Amazon’s foray into live news coverage began with a familiar voice and face.
“Good evening. It’s been a while,” said Brian Williams, the longtime NBC Nightly News anchor, kicking off election night coverage Tuesday at 2 p.m. PT. “We’re so happy you’ve chosen to join us.”
Williams moved between different areas of a sprawling set in Culver City, Calif., as he introduced a range of political commentators from various backgrounds and affiliations, kicking off a marathon of news and analysis on Election Day.
And so began Amazon’s first attempt at streaming live news.
Amazon has invested billions of dollars to buy expensive sports media rights and build out extensive cloud computing infrastructure required to stream NFL games and other live sports action for Prime members around the globe.
The Seattle tech giant is now expanding its live streaming ambitions by venturing into news.
“This non-partisan live special will draw from major news sources and complement the various partner news channels available on Prime Video,” Albert Cheng, head of Prime Video, said in a blog post.
The stream on Tuesday was open to anyone, unlike Amazon’s NFL games, which require a Prime membership.
Amazon has used its NFL streaming deal as a way to drive Prime membership sign-ups ($139/year) and create new revenue to fuel its growing advertising business.
There were a handful of ads through the first two hours of Tuesday’s election night coverage, including for Balance of Nature and Viking.com. Amazon also promoted its own shows and movies during breaks.
Commentators included longtime political analysts, reporters, and TV hosts such as Shepard Smith, James Carville, Abby Huntsman, Candy Crowley, Poppy Harlow, and others.
Some viewers criticized the set for being too large. Others said they liked Amazon’s coverage, while Williams was praised.
Here was the opening clip aired at the outset of the show:
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