MSNBC Unveils New Studios and Marketing Campaign for MS NOW Rebrand

As the November 15 network name change date approaches, MSNBC provided first looks at its new studios on Wednesday, ahead of its transition to MS NOW.

The three New York studios, which include a virtual reality studio, are located at Versant’s headquarters in Times Square and were constructed and completed for broadcast in just three months, according to the network. The entire production operation is also supported by two control rooms and a dedicated podcast studio.

The studio is built to support more than 120 hours of live programming, featuring over 300 light fixtures and more than 1,782 square feet of LED. If all the 2,648 LED modules used were stretched out, they would equal seven football fields. 

The virtual reality studio includes a custom 1.6 mm LED video wall capable of 240 Hz operation and contains more than 60 million pixels. Camera tracking within the studio enables real-time shifts in content perspective based on camera movement and zoom, resulting in a highly realistic viewing experience.

Inside MS NOW’s new newsroom will be a 360° flash cam for on-air hits, with an active newsgathering operation backdrop.  

Reps for the network did not respond when TVNewser inquired if the new New York facility is still considered temporary or permanent.

The preview of the new studios comes as MSNBC debuted a national marketing campaign on Tuesday night to raise awareness of the upcoming name change.

Titled “We the People,” the campaign, featuring two distinct 60-second spots, made its debut during the network’s Tuesday night special election coverage. 

The first spot featured Rachel Maddow, and the other featured the late American poet Dr. Maya Angelou. The ads are meant to reaffirm MS NOW’s journalistic mission: to inform, engage, and empower audiences through trusted reporting and bold storytelling. 

Maddow’s spot is set to a reading of the preamble to the U.S. Constitution, while Angelou’s spot highlights the reading of her “Human Family” poem at the United Nations in 1996. 

Both spots feature vignettes capturing portraits of everyday American life, paired with the network’s journalists, including Maddow, Lawrence O’Donnell, Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski, Jen Psaki, Chris Hayes, Stephanie Ruhle, Ari Melber, Nicolle Wallace, Symone Sanders Townsend, Michael Steele, Alicia Menendez, and more.

According to The New York Times, MSNBC will spend $20 million for its marketing efforts, spanning online, video, social, broadcast, cable, streaming, major print, prominent out-of-home placements, and more. 

This new campaign builds on the initial promotional spots currently airing on the network, which are reinforcing the continuation of the network’s mission despite the name change, emphasizing the tagline, “Same mission. New Name.”