“There was heavy engagement around those results videos and race calls on TikTok,” Kim notes, adding that the NBC decision desk’s push to be first in making calls likely contributed to NBCNews.com’s increased search traffic throughout election night. “That reflects our careful planning around live data and sharing information early,” she explains. “The symphony of live results, live blog, live data and livestream and promoting our content early and often across platforms helped us win the night in so many ways.”
Of course, effectively communicating those wins to advertisers is the next step in the broadcast news industry’s ongoing journey into the emerging digital frontier. Kim says she believes that buyers and retailers still want to associate with “credible, trusted, and quality content” even as the platforms delivering that content might change. And she’s aware that it’ll be up to her and the NBC digital team to stay on top of where audiences are migrating next.
“There was a time when X was Twitter and Facebook was king,” she says with a laugh, reflecting on the not-too-distant social media past. “We’ve gotten pretty used to this idea that, in digital, what may be useful one day may not be useful the next in terms of building and reaching audiences. That’s just the nature of the beast.”
Not for nothing, but NBC and the other broadcast networks might have to specifically rethink their TikTok strategy sooner rather than later. Earlier this year, the House passed legislation supporting a ban on the platform in the U.S. if its China-based owner declines to sell its share of the business. The deadline for that sale is Jan. 19, although Trump has signaled his opposition to the ban.
In the meantime, Kim says that NBC News is keeping current on the platforms that are seeing spikes in engagement, including Bluesky, Reddit, and WhatsApp. Having lived through the “Facebook is king” years, she’s well-aware that there’s a trade-off with helping a third party company build up its digital profile—namely that there could very well come a time where you need them more than they need you. That’s what happened as Mark Zuckerberg steadily deemphasized news on Meta platforms, resulting in a number of media organizations taking substantial hits in traffic.
Kim indicates that one of the ways she seeks to mitigate that risk is by ensuring that NBC News’ digital platform is shipshape. “It’s critically important to have your own internet destination where you’re providing reliable, trustworthy, and credible news,” she notes. “And it’s also important to go out there onto social platforms and share reporting, because that’s where consumers are getting their news.”
Looking ahead to 2025, Kim expects that NBC News Now and NBCNews.com will continue investing in stories where live coverage and raw data—two things that were plentiful on Election Night—can capture clicks and streams from an increasingly fractured audience. Besides the handover from President Joe Biden to President-elect Trump, Kim identifies sports, climate change and major weather events as other stories she expects to be covering in-depth.
