For Good Morning America (GMA) News Producer Elisa Tang, her daily routine of whipping out her Metro Card at the Brooklyn subway terminal to arrive at West 66th Street in NYC has been abruptly halted due to the prolonged pandemic. Grabbing a much-needed cup of coffee at 9:00 a.m. and writing next to colleagues has been replaced by her home-brewed Keurig cups and Zoom meeting marathons. But, an influx of inspiration among her less-than-10 digital production team is always imminent.
“Everyone I work with in my team are very innovative,” Tang said in a video interview (one of her many Zoom calls). “I feel that energy every time I’m at work, even if I’m just at my desk and to me, that’s a very important part of my job. I love the creative aspect of my job, pitching stories and thinking outside of the box when it comes to storytelling, especially now, thinking ‘How can we tell these stories so people will listen during a pandemic while still getting the information they need?’”
The assembly line of three-lettered news networks – ABC, CNN, FOX and NBC – brightens up television screens across America with its morning shows, around-the-clock news coverage and specialized segments. And, though certain viewers are glued to specific networks – including cable TV news from CNN and FOX, Nielsen ratings and research rankings are especially pressuring for TV producers at ABC and NBC. These two media giants are part of a distinct network television model – a model in which the pressure to produce profits is heightened, according to an article from NiemanReports.
“Everyone I work with in my team are very innovative,” Tang said in a video interview (one of her many Zoom calls). “I feel that energy every time I’m at work, even if I’m just at my desk and to me, that’s a very important part of my job. I love the creative aspect of my job, pitching stories and thinking outside of the box when it comes to storytelling, especially now, thinking ‘How can we tell these stories so people will listen during a pandemic while still getting the information they need?’”
The assembly line of three-lettered news networks – ABC, CNN, FOX and NBC – brightens up television screens across America with its morning shows, around-the-clock news coverage and specialized segments. And, though certain viewers are glued to specific networks – including cable TV news from CNN and FOX, Nielsen ratings and research rankings are especially pressuring for TV producers at ABC and NBC. These two media giants are part of a distinct network television model – a model in which the pressure to produce profits is heightened, according to an article from NiemanReports.
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In a 2014 Pew Research Center survey, ABC is trusted by 50% of respondents, the most trusted news source after CNN with a 4% higher approval rate. Moreover, World News Tonight with David Muir dominated Nielsen ratings with 10.5 million viewers in May, an article published in Forbes outlines.
Even with national press acclaim, Tang says she isn’t as focused on statistical performance but rather how she can, along with her GMA team, continue changing the public conversation through creative storytelling. “I’m sure GMA has its critics like every other show does,” she said. “We are inspired by other brands, we have collaborated with other brands, and we respect other brands. But, we try to find ways to put the GMA or ABC stamp on the stories we’re producing.” So, when a story comes hot off the press, Tang and her team aren’t just slapping on the ‘ABC News’ byline stamp – they are carefully curating the fluidity of the ink in every facet of the story process. More often than not, relatability is marked first and then the story is signed, sealed and delivered on both TV and digital mediums. |
“The digital team is the show’s sister,” Tang explains. “We are serving an audience that is largely millennial and female and are producing lifestyle content – the feel-good, relatable, social justice issues.”
When Sen. Kamala Harris announced her vice-presidential ticket with Democratic Candidate Joe Biden on GMA’s show, Tang added, her team produced that ‘relatable’ story for its target audience, ‘Kamala Harris shares advice for young women,’ which aired on goodmorningamerica.com. Tang and her production team swept Harris off the studio and into a private interview room for a related story to pair with the TV coverage.
“We really piggyback off people that the show has had on, and it’s cool to see us working in tandem with the TV production team,” she said. “We are a Disney-owned company and ABC prides itself on its storytelling – it’s known for its storytelling. CNN and NBC and all these other networks are, of course, known for storytelling too, but Disney circulates around creative storytelling.”
While Tang’s work environment sounds nothing short of Tinker Bell sprinkling pink and silver creativity-infused pixie dust over ABC producers, the media manages to display a stark opposite when referencing NBC and its production techniques. The so-called ABC and NBC catfight between GMA and TODAY has been described by Variety as ‘TV’s longest-running A.M. news battle,” where the two networks are entwined in a ‘neck-and-neck race for dominance.’
Last year’s rankings deemed ABC the frontrunner, garnering an average of 1,119,000 viewers between the ages of 25 and 54, just 7,000 more than its NBC competition. This was the first time in three years that TODAY wasn’t dominating this age range, the viewer category most coveted by advertisers who sponsor morning programming. Better numbers equals better rates from advertisers. It’s not just about producing the best ‘feel-good’ stories – everything has a business directive even when it comes to creatively covering the news.
“There’s how many people who watch in total, and there’s a certain demographic that advertisers have negotiated pay for – that’s people between 25 and 54, a little more for prime-time, entertainment shows,” said Brian Steinberg, Variety’s Senior TV Editor and founder of the phrase ‘TV’s longest-running A.M. news battle,’ in a phone interview. “The hope is, over time, that they’ll be able to curate audiences from TV, websites and on-demand and be able to get to a number that’ll make [higher revenue]. They can place adds in different times to target specific age ranges, so there’s a lot of technology involved – that’s why TV ratings are still very important to them.”
Steinberg adds ABC has the most-watched show but NBC has the audience most coveted by advertisers so, economically speaking, NBC wins but ABC wins in a “bragging rights” perspective.
When Sen. Kamala Harris announced her vice-presidential ticket with Democratic Candidate Joe Biden on GMA’s show, Tang added, her team produced that ‘relatable’ story for its target audience, ‘Kamala Harris shares advice for young women,’ which aired on goodmorningamerica.com. Tang and her production team swept Harris off the studio and into a private interview room for a related story to pair with the TV coverage.
“We really piggyback off people that the show has had on, and it’s cool to see us working in tandem with the TV production team,” she said. “We are a Disney-owned company and ABC prides itself on its storytelling – it’s known for its storytelling. CNN and NBC and all these other networks are, of course, known for storytelling too, but Disney circulates around creative storytelling.”
While Tang’s work environment sounds nothing short of Tinker Bell sprinkling pink and silver creativity-infused pixie dust over ABC producers, the media manages to display a stark opposite when referencing NBC and its production techniques. The so-called ABC and NBC catfight between GMA and TODAY has been described by Variety as ‘TV’s longest-running A.M. news battle,” where the two networks are entwined in a ‘neck-and-neck race for dominance.’
Last year’s rankings deemed ABC the frontrunner, garnering an average of 1,119,000 viewers between the ages of 25 and 54, just 7,000 more than its NBC competition. This was the first time in three years that TODAY wasn’t dominating this age range, the viewer category most coveted by advertisers who sponsor morning programming. Better numbers equals better rates from advertisers. It’s not just about producing the best ‘feel-good’ stories – everything has a business directive even when it comes to creatively covering the news.
“There’s how many people who watch in total, and there’s a certain demographic that advertisers have negotiated pay for – that’s people between 25 and 54, a little more for prime-time, entertainment shows,” said Brian Steinberg, Variety’s Senior TV Editor and founder of the phrase ‘TV’s longest-running A.M. news battle,’ in a phone interview. “The hope is, over time, that they’ll be able to curate audiences from TV, websites and on-demand and be able to get to a number that’ll make [higher revenue]. They can place adds in different times to target specific age ranges, so there’s a lot of technology involved – that’s why TV ratings are still very important to them.”
Steinberg adds ABC has the most-watched show but NBC has the audience most coveted by advertisers so, economically speaking, NBC wins but ABC wins in a “bragging rights” perspective.
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News networks’ algorithms for gaining traction is a multifaceted web and, according to Steinberg, both ABC and NBC are constantly trying to “edge out” the other with their storytelling strategies. He adds that ABC has the advantage of advertising Disney movies and cutesy segments, while NBC dishes out its Olympic coverage year after year.
“It’s a weird mix of the anchors and the news stories they cover and the brand they have [to increase numbers],” Steinberg said. “These are very well-established shows and have been on the air for decades so it’s hard to monkey around too much with what they do, but they are always trying to figure out what anchor combination will give them an edge and which booking will help them out.” This ‘edge,’ coupled with ABC’s slight statistical victory over NBC in recent years, has left TODAY Executive Producer Jim Bell with just four words to describe its runner-up rating – ‘they’re doing something else,’ according to the New York Times. “There’s absolutely competition between NBC and ABC’s morning shows,” TODAY Associate Plaza Producer Kevin Schatell said in an email interview. “We’re two of the major networks with competing morning shows, on at the exact same time. As Americans are waking up to start their day, they have a few options when they turn on their TV. We want them to watch our show. We compete for bookings, we want the biggest newsmakers to come on our shows, we want the hottest musicians to perform in our studios, we want exclusive interviews that you can’t find anywhere else. The bottom line – we want the most captivating content which we hope turns into more viewers.” |
Graphic by Victoria Giardina
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In assessing each network’s content, Steinberg mentions that ABC “does a very good job” because they have a wide array of subjects while NBC is “a little more news-focused,” branching out with wellness, health, shopping and cooking after the first hour. However, Schatell mentions the crowd-gathering secret (exclusive to NBC) that increases audience numbers – the plaza.
“GMA doesn’t have a plaza,” he explains. “They’ve created a studio audience over the past few years, but the plaza is uniquely ours, existed for decades, and that’s one of the things I love most about my job. As TODAY hit the airwaves, people gathered in midtown Manhattan to see themselves on TV screens. There’s something sacred about the plaza – decades of rich history and millions of people who’ve visited over the years.”
Kevin Schatell takes pride in the rainbow-colored peacock he calls home. He proudly boasts TODAY’s landmark as “the intersection of everything happening in our world,” Studio 1A nestled on 49th Street and Rockefeller Plaza. Though he was out and about overseeing TODAY’s audience early in the morning, the pandemic hasn’t let the electrifying energy of the plaza die. Schatell mentions that he still “pinches himself daily” that he gets to virtually work with the anchor team: Savannah, Hoda, Craig and, as he alluded to, THE Al Roker.
“TODAY has its pulse on all the biggest stories of our lifetimes, and there’s a sort of heart-pounding excitement when you’re near Studio 1A,” he said. “You can feel it.”
And, like Tang, he vouches the morning show model ignites competition with ABC with engaging content that is straightforward and doesn’t consist of politically-charged bias. This ‘rise and shine’ storytelling style is what makes every day a “celebration” for Schatell as an NBC employee.
“Whether outside in Rockefeller Center or on Zoom for our virtual audience, people are joining our show to celebrate milestones: birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, retirements, new babies,” he said. “It genuinely fills my heart and keeps me in a positive headspace. I am deeply grateful for that – especially now, during the pandemic, while people are looking for new and exciting ways to celebrate their milestones. We get to provide that by offering some airtime on national television!”
This heart-satisfying content is one ABC keeps close at bay, too. Tang describes GMA’s coverage as “light, informative, and progressive,” and ratings have certainly nodded positively as well. Her journalistic mission is to maintain this ambiance in her produced pieces, continuing, as she mentioned, to ‘think outside the box.’ As a morning show with not as much political bias, as compared to some night broadcast segments, Tang proudly mentions GMA’s coverage celebrating inclusivity.
“GMA doesn’t have a plaza,” he explains. “They’ve created a studio audience over the past few years, but the plaza is uniquely ours, existed for decades, and that’s one of the things I love most about my job. As TODAY hit the airwaves, people gathered in midtown Manhattan to see themselves on TV screens. There’s something sacred about the plaza – decades of rich history and millions of people who’ve visited over the years.”
Kevin Schatell takes pride in the rainbow-colored peacock he calls home. He proudly boasts TODAY’s landmark as “the intersection of everything happening in our world,” Studio 1A nestled on 49th Street and Rockefeller Plaza. Though he was out and about overseeing TODAY’s audience early in the morning, the pandemic hasn’t let the electrifying energy of the plaza die. Schatell mentions that he still “pinches himself daily” that he gets to virtually work with the anchor team: Savannah, Hoda, Craig and, as he alluded to, THE Al Roker.
“TODAY has its pulse on all the biggest stories of our lifetimes, and there’s a sort of heart-pounding excitement when you’re near Studio 1A,” he said. “You can feel it.”
And, like Tang, he vouches the morning show model ignites competition with ABC with engaging content that is straightforward and doesn’t consist of politically-charged bias. This ‘rise and shine’ storytelling style is what makes every day a “celebration” for Schatell as an NBC employee.
“Whether outside in Rockefeller Center or on Zoom for our virtual audience, people are joining our show to celebrate milestones: birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, retirements, new babies,” he said. “It genuinely fills my heart and keeps me in a positive headspace. I am deeply grateful for that – especially now, during the pandemic, while people are looking for new and exciting ways to celebrate their milestones. We get to provide that by offering some airtime on national television!”
This heart-satisfying content is one ABC keeps close at bay, too. Tang describes GMA’s coverage as “light, informative, and progressive,” and ratings have certainly nodded positively as well. Her journalistic mission is to maintain this ambiance in her produced pieces, continuing, as she mentioned, to ‘think outside the box.’ As a morning show with not as much political bias, as compared to some night broadcast segments, Tang proudly mentions GMA’s coverage celebrating inclusivity.
Graphic by Victoria Giardina
“One producer who joined right before me, her first initiative with the team was to start this series for Black History Month called ‘On Their Shoulders’ and it was really special,” Tang described. “When I saw this series, I was like, ‘Wow, that’s really cool we have that’ and told my boss we should take it a step further for Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. Since, we did it for Pride Month and now, Hispanic Heritage Month, which is technically over, but I’m one of those people who believes any of these communities should be celebrated no matter what month it is.”
Tang is a cheerleader for inclusivity as a member of the Asian American Journalists Association. She said she is “extremely proud” to not only cover uplifting and unbiased stories like these for ‘.com’ but also those that appear live on-air.
“Our audience wants to see themselves in the stories we cover, and it’s important for networks like mine to be taking that initiative to be more inclusive – not only with their talent but also with the stories they’re covering,” she said. “A clip of my story aired on GMA and the fact that the show was so willing to play ball with us [the digital team] and collaborate with us makes us very unique compared to other networks.”
At ABC, Tang’s creativity-packed day includes filming, editing, and writing content like her treasured cultural piece. She added that GMA – the show that she calls ‘home’ – includes “the news you wake up with” and has “feel-good, feature stories.” That said, her specific platform isn’t filled with politically-charged bias because viewers desire something light and airy to pair with their morning coffee.
“Both networks [ABC and NBC] are increasingly making efforts to get [news] out in different ways,” Steinberg said. “There’s a TODAY streaming service and a GMA website with a ‘new morning newsletter.’ They are aware people are starting to watch in different fashions, so they’re quietly trying to move their content around.”
Moving content around because of the progressive media landscape is one thing, but ABC also has to think outside of the box with how they produce their content, especially during the age of COVID-19. Maintaining the attention of the audience is what propels ABC to cover its news in a relatable fashion.
“As digital producers, we can film in a way that traditional journalists are used to but we also film in a way that works for our audience, and I think our audience cares to see the person talking to them, much like people on YouTube who ‘vlog’ about their day,” Tang said. She added her team at ABC tries to incorporate standard studio filming with home-video, natural approaches, like she employed with ABC talent Ginger Z who used both her phone and the network’s equipment to capture her daily routine. It’s the creativity that keeps both morning shows nitpicking their news to be strategic for the big screen.
“These two shows, economically, are very important to both companies, probably bringing in more money than any other show in the news division,” Steinberg concludes. “They are big brand builders for the network and the company and this is a scorched-earth battle for dominance because a few points can change how much money (and views) they bring in – this is the most competitive race on TV.”
Tang is a cheerleader for inclusivity as a member of the Asian American Journalists Association. She said she is “extremely proud” to not only cover uplifting and unbiased stories like these for ‘.com’ but also those that appear live on-air.
“Our audience wants to see themselves in the stories we cover, and it’s important for networks like mine to be taking that initiative to be more inclusive – not only with their talent but also with the stories they’re covering,” she said. “A clip of my story aired on GMA and the fact that the show was so willing to play ball with us [the digital team] and collaborate with us makes us very unique compared to other networks.”
At ABC, Tang’s creativity-packed day includes filming, editing, and writing content like her treasured cultural piece. She added that GMA – the show that she calls ‘home’ – includes “the news you wake up with” and has “feel-good, feature stories.” That said, her specific platform isn’t filled with politically-charged bias because viewers desire something light and airy to pair with their morning coffee.
“Both networks [ABC and NBC] are increasingly making efforts to get [news] out in different ways,” Steinberg said. “There’s a TODAY streaming service and a GMA website with a ‘new morning newsletter.’ They are aware people are starting to watch in different fashions, so they’re quietly trying to move their content around.”
Moving content around because of the progressive media landscape is one thing, but ABC also has to think outside of the box with how they produce their content, especially during the age of COVID-19. Maintaining the attention of the audience is what propels ABC to cover its news in a relatable fashion.
“As digital producers, we can film in a way that traditional journalists are used to but we also film in a way that works for our audience, and I think our audience cares to see the person talking to them, much like people on YouTube who ‘vlog’ about their day,” Tang said. She added her team at ABC tries to incorporate standard studio filming with home-video, natural approaches, like she employed with ABC talent Ginger Z who used both her phone and the network’s equipment to capture her daily routine. It’s the creativity that keeps both morning shows nitpicking their news to be strategic for the big screen.
“These two shows, economically, are very important to both companies, probably bringing in more money than any other show in the news division,” Steinberg concludes. “They are big brand builders for the network and the company and this is a scorched-earth battle for dominance because a few points can change how much money (and views) they bring in – this is the most competitive race on TV.”
