Jerod Harris / Taylor Hill / Steven Ferdman / Getty
- X just announced three new video streaming shows, from Don Lemon, Tulsi Gabbard, and Jim Rome.
- Linda Yaccarino has been trying to secure brand-safe programming and partnerships with sports to win back advertisers.
- But does anyone actually want to watch longform television shows on X?
Linda Yaccarino, CEO of X and legendarily upbeat tweeter, seems to be finally getting her way. In November, The Wall Street Journal reported that Yaccarino, who was an advertising exec for NBC Universal, was trying to draw on her TV roots by securing TV-like content to win back advertisers.
On Tuesday, X announced three new streaming shows from Don Lemon (a former CNN anchor who was fired last year after a report alleging disrespectful treatment of female coworkers), Tulsi Gabbard (a former Democratic presidential candidate), and Jim Rome (a sports talk radio host).
Last year, Tucker Carlson started streaming a show on X after he was fired from Fox News. The success in terms of viewership for his show is a little fuzzy. Carlson's interview with former president Donald Trump showed a "view" count of about 230 million — but it's unclear what that metric means. It could include, for example, people who scrolled past it in their feed without interacting or watching.
Either way, he's out: Carlson announced last month that he is starting his own subscription network where he will stream his show for $9 a month. In a cruel betrayal, @catturd2, a prolific X user and formerly a favorite of Elon Musk, tweeted Monday that he just sat for an interview with Carlson for his new network.
Just sat down for a long interview with this unknown guy. What a fantastic, down-to-earth person in real life with an awesome, wonderful team behind him. pic.twitter.com/UX6lrTflTF
— Catturd ™ (@catturd2) January 8, 2024
Yaccarino's ongoing attempts to lure back advertisers have been consistently undermined by Musk. A deal with Paris Hilton, where she posted content and ran ads for her new cookware line, dissolved within two months after Musk's tweet supporting an antisemitic post on X. Yaccarino reportedly received texts from friends advising her to resign after the fiasco.
Brand-safe streaming video content with well-known personalities seems to be Yaccarino's vision to get revenue back on track. But watching long-form videos isn't typically what X users come to the platform to do. It's long established as a kind of second screen for viewing while also watching sports or TV events. Getting users to actually tune in to Don Lemon on X might be an uphill battle.