NBCU News Group said it plans to hire 200 people over the next few months as it adds several new hours of live, original programming for NBC News Now, its over-the-top streaming service.
The majority of the new roles will support NBC News Now‘s expanding streaming operations and programming. NBCU News Group said the additional headcount is on top of more than 70 new hires of late. The expansion plans include doubling the size of the “Today” newsroom, growing NBC News’ breaking news and beat reporting team, expanding the MSNBC digital footprint and investing in ecommerce initiatives and CNBC Pro.
“This substantial investment in streaming and digital allows us to meet the needs of news consumers in a rapidly changing digital media industry,” NBCU News Group chairman Cesar Conde said in a statement.
The move reflects a new scramble in the news biz to cater to the growing appetite of streaming audiences. For example, CNN is gearing up to launch the CNN Plus subscription-streaming service next year, for which it’s expecting to hire some 450 people in the next 6-9 months.
Starting this fall, NBC News Now will add “substantial staffing resources” and several new hours of live, original programming. The new streaming schedule will include a daily, primetime news program anchored by senior national correspondent Tom Llamas; a daily evening show and weekly special newsmagazine series hosted by senior Washington correspondent and anchor Hallie Jackson; and an evening news analysis and explainer program, hosted by anchor Joshua Johnson.
NBC News Now will continue to expand its weekday live programming throughout the fall and add to its live original programming on the weekends beginning in the first quarter of 2022. The streaming network will also begin its international distribution later this year, NBCU News Group said.
Launched in 2019, NBC News Now currently averages more than 44 million views and 14 million hours watched per month, according to the company. NBCU News Group also debuted “Today All Day” and “The Choice” from MSNBC on Peacock in 2020. It alsocontinues to produce “Stay Tuned” daily programming on Snapchat and other social media platforms.
NBC News Now is available as a free, ad-supported channel on NBCU’s Peacock streaming service, the Roku Channel, YouTube TV, YouTube, Fubo, Xumo, Pluto, Tubi and on NBCNews and the NBC News apps on Roku, Amazon Fire TV and Apple TV.
