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MSNBC rebrands as MS NOW in bid to scale beyond its niche

The news: MSNBC is rebranding as MS NOW (My Source for News, Opinion and the World) as it spins off from NBCUniversal into Versant. The new name signals a break from its Microsoft roots and a push to establish an independent brand identity, while keeping its editorial positioning intact. NBCU described it as a chance to “chart our own path forward” with distinct logos and positioning apart from NBC News.

Zooming out: The timing comes as the TV news audience continues to erode worldwide.

In the US, just 50% of adults now say they used TV for news in the past week, down sharply from 72% in 2013. The shift is even more dramatic in markets like the UK (79% to 48%) and France (84% to 59%). Younger Americans in particular lean heavily on social networks: 54% of adults ages 18–24 cite social/video as their main news source, compared to only 19% for TV.

Even with this shift, TV news remains influential, particularly among older viewers. 38% of US adults 55+ still name TV as their main source, compared with just 18% who rely on social media. This demographic reality explains why Fox News leads all individual outlets at 14% of US adults citing it as their top news source—well ahead of MSNBC, which sits at just 3%.

That gap underscores why MS NOW’s business goal is bigger than a new logo. The network is trying to expand beyond its hard-left niche and replicate the scale of Fox News, which dominates in part because it blends news with strong identity-driven opinion. MS NOW’s challenge is to hold onto its base while also becoming a destination for broader news consumption in a fragmented landscape where Facebook (11%), TikTok (8%), and CNN (8%) are already competing for attention.

The bottom line: As linear TV declines and digital reshapes the news economy, MS NOW sees its rebrand not just as cosmetic but as a play for relevance—and a shot at scaling into something more than a niche outlet.

This is our immediate perspective. We’re actively developing this story throughout the day with more research and data from the EMARKETER database. Our in-depth analysis will be included in our client-only Briefings. Non-clients can click here to get a demo of our full platform and coverage.

This article was prepared with the assistance of generative AI tools to support content organization, summarization, and drafting. All AI-generated contributions have been reviewed, fact-checked, and verified for accuracy and originality by EMARKETER editors. Any recommendations reflect EMARKETER’s research and human judgment.

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