Tuesday January 12, 2021

IN THE NEWS

Fox News Channel will introduce a new daytime and early prime programming lineup on Monday, January 18. A new two-hour edition of “America’s Newsroom” kicks off the schedule at 9a, with founding anchor Bill Hemmer joined by co-anchor Dana Perino. Harris Faulkner will move to 11a with “The Faulkner Focus,” followed by “Outnumbered” at noon. From 1-3p, anchor John Roberts will be joined by Sandra Smith helming a new two-hour news program, “America Reports.” Martha MacCallum’s “The Story” will move from 7p to 3p, while Neil Cavuto will continue to anchor “Your World “ at 4p, followed by “The Five” and “Special Report with Bret Baier” at 6p. A rotating group of Fox News opinion hosts will helm the 7p hour, entitled “FOX News Primetime,” until a permanent 7p opinion host is named.

Over at CNN, Jake Tapper has been promoted to the net’s lead Washington, D.C. anchor. He’ll have an hour added to his daily show, which will take an hour from “The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer” and air from 4-6p. Beginning January 24, Tapper and Dana Bush will anchor Sunday’s “State of the Union” together. Jim Acosta has been named anchor and chief domestic correspondent, and Abby Phillip will handle anchoring duties for “Inside Politics Sunday.”

Parler filed a lawsuit against Amazon, accusing the company of an antitrust violation after Amazon cut its web services. Parler went dark early Monday morning.The suspension “is apparently motivated by political animus,” said Parler, which is seeking a temporary restraining order, as well as damages. In the wake of the Capitol riot, Amazon, as well as Apple and Google, have contended the microbloggoing site encourages or incites violence.

Facebook is suspending all political spending. “Following last week’s awful violence in D.C., we are pausing all of our PAC contributions for at least the current quarter, while we review our policies,” said Communications Director Andy Stone.

The 9th Annual Cynopsis Sports Media Awards are back! Cynopsis will recognize 2020’s most exceptional initiatives, which drove audience growth and converted sports viewers into fans in 2020. You can’t win it if you’re not in it – start your application now. Entries are due January 27.

CBS Television Distribution has been rebranded to CBS Media Ventures. “Syndication has traditionally meant distribution, but as the media landscape has evolved so have we,” said Steve LoCascio, president of CBS Media Ventures. “In addition to our core business of producing and distributing leading first-run series, we also have a robust ad sales and partnerships business, create digital content for multiple platforms and run the lifestyle network Dabl. This new name better reflects who we are and positions us for limitless opportunities in the future.” The division produces or distributes series including “Judge Judy,” “Jeopardy” and “The Drew Barrymore Show.”

Despite the hefty price of a Super Bowl ad, the big game still represents an opportunity for marketers to realize a strong ROI, according to Kantar. In last year’s game, the average cost of a 30-second commercial was $5.25 million, up 9% over the average price paid for a 30-second commercial five years ago, and a 20% increase over the lowest price paid in the last five years. This year’s Super Bowl LV pricing is expected to reach $5.6 million for a 30-second commercial, setting a new high with a 7% increase over last year. Still, “In most cases, Super Bowl ads have delivered a significant lift in brand equity, increased social conversations and immediate sales gains, resulting in very strong ROI,” said Alfredo Troncoso, Partner for Brand & Marketing ROI at Kantar. “Indeed, we’ve found that a Super Bowl ad is typically more than 20 times effective than a typical TV ad when it comes to driving brand perceptions.”

Nielsen’s local ratings service accreditation by the Media Rating Council has been put on hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In the past, Nielsen families were recruited and technicians entered their homes to install and monitor equipment, but the health crisis has made people hesitant about allowing technicians into their homes. “The hiatus will provide the time required to transform the way we manage our panels, from a fully in-person model to one that relies on remote techniques, and improve the overall performance of the sample,” said a Nielsen spokesperson.

Cox Media Group stations in six markets – Tulsa, Oklahoma; Memphis, Tennessee; Spokane, Washington; Eureka, California; Greenville-Greenwood, Mississippi; and Alexandria, Louisiana – have gone dark to Suddenlink subscribers. The culprit is retransmission consent fees, with Suddenlink contending CMG was asking for a higher retransmission fee than other broadcasters it works with.

The 9th Annual Cynopsis Sports Media Awards are back!

You’ve worked hard all year, in front of and behind the cameras, it’s time for you to get the recognition you deserve. This awards program spotlights the initiatives that drove audiences and turned sports viewers into fans over the past year.

ENTER NOW

HBO Max has given a series order to “And Just Like That…”, reuniting Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon and Kristin Davis (but no Kim Cattrall) for a continuation of their “Sex and the City” characters’ story. From executive producer Michael Patrick King, the Max Original series is based on the book, Sex and the City, by Candice Bushnell and the original TV series created by Darren Star. The show will follow Carrie, Miranda and Charlotte as they navigate the complicated reality of life and friendship in their 50s. Cattral has made no secret of her disinclination to reprise her role of Samantha, saying in a 2017 interview, “I played the part past the finish line and then some.” The ten-episode, half-hour series is scheduled to begin production in New York in late spring.

Netflix has a Hart. Kevin Hart and his HartBeat Productions signed a first-look deal with the streamer calling for the A-lister to star in and produce four films. Also on Netflix: Manuel Garcia-Rulfo (“From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series”) will star in David E. Kelley’s “The Lincoln Lawyer,” which landed a series order.

FX has ordered “Pistol,” a limited series about Sex Pistols guitarist Steve Jones, based on his 2018 memoir, Lonely Boy: Tales From a Sex Pistol. The six parter from Danny Boyle (“Slumdog Millionaire”), who will also serve as Executive Producer and director, was created by Craig Pearce and written by Pearce and Frank Cottrell Boyce. Jones, Boyle and Pearce serve as Executive Producers alongside Gail Lyon, Anita Camarata, Tracey Seaward, Paul Lee, Hope Hartman and wiip.

Idris Elba’s (“Luther”) Green Door Pictures and Kris Thykier’s (“Riviera”) Archery Pictures are entering a joint venture for film and TV projects. “Building Green Door has been a steep learning curve and a thrilling ride,” said Elba. “I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve achieved. Now I believe we are ready to take the next step in our growth as a company, and our alliance with Archery will facilitate and accelerate that process.”

Joe Barton (“Giri/Haji”) has taked over as showrunner and EP of HBO Max’s upcoming “The Batman.” Terence Winter (“Boardwalk Empire”) left the series in November.

COMING UP

Paranormal investigator Ben Hansen reopens UFO case files, hidden from the public for decades, in the new series, “UFO Witness,” launching Thursday, January 14 on discovery+.

“American Greed,” CNBC’s longest-running series, launches season 14 on Monday, January 18 t 10p. First up: an episode focused on the rise and fall of Stormy Daniels’ former lawyer, Michael Avantti.

Crime drama “Blue Ridge” makes its TV premiere on INSP on Saturday, March 13 at 8p. “The Western-adjacent film fits perfectly with INSP’s programming,” said Doug Butts, SVP of Programming. “Our viewers are drawn to content that embodies the spirit of justice and they admire strong characters who are champions for those who can’t fight for themselves.”

New episodes of OWN reality series “Love & Marriage: Huntsville” launch Saturday, January 30 at 9p. Season 2 picks up with the Black Lives Matter movement and the coronavirus pandemic.

Season 14 of “Murdoch Mysteries” premieres Saturday, February 20 at 7p, as part of Ovation TV’s Mystery Alley programming block.

HBO Max has acquired the first season of Spanish language dramedy “Perfect Life” (“Vida Perfecta”), following women as they navigate the humiliations and celebrations that come with being a thirty-something millennial. Season one will debut on Thursday, January 21; HBO Max will co-produce an original second season of the series with Movistar+.

Air dates for Nat Geo docu-specials “North Korea: Inside the Mind of a Dictator” and “The New Air Force One: Fortress” have shifted from January 18 to Monday, February 15 at 8p and 10p, respectively.

STREAMING

Hulu cut the price of its basic, ad-supported service to $2/month for US college students. The regular price is $6. Eligible students will get the lower rate as long as they can verify their student status.

MVTV Motorsports Network announced the launch of SVOD MAVTV Plus. The service will make its official debut Saturday, January 16 with coverage of the final night of the 2021 Lucas Oil Bowl Nationals in Tulsa, OK.

News network LIT has launched its first 24-hour channel on Peacock with a three-hour live block of its flagship entertainment news program, “LIT Entertainment News.” “This is just the beginning,” said co-founder and co-CEOAdrian Woolfe. “We’re excited to continue LIT’s expansion with more partners, platforms and talent around the globe in the coming months.”

SKOOG announced a global partnership with Sesame Workshop, introducing a new interactive platform that merges tactile technology with a content library featuring “Sesame Street” characters. The platform combines multi-sensory play with interactive content and meaningful learning experiences.

TECH TALK

Having their household equipped with the latest media technology is important to only 54.3% of American households, according to a GroupM study conducted last month. Forty-eight percent of respondents said they’d like smart appliances, and 51.5% said they already have a 5G device. Males, younger people and the highest income households were most likely to “completely agree” that having the latest technology is important.

Method Media Intelligence has accredited by the Media Rating Council for measurement of display advertising impressions, and reporting invalid bot and valid traffic on desktop, mobile web and in-app campaigns. MMI’s methodology does not use cookies or PII.

GOING GLOBAL

RTÉ Programme Sales announced its first slate of kids programming is available to the global market, including six new live action series. “Wonder What,” “Let’s Find Out,” “Insiders,” and “Body Brothers” are produced by Stop.watch for RTÉ. “Wild Kids” was produced by GMarsh TV, and “Squad Goals” by Kite Entertainment.

Endemol Shine Germany has launched a new reality label with producer Rainer Laux. Projects include “Claudia’s House of Love,” a format with reality star Claudia Obert. Rainer Laux will manage all formats with presenter Julia Leischik and reality personality, Daniela Katzenberger.

Bruce Tuchman, formerly President of Sundance Channel Global, AMC Global and MGM Networks and New Zealand’s Rialto Channel Limited have launched Rialto International, a joint venture to bring Rialto branded streaming, SVOD, AVOD and linear television services of premium indie content to countries and territories worldwide.

Italy’s Iginio Straffi is partnering with Toonz Media Group to produce a contemporary series based on The Adventures of Pinocchio. The CGI show is expected to hit the small screen by the end of 2021 and will be targeted at 4 to 7-year-olds.

Konami Cross Media NY has secured new streaming/digital agreements for its anime property Yu-Gi-Oh! in the UK and in Australia/New Zealand.

Join us on Thursday, February 25 for our virtual celebration of the industry’s Best of the Best.

Finalists will be announced later next week!

Sunday’s wildcard playoff game on NBC scored a 6.0 rating among A18-49 and 20.8 million viewers in fast affiliate numbers, up from 3.8 and 13.77 million for NBC’s game last week.

The Sunday, January 3 season premiere of HGTV’s “Home Town” delivered a .91 Live+3 rating among P25-54 and a 1.16 Live+3 rating among W25-54. Attracting more than 5.2 million total viewers, the episode also earned a 1.40 Live+3 rating among upscale W25-54, a 1.19 among P2+ and a 2.20 Live+3 household rating.

Shareablee Top 10 TV Shows for the week of January 4
Program, Network, Total Actions, Total Content, Actions per Content, Fans & Followers
The Daily Show (Comedy Central), 6.7M, 88, 76,272, 27M
Today Show (NBC), 2.6M, 887, 2,929, 13.8M
Hannity (Fox News) 2.1M, 266, 7,915, 10.4M
Good Morning America (ABC), 2M, 964, 2,114, 14.2M
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (CBS), 2M, 183, 10,755, 4.6M
Entertainment Tonight (WB/syndicated) 1.8M, 575, 3,082, 9.2M
The Rachel Maddow Show (MSNBC), 1.7M, 58, 29,704, 13.2M
PBS Newshour (PBS), 1.3M, 729, 1,808, 3.1M
World News Tonight with David Muir (ABC), 1.1M, 665, 1,729, 6M
Fox & Friends (Fox News), 1.1M, 76, 13,841, 4.7M

Shareablee Top 10 Streaming Shows for the week of January 4
Program, Platform, Total Actions, Total Content, Actions per Content, Fans & Followers
Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (Netflix), 2.3M, 37, 62,434, 2.7M
Cobra Kai (Netflix), 1.2M, 40, 31,175, 2.1M
Get Organized with the Home Edit (Netflix), 1.1M, 36, 30,489, 5.1M
Black Clover (Funimation), 888K, 23, 38,629, 825K
The Grand Tour (Amazon Prime), 452K, 17, 26,572, 5.7M
Julie and the Phantoms (Netflix), 379K, 2, 189,537, 835K
Boruto (Crunchyroll), 256K, 11, 23,230, 1.8M
The Wilds (Amazon Prime), 230K, 30, 7,659, 93K
Netflix is a Joke (YouTube), 204K, 40, 5,110, 2.3M
Nanatsu No Taizai (Netflix), 192K, 42, 4,560, 681K

Broadcast Nielsen Ratings for Friday, January 8
Show, P2+ millions, (A18-49)
ABC: “Shark Tank” 4.68 (0.81), “20/20” 3.75 (0.62)
CBS: “MacGyer” 5.17 (0.59), “Magnum PI” 5.87 (0.60), “Blue Bloods” 6.56 (0.61)
CW: “Whose Line Is It Anyway” 0.83 (0.13), “Whose Line Is It Anyway” 0.81 (0.15), “Penn & Teller: Fool Us” 0.73 (0.12)
FOX: “WWE Friday Night Smackdown” 2.12 (0.56)
NBC: “Mr. Mayor” 2.94 (0.45), “Mr. Mayor” 2.28 (0.36), “Dateline” 2.65 (0.42)
Telemundo: “Domo del Dinero” 0.81 (0.2), “Todo Por Mi Hija” 1.55 (0.4), “Falsa Identidad” 0.93 (0.3)
Univision: “Vencer al Desamor” 1.66 (0.4), “Imperio de Mentiras” 1.32 (0.3), “Dulce Ambicion” 1.13 (0.2)
Source: Nielsen live + same day time period averages

EXECUTIVE MOVES

Chris Macdonald has been tapped to serve as Chairman & CEO of McCann, and Harjot Singh has been promoted to Global Chief Strategy Officer. Macdonald was previously President, Advertising and Allied Brands for McCann, while Singh was Chief Strategy Office for McCann Worldgroup EMEA.

The E.W. Scripps Company appointed Tom Zappala as Head of Programming for its national television networks business, effective Jan. 25. Previously, Zappala served as EVP, Programming for Viacom Media Networks .

Shawna Thomas has been named executive producer of “CBS This Morning,” effective February 1. Most recently, Thomas served as a content development executive for Quibi, focused on short-form news programming.

BlissTek appointed Jeremy Deaner as CEO. Most recently, Deaner was CEO of AmberFin.

Linda Thomas Brooks has been named CEO of PRSA, the professional organization serving the communications community. Thomas Brooks most recently was a consultant working with media, marketing and trade organizations.

Dr. Bernard A. Harris, Jr. has been appointed to the Board of Directors for ABLE Channel, the emerging streaming service devoted to original consumer healthcare programming. A former two-time Space Shuttle veteran, Dr. Harris made history in 1996 when he became the first African American to walk in space.

Detroit-based creative agency Doner announced the appointments of Julio Desir as SVP, Group Creative Director; Johana Olivera as VP Brand Leader; and Christina Gay as VP, Finance Director.

IN MEMORIAM

Bob Read, an “Inside Edition” producer since 1990, died of COVID-19. He was 60. Read was diagnosed with the virus on December 18. “His colleagues remember him as a brilliant journalist with extraordinary work ethic, as a devoted friend, and for the way he lit up when he would talk about his adored wife, Michele, and two children,” said “Inside Edition.”

Pat Loud, matriarch of TV’s first reality show, died January 10 at age 94. Loud was the mother of five in PBS documentary series, “An American Family” (1973).

Answer to Our Last Trivia Question
Who was chimpanzee Bear named after on “B.J. and the Bear” (1979-81)? University of Alabama football coach Bear Bryant. Kudos to: John Ferlazzo/London, Joe Leydon-Cowboys & Indians Magazine/Houston, Kathryn Keiser-Haworth Marketing and Media/Minneapolis, Susan Nessanbaum-Goldberg-M and S Entertainment/LA, Paul Blutter-Walk and Talk Production Rentals/Burbank, Rev. Mark Wajda/Clermont, FL, Charles Lore/NYC, David Westberg-SAG-AFTRA Credit Union/Burbank, Miriam Aardahl-OMD/LA, Andy Pittman-TAMU/College Station, TX, Matt Sautter-WideOrbit/York, PA

Today’s Trivia Question
Which sitcom followed fictional football team, the California Bulls? (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.)