UTA Agent Jay Sures on WHCD, Changing TV News Business

As the Washington press corp prepare to gather for this year’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner, the TV news business appears to be in flux. MSNBC and CNBC are being spun out by Comcast, with new strategies likely to follow; CNN chief Mark Thompson is attempting to build a new digital focus for the original 24/7 cable news channel, and Fox News is leaning into its linear strengths while preparing to launch a streaming offering inside Fox Corp.

At the broadcast networks, NBC News had a changing of the guard at its evening newscast, and CBS News did too, but a possible settlement over a 60 Minutes segment has the news division on edge.

UTA vice chairman Jay Sures is helping his firm’s clients, who include the likes of Anderson Cooper, Chuck Todd, Norah O’Donnell, Fareed Zakaria, Jen Psaki, Abby Phillip, Jake Tapper and David Muir (among many others) navigate all of it.

Sures, joined by UTA’s co-heads of its news and broadcasting department Ryan Hayden and Marc Paskin, spoke to The Hollywood Reporter for a deep dive on the current state of play.

What are you seeing right now in the media and TV news space? Because it does seem like we’re in a really interesting moment where there’s a lot of opportunity, but also turbulence in the business model. As agents who are helping your clients navigate this, how are you approaching the current moment?

Jay Sures: We’re bullish on the news business. It will transform, it has transformed over a period of time. But given the state of the world, given the state of the global economy, given all of the things that are going on geopolitically, the news is almost more important than ever before. So we’re very, very bullish on its future. We think there will be some continual disruption and transformation. But name brand talent, experienced talent who are real journalists, I believe, will be here to stay, and I think they’re going to thrive in the future.

Ryan Hayden: If you look at the recent election cycle last year, to the L.A. fires this year, there’s still such a need for trusted and great journalists and journalism. If you look at the ratings, that’s not lost on anyone. And that’s why, to Jay’s point, we’re very bullish on the business, because in times of need, that’s who people turn to.

Marc Paskin: And also to the point that Jay made about the name brand talent, we’re also finding that there are really innovative deals that can be made for those types of folks, and audiences are clinging to those trusted voices. And so for us to have a much more dynamic marketplace to play within with our clients is really exciting.

I was going to say, I am noticing with a lot of high profile talent that when they sign new deals, they’re adding podcasts, they’re adding digital and streaming products. It does seem like the days when you had one job and your job was to anchor for one hour on this day, or whatever it might be — not that those deals don’t exist at all anymore — but I’m definitely seeing more star talent doing more things in more places.

Sures: I think the key here is entrepreneurialism. People are constantly trying to look at either a combination of reinvention or getting ahead of the curve, and that could include a podcast, that could include going on Substack, that could involve a newsletter that could involve the creation of intellectual property, meaning that if you have a great podcast that tells an amazing story that creates intellectual property in its own right, it can be repurposed and a TV show can get made out of it. Entrepreneurship is really what we’re seeing as kind of the the focus, and I think is the trend of the last 365 days.

You kind of alluded to it, but you are seeing some high profile former television talent that have gone independent to YouTube or launched podcasts, or, in some cases, taking something they had developed at a media company and taking it independent. At the same time, you are also seeing what I would call news or commentary creators really growing an audience on their own.

It seems like there’s a convergence happening here where the creator economy of news and opinion and the more traditional, professionalized economy of news and opinion seem to be converging in some way. Are you seeing that too?

Paskin: Absolutely, and we represent some of the foremost names in that space, and are very proud to do so. We represent some YouTubers who reach millions and millions of viewers every single month. It’s a massive megaphone and comes with a tremendous responsibility that they take very seriously, because they don’t have the standards and practices team of NBC News or CNN helping guide them in the podcasting and audio space. So we are seeing this convergence, and I think what we are hopeful for is that all of this stuff can play together. It doesn’t have to be an either/or. It can be a both/and actually. And I think we’re in the early stages of seeing that convergence happen. And I think you will see more and more names coming from the digital landscape into the legacy linear space. And I think you’re going to see some people in the legacy linear space play in the digitally native space. And that mix of opportunity is really exciting.

People have been talking for years about consolidation, I don’t know if that’s going to happen right now, given the current administration’s seeming antipathy towards many of the media companies that are that are in the space but do you foresee consolidation? And how would you navigate that, given that the pool of opportunities in the traditional space does seem to be dwindling, even as the entrepreneurial opportunities continue to grow.

Sures: I think we’re definitely going to have consolidation, that’s undeniable. I mean, it’s right before our very eyes right now. And when you look at a number of these larger media companies, I think it’s safe to say when we look forward in 12 or 24 months, there’s going to be some significant consolidation amongst those companies for a whole host of reasons. But when it comes to news, it’s not so easy just to consolidate news. There’s no world where we’re going to wake up and CNN and MSNBC are going to be one company. There’s no scenario where we’re going to wake up and CBS and ABC News are going to be the same company. So I think there will be consolidation. I’m not so sure that the news space in general, will get quite as consolidated as the general media space.

I mean, there were rumblings that in the event Warner Bros. Discovery does a deal, they might spin off CNN.

Sures: That’s something different. Comcast created spinco for MSNBC and CNBC and a number of their other properties. It wouldn’t be inconceivable that that Warner Bros. Discovery would create their own version of Spinco with the Turner networks and CNN and all their linear networks. And it wouldn’t be inconceivable that Skydance-Paramount did the same thing. That’s a possibility. But that’s not exactly consolidation. That’s taking out legacy assets out of their main companies and creating an additional company that might have a different philosophy. It might be a more of a cashflow business as opposed to a growth business, and those will be decisions that were made by bankers and executives on what’s going to be right for stock prices, etc. But I don’t think that’s necessarily bad for the news business. In fact, if anything, it could potentially give more independence to the news business and give it a little bit more cover in the current political environment.

Freeing news from some of the other sides of the business could be beneficial for news organizations.

Sures: I think that’s a possibility. Look, I think news organizations feel under pressure right now, given the political environment, and understandably so. And what I think we all need to do, all of us that are involved in the news business and journalism in general, is to do everything in our power to protect quality journalism. It is a tenet of democracy and a free press is healthy for everybody, and when it’s under pressure, those are times where I think we need to be mindful and acknowledge it, and do everything in our power to make sure it remains free and and open.

I think that we are at a moment where the relationship between the government and the press is pretty low. Between the AP pool situation and some of the decisions the White House has made as an agent. How do you who has clients that, you know, that kind of, are kind of in the middle of this, yeah. How do you try to help them or guide them or advise them?

Sures: Same thing every time. Focus on the journalism. Make journalism the central piece of what you’re doing. Make sure that you’re living up to the highest standards of journalism. And I think if you do that, you’ll see the other side of this, but focusing on quality journalism has to be the centerpiece and the mantra, I know I speak on behalf of Ryan and Marc that when we speak to all of our clients, that’s the number one piece of advice that we give everybody. Doesn’t matter what side of the aisle you’re on.

I suspect this year’s White House Correspondent’s Dinner is probably not going to necessarily have the same toner or tenor of the last few years or as it once did in the past. How are you going into this year’s event? I know you still have your your party scheduled, that’s become a big part of the weekend, but how are you kind of thinking about this year’s dinner and the mood in Washington.

Sures: It’s the same thesis every year, which is, how do we bring together news, entertainment, media, sports, fashion, all of these areas into one place and create an environment and a party where we can bring everybody together to celebrate journalism. That’s the thesis of the party. That thesis is not going to leave us anytime soon. There will be certain people who will come this year that didn’t come last year. There will be people that won’t come this year. But our thesis of bringing a large swath of people from different walks of life to celebrate journalism. That’s the central theme, and that’s not going to go away.

When you’re advising talent on if they’re interested in doing a podcast or a newsletter or something that is perhaps outside of the traditional television realm, how do you figure out with them what the right entrepreneurial opportunities are? You can debate a lot of different things that you can do entrepreneurially, but some things are right for some people not Right for other people.

Hayden: Each talent is different, so there’s no cookie cutter response to that. And so it’s sitting down with the client and really strategizing to figure out what makes sense for the type of journalism they’re doing, and what their personality is, and trying to figure out, are we going to focus on the written word? Are we going to focus on in front of the camera? Is there going to be audio? Is that a combination of audio or visual? And so each client is totally different, but when we sit down, we try to tailor the strategy and the representation to their strengths, and that’s what we focus on.

Paskin: The other thing that I think is one of the key differentiators for UTA is our access to data and our capacity to leverage data to help make smart, thoughtful choices on behalf of our clients. It’s a cornerstone of how we approach representation across the board, and so we are able to think about somebody’s audience in a very specific way and determine if we believe an audience is primed for a specific platform versus another. And that affords us an opportunity to make thoughtful, informed choices and perhaps build an audience in other forms and formats that we think could be material down the road.

I’ve certainly heard stories about anchors not getting the types of big dollar deals that they did in the past. I’ve also heard people that are getting raises, partly due to the entrepreneurial nature of doing more things, taking on more roles. What is the current marketplace for star talent? Do you think, has it peaked, or is there still room to grow there?

Sures: I don’t know if it’s peaked. I mean, stars are stars. Mega stars are always going to get paid in any business, whether it’s news, movies, television, music. Mega stars bring something that’s unique, and I think they’re always going to do well, and they bring something bigger than just ratings to the companies that they work for. Sometimes they’re the face of the company, and that’s hard to put a value on.

We haven’t seen this dramatic downward pressure, where people are getting cuts and some of the stories that have been written about in the news. And that’s why I think there’s a slight disconnect between how it’s being reported in the news and what’s really happening in reality, and when you hear us say that we’re bullish on the news business, it’s because of the trends that we’re seeing with our clients.

Clearly, there’s a market for news, and the market for news is growing. It’s shifting. The platforms that the people are getting their news and opinions from is shifting, but there’s no less desire for people to get that information.

Sures: There’s cycles in news. Local news will garner steam during certain periods of time depending on what’s going on in the local world, the national media could see big bump-ups during election cycles and midterm cycles and depending what’s going on. So we’re definitely in a very cyclical business. But in the long run, once again, I just think that news is critical to everyday living and everyday life, and as a result, it’s going to be around for a long time to come.

When you talk to the executives at these companies, at your CNNs or MSNBCs or Foxes, to what extent are they focused on the changes in consumption and how they can pivot, while they still have the strong linear revenue stream to take advantage of?

Sures: Each company is approaching it differently. Each company has a different strategy. And the broadcast networks are different than the cable companies, and there’s a significant differentiation amongst the cable companies, I think they all look at it differently, but the overwhelming theme, which you alluded to in your question, is that linear is declining because of cord cutting, but it will hit a bottom at some point, I think relatively soon, and there is increased consumption on a digital basis, and people are willing to pay for subscription products. So I think what we’re seeing is the equilibrium trying to be found on where these sort of factors meet. And I think we’re coming to a place where it’s becoming more clear where that equilibrium level is going to end up.

Do you think that if there’s a star talent, that they can become the focus of a subscription offering within that larger ecosystem?

Hayden: I do 100 percent, and I do think you see people gravitate more towards star talent, sometimes more than they do an overall network. And I think that’s where we’re positioned very well to take advantage of that.