NBC’s Million Dollar Bet on Megyn Kelly Backfired

She was supposed to bring bigger audiences to "Today," but instead, ratings declined.

Megyn Kelly
Megyn Kelly on Monday, October 23, 2017 -- (Nathan Congleton/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)
NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images

NBC hoped Megyn Kelly’s star power would bring bigger audiences to Today, but instead, the three-year, $69 million bet on the former Fox News host is backfiring. Since taking over the 9 a.m. slot of the morning show in September and rebranding it Megyn Kelly Today, the host has struggled to make the shift to daytime broadcast television, writes The Wall Street Journal. Her ratings have consistently declined and the higher production costs have been a drag on a critical franchise for NBC. Some of NBC’s affiliate stations are unhappy with the drop in views, while other NBC shows are upset that Kelly has such a higher budget. Hollywood publicists are keeping clear of the program and steering their A-list talent away after Kelly asked Jane Fonda on-air about her plastic surgery and a feud ensued.

Kelly’s Sunday night newsmagazine premiered to disappointing ratings as well and has been reduced to occasional prime-time specials. The bet on Kelly revolved around the idea the face delivering the news was an important as the news itself, writes WSJ. But the landscape of network and cable television is so big that there is no longer one person who attracts the audience. People like Diane Sawyer and Katie Couric have been replaced by relatively-unknown names (David Muir and Scott Pelley, respectively), with no hit to the ratings.

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