Dan Abrams To Host a Cable News Primetime Show on NewsNation
The cable news network NewsNation is expanding its lineup and will launch a new primetime program with Dan Abrams this fall. NewsNation announced that Dan Abrams Live will debut on September 27 and will air on weeknights from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. ET.
Abrams founded the popular industry aggregator Mediaite and serves as ABC News chief legal analyst, a role which he will continue to hold.
Abrams enters a competitive field at 8 p.m. Beyond Tucker Carlson Tonight, All In with Chris Hayes, and Anderson Cooper 360 -- Dan Abrams Live will air up against The First's No Spin News with Bill O'Reilly, NewsMax's Stinchfield, and Fox Business' Kennedy.
Even if Abrams' show doesn't leave a dent in viewership, his show will expand the status of NewsNation. NewsNation has a place in the cable news market. Launched by Nexstar Media Group, NewsNation is available in 75 million homes.
For Nexstar, the key is growing and monetizing NewsNation on social media. The number of impressionable linear TV viewers is small and rapidly declining. Meanwhile, there's a growing appetite for online content in the form of short clips. NewsNation's recent moves put the network in a position to capitalize on that opening.
In addition to Abrams, NewsNation added former Fox News host Leland Vittert in the spring and announced that Adrienne Bankert, previously of ABC News, will anchor the network's forthcoming morning show, Morning in America. A presence in the morning should help keep viewers on NewsNation, though the channel has struggled to maintain viewership thus far.
Furthermore, NewsNation's programs are well-produced and have direction.
NewsNation brands itself as a moderate alternative to its cable news competitors. The network's new programming will prove that notion true or false.
Michael Corn, the former executive producer of Good Morning America, now president of NewsNation, furthered that sentiment in Monday's press release:
"Dan Abrams is the epitome of the pure, common sense approach to journalism envisioned when NewsNation launched last September. He brings unparalleled expertise to our primetime lineup and emphasizes our ongoing commitment to help engaged viewers gain a better understanding of the day's most controversial and complicated news stories. He has a fresh, no-holds barred approach to covering and analyzing the news, and his credibility is unquestioned."
Smart move. Props to NewsNation and Dan Abrams.