A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE FROM DISCOVERY

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Today’s Premieres
CW: Superman and Lois at 8p; Naomi at 9p
Discovery: Street Outlaws: Fastest in America at 8p
Hulu: Dollface
Magnolia Network: Restoration Road With Clint Harp at 9p
MTV: Teen Mom: Family Reunion at 8p; Teen Mom: Girls’ Night Out at 9p
OWN: The Kings of Napa at 8p
PBS: American Masters at 9p
Science: Spycraft at 10p
TLC: I Am Shauna Rae at 10p
Vice: Small Town Secrets at 10p

IN THE NEWS

Discovery, Inc. has joined Fox, NBCUniversal and ViacomCBS as a minority owner of advanced advertising company OpenAP. Jon Steinlauf, Chief U.S. Advertising Sales Officer, and Jim Keller, EVP, Digital Ad Sales and Advanced Advertising, will represent the company on OpenAP’s Board of Directors. “Discovery is excited to take an active role shaping the future of advanced audience buying,” said Keller. “Given our current momentum, influence and growth of audience-based sales, we believe Discovery can help further the work OpenAP has been doing to initiate meaningful change in the market.” OpenAP, launched in 2017, is now working with over 100 advertisers.

Disney CEO Bob Chapek shared the company’s three key priorities in a memo to employees: storytelling excellence, innovation, and and a “relentless” focus on the audience. As for that final item, he wrote, “Our most important guide—our North Star—is the consumer. Right now, their behavior tells us and our industry that the way they want to experience entertainment is changing—and changing fast thanks to technology and the pandemic. We must evolve with our audience, not work against them. And so we will put them at the center of every decision we make.”

Television winners of the non-televised Golden Globes included HBO’s “Succession” for drama and “Hacks” for comedy. Jeremy Strong (“Succession”) won for outstanding actor in a drama, while Mj Rodriguez (FX’s “Pose”) nabbed best actress. In top comedy categories, winners were Jean Smart (“Hacks”) and Jason Sudeikis (Apple TV+’s “Ted Lasso”).

Reaction to the sudden death of comedian and “Full House” star Bob Saget, who was found dead in a Florida hotel room on January 9, was swift and hearfelt from his co-stars, among others. “I am in complete and utter shock. I will never ever have another friend like him,” tweeted John Stamos. From Candace Cameron Bure: “Bob was one of the best humans beings I’ve ever known in my life. I loved him so much.” Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen issued a statement saying, “Bob was the most loving, compassionate and generous man.” Norman Lear also weighed in with, “Bob Saget was as lovely a human as he was funny. And to my mind, he was hilarious. We were close friends and I could not have loved him more.” Saget, was who was 65, had been in Orlando as part of a comedy tour. No signs of foul play or drug use was found, according to the medical examiner following an autopsy.

Comcast and WarnerMedia have renewed their carriage agreement, with the addition of Xfinity distribution for upcoming streamer CNN+. “WarnerMedia has been a terrific partner through the years, and we are very pleased to provide our Xfinity customers with access to their content across our industry-leading platforms,” said Rebecca Heap, SVP of Consumer Products & Propositions for Comcast Cable.

Trade event Kidscreen 2022, scheduled for February 14-17 in Miami, has been postponed due to Omocron. Kidscreen Summit Virtual will remain March 7-11, with the live event taking place July 18-21.

Auto dealers are moving ad spend from from broadcast TV and cable to digital media, including streaming video and OTT, according to a report from Borrell Associates. After a drop of 11.2% in TV spending by auto dealers in 2021, Borell projects a 6% dip, to $568.3 million 2022. That’s after a 26% drop in 2020. In 2023, Borrell forecasts a 10.4% decline. On the cable front, auto dealer spend fell 15% in 2020 and 3.1% in 2021. While Borrell expects a 4.4% increase in spending on cable to $156.3 million in 2022, declines of 5% in 2023, 2% in 2024 and 10% in 2025 to $131.1 million are projected to follow.

Nielsen and New York Interconnect have reached a multi-year agreement for local TV measurement in the New York Designated Market Area. Nielsen’s data will enable NYI, a joint venture among Altice USA, Charter Communications, and Comcast, to evaluate the daily performance of its campaigns and the cable networks it represents, as well as calculate TV campaign reach and frequency at the DMA level. New York Interconnect also has licensed Nielsen Ad Intel, a source of local and national advertising spend available.

Vuulr, the online content marketplace for film and TV rights, announced it generated the sale of over 9,000 total hours of content in 2021. Total hours listed rose 150%, to 181,760 hours.

Join Cynopsis for a virtual party on February 24 as we name the winners and honorees for this year’s Best of the Best and Rising Star Awards. Registration is free and easy!

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PRODUCTION & DEVELOPMENT

ABC Entertainment has ordered season 19 of TV’s longest-running primetime medical drama series, “Grey’s Anatomy.” Ellen Pompeo inked a one-year deal to continue in her starring role, as well as executive produce. Back at the helm will be executive producer and showrunner Krista Vernoff. Currently in its 18th season, “Grey’s” ties as the No. 1 broadcast drama among A18-49, and has ranked among the Top 10 entertainment broadcast series in the demo in each of its 18 seasons.

“The Morning Show” will rise again. Apple TV+ has renewed the drama for season three. Kerry Ehrin, who developed the series and served as showrunner on the past two seasons, will step down as showrunner and serve as consultant. Taking the showrunner reins will be Charlotte Stoudt (“Fosse/Verdon”), who has signed a multi-year deal with the streamer.

Also coming back is Netflix’s “Emily in Paris,” for seasons three and four. Season two, released December 22, drew 107.6 million global viewers its first five days.

Onyx Collective on Hulu has ordered Endeavor Content limited series “The Plot,” with Mahershala Ali attached as executive producer and star. The story, based on the book by Hanff Korelitz, focuses on a struggling author who literary theft upends his life. “Hollywood is still not greenlighting enough projects with multidimensional Black characters, stories that simply focus on our humanity. The rarity of a straight-to-series order, especially for BIPOC projects, is not lost on us,” said EP Mimi Valdés.

The NAACP’s production partnership with CBS Studios has led to five sold projects so far. In development is a remake of 1991 film “Soapdish”, with Whoopi Goldberg set to reprise her role, and drama “Construction,” described as “’Dynasty’ meets ‘Succession,’” for Paramount+; a DL Hughley comedy for Fox; an Earthquake comedy for CBS; and “Little Rock Nine,” based on the seminal moment in the integration of schools, for Apple TV+. “The current political and societal landscape demand that we expand the voices, contexts, and visibility of artists producing content around the African American experience,” said NAACP President Derrick Johnson.

Law&Crime has renewed “Caught in Providence” for a second season. The true crime show follows cases in front of Rhode Island’s Chief Judge Frank Caprio.

Casting notes: Hugh Laurie (“House”) and Mark Ruffalo (“I Know This Much Is True”) landed the leads opposite newcomer Aria Mia Loberti in Netflix’s “All the Light We Cannot See.” The limited series is based on the bestselling novel….Aubrey Plaza has joined the season two cast of HBO social satire “The White Lotus.”

ANCHORS AWAY

Audie Cornish (“All Things Considered”) has boarded upcoming streamer CNN+ as anchor and correspondent. “There are fresh stories to tell and new ways to tell them,” said Cornish. CNN+ is slated to launch this spring.

Symone Sanders, former senior advisor and chief spokesperson for Vice President Kamala Harris, is joining MSNBC, where she will “explore issues at the intersection of politics, culture and race and break down how decisions made in Washington impact electorates, industries, and communities across the country,” said the network.

Jesse Watters has been named host of Fox News Channel’s 7p hour, called “Jesse Watters Primetime,” starting January 24. Watters will remain a co-host of “The Five,” but relinquish his weekend show, “Watters’ World.” A new Saturday night program will be announced at a later date.

Political commentator and Washington Post columnist George Will is joining Nexstar Media’s cable network NewsNation as a senior contributor beginning January 15. “NewsNation meets a national need for news delivered without political agendas, clenched fists, and raised voices,” said the Pulitzer Prize winner. “It offers news leavened by a sense of the complexity and grandeur of American history: this nation was not made by flimsy people, and it is not flimsy.”

COMING UP

“Puppy Bowl” returns for its 18th year, showcasing shelters and rescues. The three-hour event that can be found on Animal Planet on Sunday, February 13 at 2pm and streaming on discovery+.

“Barbara Lee: Speaking Truth to Power” premieres Tuesday, February 1 on Starz. The documentary focuses on the congressional representative and human rights activist.

The longer marketers wait to build out a proper CTV strategy, the more difficult – and expensive – it will be for them to target audiences in the long run, says Andrew Budkofsky, CRO of Glewed TV. For his thoughts on how to redefine the CTV marketing playbook, go to Cynsiders.

Also set for Black History Month is “Black Patriots: Heroes of the Civil War,” airing Monday, February 21 at 11p on History Channel. Executive produced and narrated by historian, social justice advocate and NBA champ Kareem Abul-Jabbar, and Deborah Morales of Iconomy Multi-Media & Entertainment, the documentary offers a look at heroism during the Civil War. “The Civil War wasn’t just fought over Black Americans, it was also fought by them,” said Abdul-Jabbar. “This documentary chronicles the heroic contributions of courageous African American men and women who helped reshape our nation.”

Singer H.E.R. will open the “Urban One Honors” awards on Monday, January 17 at 8p. Hosted by Ne-Yo, the ceremony is set to air on TV One and Cleo TV.

CBS Sports and Nickelodeon’s presentation during the NFL’s Super Wild Card Weekend on Sunday, Jan. 16, at 4:30p will air alongside CBS Sports’ broadcast on CBS. “NFL Wild Card Game on Nickelodeon” will feature enhanced original on-field graphics; an AR blimp that will fly throughout the stadium; special pregame and halftime presentations; guest appearances from Nickelodeon characters; and more content aimed at kids and families.

Would you like to see your project celebrated by the sports media industry? Enter the 10th annual Cynopsis Sports Media Awards program: entries are now open!

GOING GLOBAL

UK’s Spirit Studios has partnered with James Watt and Brewdog to create “Mission Finpossible,” a drama documentary focused on issues facing the world’s shark species. Brewdog will produce an exclusive beer to raise funds for shark support groups around the world.

Watch4, the AVOD service for Germany, Austria and Switzerland, has entered into a licensing agreement with IMG to stream three ATP 250 tournaments live from Australia, from now to January15. Watch4 will feature live streams of 21 Tennis Australia’s tournaments taking place in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney.

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RATINGS

For the eight consecutive year, the “Countdown to Christmas” programming event made Hallmark Channel the most-watched entertainment cable network for all of 4Q21 among Women 18+. The original holiday premieres every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday night led the network to dominate on weekends across the cable universe, including news and sports, throughout the quarter among Households, Women 18+, Women 25-54 and Total Viewers.

Shareablee Top 10 Streaming Shows for the week of January 3
Program, Platform, Total Actions, Total Content, Actions per Content, Fans & Followers
Cobra Kai, Netflix: 2,574,315, 49, 52,537, 3,482,288
Queer Eye, Netflix: 861,095, 41, 21,002, 2,757,633
The Witcher, Netflix: 577,507, 21, 27,500, 2,219,987
The Book of Boba Fett, Disney+: 509,565, 25, 20,383, 158,628
Attack on Titan, Netflix: 503,610, 9, 55,957, 2,514,947
Nanatsu No Taizai, Netflix: 417,237, 87, 4,796, 1,010,696
Get Organized With The Home Edit, Netflix: 335,780, 30, 11,193, 5,880,115
Netflix Is A Joke, Netflix: 199,462, 40, 4,987, 2,486,980
Toei Animation, Hulu: 196,386, 35, 5,611, 2,167,254
The Grand Tour, Amazon Prime: 169,559, 5, 33,912, 5,999,712

Broadcast Nielsen Ratings for Friday, January 7
Show, P2+ 000s, (A18-49)
ABC: Shark Tank 4.59 (0.8), 20/20 4.79 (0.7)
CBS: Undercover Boss 3.86 (0.5), Magnum P.I. 5.32 (0.5), Blue Bloods 6.07 (0.5)
CW: Penn & Teller: Fool Us 0.89 (0.1), Nancy Drew 0.45 (0.1)
Fox: WWE Friday Night Smackdown 2.27 (0.6)
NBC: US Figure Skating Championships 2.39 (9.3)
Telemundo: Hercai: Amor y Venganza 1.24 (0.4), Malverde: el Santo Patron 0.89 (0.3)
Source: Nielsen live + same day time period averages

EXECUTIVE MOVES

CBS News made appointments in the Washington bureau, including naming Mark Lima VP and Washington bureau chief; appointing Mary Hager, executive producer of “Face the Nation,” to the additional role of executive editor of politics; and naming Matthew Mosk senior investigative editorial director.

Jax Media co-founders Tony Hernandez and Lilly Burns have been promoted to Presidents at Imagine Entertainment. They will oversee film and television.

Integral Ad Science has appointed Csaba Szabo as Managing Director, EMEA. Most recently he was the VP, EMEA at Shutterstock.

Go Button Media announced four promotions: Robin Webster, previously director of development, has been promoted to VP of development and casting; Sarah Hewitt, previously manager of development, is now director of development; Stephanie Baird moves from line producer to director of production; and Rebecca Costa is promoted to director of post production, having previously held the title of post supervisor.

Fandom has hired Quincy Carroll as Chief Product Officer. Carroll joins from publisher and ecommerce platform Hodinkee, where he served as Chief Product Officer.

Shuvankar Roy has been named SVP of Customer Experience at Altice USA. Roy joins from Comcast, where he most recently served as the VP of Connectivity Operations.

IN MEMORIAM

Veteran industry analyst Larry Gerbrandt died January 6 in his sleep. He was 69. Most recently, Gerbrandt headed Media Valuation Partners.

This Day in History
1897 – Martha Hughes Cannon became the first female state senator in the US, for Utah.

Answer to Our Last Trivia Question
Which 1960s medical drama had the same name as an episode of “Doctor Who” that aired years later? “The Eleventh Hour” (1962). Kudos to: Lorrie Shilling/El Segundo, CA; Charles Lore/NYC; Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA

Today’s Trivia Question
For which series was Danny DeVito nominated for a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series? (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.)

Cynopsis Team