The Capitol publication Punchbowl News will launch a weekly YouTube show called Fly Out Day — a test of whether the shift toward video that is underway across other forms of media will work in the text-heavy and information-hungry Washington market, where network Sunday shows remain the premier video product. Fly Out Day will be a “modern political show that is very in the moment and focused on the politics of legislating,” said Punchbowl CEO Anna Palmer, who is co-hosting the show with her scoopy co-founder Jake Sherman. They’ll feature “sharp interviews with key newsmakers and roundtable conversations with plugged-in reporters,” but they “don’t want it to look like anything on TV,” she said, adding that Punchbowl has pre-sold advertising. As for the name: It’s the end of the week, when lawmakers head home — and stop by Punchbowl’s studio on the way.
From my vantage point here at Semafor’s vast DC studio, I cringe a bit to recall various early stops and starts in DC insider video. At Politico, where Jake, Anna and I all worked, I participated in a painful 2007 version I’m appalled is still online, and wrote credulously about a live launch way back in 2012 (headline: “Political Web TV Comes of Age”). Politico now also has a new politics show. But the moment is shifting. TV-like shows are resurgent on new platforms, and we wish our Punchbowl friends luck making a market as we start to prepare our own Burgess Everett for hair and makeup.
— Ben Smith