Television news programs are often sponsored. Well, in the case of CNN, the actual coverage is similar.
As part of a bold advertising deal, the T-Mobile logo will frequently appear on CNN’s digital screens when CNN reporters and correspondents deliver live reports from outside the studio. It’s a sign that the telecom giant’s nascent “Supermobile” service is tailored to business users looking for fast, reliable connectivity and privacy protection, helping to establish connections between journalists and viewers. T-Mobile signed a similar deal with Fox Corp.’s Fox Weather streaming service in October.
These things are tricky in a news environment, and CNN will need to proceed carefully in the process. What would happen if T-Mobile became the center of a national story? Or what if the T-Mobile logo appeared on the screen while a correspondent was covering a riot or the outbreak of war? Other shows, like MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” are also treading water. MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” has long enjoyed sponsorships from certain coffee giants, including an on-air promotion that said the show was “brewed by Starbucks.” In 2011, co-anchor Mika Brzezinski conducted a seven-minute interview with then-Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz without mentioning advertising support, which raised eyebrows at the station.
CNN and T-Mobile seem to recognize the challenge. “Our anchors, reporters and journalists cannot implicitly or explicitly endorse any product,” said Guy Griggs, who was recently named senior vice president of advertising sales and partnerships for Warner Bros.’ Discovery News business. And having the T-Mobile logo on the screen may not work, admits Mo Katibeh, T-Mobile’s chief marketing officer for business services. “We will approach this with extreme caution,” he says. If viewers are “there to hear the news” at key moments, “we don’t show the logo” on the screen, he added.
Still, the partnership could offer new ideas to the nation’s biggest supporters of TV news, which have struggled in recent years to get advertising dollars for TV news shows.
“We know business leaders don’t want advertising. They want proof that the technology works and that it will help them in the moments that matter,” Katibe said in a recent interview. “They’ll see live, uninterrupted CNN coverage during the biggest news moments.” An on-screen demonstration reveals how T-Mobile’s efforts are helping “trusted experts like CNN journalists securely deliver breaking news live from virtually anywhere.”
Marketers remain wary of placing commercials on content that may include harsh images or tough dialogue. Many of the big TV news outlets feature hot programs in prime time, designed to appeal to partisan viewers and those looking for tension and donnybrook language. But as the world faces international conflict, climate change, a global pandemic and political extremism, many advertisers need to appeal to the widest possible audience and have therefore taken funding away from news.
In fact, all three of the nation’s cable news stations are projected to be short on advertising revenue in 2025. CNN’s ad revenue is expected to fall 10% to $576.2 million in 2025, according to data from Kagan, a market research firm part of S&P Global Intelligence. MSNBC is estimated at $653.9 million, down 11%. Meanwhile, advertising on Fox News Channel is expected to decline about 3% to nearly $1.4 billion, although the network’s parent company recently announced that the station’s ad revenue hit a record number in its most recent fiscal quarter.
T-Mobile is a “marketer that needs to reach high-value audiences, and genuine partnerships allow us to do that and demonstrate the power of our technology solutions,” Griggs said. He notes that while marketers are still concerned about issues related to “brand safety,” this new partnership “offers a very authentic avenue to reach audiences.”
T-Mobile arrived on CNN’s screens just as the network was working to grow its audience. CNN launched a new “all access” streaming service last month. This will give subscribers access to more reports and videos, including in-depth long-form journalism that only occasionally appears on the company’s linear cable network. CNN uses the fact that it has the largest cadre of journalists covering news around the world as a means of attracting potential customers.
If the new advertising deal works, Griggs said viewers will feel like T-Mobile is supporting CNN coverage to keep it informed. “We’re going to break away from the linear cable news networks that have defined real-time television journalism for the past 45 years and become a 21st century, global, digital-first, streaming-first news brand that really reaches audiences on every screen device and platform. T-Mobile will be there to help us do that,” he says. T-Mobile will also support various aspects of “All Access,” he said, including a new live vertical video feed, “empowering journalists to ensure viewers get the news they need, no matter where they are in the country.”
Over the past few decades, CNN has been known in the advertising world for being very careful about weaving commercials into its news coverage. But the network, like its rivals, faces growing demand from advertisers for closer ties to their own news programs and content that closely resembles their own. In fact, CNN last year sold commercials during the telecast of the presidential debate between Presidents Joe Biden and Donald Trump, bucking its years of keeping such events ad-free.
Almost every mainstream news organization has had to make a similar choice. For the past few years, NBC News has been producing videos for Xerox to talk about stories and topics of interest to viewers who watch the various news and sports networks owned by parent company NBCUniversal. CNBC covered financial news in promotional vignettes, and MSNBC covered progressive topics. NBCUniversal previously had a deal with retirement and investment company ING to create a personal finance division on CNBC’s “Mad Money with Jim Cramer” and NBC’s “Today.” For months now, Disney has been looking for a sponsor to put its logo on the ticker at the bottom of the new short-form news show “What You Need to Know” on Disney+.
Some modern advertising deals probably wouldn’t have been acceptable a few decades ago. Both “Today” and “Good Morning America” allow advertisers like Walmart and Starz to sponsor individual article segments related to topics that make advertisers shine. In 2019, Fox News Channel allowed a “Fox & Friends” anchor to appear in a promotional video promoting the Dodge Durango. And in a deal similar to the one CNN signed, CNBC signed a deal with Cisco in 2010 to demonstrate how the company’s TelePresence networking equipment helped news organizations bring trusted sources to the screen.
CNN has good reason to court communications marketers. In 2017, CNN often captured more than 40% or 50% of wire advertising dollars spent on cable news, according to guidelines that track advertisers’ media spending. However, by the third quarter of 2025, CNN’s share in this category had fallen to 10%.
“In the late 2010s, people were still buying phones frequently as new products came out, and carriers had an incentive to go all out and spend to get people to buy new phones,” said Sean Wright, chief insight and analysis officer at Guideline. “People are now buying a new phone every 2.5 years because the growth in new phone features has slowed and the funds to buy a new phone have become increasingly expensive.” Telco advertisers are increasingly focusing on sales to businesses. As a result, much of the advertising money has shifted to CNBC, Bloomberg, Fox Business and others, he said.
T-Mobile has been airing commercials for months demonstrating its efforts to help consumers break through communication barriers. Its “Supermobile” service is just the latest in a series of ads that demonstrate “how we solve pain points for our customers,” Katibe said. During this year’s Super Bowl, T-Mobile pulled back from its usual celebrity commercials in favor of a spot promoting its ability to help customers overcome so-called “dead zones” by connecting them to services.
Griggs said CNN could be open to a similar connection to Madison Avenue. “If it makes sense to give our viewers a better experience, that’s what we’re here for and we want to be proactive about what’s out there,” he says.
