Amazon and Brian Williams’ plans for election night

• Amazon is testing the news with a Brian Williams election night special on Prime Video.
• The special touts more than a dozen cast members, including James Carville and Shepard Smith.
• Its executive producer told BI how Amazon plans to create a non-committal tone.

Amazon is closing in on its news coverage with a special election night edition hosted by Brian Williams.

“Election Night Live with Brian Williams” will be released. Prime Video November 5th at 5:00 PM ET. It will feature more than a dozen journalists and contributors, including political consultant James Carville, former Fox News anchor Shepard Smith and comedian Baratunde Thurston.

Williams’ longtime producer, Jonathan Wald, shared plans for the upcoming special in an interview with Business Insider and emphasized that it will take an unbiased approach.

“We don’t encourage either side,” said Wald, who will executive produce the special. “We have a pretty clear mandate and that is to report what’s going on as it’s going on. When you speculate, make it clear that you are acting from a point of view.”

He said that in a deeply divided country, the striking middle tone should give members more confidence to call things as they see them. He also emphasized that the event will not avoid fact-checking or challenging a candidate who misbehaves or makes an egregious statement. The program will not try to call races before others, but instead takes cues from well-known news networks.

“Election Night Live” is a gamble for Amazon with no history in the news. The one-off news program is in line with its strategy to engage in live event programming sport and live purchases, however. This is the type of programming that has the potential to reach large audiences and advertisers, especially those who launch products on a tight deadline and are willing to pay a high price to reach them. Amazon will use its site, which Comcore said had 236.9 million unique visitors from the U.S. in June, and this week NFL Thursday Football programming to engage viewers in a special.

Details of special started leaking a few weeks ago. It will be offered in English in most countries where Prime Video is available, regardless of whether viewers have a Prime subscription, which should greatly expand its potential reach.

Some major news outlets have faced a backlash over political coverage in an increasingly polarized time. Founder of Amazon Jeff Bezos was embroiled in political controversy in the last days after The Washington Postwhich he owns, has announced that it will not support the presidential candidate.

Wald said Amazon had no role in determining the format or approach of the special election plan.

Williams is low-risk hosting for Amazon. He was the longtime anchor of “NBC Nightly News,” who was ousted after embellishing some of the details of the helicopter trip to Iraq. From 2016 to 2021, he was the host of “The 11th Hour” on MSNBC. In all, he spent 28 years at NBC.

“He’s the right choice for a number of reasons, not the least of which is one of the things he does best,” Wald said. “I don’t think there’s a YouTuber, X-host or Instagrammer who could do a better job of following everything that’s going on with dignity and grace and honesty and doing it in a medium that’s fun.”

Along with familiar TV characters, viewers will see some interactive elements and an emphasis on reporters from digital news outlets including Puck, Axios and Politico (which share a parent with Business Insider).

“We’re bringing them all together as a de facto affiliate network,” Wald said. “This is an editorial action. They are often the first to hear about major news. We want to use it.”