IN THE NEWS

On Monday, the Directors Guild announced the nominees in some TV categories for the DGA Awards – but not for comedy, drama, or variety/talk/news/sports-specials, as had been scheduled. The organization cited “a re-vote related to a newly implemented electronic submissions process” as the cause of the delay for the affected categories, which will now be announced Friday. Last week, the DGA revealed Transparent’s Jill Soloway had been accidentally left off the ballot and offered members a chance to recast their vote via email. In the TV movie & limited series category, directors for three different episodes of Fosse/Verdon won nods (Thomas Kail, Minkie Spiro and Jessica Yu), along with Ava DuVernay for When They See Us, Vince Gilligan for El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie and Johan Renck for Chernobyl. For a list of nominees in the other categories that were announced, go here.

Fresh off her Golden Globes win for Hulu’s The Act comes word that Patricia Arquette will star in Apple’s upcoming thriller Severance, opposite Adam Scott. The project reunites Arquette with director and executive producer Ben Stiller, who directed Arquette in Escape From Dannemora, and played her husband in the 1996 film Flirting With Disaster.

Dish and Mission Broadcasting pointed fingers at each other for stations in 18 Mission markets being dropped by Dish just ahead of the NFL playoff last weekend. “Dish gave us no warning when it removed our stations. We offered an extension, and Dish refused,” said Dennis Thatcher, president of Mission. Countered Andy LeCuyer, Dish SVP of Programming, “Dish offered to extend the contract during ongoing negotiations, ensuring consumers would not be harmed in this process, but Mission refused.” Mission owns affiliates in Arkansas, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas and Vermont.

Nielsen and Nexstar Media Group inked a multi-year agreement that calls for Nielsen to provide a suite of measurement services for all broadcast and cable entities across Nexstar Media Group, including 197 local television stations and digital subchannels in 115 markets, and national ratings for cable entertainment network WGN America and digital network, Antenna TV.

YouTube said Monday it is rolling out changes globally to better protect kids and their privacy. “YouTube now treats personal information from anyone watching children’s content on the platform as coming from a child, regardless of the age of the user,” the company said in a blog post. “This means that on videos made for kids, we limit data collection and use. We no longer serve personalized ads on this content or support features such as comments, live chat, notification bell, stories, save to playlist, and others.” YouTube added it is committed to helping creators navigate the new landscape, and recommended parents use YouTube Kids if they plan to allow children under 13 to watch independently.

Former NFL-er Victor Cruz has joined new E! morning news show Pop of the Morning, co-hosting with Lilliana Vasquez and Scott Tweedie.

MSNBC anchor Stephanie Ruhle has been named senior business correspondent at NBC News. “Stephanie will continue to anchor on MSNBC as well as report for Today, Nightly, NBC News Now and digital,” said Janelle Rodriguez, SVP of editorial at NBC News, in a memo to staff. A new producer for Ruhle will be added to the team in the coming weeks.

“Judge Judy” Sheindlin endorsed Michael Bloomberg for president during her appearance on The View on Monday, and in a campaign ad that praises the candidate’s “steady leadership.” On the morning show, the court TV star said, “Mike Bloomberg is the only one of the candidates who has experience governing and managing, and is successful.”

The New Year savings are still going on! Want to attend Cynopsis’ two NYC conferences this year? Snag discounted tickets to both our Measurement & Data Summit (June) and That Big TV Conference (Sept), PLUS a chance to win tickets to the hottest Broadway Shows (Hamilton or Moulin Rouge – your choice). The savings expire this Friday, January 10th. For questions, or to sign up for this offer, please contact Cynopsis’ Marketing Director Jenn Ocampo.

The Friday and Saturday after Lifetime’s Surviving R. Kelly Part II: The Reckoning aired, RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Hotline experienced a 40% increase in calls, said Erinn Robinson, RAINN Press Secretary. “We are so thankful for our partnership with RAINN as part of our Stop Violence Against Women Initiative and to see the jump in calls during the airings of Surviving R. Kelly Part II: The Reckoning,” said Brie Miranda Bryant, SVP, Unscripted Programing, Lifetime. “It’s amazing to know the documentary has encouraged important and necessary conversations to happen and we are extremely proud of our survivors for their courage, who by standing up for themselves, stand for so much more.”

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All3Media is partnering with producers Leon Wilson and Ed Sleeman in a new production company, Great Scott Media. The company, which will focus on making entertainment, comedy entertainment, factual entertainment and scripted comedy shows for broadcasters and streaming platforms in the UK and global markets, has several projects in development. Great Scott Media’s formats and shows will be distributed internationally by All3Media International.

CMT and iHeartMedia renewed their partnership in a deal that also calls for iHeartMedia and Premiere Networks to support CMT’s Next Women of Country artists with a new syndicated programming element airing weekly. Under the agreement, Premiere Networks and CMT will continue their exclusive distribution and production partnership for two syndicated radio programs, and extend Cody Alan’s hosting duties for CMT’s weekly flagship series, CMT Hot 20 Countdown.

“The field of candidates for this year’s Rising Star Awards was, once again, outstanding,” said Robbie Caploe, Publisher of Cynopsis. “They’re the innovators and champions of change with the skill, commitment and passion to help guide an industry during an exciting, but tumultuous time. We are honored to shine a light on these future leaders, as well as the companies that are empowering them.”View all 56 honorees here and make plans to join us in NYC on Thursday, February 6th for an awards luncheon celebrating media’s emerging talent and this year’s Best of The Best Awards finalists.

TECH TALK

Video advertising technology company Tremor International reached an agreement with News Corp to acquire Unruly, News Corp’s programmatic video advertising platform. The deal marks the start of a three-year partnership with News Corp which will give Tremor the exclusive right to sell outstream video on more than 50 News Corp titles in the UK, US and Australia. For more on the deal, go here.

TheTake, creator of scalable video commerce technology, announced the launch of a shoppable video experience through partnerships with LG Electronics and media companies including WarnerMedia, A+E Networks, Crown Media Family Networks, NBCUniversal and others. Beginning this spring, owners of LG’s new webOS Smart TVs will be able to for fashion, accessories, homeware, tech devices and recipe items on the networks’ shows. “Shoppable video has been talked about since the days of Rachel’s sweater on Friends,” Tyler Cooper, Co-Founder and CEO of TheTake, said at CES. “Previous solutions haven’t addressed the long tail opportunity where each individual viewer wants to shop for something different. Shoppable video isn’t just about Rachel’s sweater, but also Chandler’s jacket, Joey’s sunglasses, Monica’s couch and so on. To address the full breadth of consumer interest, we leverage machine learning to make more than 500 products shoppable in a given episode of television.”

Project OAR, the technology consortium created in 2018 to deliver better advertising experiences to viewers through the use of dynamic advertising on internet-connected TVs and devices, announced a series of updates, covering ad engine integration, technology deployments in hardware, and measurement specifications. “We are excited about the progress we’ve made to advance the technical and measurement specifications; it speaks to the commitment everyone has to innovate experiences on behalf of brands and consumers,” said Laura Nelson, SVP, Advertising Solutions & Performance Advertising at Disney Advertising Sales. For details, go here.

Centro’s platform, Basis, is now certified to buy on Hulu’s private marketplace. Basis customers that secure approval from Hulu gain cross-channel video advertising capabilities through programmatic ad buys that reach 72 million viewers watching on connected TVs and other devices.

COMING UP

Freeform’s The Thing About Harry will premiere Saturday, February 15 at 8p. The original film tells the story of high school enemies forced to share a car ride to their Missouri hometown for a friend’s engagement party on Valentine’s Day.

KIDS NEWS

Silvergate Media announced a creative partnership with Merlin Entertainments that will bring its preschool property Octonaut to Chang Feng Ocean World in Shanghai. Launching to the public in June 2020, the attraction will offer a unique underwater experience.

Music brand Kidz Bop announced a tour, Kidz Bop Live 2020, in partnership with Live Nation. The family-friendly live concert experience will travel to 59 cities in the US, Canada, and Dominican Republic this year.

STREAMING

Roku is adding 15 brands as licensee partners to make new smart TV models with the Roku TV operating system, and rolling out a “Roku TV Ready” certification program to help users set up audio equipment with Roku devices. “Our goal is to make the TV experience incredibly simple, accessible and fun….And now with this new program we hope to make it super easy to setup and control soundbars and audio/video receivers using just a Roku TV remote,” said Mark Ely, vice president of retail product strategy at Roku.

Amazon is partnering with BMW and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles to offer hands-free Alexa and touch-screen interfaces for screens in the car. “Adding Fire TV to future BMW vehicles represents a big step in bringing the best of streamed entertainment to our products,” said Fathi El-Dwaik, VP, User Interaction, Business Line My Car and Business Line My Life, BMW Group. “With Amazon’s approach, and with the help of Garmin, we are able to innovate and create a unique and special experience for BMW cars, providing the consistency of content and customer experience that Fire TV provides in the home.”

The cost of streaming piracy is considerable for both video providers and viewers, according to an analysis by video software provider Synamedia. The report found over 3 million viewers’ credentials were compromised in just six months, with 6000 accounts available for purchase. Providers are losing over $72 million in potential revenue from half a million non-paying users, according to Synamedia; converting 7% of nonpaying accounts into paying customers would increase revenue by over $5 million annually. “The streaming wars are not going away, and the massive threat of streaming video piracy can no longer be ignored, it’s simply too costly,” said Jean-Marc Racine, Chief Product Officer, Synamedia. “The eye-opening statistics from these investigations illustrate just a microcosm of the real impact we’re seeing worldwide.”

Cinedigm struck a partnership with global OTT streaming service DistroTV to bring eight of the company’s networks – the fanspace-based outlet CONtv and CONtv Anime, the family-focused Dove Channel, and the fact-based Docurama, as well as Chinese pop culture channel BAMBU, stand-up special supplier Comedy Dynamics, combat sports hub COMBAT GO, and global Asian pop culture community HallyPop – to the free-to-use platform. “DistroTV and Cinedigm share a similar vision of redefining the traditional television experience and putting the power back in the hands of the user,” said Tony Huidor, Cinedigm GM of Digital Networks. “This agreement plays an integral role in our mission to deliver our unique channels and programming to viewers all across the globe, opening up our eclectic offerings to a whole new audience.”

AVOD Tubi and Vidaa International, a subsidiary of television manufacturer Hisense, inked a deal that will give viewers of Hisense’s new Vidaa platform access to Tubi’s library of over 20,000 movies and TV shows. The new Hisense TVs powered by Vidaa will have Tubi preloaded and prominently placed on the home screen. “Hisense has been a global leader in consumer electronics and is a perfect partner as we ramp up our international expansion in 2020,” said Michael Ahiakpor, Chief Product Officer at Tubi.

Pluto TV has a new logo, just in time for CES. It’s part of a 1Q20 branding campaign for the streaming company, which was acquired by Viacom in January 2019 for $340 million

CASTING

Josie Totah (Champions) landed the lead in Peacock’s upcoming Saved by the Bell reboot, as Lexi, “the most popular girl at Bayside High.” Original cast members Elizabeth Berkley and Mario Lopez are already onboard for the streaming series, slated for an April launch.

GOING GLOBAL

Endemol Shine International signed a deal with Mediaset Italy for Spanish period drama series Cathedral of the Sea. Series is produced by Diagonal Televisió, part of Endemol Shine Iberia for Atresmedia Televisión, Televisió de Catalunya and Netflix.

Aside from standard offerings, new soft benefits are surfacing, too.
Read Cynopsis’ 2019-2020 Salary Survey report to check out what other companies are offering and how it compares to what you receive.

A funny thing happened in M18-34 ratings for 2019 – Comedy Central wrapped the year as the #1 full day entertainment cable network in the demo (.24 rating), driven by strong-performing originals, including South Park, cable’s #1 primetime comedy for the 7th year in a row. Among P18-49, the brand increased year-over-year ratings for the first time since 2013 (.18 rating in 2018 to a .19 rating in 2019).

USA was 2019’s #1 cable network among P18-49 and P25-54, and the #1 net in prime for the 14th consecutive year.

Shareablee Top 10 TV Shows for the week of December 30
Program, Network, Total Actions, Total Content, Actions per Content, Fans & Followers
E! News (E!) 11.7M, 689, 17,018, 36.7M
Today Show (NBC) 2M, 639, 3,126, 13.4M
Entertainment Tonight (WB/syndicated) 1.7M, 459, 3,666, 8.6M
Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve (ABC) 1.6M, 353, 4,582, 482K
Good Morning America (ABC) 1M, 866, 1,197, 13.5M
TODAY with Hoda & Jenna (NBC) 710K, 376, 1,888, 2.8M
Golden Globes 2020 (NBC) 578K, 146, 3,959, 5.1M
PBS NewsHour (PBS) 503K, 580, 868, 2.7M
The 700 Club (Freeform/syndicated) 479K, 147, 3,258, 2.7M
World News Tonight with David Muir (ABC) 419K, 553, 758, 5.5M

Tunity Analytics Top Weekly National Out-of-Home Viewer Rankings for Entertainment Programs for the week of December 30
Program, OOH Viewers (000)
Program, OOH Viewers (000)
77th Annual Golden Globe Awards (NBC) 2618
NCIS: New Orleans (CBS) 375
Dick Clark’s Primetime Rockin’ Eve (ABC) 299
FBI (CBS) 220
Tournament of Roses Parade (NBC) 214
Home Town (HGTV) 176
Flip or Flop (HGTV) 163
Property Brothers : Forever Home (HGTV) 160
Manifest (NBC) 159
NBC’s New Year’s Eve (NBC) 152
Source: Tunity Analytics. Viewing estimates are derived from the Tunity mobile app usage. OOH impressions are calculated using Tunity Analytics propriety estimation model.

TV Time’s Shows on the Rise for the Week of December 30
Alexa & Katie (Netflix) – 97.9%
Skam Italia (TIMvision) – 92.8%
Anne with an E (CBC) – 85.5%
Jane the Virgin (The CW) – 78.5%
MasterChef IT (Sky Uno) – 74.5%
Doctor Who (BBC One) – 69.6%
The Bonfire of Destiny (TF1) – 53.4%
Money Heist (Netflix) – 48.4%
The Gift (Netflix) – 36.1%
Hawaii Five-0 (CBS) 31.4%
Methodology: Every week, millions of viewers around the world use TV Time to track their favorite series. “Shows on the Rise” is calculated by determining the week-over-week growth in episodes watched for a given program.

EXECUTIVE MOVES

HGTV expanded its roster of programming and development talent, adding Bob Kirsh as VP of Programming, Katie Ruttan-Daigle as VP of Programming and Anna Snead as Senior Director, Development. Kirsh joins the network from his most recent post as executive producer of HGTV’s A Very Brady Renovation; Ruttan-Daigle transitioned from Scott Brothers Entertainment, where she held positions as managing director and EVP; and Snead was director, programming development and casting for HGTV sister net Investigation Discovery.

WildBrain, a global kids and family content and brands company, has appointed Steve Manners as VP, Business Development WildBrain CPLG and WildBrain Spark. Manners joined the company in 2010.

Crossmedia appointed Matt Bayer to the new position of head of integrated media sourcing. Bayer joined Crossmedia in October.

Brian Landau, founding partner and President of The Awareness Group Agency, announced the formation of The Landau Carriage Agency, with a continued focus on marketing, promotional and advertising services.

Sean Buckley was promoted from Chief Revenue Officer to Chief Operating Officer at SpotX, and Jeanne Leasure was upped from SVP, People to Chief People Officer.

David Schwarz has been named SVP, Entertainment and Alison Blue has been named VP, Lifestyle, at Superjuice, established in 2016 as a division of global talent agency APA. Previously, Schwarz spent 20 years at Viacom including overseeing the bi-coastal Communications team for Paramount Network/ Spike TV from 2006-2018, while Blue oversaw media relations for the Arthur M. Blank Family of Businesses.

Answer to Our Last Trivia Question
Why did Ricky, Lucy, Fred and Ethel mistakenly wind up in the Swiss town of Locarno instead of Lucerne on an episode of I Love Lucy (1951-57)? Ethel sat on Fred’s glasses, so he misread the name of their intended destination. Kudos to: Phyllis McQuillan-MSG Networks/NYC, Jason Potere-ABC/Brooklyn, Darlene Dorman-WMAR/Baltimore, Jim Kelly-Jim Kelly Consulting/Central Islip, NY, Lorrie Shilling/El Segundo, CA, David Westberg-SAG-AFTRA/Burbank, Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA, Susan Nessanbaum-Goldberg-M and S Entertainment/LA

Today’s Trivia Question
The first prime time run of Hollywood Squares was a midseason replacement for which short-lived sitcom? (Email [email protected] with your answer and be sure to include your name, company, city and time zone. Unofficial rules: a limit of four answers per time zone.)