BuzzFeed News and Twitter are taking on TV’s lucrative morning news daypart with a live streaming show and have signed up several large sponsors before the weekday program launches Sept. 25.
Wendy’s, Toyota and Bank of America are the first sponsors of AM to DM, which will be produced by BuzzFeed and be consumed on Twitter. Wendy’s will be the show’s presenting sponsor. Twitter, which announced plans for the show at its NewFront presentation in May, expects to announce more major sponsors in the next few weeks.
The live stream will be free and accessible globally to logged-in and logged-out users on Twitter and connected devices. The stream will be available at @BuzzFeedNews.
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"Twitter is the beating heart of news and our newsroom has always embraced its power unabashedly, both for breaking news and for staying on top of it,” said Ben Smith, Buzzfeed editor in chief. “The exciting thing about this show is that while much of television news now is basically explaining to you what happened a few hours ago on Twitter, we get to come to an informed and up-to-date audience from right inside the news cycle."
AM to DM will have its own dedicated staff, including an executive producer and bookers, and will be overseen by BuzzFeed News editors.
The show will be hosted by BuzzFeed Books editor Isaac Fitzgerald (@IsaacFitzgerald) and BuzzFeed News’ Executive Editor of Culture Saeed Jones (@theferocity), and produced by Cindy Vanegas-Gesuale, a veteran of CNN, Fox, and the Huffington Post.
Newsmakers and notables from the world of politics, entertainment, and tech will appear regularly, and segments will draw on trends, personalities, stories, and jokes from the conversation happening in real-time.
"Twitter is where people turn to see what's happening in the world every morning and BuzzFeed News is a vital source of that information for many of our users," said Anthony Noto, Twitter COO. "We are excited to collaborate with BuzzFeed to bring their fresh approach to a live morning show broadcast alongside the real time conversation on Twitter. AM to DM will be timely, insightful and of course funny for viewers around the world on Twitter."
