“The Drew Barrymore Show” has been picked up for a third season which will air during the 2022-2023 television season, producer CBS Media Ventures announced today. Stations owned by CBS, Sinclair, Nexstar, Gray, Scripps, Tegna and Weigel were among those signing on for another season of the daytime talk show which is confirmed to reimagine the traditional daytime format with producing and distributing the show as two half-hour episodes that can seamlessly run together back-to-back or be split apart to air separately.
“I am honored and grateful but I also want to take this show higher and continue to innovate and be a game changer in the daytime space,” said the show’s host, Drew Barrymore. “Rising to the occasion of finding people in the diverse way they watch is what I want to challenge myself with. Our show wants to be a bright spot not a blind spot and we just want to make people feel good. And I thank all the people who helped us get here.”
Currently airing at 9:00 a.m. on most CBS stations, the show will shift to 9:30 a.m. for its third season which will follow new half-hour local newscasts which will air at 9:00 a.m. CBS Stations will also have the flexibility to air both half-hours of “Drew” on its duopoly stations in markets where the Company owns two stations (ie. CBS-owned WCBS and WLNY in New York).
CBS currently offers a similar half-hour block format on Sundays for “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan.” The public affairs program which currently ranks number one for the season among Total Viewers (ahead of rivals “Meet the Press” and “This Week”) airs nationally as a half-hour program with many CBS stations choosing not to air the second half-hour due to other scheduling commitments. The full hour is available in top markets such as New York and Los Angeles and can also be viewed in its entirety via CBSNews.com or Paramount+.
“Stations have always had a finite amount of shelf space, so we’re evolving the syndication model to meet the needs of our partners,” said Steve LoCascio, President of CBS Media Ventures. “We could not be happier to continue our relationship with CBS Stations and our other station partners to deliver more of ‘The Drew Barrymore Show’ through this innovative new idea. From Drew’s unique take on everyday news to headline-generating celebrity interviews to lifestyle how-tos, Drew is a force of nature who has brought a fresh optimistic viewpoint to daytime television. We love having her as part of the CBS family.”
“We love the idea of creating a seamless flow of exquisite storytelling from the final hour of ‘CBS Mornings’ to a new half-hour of local news on our CBS Stations as we lead into the distinctive approach to the topics of the day and breath of fresh air that Drew Barrymore provides,” said Wendy McMahon, President and Co-Head of CBS News and Stations. “We very much appreciate our CBS Media Ventures colleagues’ willingness to help us reimagine how we schedule programming on our stations. This collaboration allows us to embrace the opportunity for the growing demand for local news in the communities we serve while also continuing to support a show that is delivering its strongest quarterly performance to date on our stations and is a cherished programming asset for our Company.”
CBS notes that the launch of local 9:00 a.m. newscasts on Company-owned CBS stations represents another example of CBS News and Stations’ commitment to expanding local news programming across its stations. In January, CBS News and Stations announced the creation of a local news innovation lab in Dallas-Fort Worth that will support the launch and production of hybrid, local-to-national multiplatform newscasts for several of the Company’s CW and independent stations.
Nationally, “The Drew Barrymore Show” is the fastest growing daytime talk show, and one of only two shows in the genre to gain total viewers year to year. It is also syndication’s fastest-growing strip, up by +4% in February 2022 over its February 2021 performance. On CBS-owned stations, “The Drew Barrymore Show” grew +11% in total viewers in the first quarter of 2022 vs. first quarter of 2021, delivering its highest quarterly performance ever, and had strong growth in the top 5 markets. The show also delivered its highest quarterly performance on CBS-owned stations in women 25-54, up +12% in the first quarter of 2022 vs. first quarter 2021.