Brian Williams goes on a long talk during Amazon election night debut

Brian Williams did not arrive Election night to break news, but rather to put it all together.

The NBC News veteran initiated an interesting American experiment Tuesday night by heading to Amazon’s Prime Video to host an hour-long live election night special on the streaming giant’s massive platform. Williams got to use his gift for gab, while his corporate benefactor got to experiment with angling for audiences with broadcasts around memorable live events that aren’t an NFL game or other sporting event.

“Election Night with Brian Williams,” made available for free to anyone who wanted to watch it — regardless of whether they had an Amazon Prime subscription or not — launched at 5 p.m., well before official coverage began on MSNBC, Fox News Channel, CBS News of ABC News, and just as CNN began looking at the first exit poll of the evening and NBC News took over its broadcast network for a 24-hour reporting session. Amazon posted the live special straight from the top of the high-traffic homepage so it caught the attention of Amazon shoppers.

“Election Night,” which is expected to last at least eight or nine hours, is just one of a number of new technological tricks aimed at reaching a younger generation of news viewers. CNN offered live vertical video in its app, providing special coverage for the mobile audience. NBC News launched a special “Kornacki cam” on the Peacock streaming service and MSNBC’s YouTube channel, giving subscribers the chance to focus closely on Steve Kornacki, best known for his interactive political maps and statistics.

There is growing pressure to master digital tactics. About 86% of American adults say they sometimes get news via a smartphone, computer or tablet, while 57% of that group say they do so often, according to a Pew Research Center analysis. Meanwhile, the number of Americans who say they often receive news from television has remained stable at 33%.

Amazon has suggested it is reluctant to get into the news business, but it appears interested in controlling live events. Rival Netflix is ​​also pushing into this venue, as are many of the broadcast networks, with Disney recently acquiring the rights to show the Grammys starting in 2027. Live spectacles are one of the few things that bring together large audiences in the way that major advertisers crave, and with more and more streamers offering ad-supported tiers, it’s no wonder they want to offer their fair share of such things. Sports are certainly all the rage, but the games are becoming very expensive.

Amazon made good use of the Williams special. It used commercial breaks to promote the many news apps it offered, the new movie “Unstoppable” and offering high-priced NFL games via “Thursday Night Football.” However, some of the ads supporting the program were no better than those seen on a regular evening on Fox News, MSNBC or CNN. One spot came from Balance of Nature, the nutritional supplement company that often places direct-response ads on cable news.

Williams’ Amazon show featured dozens of contributors, some of whom were quite well known to the news audience. One of them was Candy Crowley, the CNN political veteran who hasn’t been on TV much since leaving her Sunday morning show “State of the Union” in 2014. Crowley showed up Tuesday night to help analyze the differing voter attitudes. Abby Huntsman, the former Fox News host and panelist on ABC’s “The View,” played a major role in the program, as did Jessica Yellin, the veteran of CNN and ABC News. Shep Smith, known for his long run at Fox News and short tenure at CNBC, was stationed at Vice President Kamala Harris’ headquarters. Poppy Harlow, who recently left CNN, appeared as a Paris correspondent and told Williams that “we kept the Eiffel Tower lit up for you.”

What was missing? Lots of the crazy graphics that help the major TV networks make ends meet on election night. Williams’ screen was filled with, well, Williams and his guests and contributors. There was no scrolling chyron at the bottom of the screen; no countdown clocks, no “important race alerts” and no rotating flashes looking at voter percentages or turnout. And Williams was often shown with his back to the audience — once seen as a cardinal sin in news production — as he turned to talk to distant guests. Is the YouTube and TikTok generation more forgiving of such production nuances?

Indeed, Amazon and Williams chose to do an Election Night show without access to a specific decision agency, which the host told viewers would force him to use only one set of results, when there would likely be many different polls and outcomes produced by the public would be discussed. during the evening.

“We are not hindered by a Decision Desk tonight,” Williams told the crowd. “We keep an eye on everything, so all you have to do is watch us.” Other TV producers might not agree with this line of thinking. At one point early in the evening, Williams mentioned CNN data as a new talking point for his panel.

However, producers wanted to offer viewers an alternative to the usual stuff. The show is more focused on explaining the news, according to a person familiar with the program. Producers were able to line up household names, this person added, helped by the fact that many traditional TV news competitors have trimmed the ranks of their contributors as economic pressures weigh on them. The show, this person says, would like to be big and accessible and culminate in a down-the-middle presentation.

The guests included all stripes from right and left. There were former Trump press advisers like Hogan Gidley and Baratunde Thurston, the writer and comedian.

But mostly there was chatting. Williams had three handfuls of guests to juggle. He spoke to them. He spoke to the audience. He spoke to every panelist present. He welcomed “newsmakers” such as North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper and former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman (also Abby Huntsman’s father). The show opened with a windy three-minute segment in which he wrote a letter to the country’s founding fathers telling them how much life had changed in these United States.

Whether Williams gets to talk more for Amazon in the future may depend on how many viewers clicked in to hear his banter — and how long they stayed on a night full of other newsy distractions.