Amazon’s streaming service Prime Video is moving forward with plans to produce an Election Night special that will be hosted by former NBC News anchor Brian Williams, the company confirmed on Thursday.
On November 5, Williams will host “Election Night Live with Brian Williams,” which will offer live updates on national and local races throughout the United States, including the 2024 presidential election.
The special will start streaming on Prime Video at 5 p.m. Eastern Time, Amazon said in a statement. All Amazon customers will be allowed to watch the special, even if they do not have a Prime membership or otherwise subscribe to Prime Video.
“After 41 years in the business — from local news to network shows to cable news — this feels like the next big thing, and the global marketplace of Amazon is a natural home for this first-of-its-kind venture,” Williams said in a statement. “Together we will follow the storyline on election night wherever it leads us.”
Williams is best known for his time at NBC News, where he hosted the network’s flagship evening news program “NBC Nightly News” until 2015. That year, Williams offered a story during a Nightly News broadcast about his time covering the 2003 Iraq War, with details that were later proven to be false. He was suspended from the network for six months, then moved over to MSNBC, where he hosted “The 11th Hour with Brian Williams” until December 2021.
“Prime Video is excited to host Brian Williams for a one-night-only Election Night special event,” said Albert Cheng, the Vice President and Head of Prime Video. “Prime Video provides customers access to programming that delights, informs, and engages, conveniently offered in one centralized app. This non-partisan live special will draw from major news sources and complement the various partner news channels available on Prime Video. Our comprehensive offering is designed to give today’s viewer a direct and seamless way to keep up with election results.”
The Election Night special ticks several boxes for Amazon: It allows the company to offer its linear television advertisers more inventory to buy against live, real-time content that draws significant interest but has a short shelf life. The company already offers live sports, including Thursday evening football games, that help support its blossoming ad business.
It also serves as a testing ground for Amazon’s real-time data products, which Prime Video has mostly used for sports. On Election Night, Prime Video and Amazon will get to test those same data collection and reporting capabilities for editorial content, which could open the door for future specials of a similar nature.
The special can also be used as a promotional tool for other news channels that Amazon and Prime Video carry through the Freevee service, which include NBC News Now, LiveNow from Fox, ABC News Live, CNN Headlines, Reuters Television and CBS News 24/7 — some of which will also offer their own Election Night specials.
