What's Trending was as an American live television show with CBS Interactive that streamed on CBSNews.com and YouTube. Shira Lazar starred as the host, who anchored the show since its inception. What's Trending featured segments on pop culture, music, and movies, including trending videos and personalities on the internet.
The show debuted on May 15, 2011 and originally streamed live once a week. On August 20, 2012, the show rebranded itself and expanded to stream five days a week covering the most popular videos on YouTube.[1]
What's Trending eventually went separate ways from CBS Interactive and operated under its own publisher entity under What's Trending, Inc.
The show consisted of a daily 'Trending Now' top 5 video countdown that showcases the biggest viral videos of the day on YouTube. Throughout the week, different segments feature musical performances, packages featuring curated lists of videos on YouTube, and interviews with high-profile celebrities and YouTube talent.
What's Trending worked in conjunction with MTV's O Music Awards as well as the American non-profit organization The Trevor Project to stream their yearly event. Actor Daniel Radcliffe participated in a live chat on the show discussing The Trevor Project.[2]
What's Trending conducted interviews with Arnold Schwarzenegger, while promoting his autobiography, Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story,[3] and was one of the first news outlets to interview Bobak Ferdowsi after the successful launch of the Curiosity rover.[4]
On June 7, rapper/producer Lupe Fiasco was interviewed during the program and said, "My fight against terrorism, to me, the biggest terrorist is Obama in the United States of America."[5] On June 20, Lupe Fiasco appeared on the Fox News show The O'Reilly Factor defending his comments.[6]
On September 10, 2011 CBS News ended its relationship with Lazar and the show after a tweet was posted by a junior staffer claiming Apple co-founder Steve Jobs had died. A formal apology was issued live at the beginning of the September 13 show,[7] The show carried on independently through partnerships with Ustream and Livestream. Marc Hustvedt of Tubefilter wrote, "The show itself is still groundbreaking, and arguably the most polished half-hour live show on the internet right now. It brings intelligent people together to talk about top news stories in an informative way."[8]
Steve Rosenbaum of Huffington Post wrote, "It's clear that CBS is committed to this story -- jumping past the cheesy bluescreen or robo-set and building Lazar and her team a truly 'webified' set that is both high tech and modern. When the network springs for a set, you know they're in it for the long run."[9] Mike Hale of The New York Times wrote, "What's really new about "What's Trending," and most of interest to Watchlist, is simply the fact that it's a live, scheduled half-hour Web show being done on the site of a major broadcast television network (and with a major corporate sponsor AT&T). That's revolutionary, whether the subject is social networking or retirement planning."[10] Marshall Kirkpatrick of Read Write Web wrote, "It will all be run through the living experiment of multi-platform viewer engagement that What's Trending is using and building at the same time. It's an effort that could help illuminate some developments in the future of entertainment on the web and it's ambitious enough to be downright inspirational."[11]
In December 2012, What's Trending participated in the first "Tube-A-Tweet-A-Thon".[12] People would go to Twitter and tweet using the hashtag #Tubeathon and $1 would be donated to Covenant House to try and raise $50,000 to serve homeless youth.
In July 2012, What's Trending received nominations for the Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Achievement in Original Interactive Programming.[13][14]
What's Trending on CBS News received a 2012 Webby Award Nominations for Best Host and Best Variety Show.[15] On January 12, the IAWTV held their award show in Las Vegas, in conjunction with the Consumer Electronics Show.There, What's Trending received four awards: Best Directing (Non-Fiction) - Brett Register, Best Host (Live) - Shira Lazar, Best Interactive/Social Media Experience and Best Hosted Live Web Series.[16]
In February 2013, What's Trending won a Streamy Award for Best Live Series.[17]
