announced the news Thursday in an e-mail to staffers. CNBC will replace Smith’s 7 p.m. newscast with financial markets coverage until a new live business news show launches in 2023.
This represents the first significant shakeup by new CNBC boss KC Sullivan.
“After spending time with many of you and closely reviewing the various aspects of our business, I believe we must prioritize and focus on our core strengths of business news and personal finance,” Sullivan said in a memo to CNBC employees. “As a result of this strategic alignment to our core business, we will need to shift some of our priorities and resources and make some difficult decisions.”
Mark Hoffman, the longtime CNBC chairman who left the network in September, helped convince Smith to join CNBC prior to Covid. He made his high-profile CNBC on-air debut smack in the middle of the pandemic — Sept. 30, 2020, roughly 12 months after leaving Fox News.
The Hoffman regime hoped the addition of Smith would bring a new audience to CNBC (if only for an hour per night), and help boost the network’s evening ratings. For a while, that was true. CNBC 7 p.m. ET viewership increased with Smith at the anchor desk, and The News delivered the wealthiest audience of any evening cable news program for eight consecutive quarters. “At a time when misinformation and disinformation is rampant, The News succeeded in providing audiences with the clearest understanding of the facts,” Sullivan noted in his memo to staff. Additionally, the newscast is coming off its most-watched month since April, up +10% month-over-month. All of that said, the audience for The News with Shepard Smith is far smaller than what other major cable news outlets draw in the hour. The program averaged just 225,000 total viewers at 7 p.m. in October, making it the 46th-most-watched regularly scheduled program on all of cable news, and only 30,000 adults 25-54, No. 51 on all of cable news.
“We need to further invest in business news content that provides our audiences actionable understanding of the complex developments in global markets and the implications on institutions, investors and individuals,” Sullivan wrote, adding, “Change is difficult, particularly when talented, good people are impacted … Thank you for your continued dedication and professionalism as we work through these changes.”
Here’s the full memo, obtained by TVNewser:
Team,
After spending time with many of you and closely reviewing the various aspects of our business, I believe we must prioritize and focus on our core strengths of business news and personal finance. This is key in our efforts to continue building on our position as the number one global business news brand and to connect with new audiences of all kinds interested in their financial future.
We need to further invest in business news content that provides our audiences actionable understanding of the complex developments in global markets and the implications on institutions, investors and individuals. During times of flux and uncertainty, our place in the lives of those we touch on-air, online and in person becomes even clearer, and more essential.
As a result of this strategic alignment to our core business, we will need to shift some of our priorities and resources and make some difficult decisions.
To that end, we have decided that The News with Shepard Smith will have its final newscast later this month. The News set out on a bold mission of providing non-partisan, fact-based reporting on the most important stories of the day in the U.S. and around the world. The quality journalism Shep and his team delivered each weeknight was exemplary and not lost on us or our 7pm audience. The News increased CNBC’s 7pm viewership average and attracted the most affluent audience of any primetime cable news program. At a time when misinformation and disinformation is rampant, The News succeeded in providing audiences with the clearest understanding of the facts.
In its place, we will be investing in a new Business News program that will launch in the beginning of 2023. Decisions like these are not arrived at hastily or taken lightly. I believe this decision will ultimately help to strengthen our brand and the value we provide our audiences.
Change is difficult, particularly when talented, good people are impacted. Over the coming weeks, we will work across the News Group to identify other potential opportunities for many of the affected employees. Thank you for your continued dedication and professionalism as we work through these changes.
KC