Relive the top 20 stories for 2020 on NewscastStudio

2020 is almost over — and here’s a look at 20 of the biggest stories on NewscastStudio over the past 12 months.

1. ABC’s decision to rebrand its 1 p.m. eastern hour — again
2. How the networks covered Kobe Bryant’s death Jan. 27 and 28, 2020
3. Coverage of how CBS New York had its L.A. sister station produce its local newscast due to a coronavirus outbreak in its studio complex
4. NBC’s odd “202ONE” Olympics logo design for the postponed games
5. How “Wheel of Fortune” adapted to production during coronavirus
6. “The Tonight Show” temporarily moves to Megyn Kelly’s former studio due to coronavirus concerns
7. “ABC World News Tonight” moves into Studio TV3 proper
8. Telemundo’s augmented reality for election coverage
9. The Weather Channel’s decision to use “Covidcane” branding
10. WJW’s daily tongue in cheek reminder of what day it is amidst the height of COVID-19 lockdowns
11. ABC “Good Morning America” new promo
12. CBS News’ new election branding
13. NBC News’ election HQ in Studio 1A
14. Fox’s 2020 Super Bowl graphics package design
15. How “Live! with Kelly and Ryan” made their hosts look closer than they really were
16. ABC moves into new studio for Super Tuesday
17. A look at MSNBC’s “Velshi” production values
18. Tips for setting up home TV studios during a pandemic
19. How court shows are adapting production to coronavirus
20. A new open for “NBC Nightly News”

Perhaps not surprisingly, 40% of these stories related directly to the coronavirus pandemic and its effect on TV news (not counting the story on NBC 2021 Olympics logo). 

Election coverage also dominated our readers’ interest in 2020, though it’s worth noting how Kobe Bryant’s death was one of the most popular stories in 2020 but quickly became overshadowed, in terms of combined read counts, by COVID-19 related coverage.

The list also includes some more “general” TV industry news headlines — such as “Nightly” getting a new open (additional coverage of the on air changes for that broadcast when it returned to the studio after the election just barely missed making the top 20 cutoff).

In terms of broader topics, here’s a rough list that illustrates, by page views, the topics that sparked the most interest among our readers in 2020:

• Augmented reality (this topic typically grows each year and this year marked a noticeable uptick) 
• Primaries, Super Tuesday and both the democratic and presidential debates (not including election night coverage, which already ranked high)
• Video walls and other LED installations (again, this has been a rising trend over the years)
• Overseas elections
• Broadcast design, engineering and production outside the U.S.
• Branding and logo design