A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE FROM FETV

FETV Is Growing!

NOW IN 50 MILLION HOMES

YOY Growth with A25-54, A35-64, A35+ & HHs
Iconic Content with Loyal Viewers

Click here for the latest FETV programming update.
For information contact: Maria Kennedy, SVP Performance Media Sales, [email protected]
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Today’s Premieres
AXS TV: Power Hour
Fox: The Masked Singer at 8p
Hulu: Wu-Tang: An American Saga; Big Bet; Horario Estelar
INSP: Into the Wild Frontier at 10p
Netflix: Full Swing; African Queens: Njinga; #NoFilter; Eva Lasting; The Law According to Lida Poet; Red Rose; Mita in the Multiverse

Today’s Finales
HGTV: Brother vs. Brother at 9p
MTV: The Challenge at 8p

IN THE NEWS

Showtime laid off about 120 employees on Monday, about 10% of its workforce, ahead of the integration of Showtime into Paramount+. As previously reported, a number of senior executives, including Co-President Jana Winograde, were among those exiting the company.

Fox Corp. has turned down offers topping $2 billion for streaming service Tubi, purchased three years ago for $440 million reports Bloomberg. Tubi grew revenue by 25% in the quarter ending December 31, and viewing time was up 41% year-over-year.

Almost 90 percent of diverse/multicultural consumers report taking action because of a company investing in their community, according to a whitepaper from Direct Digital Holdings, “Dollars & DEI: Multicultural Consumers’ Insights on Brands’ Media Buying and Marketing Practices.” Insights include:
· 8 out of 10 diverse consumers said they feel more positively about brands that live up to promises to make a concerted effort of support to their communities, while 8 in 10 say they feel negatively about brands that don’t live up to their promises.
· Nearly 7 out of 10 said that purposely investing ad dollars with media that is owned or focused on their respective communities strongly demonstrates support.
· 4 out of 10 of respondents said they notice ads more when they appear on targeted diverse/multicultural media channels versus mainstream media.
“Given this compelling data for a growing U.S. economic market segment, there should be no more reason for brands to move slowly in diversifying their media allocations,” said Mark D. Walker, CEO and Founder of Direct Digital Holdings. “If we put aside all the rhetoric and platitudes, this is an industry that has always been and should still be about reaching customers and driving revenue.”

A New York appellate court rejected Fox News’ request that it end voting technology company Smartmatic USA’s $2.7 billion defamation lawsuit against the network, host Maria Bartiromo and former host Lou Dobbs. The court also reinstated similar claims against Fox News host Jeanine Pirro, claims a lower court had thrown out, and said claims against Fox Corp. should be dismissed. Smartmatic USA alleges Fox News helped spread lies that it helped “steal” the 2020 election from Donald Trump; Fox News counters it was just reporting the news when Trump lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell made false claims about voting machines.

Pay at content developers rose substantially across all employee levels in 2022, according to the Content & Connectivity Human Resources Association’s annual Compensation Surveys. Among connectivity providers, pay growth was modest; however, hourly and sales positions achieved strong increases. Content developers remunerated critical jobs in news, program scheduling and audience research with pay raises that were two to three times the national average, while customer care reps garnered similar increases. “Industry employers continued their nimble practice of rewarding those employees most essential to business growth and revenue generation,” said Parthavi Das, C2HR’s Executive Director.

2023 Measurement & Data Conference

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PRODUCTION & DEVELOPMENT

Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson and FOX Entertainment have entered into a non-exclusive multi-project broadcast direct deal calling for Jackson, through his production company G-Unit Film & Television, to develop scripted dramas, live-action comedies and animated series that would air on FOX. Series created under the deal will be owned by FOX Entertainment and produced by its in-house unit, FOX Entertainment Studios, in collaboration with G-Unit Film & Television.

Sony Pictures Television has inked a deal with Unconventional Entertainment, headed by Gena McCarthy, former EVP and Head of Programming at Lifetime Unscripted and Head of Programming at FYI. “Gena and Unconventional represent a fantastic addition to SPT’s growing portfolio, and we look forward to leveraging our partnership to build a new slate of long-running franchises,” said SPT President of Nonfiction Entertainment Eli Holzman and Co-President Aaron Saidman.

As part of a development deal with ID, TV host and journalist Elizabeth Chambers will host and executive produce a series exploring the complexities of toxic relationships. “We’re big admirers of Elizabeth and know that this new series will resonate with our passionate true crime audience,” said Jason Sarlanis, President of Turner Networks, ID & HLN, Linear and Streaming. “Elizabeth brings a unique empathy to help elevate victim’s voices which perfectly aligns with ID’s mission to use its platform to share powerful stories of hope, resilience and survival.”

Fremantle is making a minority investment in graphic fiction innovator Artists, Writers & Artisans. The move deepens the initial partnership made between Fremantle and AWA in April 2022, which saw the companies collaborate on co-developing a slate of TV projects based on AWA’s IP library. The two companies also announced that the first project on the joint development slate is “Devil’s Highway,” a thriller based on the comic series by Benjamin Percy and Brent Schoonover in which a young woman seeks to unravel a sinister mystery hidden in the dark underbelly of the long-haul trucking industry.

Genius Brands International, through its Frederator Network subsidiary, inked an exclusive content deal with BuzzFeed giving Frederator the exclusive opportunity and first right to develop and produce longform series based on original digital properties created by the BuzzFeed Animation Lab. The first short-form content for series development by Frederator will be buddy comedy “The Land of Boggs.”

Factual production company and channel provider Big Media has entered into a joint venture agreement with BlackRifle Co, a veteran affairs organization (not associated with the coffee company), for the newly created BlackRifle TV (BRTV) channel. Big Media will be managing the video production and distribution of BRTV while BlackRifle Co manages veterans’ relations and content authoring. BRTV launched in January on YouTube and has drawn over 500,000 subscribers.

REELZ has ordered 90 new episodes of “On Patrol: Live,” produced by Half Moon Pictures, extending the run of the hit documentary series through January 2024. The show gave Reelz audience gains of 270% in primetime in the A25-54 demo in 2022, with 3.85 million viewers P2+ (Live+7) tuning in each week. For both Friday and Saturday nights, premiere telecasts of “On Patrol: Live” were the #1 regularly scheduled cable program among A25-54.

Ben McKenzie will star in ABC pilot “The Hurt Unit.” The medical drama follows a team of trauma surgeons and nurses.

NEW & RETURNING SERIES

Season three of Apple TV+’s “Ted Lasso” kicks off Wednesday, March 15 – a new premiere day for the show. It’s the first Apple TV+ series to launch midweek.

HGTV’s “Flip the Strip” is bringing the stars of Las Vegas stage show Australia’s Thunder from Down to the world of home renovation. Headliners by night, dancers will put their extensive construction experience to use and will work with celebrated interior designer Kelly to help make their clients’ home design dreams a reality. The series will include six one-hour episodes premiering on the network in late summer 2023.

“Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story” premieres May 4 on Netflix. The “Bridgerton” prequel follows Queen Charlotte’s rise to power.

MTV’s “Catfish: The TV Show” and “Help! I’m in a Secret Relationship” are returning on Tuesday, February 28 beginning at 8p, with back-to-back premieres. Nev Schulman and Kamie Crawford return to host “Catfish” with guest hosts Dylan Sprayberry, Tallulah Willis, Shan Boodram and Laura Perlongo. “Help!” has Travis Mills and Rahne Jones returning to uncover more heartbreaking and shocking stories.

SPORTS ROUNDUP

NBC Sports is expected to make an “aggressive” offer for NBA rights, reports CNBC, rights it lost to Disney and Turner Sports back in 2002. The package would include playoff games to air on NBC, sources told CNBC, with some regular season games possibly exclusive to Peacock. Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery own the NBA rights until the end of the 2024-25 season, and Disney, along with Apple and Amazon, are expected to bid on new NBA packages.

Viewership for the Super Bowl averaged 113.1 million viewers, according to Nielsen, peaking at 118.9 million from 8-8:25p. FOX’s average audience represents the second most-watched non-overtime Super Bowl on record and the second most-watched program in FOX Sports history, with 182.6 million viewers watching all or part of the game on FOX and FOX Deportes. FOX’s pregame show drew 19.8 million viewers (up 13% versus last year), with the postgame show scoring 58.5 million (up 8%).

Corporate cousins Disney and ESPN are teaming with the NHL for a live, animated NHL game telecast. “Big Greens Classic,” with players modeled after characters on Disney’s “Big City Greens,” will feature the Washington Capitals vs. New York Rangers, presented on ESPN+, Disney Channel, Disney XD and Disney+ (the main telecast will be available on ESPN and ESPN+) on March 14 at 7p. Why? “’Big City Greens has a huge following in a younger audience that we are excited to tap into, offering a fun and creative way to enjoy the game across Disney platforms,” said Ilan Ben-Hanan, SVP of Programming and Acquisitions, ESPN.

The PGA TOUR today announced that Barracuda Networks has signed a multi-year extension as title sponsor of the Barracuda Championship. The tournament, which is recognized as a FedEx Cup event on the PGA TOUR and Race to Dubai event on the DP World Tour, is held at Tahoe Mountain Club’s Old Greenwood Golf Course in Truckee, California. The Barracuda Championship is the only PGA TOUR event to use a Modified Stableford Scoring format, having done so since 2012.

The upcoming 2023 LIV Golf League season will air all of The CW’s markets across the US, as part of the network’s previously announced multi-year exclusive broadcast agreement with the golf league. The first official full season of Saudi-backed LIV Golf will also air on Nexstar owned and operated stations in key markets including Chicago, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Tampa and Hartford.

Golf Digest has debuted The Golf Digest Art Collection: “Bobby Jones” by Christopher “CR” Obetz, a collection featuring 50 illustrations of the legendary Bobby Jones. The collection represents Mr. Obetz’s transformation of famed artist Anthony Ravielli’s original drawings and other archived photos of Mr. Jones into both contemporary Pop Art pieces and companion digital collectibles in the form of NFTs.

STREAMING

Cord cutting continues and CTV ad spend is on the rise, with 3 out of 4 consumers agree that AVODs are a practical alternative to cable and satellite TV, according to Tubi’s annual report, “The Stream 2023: Actionable Audience Insights for Brands.” Other highlights include:
· SVODs curbing password sharing may increase churn: 35% of streamers access other people’s digital video streaming services and 45% of streamers want to stream without having an account.
· Effective content and recommendations drive viewer satisfaction: Tubi identified five types of streamers in its research. From “recommendation seekers” to “genre-focused browsers,” they all share the same 3 drivers of satisfaction: “a good mix” of content, effective recommendations, and seamless navigation. When it comes to ease of use, the bar is higher for AVOD – 34% of streamers expect ease of use in SVODs while it jumps to 59% for FAST/AVOD.
· Viewers prefer light ad loads and standard ad formats: 51% of streamers are satisfied with 6 minutes of ads per hour. Standard video ads are currently preferred by streamers over other formats such as split screen, interactive, or QR code ads.
· Diverse and unreachable audiences drive AVOD spend: 4 out of 5 advertisers now regard advertising on streaming television as highly valuable. Growth in monthly active users, the presence of otherwise hard to reach young and multicultural streamers, and the ability to reach hard to find audiences were cited as key drivers for AVOD ad spend.

With its three Super Bowl spots, Tubi drove more than 2x the mentions of any other brand on Twitter. The ads collected 5,546 mentions and 21,094 engagements, according to Super Sunday 2023 Social Media Buzz Data. “While much of the streaming world still revolves around an obsession with the latest movie or series, we are on a mission to give all people access to all the world’s stories,” said Nicole Parlapiano, CMO. “That means having a deep and diverse library that allows people to dive into their own personal content journey.”

Speedvision has struck a carriage deal with FuboTV. Subscribers to Fubo’s Pro base plan can stream titles from Speedvision’s library of more than 500 content hours, including “Graveyard Carz,” “Stacey David’s Gearz,” and “Two Guys Garage,” as well as motorcycle and aviation series. “Speedvision boasts a highly-engaged audience and our content delivers the level of quality and sophistication that they demand,” said Robert Scanlon, president and CEO of Speedvision. “This also creates unique opportunities for advertisers to reach our viewers in a meaningful and endemic way, both inside and adjacent to our content.”

This Women’s History Month, JOURNY celebrates women who venture out into the wild including the season 10 premiere of “Travels with Darley” on Wednesday, March 1. The lineup also includes “Andiamo! Uptown,” “Awesome Adventures,” and “Lee Chan’s World Food Tour.”

TECH TALK

If the Utah state Senate passes a bill that has already made it through the House, large social media companies would be prohibited from designing their services in a way they should know would cause minors to become addicted to the platform. Users under the age of 18 would be able to sue social media companies for “any addition, financial, physical, or emotional harm” attributed to the platform.

COMING UP

“Reggie,” a documentary that examines the career and legacy of Major League Baseball Hall of Famer and activist Reggie Jackson, will premiere March 24 exclusively on Prime Video. “Coming off the recent success of our ‘Coach Prime’ docuseries, we’re thrilled to bring our Prime Video customers back into the world and psyche of another iconic, larger-than-life sports figure with ‘Reggie’,” said Matt Newman, head of Prime Video Original sports content. “Reggie’s impact on the game of baseball has been defined as much by the work he has done off the field as his clutch heroics on the field, and we’re very proud to be working with this living legend to tell his authoritative story.”

Lifetime set its spring slate of movies with back-to-back original films beginning on Saturday, March 11 with “Girl in the Closet,” starring Tami Roman (“Truth Be Told”) and multi-platinum artist Remy Ma, inspired by actual events of a young girl who was imprisoned in a basement and closet by her aunt.

For Black History Month, Lifetime is creating original shortform content called “Her Take” featuring pieces from Mary J. Blige; ballet dancer Courtney Taylor Key; Dr. Monica Gary; Rashidat; and Farmata. In addition, the network has created a TVE/VOD BHM Music Playlist from roster of popular movies featuring the inspiring stories of Simone Biles; Gabby Douglas; A Day Late & A Dollar Short; Color of Love; Beaches; Steel Magnolia; Clark Sisters: First Ladies of Gospel; Whitney; and Salt & Pepa. In addition, movies featuring African American casts are in rotation each weekend throughout BHM.

“The Rise of Metal” premieres Sunday, February 26 at 9p on Reelz. The music special explores the genesis of the 1980s glam metal scene.

On a different note, “CMT Crossroads: For King + Country & Jimmie Allen” premieres with a special one-hour presentation on Tuesday, February 28 at 10p on CMT. The episode pairs Christian pop duo For King + Country with chart-topper Jimmie Allen.

GOING GLOBAL

UK production company Youngest Media (“Game of Clones”), founded in 2016, is shutting down. “We thought we’d managed to weather the storm of the pandemic but the impact on cashflow and creative pipeline really hit us last year and a few key decisions on shows didn’t go our way, so sadly we’ve closed down,” said founders Lucas Church and David Flynn.

Capital A Investment Partners has acquired a minority stake in ODMedia. With this move, Capital A will support ODMedia’s expansion in the EMEA region.

Endemol Shine India will be adapting the Danish/Swedish scripted series “Bron/Broen” (The Bridge). The original Hindi edition will star Saif Ali Khan, who is also jointly producing the project under the Black Knight Films banner.

Clarity has acquired Sefiani, a Sydney-based strategic communications and reputation management agency. This comes on the heels of Clarity’s acquisition of Political Intelligence UK.

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RATINGS

The post-Super Bowl season two premiere of FOX’s “Next Level Chef” delivered 15.5 million Total Viewers, becoming the most-watched cooking series telecast in television history. The show averaged a 4.9 Live + SD rating among A18-49, marking television’s highest-rated entertainment telecast in two years.

In syndication, “The Jennifer Hudson Show” (13-week high 0.7 live plus same day national Nielsen, up 17% from the week before and up 50% in the W25-54 demo) was the only one of the 12 syndicated talk shows to score a rising household rating. The show matched its best Nielsen marks since its September premiere and tied fellow rookie “Sherri” (0.7, unchanged) as the number one new show in syndication’s household rating.

Top 11 M-F Syndicated Strip Series for the week of January 30 ranked in order by HH Rtg
Jeopardy! (CMV) 6.0 AA
Wheel of Fortune (CMV) 5.5 AA
Family Feud (CMV) 5.4 AA
Judge Judy (AT) 4.6 AA
Inside Edition (CMV) 2.4 AA
Entertainment Tonight (CMV) 2.3 AA
The Big Bang Theory (WB) 2.0 AA
Live with Kelly & Ryan (DAD) 1.6 AA
Dr. Phil CMV (CMV) 1.4 AA
Hot Bench (CMV) 1.2 AA
Dateline (NBCU) 1.2
Source: Nielsen

Basic Cable Top 10 for the week of February 6
Network, P2+ AA (000s)
Primetime
Fox News 2520
MSNBC 1374
ESPN 945
HGTV 821
History 750
INSP 745
CNN 719
TNT 703
Hallmark Channel 698
USA 671
Total Day
Fox News 1540
MSNBC 777
ESPN 547
CNN 500
HGTV 460
INSP 415
Hallmark Channel 402
USA 369
ID 368
History 367
Source: Nielsen

Broadcast Nielsen Ratings for Monday, February 13
Show, P2+ 000s, (A18-49)
ABC: The Bachelor 2.94 (0.6), The Good Doctor 3.09 (0.3)
CBS: The Neighborhood 6.20 (0.5), Bob Hearts Abishola 5.63 (0.4), NCIS7.05 (0.4), NCIS: Hawai’i 5.01 (0.3)
CW: All American 0.55 (0.2), All American: Homecoming 0.40 (0.1)
FOX: Fantasy Island 2.01 (.2), Alert: Missing Persons Unit 1.90 (0.3)
ION: FBI 1.13 (0.1), FBI 1.08 (0.1), FBI 0.85 (0.1)
NBC: America’s Got Talent: All-Stars 3.98 (0.5), Magnum P.I. 1.85 (0.3)
Telemundo: La Casa de los Famosos 1.23 (0.3), El Señor de los Cielos 1.22 (0.5), Amor y Traición0.92 (0.2)
Univision: Vencer la Ausencia 1.54 (0.4), Mi Camino es Amarte 1.54 (0.4), Cabo 1.44 (0.4)

EXECUTIVE MOVES

AMC Networks announced a strategic realignment of its commercial revenue organization, combining the company’s advanced advertising and national sales teams and centralizing linear and digital operations under the leadership of Evan Adlman. The changes also integrate the company’s pricing and planning group with its direct response sales efforts, working under Marc Krok. “Our new structure is designed to drive innovation and bring our most potent advantages and capabilities to market in a way that will make it even easier for our advertising partners to unlock the value of our viewer relationships and leadership position in new technologies like addressable advertising, our strong presence on new digital platforms and other differentiated and data-driven offerings,” said Chief Commercial Officer Kim Kelleher. Kim Granito, the EVP of Content Room and Integrated Marketing, adds two to her team: Miguel Enrique Rodriguez, who recently joined AMC Networks as SVP of Production, Operations and Events, and AMC Networks’ veteran Kevin Vitale, who joins as SVP of Creative and Marketing Strategy.

Nada Bradbury has been named CEO of Ad-ID, a joint venture of the ANA and the 4A’s. Bradbury joins from Nielsen, where she most recently served as the company’s Global Head of Partnerships.

Eric Shih has joined Cedara as COO. Shih was previously Chief Growth Officer at Lasso.

This Day in History
1986 – Ferdinand Marcos won the rigged presidential election in the Philippines.

Answer to Our Last Trivia Question
Which sitcom character’s resume included jobs as a a back-up dancer, a salesperson at Banana Republic, and a student nurse? Jack McFarland on “Will & Grace” (1998-2006; 2017-20). Kudos to: Melissa Friedman/LA; Gail Tregea/Rochester, NY; LaKendra Kennedy-Sinclair Broadcast Group/Baltimore; Fred T. Jackson-Urban One/NYC; Joe Swaney-Purchasing Power/Atlanta; Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA; Ray Giacopelli-MI7: Media Intel/Sonoma, CA; Lorrie Shilling/El Segundo, CA

Today’s Trivia Question
On which series did David Clennon reprise his “thirtysomething” (1987-91) role as Miles? (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