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AOL dives (back) into live video

It'll have a standalone live video app, and will livestream video on other AOL sites, like The Huffington Post, as well as other live platforms, like Facebook Live, Live Instagram stories and Twitter Live.

Taking on TV: The livestreams will mostly be interviews with A-List celebrities, like Ryan Gosling and John Legend. It will total more than 75 events-per-month and four hours of live programming each day, according to AOL.

That's on par with broadcast networks, like ABC and NBC, which air several hours of live talk programming per day through shows like The View, and The Ellen DeGeneres Show. The format will also mimic live television talk-show programming, with live audiences.

Our take: AOL has had the necessary infrastructure to monetize live video—distribution, scale, technology—but they haven't been able to crack the code. AOL-owned Huffington Post had a livestreaming digital channel, Huffington Post Live, but they shut it down last year to shift their video strategy to include more shareable online video content.

Now is the time: A new eMarketer study says the number of digital video viewers globally will grow 8.2% in 2017, reaching about 30% of the world's population. Other major digital platforms have been investing in live video technology for months, hoping to reap the advertising dollars from the high engagement rates live video spurs:

  • Facebook is in the middle of a huge, national Facebook Live marketing campaign to expand their user base from brands to everyday consumers.
  • Instagram debuted a live feature to their stories platform in November.

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White House plots "full-court press" for $1.9 trillion relief plan

National Economic Council Director Brian Deese speaks during a White House news briefing. Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images

The Biden White House is deploying top officials to get a wide ideological spectrum of lawmakers, governors and mayors on board with the president’s $1.9 trillion COVID relief proposal, according to people familiar with the matter.

Why it matters: The broad, choreographed effort shows just how crucially Biden views the stimulus to the nation's recovery and his own political success.

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Scoop: Sudan wants to seal Israel normalization deal at White House

Burhan. Photo: Mazen Mahdi/AFP via Getty

Three months after Sudan agreed to normalize relations with Israel, it still hasn't signed an agreement to formally do so. Israeli officials tell me one reason has now emerged: Sudan wants to sign the deal at the White House.

Driving the news: Israel sent Sudan a draft agreement for establishing diplomatic relations several weeks ago, but the Sudanese didn’t reply, the officials say. On Tuesday, Israeli Minister of Intelligence Eli Cohen raised that issue in Khartoum during the first-ever visit of an Israeli minister to Sudan.

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Coronavirus dashboard

Illustration: Eniola Odetunde/Axios

  1. Health: One year of the coronavirus — Bill and Melinda Gates warn of "immunity inequality" — Communities of color are falling behind in America's vaccine effort.
  2. Vaccine: Vaccine hesitancy is decreasing in the U.S.
  3. Politics: Biden admin to boost COVID vaccine delivery to states for at least 3 weeks — Hundreds of Biden staffers receive COVID vaccine — Axios-Ipsos poll: Trust in federal COVID-19 response surges.
  4. Business: Bankruptcy filings hit decade-high last year.
  5. World: U.K. surpasses 100,000 COVID-19 deaths — 44% of Israelis have already received at least one vaccine dose.
  6. Sports: Europe's 20 richest soccer clubs report 12% revenue hit due to coronavirus — Pandemic has cost the NCAA $600 million — CDC looks at lessons learned from NFL's testing and contact tracing.
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