The “Today” show on Tuesday morning will produce a second show just for the Web — something that seems inherently competitive with its main telecast.
But the webcast, called “The Today.com Show,” is largely a promotional affair for the morning show’s new Web site, which has moved to Today.com from TodayShow.com. The new site is the latest try by a television program to extend itself online.
“As the Web site folks say, think of it as the fifth through 24th hours of the show,” said Jim Bell, the executive producer of “Today,” which is already the No. 1-rated morning show.
The redesigned site puts a greater emphasis on video clips from “Today.”
The site — which is an arm of MSNBC.com, the joint venture of NBC News and Microsoft — served up 63 million video streams in January, the last month with available data, setting a new internal record.
The one-time webcast, from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, will further show off the site’s video functionality. Hosted by Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb, who present the 10 a.m. hour on television, the webcast will look behind the scenes of the “Today” machine, Mr. Bell said, and the hosts on television will repeatedly direct viewers to it.
“I would suspect you’re going to have a lot of fans who will try to watch both at once,” Mr. Bell said.
The relocated “Today” site is the latest indication that MSNBC.com is lining up a number of different news sites — what Charlie Tillinghast, the president and publisher of MSNBC.com, calls a “variety of news offerings,” also including BreakingNews.com.
Mr. Tillinghast said the “Today”-branded site was the fastest growing business in MSNBC.com’s portfolio last year, both in terms of revenue and of sponsorship. MSNBC.com acquired the Today.com domain name two years ago. BRIAN STELTER
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