Tuesday January 26, 2021

Today’s Finales
CNBC: “Streets of Dreams With Marcus Lemonis” at 10p
HGTV: “Fixer to Fabulous” at 9p
PBS: “PBS American Portrait” at 8p

IN THE NEWS

NBCUniversal and Twitter inked a multi-year agreement, expanding their partnership to bring NBCUniversal’s digital content to Twitter globally. The collaboration includes events such as highlights from the Golden Globe Awards; the Latin American Music Awards; the E! People’s Choice Awards; Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade; sports and more. “With this strategic partnership, NBCUniversal’s leading video content meets Twitter’s worldwide reach, empowering marketers to connect with global audiences,” said Krishan Bhatia, President & Chief Business Officer, NBCUniversal. “The growth in digital viewing has been nothing short of explosive in recent years and together with Twitter, we’re helping our partners engage audiences in a brand-safe way—and shape key conversations as they unfold.”

In more Twitter news, the company introduced “Birdwatch,” a section that allows people to identity tweets they believe to be misleading or false, and write notes that provide context. “We believe this approach has the potential to respond quickly when misleading information spreads, adding context that people trust and find valuable,” said Twitter VP of Product Keith Coleman. At first, the project will only be available to a small set of users.

Comscore announced a new cross-screen measurement system, “Movies Everywhere,” offering daily sales reports across release windows and platforms. Granular and advanced audience data will be connected across box office, transactional on demand video, OTT rentals and streaming views. With the business of movies in transition, the product is “an essential part in the creation of strategic initiatives and the decision-making process of companies across the entire entertainment ecosystem,” said Comscore.

NBC picked up a second season of “Weakest Link,” hosted and executive produced by Jane Lynch. The quiz show premiered in September, averaging 5.6 million viewers and a 1.2 rating among A18-49.

Budweiser is passing on the Super Bowl for the first time in 37 years, but Anheuser-Busch InBev is still in the game. The company bought ad time for Bud Light, Bud Light Seltzer Lemonade, Michelob Ultra and Michelob Ultra Organic Seltzer, along with a corporate ad highlighting its commitment to making a positive change. The brewer said it will allocate the money that would have been spent on a Budweiser ad to support the Ad Council’s coronavirus vaccine education campaign.

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The American Film Institute announced the recipients of AFI Awards 2020. TV winners include “Better Call Saul,” “Bridgerton,” “The Crown,” “The Good Lord Bird,” “Lovecraft Country,” The Mandalorian,” “Mrs. America,” “The Queen’s Gamibit,” “Ted Lasso,” and “Unorthodox.” AFI’s global Movie Club program will showcase the official selections beginning in February.

Beginning April 8, new ABC series “Rebel,” created by Krista Vernoff and starring Katey Sagal, will replace “A Million Little Things” on Thursdays at 10p. AMLT will move to its original timeslot of Wednesdays at 10p to make room for “Rebel,” inspired by the story of Erin Brockovich.

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Hillary Clinton and Chelsea Clinton’s HiddenLight Productions nabbed series adaptation rights

to “The Daughters of Kobani: A Story of Rebellion, Courage, and Justice.” The story of the female Kurdish militia who took on ISIS in Norther Syria comes from Gyle Tzemach, whose book will be published February 16.

Catalina Content is partnering with activist and producer Mira Sorvino, her husband, actor/ writer Christopher Backus and her sister, Amanda Sorvino for “Transformation Ranch.” The series will shine a light on the survivors of human trafficking as they make their way to Transformation Ranch in search of a breakthrough to get past their trauma.

A limited series based on author Elin Hilderbrand’s Winter in Paradise is in development at ABC. The series about a husband’s secret life and a wife’s new beginning comes from Andre and Maria Jacquemetton (“Mad Men”), Ellen Pompeo and her Calamity Jane production company, Andrew Stearn Productions and ABC Signature.

Casting notes: Jodie Turner-Smith (“Queen & Slim”) landed the lead in Netflix prequel “The Witcher: Blood Origin.”…Constance Zimmer (“UnReal”) will recur and direct an episode of Freeform’s “Good Trouble.”… “The Good Wife” alum Alan Cummings will recur in season two of Fox’s “Prodigal Son.”…Ted Levine (“The Alienist”) has joined the cast of ABC’s “Big Sky” as a series regular…Ashleigh Cummings (“NOS4A2”) is onboard Amazon event thriller “Citadel” as a series regular…Scott Michael Foster (“Crazy Ex-Girlfriend”) has been tapped for the season three cast of Netflix’s “You.”

Despite reports of early talks at HBO Max for a Harry Potter series, Warner Bros. and the streamer issued a statement yesterday saying, “There are no ‘Harry Potter’ series in development at the studio or on the streaming platform.” Last week, Tom Ashcheim, President of Warner Bros. Kids, Young Adults and Classic, was put in charge of the Harry Potter franchise, contributing to speculation about Potter possibilities.

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Film and TV production complex Raleigh Studios is now going to be run by Hackman Capital Partners and its MBS Group. “As the world’s leading independent owner and operator of studio properties, we are delighted for the opportunity to have forged this relationship with Raleigh Studios and the Rosenthal family, which has been an incredible steward of this property for 41 years,” said Hackman Capital Partners CEO Michael Hackman. “We are excited to become part of the legacy of this historic property.”

NEWS-WORTHY

Tegna is expanding VERIFY to help combat disinformation. Since 2015, Tegna stations’ VERIFY reporting has helped viewers distinguish between true and false information. The VERIFY team, with help from questions submitted by viewers, tracks the spread of stories or claims that need verification or clarification. This year, VERIFY will grow into a standalone national brand through the launch of dedicated digital products and expand its franchise to non-TEGNA social media platforms. Jonathan Forsythe has been named managing editor responsible for leading VERIFY’s editorial growth across all platforms.

WGN America will rebrand as NewsNation and expand its news programming to five hours on weeknights beginning March 1. The launch includes two new hour-long shows, “NewsNation Early Edition” at 6p, and “The Donlon Report,” anchored by Joe Donlon at 7p.

Fox News Channel has promoted network contributor Emily Compagno to co-host of the “Outnumbered.” Compagno will appear daily alongside founding anchor Harris Faulkner and a series of rotating panelists.

Fox News ended its contract with former White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who had a deal as a network contributor. Sanders, who joined FNC in 2019, announced Monday she is running for governor of Arkansas.

COMING UP

The 2021 Billboard Music Awards is slated to air live on NBC on Sunday, May 23 at 8p. Dick Clark Productions is producing.

“If I Can’t Have You: The Jodi Arias Story” premieres Friday, February 12 on discovery+. The special explores murderer Arias and the death of Travis Alexander.

NEW & RETURNING SERIES

Food Network’s “Easter Basket Challenge” premieres Monday, March 1 at 10p.Contestants in the baking championship, hosted by Sunny Anderson, must interpret outrageous themes to create edible displays.

Season three of “Crossing Lines” has its US debut on Ovation TV on Monday, February 8 as part of the net’s “Secrets and Crimes” programming block. The crime thriller had its first TV broadcast in Italy in 2013.

STREAMING

Peacock struck a deal with the WWE that gives the streamer exclusive US rights to the WWE Network, staring March 18. “NBCUniversal has a long-standing relationship with WWE that began nearly 30 years ago with ‘Monday Night Raw’ on USA,” said Rick Cordella, EVP and CRO, Peacock. “WWE has always tapped into the cultural zeitgeist with spectacular live events and larger-than-life characters, and we are thrilled to be the exclusive home for WWE Network and its millions of fans across the country.” The WWE Network’s original and library content will live on Peacock’s $4.99/month premium tier.

BroadwayHD, the streaming service for live theater, will become home to the works of the Royal Shakespeare Company. Nine titles will debut on the service this month, with additional productions set to arrive on BroadwayHD in February and March.

TECH TALK

Google shared information on the progress it has made on the path to replace third-party cookies with viable privacy first alternatives for online advertisers. In a blog post, Chetna Bindra, Group Product Manager, User Trust and Privacy at Google, said Federated Learning of Cohorts (FLoC) proposes a new way for businesses to reach people with relevant content and ads by clustering large groups of people with similar interests. The approach hides individuals “in the crowd” and uses on-device processing to keep a person’s web history private on the browser. “Results indicate that when it comes to generating interest-based audiences, FLoC can provide an effective replacement signal for third-party cookies,” wrote Bindra. “Our tests of FLoC to reach in-market and affinity Google Audiences show that advertisers can expect to see at least 95% of the conversions per dollar spent when compared to cookie-based advertising.”

GOING GLOBAL

Beyond Rights has licensed 250 hours into Iberia after concluding deals with AMC Networks in Spain and SIC in Portugal. AMC Networks has acquired 98 hours for its Odisea channel, with the package featuring a range of engineering titles. The deal also includes Greenstone TV’s “Puppy School” and “Bondi Rescue.” In Portugal, SIC has licensed 152 hours of unscripted content.

Cineflix Rights is partnering with Canada’s Cream Productions on the new series “I Got Lucky,” following a multi-territory pre-sale deal to Discovery for discovery+.

“Jerusalem,” the new thriller from Drama Team for HOT, in association with ITV Studios, has begun filming in Jerusalem’s Old City.

UK-based distributor DCD Rights has acquired international distribution rights (excluding Australia) for drama “Jack Irish.” The third and final Jack Irish series, “Jack Irish: Hell Bent” has already been pre-sold to AMC Acorn TV for North America by DCD Rights. Acorn TV will premiere the new season later this year.

West One International has inked an international TV distribution rights agreement with Moving Still Productions for the climate change documentary “Earth Emergency.” Narrated by Richard Gere, the show features contributions from student climate change activist Greta Thunberg and His Holiness, the Dalai Lama.

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Counting out-of-home viewing, CTV and networks, Joe Biden’s presidential inauguration drew an average 33.8 million viewers. During peak viewership from 11:45-12:15, about 40 million viewers were tuned in. The 2017 inauguration drew 30.6 million viewers, according to Nielsen. Ronald Reagan’s inauguration delivered a record 42 million viewers, while Barack Obama drew 38 million.

Sunday’s AFC Championship Game on CBS scored a 9.3 rating among A18-49 and 33.01 million viewers in early Nielsens. Fox reported its afternoon Buccaneers/Packers match-up drew a 26.5/54 overnight rating.

Shareablee Top 10 TV Shows for the week of January 18
Program, Network, Total Actions, Total Content, Actions per Content, Fans & Followers
Riverdale (The CW Network), 9.4M, 61, 154,731, 16.5M
The Daily Show (Comedy Central), 5.2M, 133, 39,223, 27.5M
Today Show (NBC), 5.1M, 978, 5,232, 13.8M
Hannity (Fox News) 3.9M, 357, 10,900, 10.2M
Good Morning America (ABC), 2.9M, 1,058, 2,698, 14.2M
Ellen Degeneres (WB/syndicated), 2.3M, 52, 44,913, 205.6M
Euphoria (HBO), 2.3M, 12, 189,021, 2.9M
Fox & Friends (Fox News), 2.1M, 93, 22,393, 4.6M
Entertainment Tonight (WB/syndicated), 2.1M, 563, 3,695, 9.2M
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (CBS), 1.7M, 148, 11,513, 4.7M

Shareablee Top 10 Streaming Shows for the week of January 18
Program, Platform, Total Actions, Total Content, Actions per Content, Fans & Followers
Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (Netflix), 1.3M, 23, 57,404, 2.8M
Get Organized With The Home Edit (Netflix), 1.2M, 25, 47,694, 5.3M
Cobra Kai (Netflix), 1.1M, 39, 27,932, 2.5M
Julie and the Phantoms (Netflix), 347.2K, 2, 173,600, 862.1K
Netflix is a Joke (YouTube), 324.1K, 72, 4,501, 2.3M
Nanatsu No Taizai (Netflix), 267.8K, 46, 5,822, 696.2K
Disenchantment (Netflix) 190.3K, 57, 3,338, 252.7K
The Grand Tour (Amazon Prime), 188K, 9, 20,885, 5.7M
Boruto (Crunchyroll), 177.1K, 9, 19,675, 1.8M
The Mandalorian (Disney+), 160.8K, 2, 80,397, 2.4M

Broadcast Nielsen Ratings for Friday, January 22
Show, P2+ millions, (A18-49)
ABC: “Shark Tank” 4.20 (0.8), “20/20” 2.71 (0.5)
CBS: “MacGyver” 5.00 (0.6), “Magnum P.I.” 5.86 (0.6), “Blue Bloods” 6.73 (0.6)
CW: “”Whose Line Is It Anyway” 0.92 ( 0.2), “Whose Line Is It Anyway” 0.79 (0.1), “Penn & Teller: Fool Us” 0.75 (0.1)
FOX: “WWE Friday Night SmackDown 2.38 (0.6)
NBC: “The Blacklist” 3.27 (0.4), “Dateline NBC” 2.84 (0.4)
Telemundo: “Domo del Dinero” 0.88 (0.2), “Todo Por Mi Hija” 1.62 (0.4), “Falsa Identidad” 1.09 (0. 3)
Univision: “Vencer al Desamor” 1.54 (0.4), “Imperio de Mentiras” 1.264 (0.3), “Dulce Ambicion” 1.23 (0.3)
Source: Nielsen live + same day time period averages

EXECUTIVE MOVES

NBCUniversal promoted three execs. Krishan Bhatia, formerly EVP, Business Operations and Strategy, will assume the role of President/Chief Business Officer of NBCUniversal. Josh Feldman will become NBCU’s advertising sales unit’s first Global CMO; he had been EVP-Head of Marketing/ Advertising Creative. And Tom Winiarski is being promoted to President of Platform Monetization, from EVP of Advertising Sales Planning and Monetization.

UM appointed Christine Villanueva as US Chief Strategy Officer. Villanueva joins from Walton Isaacson, where she was Chief Strategy and Brand Officer.

Fred Rogers Productions has named Olubunmi Mia Olufemi as Supervising Producer for “Alma’s Way.” Olufemi was previously the producer of PBS KIDS series “Molly of Denali.”

Alibi Music promoted Tim Hare to VP, Business Development. Hare joined Alibi as a director in 2017.

Imagine Documentaries President, Justin Wilkes, is expanding his role at the company to include Chief Creative Officer of Imagine Entertainment. Wilkes joined the company in 2018.

Answer to Our Last Trivia Question
On which sitcom did Bob Newhart guest star as his “The Bob Newhart Show” (1972-78) character, Dr. Bob Hartley? “Murphy Brown” (1988-98). Kudos to: Aaron Paquette-Screen Engine/ASI/Fort Worth, TX, Jill Brown-JWB3 Media Insights/Fairfield, CT, Charles Lore/NYC, Jim Kelly-Jim Kelly Consulting/Central Islip, NY, Shelly Schaeffer-JPMorgan Chase/Ossining, NY, Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA, David Westberg-SAG-AFTRA Credit Union/Burbank, Susan Nessanbaum-Goldberg-M and S Entertainment/LA, Dan Whitford-WTTW/Chicago, David Garber-Loyola Marymount University/Playa Vista, CA

Today’s Trivia Question
Who was the woman looking for love in season one of TV One dating show “Donald J. Trump Presents The Ultimate Merger” (2010-11)? (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.)