Taking a page out of Jada Pinkett Smith’s playbook, Steve Harvey has inked a new deal for a daytime talk show, and it will run on the same platform that has worked magically for Red Table Talk – Facebook Watch.
Steve on Watch will premiere on the streaming platform Jan. 6 and has reportedly already taped a batch of new episodes from Tyler Perry Studios in Atlanta, according to Variety. The shows are expected to run several times a week over a span of 10 weeks and will feature Steve sharing his opinion on a range of issues and interviewing stars, people in the news, musicians and others, similar to his TV talk show.
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“Reaching my audience anywhere and everywhere they are has always been the goal,” Harvey said in a statement, according to Variety. “Facebook Watch viewers are the most energetic, engaged community, and so are my amazing fans. Getting all those people to directly engage on a platform like this is the perfect evolution of the show.”
A spokesperson for Harvey told Variety that Steve is popular on social media, including Facebook, so the move is a smart one. Harvey’s rep and Facebook told Variety that Steve’s page received 2.2 billion views in a one-year time span – from Sept. 2018 through August 2019, and 64 million engagements. Additionally, 35 of his videos were each viewed more than 10 million times.
As of April, Harvey’s Facebook page clocked in at No. 6 for the most-viewed U.S. entertainment page, according to Tubular.
In June, Harvey’s TV show Steve, on NBC ended. NBC chose to run with Kelly Clarkson’s show over Steve’s, which reportedly made Harvey feel a certain way.
In January, while attending the Variety Entertainment Summit at CES, Harvey said he was caught off guard by the move.
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“I thought it would have been nice of them to come to me — as the only dude who’s survived [in daytime TV] for seven years — about it,” Harvey told Variety.
He added that he was starting to look at digital platforms to continue his work. “That’s money right now,” he said at the time, according to Variety. “There’s no delayed gratification.”
Here’s wishing Steve on Watch is a huge success because we love it when we win.
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