The Best of Black Friday with CNN Underscored

November 22, 2023

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🎤 The Best of Black Friday & Cyber Monday with CNN Underscored's Senior Editor, Chelsea Stone

CNN Underscored Senior Editor Chelsea Stone

As CNN's e-commerce platform dedicated solely to rigorous product recommendations, unbiased reviews and deals coverage, CNN Underscored is embarking on one of the biggest days and weeks of the year for the team: Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

We sat down with CNN Underscored Senior Editor Chelsea Stone to discuss how CNN Underscored is navigating the week and how audiences can find the best deals.

What are CNN Underscored's plans for Black Friday/Cyber Monday?
CNN Underscored is all-hands-on-deck when it comes to covering Black Friday and Cyber Monday — or, as we often collectively refer to them, Cyber Week, though Cyber Month might be a more apt term these days. Retailers launched early promotions this year more than ever, so we've actually been covering early Black Friday deals since late October. Now, this week, our team is taking it up a notch to help our readers discover the best savings on the brands and retailers we know they most want to shop: We'll be publishing more than 75 articles on-site — everything from the most worthwhile deals at Amazon to where to find the best deals on AirPods — along with deal recommendations on our social media channels, exclusive offerings for our newsletter subscribers and short-form videos outlining shopping tips.

CNN Underscored Black Friday

What are the best deals for this year's Cyber Week? And where can CNN Underscored audiences find your team's recommendations?

I always say that the best deal is a deal on something you need! There's no single best deal that's perfect for everyone, but at Underscored, we focus on providing readers with the best value possible for their dollar no matter what they're shopping for. If you're looking to save on holiday gifts, we found deals for everyone on your list. If you've been holding out for a sale to make a major home upgrade, such as a new TV or mattress, some of the lowest prices of the year happen during Cyber Week, and our work makes it easy for you to find them. Even if you're not looking to make any big purchases this year, we round up deals on smaller home essentials that are worth checking out to save you at least a few bucks on something you were going to buy anyway.

That said, here are a few deals I'm personally excited about: a four-pack of always useful Apple AirTags; savings on a range of KitchenAid models in time for holiday baking; a major sitewide promo at my go-to for denim, Madewell; and an exclusive deal on my (and Oprah's) favorite sheets from Cozy Earth.

You can find all of CNN Underscored's recommendations via the site for Black Friday and Cyber Monday our CNN Underscored and CNN Underscored Deals Newsletters and on social via Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Threads, X (formerly Twitter), Pinterest, CNN Underscored's YouTube channel, CNN Underscored's First Look YouTube channel and WhatsApp.

CNN Underscored Deals

How does CNN Underscored source these deals and recommendations for Black Friday/Cyber Monday? How does CNN Underscored choose which deals to promote?
During Cyber Week — and every other day of the year — the Underscored deals team scours the internet for deals, and employs a range of techniques and considers a variety of factors to determine whether a deal is worthy of coverage. These include price history checks, available coupon codes, competitor pricing and cost of shipping. We're also in regular communication with representatives for a wide range of brands and are always working to secure exclusive deals for Underscored readers. With the sheer volume of deals available during Black Friday and Cyber Monday, the process for vetting individual deals can take quite some time, so beginning on Thanksgiving and continuing through Cyber Monday, our team starts work as early as 3 a.m. to ensure our readers have plenty of recommendations to shop as soon as they wake up.

What are you most excited for this Black Friday and Cyber Monday?
Our entire CNN Underscored staff is fabulous at what they do — we have editors specializing in beauty, tech, credit cards and more, along with dedicated copy editors, designers, SEO analysts and product managers — and Cyber Week is one of the only times (and certainly the most significant time) of the entire year when we all come together to work on covering a sale event. As someone who works on deals throughout the entire year, I feel especially rewarded seeing all that we can accomplish as a team in service of our readers.

✍️ we want to hear from you

Got an idea for this newsletter? Let us know what you'd like to read about or what you've enjoyed so far. You can reach the team at insidecnn@cnn.com. We look forward to hearing from you.