Future of TV Briefing: How CBS News & Stations developed a virtual studio system for its newscasts

This week’s Future of TV Briefing looks at CBS News & Stations’ creation of a virtual studio system that it is expanding across its local TV stations as well as to streaming.

• The future of TV news
Why YouTube and TikTok creators aren’t going all-in on AI-generated videos
Apple’s ad plans, Pluto TV’s programmatic problem, WBD’s NBA debacle and more

The future of TV news

Last September, CBS News & Stations’ local station in the Bay Area, KPIX, debuted its first weather segment shot in a virtual studio. Roughly a year later, the entire newscast may be filmed on a virtual set.

“By probably this fall, we may be the first station in the country that is all virtual, all [augmented reality]. We won’t have a hard set anywhere,” said Scott Warren, gm of CBS Bay Area.

The virtual studio system is, at heart, a three-dimensional expansion of the traditional two-dimensional green screen technology that has been familiar to local news viewers for years (Warren described the physical set for the virtual studio as “a monstrous green bathtub”). For example, rather than simply plotting weather temperatures as a flat map on a vertical wall, the system can turn the floor into a virtual 3D map that a station’s resident meteorologist can walk through. 

Eventually, Warren envisions being able to take 360-degree video from a news scene, such as a wildfire, and have an in-studio anchor be able to move around inside the video. Another idea would be creating a virtual set tailored to in-studio celebrity interviews, such as by recreating environments from a film the celebrity is promoting. 

The virtual studio system – powered using Epic Games’ Unreal Engine and Zero Density’s virtual production software – is similar to the immersive virtual production technology used on movies and TV shows, such as Disney+’s “The Mandalorian,” though video games appear to be the more direct inspiration.

“When you think about video games and how immersive some of those experiences are, the people who are playing those will eventually become a news consumer. And so I think to have presentations that feel like, look like some of those experiences is going to be necessary in the way that we convey the news,” said Jennifer Mitchell, president of CBS Stations for West Coast-Midwest.

KPIX served as the testing ground for the virtual studio system. That system has expanded to the organization’s New York and Philadelphia stations, and CBS News plans to roll it out to four more stations by the end of this year and to all stations by the end of 2025, Mitchell said. And in June, CBS News launched a two-hour-long live newscast on its CBS News 24/7 streaming service that is filmed completely in a virtual studio, the first hour being hosted in New York and the second in San Francisco.

The initial development of the virtual studio system took eight months, according to Warren. CBS News enlisted Norwegian design firm Myreze to help build out the studio. But the timeline for getting a virtual studio up and running has shrunk significantly. 

Now CBS News can stand up a virtual studio in a new market in roughly 8 to 10 weeks, said Mitchell. “That includes identifying space, working with our design folks to create and build out the graphics, training our talent to be comfortable in a virtual environment where you’re not sitting at a hard desk or pointing to a monitor,” as well as quality assurance testing, she said.

Speaking of space, the virtual studio system could prove to be a space saver – and potentially cost saver – in the long run. Because countless virtual sets can be swapped in for the same physical space, CBS News could take advantage of the virtual sets to either cut back on physical real estate or to repurpose that existing space for other uses. 

With a traditional physical set – or “hard set,” in industry parlance – “you get a bill to put it in, and then you have to sit there and amortize that for seven or eight years to get the value out of it. For about the same investment, you put this [virtual studio] in, and we can change our set every week,” said Warren.

Given that flexibility and the nimbleness needed to keep up with a neverending news cycle, there’s a very real possibility that virtual sets become the standard.

“When we talk about building out hard sets, those can take months and months and months,” said Mitchell, who declined to say how much it costs to build a virtual studio system. “And I mean, listen, I think there will be a time where we’re no longer building hard sets anymore because it will not be necessary.” 

What we’ve heard

“If there are words that ChatGPT wrote in a script, that is a failure of the policy.”

— YouTube creator Hank Green on his company’s generative AI policy for videos

Why YouTube and TikTok creators aren’t going all-in on AI-generated videos

Creators are incorporating generative AI tools into their video workflows. But given their own and their audiences’ concerns regarding generative AI technology, the creators are taking care to avoid AI overtaking their videos. They’re even adopting policies governing their AI use, as covered in the video below.

Numbers to know

$16.99: Monthly price for a bundled subscription to the Disney+-Hulu-Max ad-supported bundle.

$5.99: Monthly subscription price for MLB Network’s standalone streaming service.

-419,000: Number of pay-TV subscribers that Comcast lost in the second quarter of 2024.

-393,000: Number of pay-TV subscribers that Charter lost in Q2 2024.

70%: Percentage share of free, ad-supported streaming TV service users that subscribe to at least three subscription-based streamers.

What we’ve covered

Video ad tech firms Connatix and JW Player are holding merger talks:

• Connatix’s controlling shareholder appears to be on the verge of buying JW Player.
• The deal will likely be publicly framed as a merger.

Read more about Connatix-JW Player here.

Despite the competition, why is everyone talking about YouTube?:

• YouTube’s year-over-year ad revenue growth slowed to 13% in Q2 2024.
• The platform’s user base, CTV and Shorts have helped its ad business against streaming competition.

Read more about YouTube here.

What the NBA rights deal spells out about the future of streamers, platforms in live sports:

• Amazon, Disney and NBCUniversal will collectively pay more than $76 billion over 11 years for NBA rights.
• Amazon Prime Video’s and Peacock’s involvement mark a milestone for streaming sports.

Read more about NBA rights here.

Agencies and marketers point to TikTok in the running to win ‘first real social Olympics’:

• TikTok is a major component of Olympic advertisers’ campaigns.
• TikTok’s hold on Gen Z audiences explains its importance.

Read more about the social Olympics here.

Publicis intends to acquire Influential as it expands influencer marketing offerings:

• The agency holding company plans to acquire the influencer marketing platform for an undisclosed price.
• The deal is expected to close in late August.

Read more about Publicis’s Influential acquisition here.

What we’re reading

Apple’s advertising plans:

Apple appears poised to wade into the ad-supported streaming war and has met with British TV ratings group Barb about its ad options, according to The Telegraph.

Pluto TV’s programmatic problems:

The Paramount-owned FAST platform is facing an advertiser exodus following accusations of Pluto TV using bid duplication to inflate its numbers, according to Adweek.

Warner Bros. Discovery’s NBA debacle:

TNT’s parent company thought it would win out despite the NBA’s aim to add a streaming-only rights holder and underestimated NBC’s appetite for NBA rights, according to Puck.

Runway’s YouTube ripoff:

The generative AI company trained its video technology on YouTube videos, which runs afoul of the Google-owned video platform’s terms, according to 404 Media.

Amazon’s Twitch hole:

A decade after its acquisition, the gaming-centric live-streaming service has yet to deliver much of a return on Amazon’s nearly $1 billion purchase, according to The Wall Street Journal.