Thursday January 21, 2021

IN THE NEWS

“I thought this was the best inaugural address I’ve ever heard,” said Fox News’ Chris Walllace of President Joe Biden’s speech yesterday, noting he’s heard every one since 1961. “It was a call to our better angels.” Breakout star of the day: 22-year-old poet laureate Amanda Gorman. “Perfectly written, perfectly delivered…Brava!” tweeted Lin-Manuel Miranda, whose “Hamilton” was referenced in Gorman’s poem. Elsewhere, some QAnon followers expressed frustration online that the prophecy that President Trump would seize another term in office was not fulfilled. “We’ve been had,” posted one follower when the new president was sworn in.

The CW will in devote Tuesday night, February 23 to the series premiere of “Superman & Lois.” Following a 90-minute debut episode will be half-hour special “Superman & Lois: Legacy of Hope” at 9:30p, with sneak peeks and cast interviews. The season seven premiere of “The Flash,” previously slated to begin February 23, will move to March 2 at 9p.

Disney said that despite the admirable performance of its top executives amid pandemic challenges, “in light of the company’s circumstances this year,” the executive officers will forgo bonuses. Bob Iger, who retired his CEO title in February and is executive chairman, will receive $21.03 million in total compensation, versus $47.52 last year.

CNBC Digital reports it had its best year ever in 2020. According to Comscore, CNBC reached a record 84.9 million average monthly unique visitors in 2020, up 56% year-over-year, with eleven straight months of double-digit, year-over-year growth.

Late-night talk show ratings – hobbled by pandemic restrictions – have dropped year-over-year on broadcast networks, with average viewers down 14% season to date. CBS’ “Late Night With Stephen Colbert” is down 11% from the same time last year, to 3.16 million viewers; ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” dipped 7%, to 1.8 million, and NBC’s “Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon” has slipped 25%, to 1.5 million.

Entries for the 9th annual Cynopsis Sports Media Awards are rolling in, and as the deadlines loom, we are looking for industry experts to help judge. Do you have the credentials it takes to evaluate the winners of the most prestigious listing in sports media? Let’s talk!

Group Nine Acquisition Corp. announced the closing of its initial public offering of 23,000,000 units, at a price of $10.00 per unit, resulting in aggregate gross proceeds of $230,000,000. GNAC is a newly organized, blank check company formed by Group Nine Media, Inc. for the purpose of carrying out a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or similar business combination.

Earn bragging rights. Build team morale. Put your work front and center.
No fillers or fluff. This award puts the spotlight on the elite producers, executives, sponsors, and content in the industry. Winners will have their name touted across all of our communications across Cynopsis’ social streams, websites, emails, and newsletters — reaching over 60,000 industry professionals

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Netflix has greenlit YA drama series “Heartstopper,” based on Alice Oseman’s graphic novel series about two boys coming out. See-Saw Films is producing, with Lyn (“Doctor Who”) attached to direct.

Casting notes: Added to the cast of HBO Max’s upcoming reboot of “Head of the Class” are Jorge Diaz (“Jane the Virgin”), Dior Goodjohn (“Glee”), Brandon Severs (“Walk the Prank”), and Christa Miller (“Scrubs”)…Farrah Mackenzie (“Utopia”) landed a series regular role in CBS comedy “United States of Al.”

Finalists have been announced, and our judging team is closing in on the winners for Cynopsis’ Best of the Best Awards and Rising Stars. See who’s going to take the spotlight and save the date for our (virtual) awards event on Thursday, February 25.

NEW & RETURNING SERIES

Electric Entertainment crime series “Almost Paradise” will premiere on IMDb TV on Monday, February 1. It’s the first digital platform outside of Electric’s own channel and app that has carried the action adventure series in its entirety for free.

Set to launch next month on Acorn TV: Season three of French mystery drama “Balthazar,” on Monday, February 8, and seasons one and two of Australian drama “The Circuit” on Monday, February 15.

STREAMING

The day after Netflix reported it had topped estimates and added 8.5 million new subscribers during 4Q20, for a total of 203.65 million, the streamer’s stock rose to a new high of $577.77 in the first hour of trading on Wednesday. And it kept on rising, reaching $586.34 by the end of trading.

In more Netflix news, the company is planning to roll out a new shuffle play feature for users who want titles picked out for them. Netflix has been testing shuffle play, and “It’s really working for us where our members can basically indicate to us that they just want to skip browsing entirely, click one button and we’ll pick a title for them just to instantly play,” said COO Greg Peters in a 4Q20 earnings call.

The Bob Ross Channel app has officially launched on VIZIO SmartCast, available as a free, ad-supported VIZIO SmartCast video-on-demand app powered by Cinedigm’s Matchpoint Blueprint platform. The channel features 380 episodes of the series, “The Joy of Painting.”

Future Today announced an expansion of its partnership with Moonbug Entertainment that includes the launch of five new omni-platform streaming channels.

TECH TALK

Twitter handed control of White House accounts to the new administration shortly after Joe Biden was sworn in as president. Biden didn’t inherit Donald Trump’s followers; instead, users following @PresElectBiden were transitioned to the @POTUS account. Biden’s first tweet as president: “There is no time to waste when it comes to tackling the crises we face. That’s why today, I am heading to the Oval Office to get right to work delivering bold action and immediate relief for American families.”

Storytelling platform Wattpad is being acquired by South Korean conglomerate Naver for $600 million. Among Naver’s varied portfolio is publishing platform Webtoon, featuring user-created comic strips. “Wattpad’s vision to entertain and connect the world through stories fits perfectly with our vision for Webtoon and Naver’s content brand,” said Naver CEO Seong-Sook Han.

AI-powered search intelligence company Adthena has acquired Kantar’s Paid Search offer (formerly known as AdGooroo). “As search continues to become the barometer by which all advertising efforts are measured, the importance of having access to the best intelligence possible cannot be understated,” said Ian O’Rourke, CEO and Founder of Adthena. “And this acquisition of Kantar’s paid search assets, in combination with our Kantar partnership, will enable us to break new ground for brands and agencies while also helping us to continue upon our growth trajectory.” The acquisition builds on the recently announced integration partnership between Adthena and Kantar, which established Adthena as the central search partner for Kantar’s comprehensive ad intelligence tools, including Advertising Insights.

GOING GLOBAL

ITV Studios is calling for submissions for its Factual Pitch program. Producers are invited to pitch new ideas across the genres of true crime, lifestyle and hidden worlds and armchair travel, which ITV Studios together with its international partners, including ITV, Channel 4, A+E Networks UK, Seven Network Australia, PBS, Discovery and Tencent Video in China, will help to finance, produce and distribute.

Boat Rocker Studios announced global sales for animated preschool series “Dino Ranch.” In Germany, the show has been acquired by SUPER RTL, and it will also air on their time-shift kids’ channel TOGGO Plus. Gulli has acquired the series in France, where it will also be available on their Pay TV channels TiJi and Gulli Africa, while in Scandinavia it has been acquired by national public service broadcasters NRK (Norway) and YLE (Finland), and DR (Denmark).

Viasat World has signed a new carriage deal with Ukraine’s Volia. Subscribers to Volia’s TV services can now access the suite of channels and SVOD services which includes factual channels Viasat Nature, Viasat History and Viasat Explore; period drama channel Epic Drama; and sport channel Viasat Sport; plus movie channels TV1000, TV1000 World Kino, TV1000 Action and VIP Comedy.

START THE SURVEY

Part two of HBO documentary “Tiger,” covering the downfall and comeback of Tiger Woods, drew 874,00 viewers on Sunday, up 37% from part one last week.

In syndication, “Jeopardy!” hit a season high 6.6 Live+SD national Nielsen rating the week of January 4, up 29% from the week before. It was the final week with iconic host Alex Trebek, who had taped his final programs just 10 days before he died of pancreatic cancer on November 8. “Wheel of Fortune,” companion show to “Jeopardy!” in most large markets, also hit a new season high, 6.0, up 18%.

Among the major entertainment magazines, “Entertainment Tonight” (2.3) grew 10%, and “Access Hollywood” (1.0), “TMZ” (0.8) and “Extra” (season high 0.7) all held their ground despite massive blackouts for coverage of the January 6 US. Capitol riot.

WE tv’s “Life After Lockup” delivered season-high viewership among key demos on January 15. Currently in the second half of its third season, the episode delivered season-high viewership with 469,000 W18-49, 560,000 W25-54, and 747,000 A25-54, and more than 1.2 million total viewers in Nielsen Live+3 ratings.

Univision’s live coverage of Liga MX on Saturday night delivered an average audience of 753,000 total viewers 2+, 352,000 A18-49 and 145,000 A18-34.

Basic Cable Top 5 for the week of January 17
Primetime (P2+)
ESPN (3,361,000)
CNN (3,121,000)
MSNBC (2,834,000)
Fox News (2,489,000)
HGTV (1,075,000)
Total Day (P2+)
CNN (2,177,000)
MSNBC (1,838,000)
Fox News (1,330,000)
ESPN (925,000)
HGTV (641,000)
Source: Nielsen

Top 10 M-F Syndicated Strip Series for the week of January 4 ranked in order by HH Rtg
“Jeopardy!” (CMV) 6.6 AA
“Wheel of Fortune” (CMV) 6.0 AA
“Judge Judy” (CMV) 5.6 AA
“Family Feud” (CMV) 5.1 AA
“The Big Bang Theory” (WB) 2.7 AA
“Inside Edition” (CMV) 2.5 AA
“Entertainment Tonight” (CMV) 2.3 AA
“Live With Kelly and Ryan” (DAD) 2.0 AA
“Dr. Phil” (CMV) 1.8 AA
“Last Man Standing” (DAD) 1.7 AA

TV Time’s Shows on the Rise for the Week of January 11
WandaVision (Disney+) – 100%
Disenchantment (Netflix) – 97.7%
RuPaul’s Drag Race UK (BBC Three) – 94.6%
Carmen Sandiego (Netflix) – 93.8%
Servant (Apple TV+) – 81.8%
Prodigal Son (FOX) – 81.6%
That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime (Tokyo MX) – 78.1%
Kemono Jihen (Tokyo MX) – 78%
Log Horizon (NHK) – 75.9%The Resident (FOX) – 75.3%
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.

Broadcast Nielsen Ratings for Monday, January 18
Show, P2+ (millions), (A18-49)
ABC: “The Bachelor” 5.0 (1.39), “The Good Doctor” 3.97 (0.61)
CBS: “The Neighborhood” 6.09 (0.80), “Bob Hearts Abishola” 5.55 (0.66), “Let’s Make a a Deal” 3.36 (0.51), “Bull” 4.68 (0.47)
CW: “All American” 1.05 (0.39), “Batwoman” 0.52 (0.13)
FOX: “9-1-1” 7.19 (1.22), “9-1-1: Lone Star” 6.03 (0.96)
NBC: “Ellen’s Game of Games” 3.23 (0.66), “The Wall” 2.68 (0.49), “Weakest Link” 2.71 (0.55)
Telemundo: “Domo Del Dinero” 0.80 (0.2), “Todo Por Mi Hija” 1.57 (0.4), “Falsa Identidad” 0.89 (0.3)
Univision: “Vencer al Desamor” 1.85 (0.5), “Imperio de Mentiras” 1.38 (0.4), “Dulce Ambicion” 1.14 (0.3)
Source: Nielsen live + same day time period averages

EXECUTIVE MOVES

WarnerMedia named Christina Sulebakk, previously General Manager HBO Europe, as General Manager HBO Max EMEA.

The WNET Group appointed Beryl Harold as Senior Director, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion. Harold was formerly HR & Diversity Director for Westchester Community Opportunity Program.

Bill Sammon, Fox News SVP and Managing Editor at Fox’s Washington bureau announced his retirement. Simmons was involved in the network’s call projecting Joe Biden the winner in Arizona on election night, which angered supporters of President Trump – and Trump himself – but proved correct.

Answer to Our Last Trivia Question
On which sitcom did Zendaya guest as a movie star? “A.N.T. Farm” (2011-14). Kudos to: Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA

Today’s Trivia Question
Which characters on “The Addams Family” (1964-66) were played by the same actor? (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.)