CBS brings virtual, electricity to election night studio in Times Square

CBS News has reconfigured Studio 1515, normally the home of “CBS Mornings,” in Times Square for election night coverage, implementing new ways to visualize data and race results. 

The studio initially debuted with the 2020 election and became the home of “Mornings” in fall 2021. It is located at Paramount Global’s headquarters at 1515 Broadway in a development known as One Astor Plaza.

The space has been updated with augmented and virtual capabilities for this year’s “America Decides” election coverage on CBS. The technical infrastructure includes 39 engines and servers powering content and visualizations across different virtual graphic types. Unreal Engine, Vizrt, Zero Density, Stype, Erizos and Stage Precision are supporting the production. 

New features include a touch-operated augmented reality table for displaying potential electoral outcomes, a virtual set extension of the physical set through a green screen window, and a virtual ceiling extension.

That extension replaces the studio’s lighting grid with data displays inside a variety of boxes along with the wood slat pattern found throughout other studio spaces at CBS. 

The studio also incorporates an interactive U.S. map which can appear on the floor via augmented reality technology to track House and Senate races.

Talent can interact with and control the various augmented reality graphics to analyze data and key race trends throughout the night. 

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The overall branding and design for “America Decides” has also been updated from the last election cycle, with darker tones underpinning the on-air design and a neon/electric glow around many elements. 

CBS News executive director of elections and surveys Anthony Salvanto will operate from the Data Desk alongside Major Garrett, providing real-time race projections and analysis. Maurice DuBois will utilize the new touch-enabled augmented reality table to demonstrate potential paths to electoral victory, while John Dickerson will manage the front-of-desk polling displays.

The network’s Democracy Desk, staffed by Bill Whitaker and election law contributor David Becker, will monitor election integrity. This desk will receive support from the CBS News Confirmed fact-checking unit and correspondents stationed in Washington.

CBS News has positioned correspondents across seven battleground states: Michigan, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Georgia, Wisconsin, Nevada and North Carolina. Additional reporting teams will cover candidate headquarters, with Tony Dokoupil and Caitlin Huey-Burns in West Palm Beach, Florida, and Nancy Cordes and Ed Gordon in Washington, D.C.

The network begins its primetime election coverage at 7 p.m. ET, with Norah O’Donnell anchoring from the New York City headquarters. O’Donnell will be joined by Margaret Brennan, John Dickerson, Gayle King, Cecilia Vega, Robert Costa and Ed O’Keefe.

The network has expanded its technological capabilities beyond the main broadcast center, implementing virtual studios in owned stations across five markets: New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Denver and San Francisco. 

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The updates to Studio 1515 mark a shift from CBS News’ previous reliance on LED display technology, instead emphasizing virtual environments for data visualization and electoral mapping.