Willie Geist works with live crowds to generate new revenue for “Today.”

Wille Geist hopes to turn his gift to Gab into a gift to NBC News.

The longtime NBC News anchor, who led Sunday’s “Today” show for the past nine years, will appear at a ticketed event in January aimed at monetizing the in-depth “Sunday Sit-Down” interviews in a different way conducts every weekend. Geist has interviewed 539 different celebrities and newsmakers during his tenure as Sunday host and will speak to a paying audience on Jan. 22 with comedian Nate Bargatze.

Viewers have seen Geist have one-on-one conversations with everyone from Billy Joel to Billy Crystal, but having an audience “is something completely different,” he says in an interview that, like his guests, put him on the receiving end of several questions . “You can’t help but interact with the crowd, get a reaction out of it and have fun with it.”

If NBC News has its way, the company has something else to gain from the stock market: revenue.

The Bargatze interview will take place on Wednesday, January 22nd in front of approximately 500 spectators at New York’s City Winery. The audience will take part in a question and answer session following the event, which will be edited for a segment on the broadcast of “Sunday Today” on February 2nd. Tickets start at $99 and 150 of them will be available as part of a VIP package that includes the opportunity to meet with Geist before his interview.

“The audience gets an experience where they can interact with the talent and meet them if they want,” said Libby Leist, executive vice president of NBC News, who oversees all aspects of “Today.” “I’m confident there will be more.” Geist says he could imagine doing an interview with a live audience every quarter and seeing where demand goes.

Behind the scenes, a “Today” team has been studying the prospects for live events surrounding the AM franchise and its many hosts for months, Leist says. There have been a few in the recent past, including one with Hoda Kotb that focused on wellness. Such concepts have a “celebrity factor” that can attract an audience, but “you can do many things at once — entertain an audience, record a segment for a show, put together a podcast.”

There’s a broader push at NBCUniversal to try things like this and add “experiential” products to the television shows the company is best known for. Bravo has built a big business out of a “BravoCon” that brings together both fans and the network’s popular reality stars. MSNBC tested a one-day summit earlier this year in which its anchors and correspondents appeared before a paying crowd of 4,000 viewers. Others have attempted to host the event in front of a live audience, with Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager joining in-studio audiences occasionally on their hour of “Today” and MSNBC’s Chris Hayes doing Friday shows in front of a studio audience for a while

In another era, a television segment would begin and end on the traditional linear screen. Now the content needs to appeal to a wide audience in many different venues.

In the current climate, with concerns about typical television viewers turning to other forms of video to obtain information and the impact such dynamics have on the media economy, no one can afford to discount content. “Today” segments will be collected and shared on the show’s bespoke streaming outlet. Uncut interviews are made into podcasts.

This also applies to spirit. The moderator typically speaks to his or her interlocutors for about 45 minutes to an hour and then cuts the conversation into a segment of seven and a half to eight minutes. Separate podcasts allow viewers to hear the entire conversation.

“Sunday Today” is vying for attention with CBS’ popular “Sunday Morning,” a show that Geist knows very well. His father, veteran journalist Bill Geist, appeared on the show from 1987 to 2018. The show, he says, “is a juggernaut,” but “we are currently producing a show with our small team and it is gaining recognition and viewers.” ”

He believes Bargatze will be the perfect guest to experiment with the dynamics of a live audience. “People will be curious to see how he handles laughter,” he says, and the comedian, who is still appearing on the national stage, has a life story that many people are still unfamiliar with. “It is an honor to be a guest for Willie’s live event,” Bargatze said in a statement. “I’m a fan of his and people will finally see the difference between going to Vanderbilt and just being a Vanderbilt fan.”

Geist is confident that people will want to participate. Sunday Today viewers are already taking part in a segment showcasing coffee mugs associated with the show. And many of them know the “Sit Down” interview very well. “This has become a signature piece. That’s what our show is known for,” says Geist. People often come up to him and ask him who his next guest might be. “It’s shorthand now. Who do you have this week? Who do you have?” he says. “I know what that means.”