Fox Business Network anchor Liz Claman is looking forward to covering CES 2023 in Las Vegas next month.
Last year, because of COVID-19, most of Claman’s competitors stayed away from the massive consumer electronics showcase. Their loss, Claman told Broadcasting+Cable.
“Why wouldn’t we go? That’s what we do in journalism,” she said. The big story was the supply chain clog caused by a shortage of microchips. “Every single thing on the millions of square feet at CES needs a microchip. People needed technology more than ever during COVID and during the lockdown and these were the companies that were right at the forefront, stepping it up.”
This year, Claman will be back and Fox News Media is one of CES’s official media partners for the first time.
“We are thrilled to welcome Fox Business to our fantastic lineup of top-tier media partners from around the world for CES 2023,” a CES spokesperson said.
Claman has been covering CES since her early days in the TV business as a cub reporter for WSYX Columbus, Ohio, in 1989. “I convinced them to send me and a cameraman because technology is the way of the future,“ she said. “I was fascinated and I was hooked completely.”
Fox News becoming an official CES media partner was exciting to Claman. “I probably levitate three feet off the ground when I hear that because it is the most important trade show in America and the most important tech trade show in the world, in my opinion,” she said.
The arrangement will bring additional exposure to all of Fox News’ platforms and enables Fox News to stream content within the CES Digital Venue.
The official media partner designation will also give Fox Business additional access to companies and executives, Claman said.
The day before the conference starts, she will be doing her show live from Qualcomm’s headquarters in San Diego. “I’m going to be there with the CEO. They’re the largest chipmaker for smartphones but they’re expanding big into the auto business,” Claman said. “There are more than 1,000 microchips in your average electric vehicle and Qualcomm wants to own that. They will be at CES, but we’re grabbing them first.”
Claman will also host the CES 2023 Leaders in Technology Dinner for the fourth time and have a discussion with the dinner’s headline speaker Adena Friedman, president and CEO of NASDAQ.
“As one of the most respected business journalists in America, we’re honored to have Liz join us again on the stage at CES to lead this thought-provoking conversation,” said Gary Shapiro, CEO of the Consumer Technology Association, which puts on CES.
Interviewing Friedman will be interesting because the NASDAQ is home to many disruptive tech companies, Claman said. Claman plans to ask Friedman what she sees for 2023, what she’s seen on the conference floor and how the exchange plans to grow at a time when the initial public offering market has dried up and the special purpose acquisition company market has shriveled.
Claman will be scouring the convention looking for the technology that everyone will want to have on their hands, while avoiding the flashes in the pans.
While Fox Business will have a prime broadcast location, Claman plans to drag her crew from one end of the huge conference to the other.
“I didn’t fly 3,000 miles across the country to sit at CES,” she said. “I drive my team crazy. I’m walking, I’m moving, I’m running. They’re going to have 2 million square feet of space to cover. We can go live from anywhere on that floor. We’ll map it out and run from guest to guest. It’s a little frantic but, I live for it. I love the challenge.”
As a CES veteran, Claman knows some tricks for covering the sprawling event. “I have a whole system of what should I wear. And believe me, they’re not high heels. It’s fun to see the newbies show up in skirts and stilettos and then by the end of the day they can’t move.”
At last year’s CES she took to TikTok at the handle @RedFoxLiz and now has about 250,000 followers. This year, she might make TikTok videos live from the CES floor. The new media attracts different viewers. “Sometimes I’m walking down the street and people will point at me and say you, you you’re the . . . TikTok lady who does the stock-market stuff,” she said, adding, “my kids are thrilled and mortified.”
Speaking of kids, there is one thing that can keep Claman away from opening day at CES. She’ll be dropping her son Julian off at USC. “At some point, I’ve got to be a mom,” she said. ■
