ABC exalts two wild-card anchors with new daily show... as long-serving heavyweights battle rivals in the ratings
Rachel Scott and James Longman will co-anchor 'What You Need to Know' on Disney+, which debuts on July 21 and airs each weekday at 6 a.m. ET.
The show, which is the first original news show designed for the streaming service, arrives as networks attempt to recapture young consumers who have fled TV for streaming.
Last week, ABC World News Tonight host David Muir, 51, was beaten by NBC News' new primetime host Tom Llamas in the key 25-54 demographic for the first time.
An insider at the time told the Daily Mail that ABC execs were already unsettled by Llamas' impact during his first month as Nightly News host.
ABC's Good Morning America - while barely ahead of Today in total viewers - is trailing NBC in the advertiser-coveted group as well.
The morning show is led by the network's other fixture, George Stephanopoulos, formerly ABC News' chief anchor, who now co-hosts GMA with Robin Roberts and Michael Strahan. He once was ABC News' chief anchor but is no longer.
All three turned down a chance to host the television network's troubled afternoon edition of the morning show, known as GMA3, sources told Daily Mail in April.
The new Disney+ show boasts GMA3's old tagline as its title.
'It's the first thing you will see on Disney+ as you wake up,' ABC News president Almin Karamehmedovic told Variety on Monday, describing a more short-form format that combines breaking news, entertainment segments, and viral videos,
Each episode will be available on demand for 24 hours before refreshing with a new episode.
'Americans have a lot going on in their lives. They want to stay up to speed on what's happening, not only here at home, but also internationally as well,' added Scott, a 32-year-old senior political correspondent for the network.
'And sometimes they don't have a lot of time to do it. And so, this is going to be just the platform for them to get up to speed on the top stories.'
Longman, the network's 39-year-old London-based chief international correspondent, added: 'I'm going to be able to do this wherever I go in the world.
'I could have been doing it from Iraq, when Israel attacked Iran. I could have been doing it for from Ukraine.
'So, this is a way to take the audience with us into the places we're going, yes, to tell them what's going on in the world in the United States, but also give them that a little bit of insight into what we're doing every single day.'
Both will retain their regular roles while co-hosting the new show.
Disney+ currently airs live breaking news and replays of Good Morning America, Nightline, and World News Tonight.
The new show will not air on ABC, the network confirmed, unlike the struggling GMA3, which has recently seen a revolving door of co-hosts following the abrupt exits of co-hosts Eva Pilgrim and DeMarco Morgan.
On-air talents from other hours and elsewhere across the network have been asked to host the show more frequently in what a source described to the Daily Mail as an 'evolution of the show.'
In March, a network spokesperson told that Daily Mail that ABC News was in the process of 'unifying all day parts under the GMA umbrella and team.'
ABC's next timeslot is held by The View, whose mainstay Whoopi Goldberg last week whined that her job can 'feel like hell' after returning from a two-week break following backlash over her controversial comments on Iran.
Muir, meanwhile, has been a primetime mainstay for 11 years, succeeding Diane Sawyer in 2014 when World News Tonight still trailed NBC in total viewers.
Muir has held the primetime crown for the past nine years running.
But three straight weeks of growth with total viewers under his rival, Llamas, have caught the attention of ABC News bosses, a source told the Daily Mail last week.
'There is a growing concern that Muir's once-apparent predecessor is already showing promising signs - and it's starting to reflect in the ratings,' the source said.
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