Oxygen greenlit three new true crime shows. Exhumed, from Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos’ Milogo Productions, focuses on murder cases in which unearthing the body helps solve the crime; The Jane Doe Murders, from MY Entertainment, uses new technology to identify bodies; and special The Case Died With Us, from BuzzFeed News and Pulse Films, explores a case involving a woman in her 30s who died after bringing charges against Jim Wilder for sexually inappropriate behavior when she was a minor. Injustice with Nancy Grace was renewed for season two.

Showtime gave a pilot order for drama series American Gigolo, starring Jon Bernthal (Ford v Ferrari, The Walking Dead) and written and directed by Emmy nominee David Hollander (Ray Donovan). Jerry Bruckheimer, who produced the 1980 film starring Richard Gere, will executive produce along with Jonathan Littman and KristieAnne Reed. Bernthal also serves as a producer. Paramount Television Studios is producing.

Viacom International Studios UK is producing The Story of Songs for Reelz. Ten-parter is based on ABBA: Secrets of Their Greatest Songs, a documentary Viacom International Studios produced for Channel 5 last year. “We’re excited to work with Viacom International Studios on The Story of the Songs which we believe will strike a chord with our viewers who crave real stories about legendary celebrities and entertainers,” said Steve Cheskin, SVP of Programming at Reelz.

Sci-fi and fantasy magazine Heavy Metal and DIGA Studios, a content studio and production company owned by Allyance Media Group, are teaming to bring original Heavy Metal content to film, television, podcasts and more. Both parties will develop new stories that contain the Heavy Metal brand’s attitude, while also mining Heavy Metal’s 40 years’ worth of library content.

NEW & RETURNING SERIES

The race for undersea treasure is back when Bering Sea Gold returns to Discovery on Wednesday, April 1 at 9p. Ahead of the premiere comes a Bering Sea Gold catch-up special, March 25 at 11p.

Deadly Recall returns to ID on Wednesday, April 15 at 10p. Season two will include six of Det. Postiglione’s most well-known cases, including the murder of an NFL star, a triple homicide steps from a college campus, and the unknowing discovery of two serial killers on the loose.

CBS All Access animated variety news series, Tooning Out the News, will launch on Monday, March 16 in the U.S. and Canada. Series is exec produced by Stephen Colbert and Chris Licht of The Late Show, and RJ Fried and Tim Luecke from Our Cartoon President.

COMING UP

Court TV’s OJ25 series will look back at defense attorney F. Lee Bailey’s grilling of Detective Mark Fuhrman during the O.J. Simpson murder trial, along with new interviews with both about the explosive exchange, tonight, March 12 at 9p.

New episodes of PBS’s Nature kick off Wednesday, April 1 at 8p (check local listings) with “Cuba’s Wild Revolution,” featuring the likes of jumping crocodiles, tiny hummingbirds and bat-eating boas.

Is your company championing for equal opportunity, inclusion, pay parity and women in leadership positions? If so, click here to nominate your organization as a “Distinguished Company” for the Cynopsis Top Women in Media Awards.

Justin Bieber will perform at the Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards 2020, taking place Sunday, March 22 at 7:30p. Chance the Rapper is hosting.

TECH TALK

Xandr announced the next evolution of Xandr Invest, a strategic buying platform. For advertisers, Xandr Invest’s enhanced TV solutions offer new ways to plan and activate audiences across TV programmers through a self-serve UI, simplifying campaign execution while providing insights from AT&T data to improve the effectiveness of media buying. Participating media companies, including Disney, AMC and WarnerMedia, will be able to optimize linear schedules to reach audiences across networks. The solution reaches 76% of all US households. For more, go here.

The Ad Sales unit of Xandr corporate sib WarnerMedia announced the launch of a custom-built insights tool in partnership with social data company Shareablee and its new Social Center of Excellence, aimed at powering comprehensive and customized branded content campaigns. The offering has been built to focus on actionable audience insights; competitive analysis; and brand highlights. “As the industry continues to evolve and consumers have more choices of what content to watch and where, it’s essential we’re able to expand our capabilities and help marketers drive personalized and impactful connections with our fans that extend beyond the traditional viewing experience,” said Frank Kavilanz, SVP of growth strategy and solutions, WarnerMedia Ad Sales. For more, go here.

YouTube changed advertising guidelines that prevented the monetization of videos that include coronavirus content. While the company’s “sensitive events” policy is aimed at protecting advertisers from being associated with negative content like mass shootings, armed conflicts and … global health crises, “It’s becoming clear this issue is now an ongoing and important part of everyday conversation,” YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki said. “We want to make sure news organizations and creators can continue producing quality videos in a sustainable way.” Still, ads will be enabled only on “a limited number of channels.”

Kantar has acquired Mavens of London, the data-led, digital marketing and analytics consultancy founded in 2009 to help marketers understand trends, patterns and needs and then optimize the performance of their digital environments, SEO, search and content strategies to address them. Commenting on the acquisition, Kantar’s first since spinning out of WPP, Richard Ingleton, Global CEO of Kantar’s Insights division said, “On becoming independent, we signaled our intent to accelerate our investment strategy….Our Analytics Practice is a key growth driver for Kantar, as clients turn to us to help them unlock deeper insights about consumers and how they think, feel and act to fuel growth for their business.”

Vivendi-owned global video platform Dailymotion has joined Prebid.org, an independent organization designed to ensure and promote fair, transparent, and efficient header bidding across programmatic advertising as a Community member. “The future of Prebid Video is primed to address the monetization and transparency challenges publishers face and to advance the programmatic ecosystem,” said Justin Silberman, VP of product at Dailymotion. “Joining Prebid.org as a Community member is a key step in our journey to unlock the benefits of video header bidding for our publishing partners.”

Monet has launched a new AI platform it says enables content producers to understand subconscious and conscious reactions, with content testing, audience analytics and a consumer insights platform that captures and correlates subconscious (Facial Coding, Eye Trace) and conscious reactions (Emoji Reactions, User Annotations, Attitude & Opinion Surveys) to content to help content creators, editors, programmers and marketing executives optimize creative and messaging. “Monet believes our digital, AI platform will be a ‘disruptor’ in content testing and audience research,” said founder and CEO Dr. Anurag Bist. “We are able to do what we do at scale, compared to traditional dial-testing with only 30 participants in a room, and at a lower cost with faster turnarounds, usually within 1-2 days.”

FAANG TV ad spend was up 18% in 2019 versus the year before, according to VAB. Last year, Amazon spent $1.1 billion, followed by $608.7 million for Apple, $465.8 million for Google, $346.1 million for Facebook, and $84.9 million for Netflix. Collectively, the tech giants’ spend would be $450 million more than Procter & Gamble, the biggest spender on TV.

The Anatomy of a Video Experience, a study conducted by MAGNA, IPG Media Lab and Vevo, explores the ways consumers view video across OTT, linear TV, PC and mobile, and what motivates their viewing habits. The study found that viewers have no true “go-to” device to watch video – instead, device selections are made in the moment based on situational factors. (For example, viewers select OTT for video/audio quality, select linear for exclusive content, and select mobile and PC for accessibility.) Other key findings include the fact that consumers are in different mindsets on each video device; audio attention reigns supreme, even in a video environment; linear TV users are more likely browsing on other digital devices if they’re multi-tasking than users of other devices; and there is more passive video search discovery happening on OTT (24%) than other digital devices like PC (18%) and mobile (16%). For details, go here.

STREAMING SNIPPETS

Members of the WGA East at CBSN unanimously ratified their contract, the first at a 24/7 live anchored streaming news net. “Our hard-working and dedicated bargaining committee made a compelling case to management on all of the top priority issues,” said Lowell Peterson, the union’s executive director. “To the company’s credit, their negotiators and managers took these concerns seriously and agreed to provisions addressing all of them….Collective bargaining works.”

HBO Max will “be basically a domestic product” at launch, said AT&T CFO John Stephens at a Deutsche Bank conference. The expansion strategy for the streamer includes getting HBO customers onboard, adding non-HBO customers, and bundling it with the company’s other services. “Expect next year, we’d move towards an AVOD product,” said Stephens, then focus on international expansion. HBO Max launches in May.

Song of the South, the 1946 Disney movie which has drawn criticism for its depiction of black people, won’t make it to Disney+, Disney Executive Chairman Bob Iger told shareholders. The film is “not appropriate in today’s world” and won’t be re-released, he said.

The Apple News app is adding a dedicated section to keep readers up-to-date on the coronavirus outbreak. Fact-based stories from reputable publishers will be curated by Apple News editors.

CASTING

Chris Bauer (The Deuce), Allen Maldonado (The Last O.G.), and James Harrison (S.W.A.T.) have been cast as series regulars in Starz’ Heels, set in the world of small-town wrestling…Scott Foley (Scandal) landed a lead role in Fox ballet comedy pilot The Big Leap… Erin Richards (Gotham) will star opposite Gina Torres and Katherine Reis in ABC Dracula drama pilot The Brides.

GOING GLOBAL

TLC UK has commissioned a one-off special from Angel Eye Media. Vicky Pattison Spills the Beans has the former Celebrity Masterchef contestant hosting her first dinner party.

Red Arrow Studios International has secured global distribution rights for three new factual shows: The Secret History of World War II, a production for UK broadcaster Channel 5 and Histoire in Franc; Life 2.0, produced by Steve Rotfeld Productions for FOX in the US; and history series How Factories Changed the World, produced by Wildbear Entertainment for NTV (Germany).

Media Ranch closed two deals for entertainment game show format, Watch!: Poland’s Telewizja Polska and production company Rabbit Films in Finland acquired the format. Philip Livingstone will act as flying creative producer for all global iterations of Watch!.

Orbyt Media and Premiere Networks expanded their partnership to distribute The Breakfast Club in Canada. The morning show will join Toronto’s Hip Hop – FLOW 93-5, beginning Monday, March 16.

PODCAST POSTS

Spotify company Parcast premiered the first two episodes of mystery series Supernatural With Ashley Flowers, which “takes a deep dive into the strange and surreal to explain some of the world’s most bizarre true crime occurrences.”

Malcolm Gladwell, bestselling author, host of the podcast Revisionist History, and self-proclaimed car nut, is collaborating with Lexus to host a six-part podcast which launched on March 5. In Go and See, Lexus invites Gladwell to Japan to discover their unconventional thinking and get a behind the scenes look at the automaker.

The second season of Wonder Media Network’s Women Belong in the House premieres today, March 12. Podcast shifts focus from what it’s like to run for Congress, to what it’s like to be a member of the House of Representatives. For more, go here: https://wondermedianetwork.com/women-belong-in-the-house.

Peter Weber’s waffling was a ratings win for ABC, as Part 2 of The Bachelor finale delivered 8.5 million total viewers and a 2.4/12 Nielsen rating among A18-49. It was the reality show’s most-watched telecast in four years, matching its highest rating in three years.

The Bachelor also topped out-of-home entertainment viewing on March 10 – see who else made Tunity’s ranking here.

UniMás’ Enamorándonos increased its audience week-to-week among A18-34 (+5% to 143,000) while averaging 715,000 Total Viewers 2+ and 344,000 A18-49.

Carol’s Second Act on CBS topped TVision’s February ranking for ad viewability among new broadcast episodes, while HGTV’s House Hunters International was #1 in cable. For more ad viewability rankings, look under Ratings on Cynopsis.com.

Broadcast Late Night Ratings for the Week of March 2
CBS: Late Show 2.658 million total viewers, 0.29/3 A18-49
NBC: Tonight 1.887 million total viewers, 0.36/3 A18-49
ABC: Kimmel 1.777 million total viewers, 0.32/3 A18-49
Source: Nielsen, live + same day time period averages

Broadcast Nielsen Ratings for Tuesday, March 10
Show, P2+ 000s, (A18-49)
ABC: Super Tuesday 2.66 (0.4)
CBS: Campaign 2020 2.57 (0.3)
CW: The Flash 0.54 (0.2), DC’s Legends of Tomorrow 0.41 (0.1)
FOX: The Resident 4.82 (0.8), Empire 2.43 (0.6)
NBC: NBC News Super Tuesday 2.95 (0.6)
TELEMUNDO: Exatlon Estados Unidos 1.33 (0.4), La Dona 1.06 (0.4), Operacion Pacifico 0.90 (0.3)
UNIVISION: Ringo 1.62 (0.4), Amor Eterno 1.89 (0.6), Sin Miedo a la Verdad 1.24 (0.4)
Source: Nielsen, live + same day time period averages

EXECUTIVE MOVES

ViacomCBS Networks International confirmed the resignation of Paul Anderson as CEO of Network 10 and EVP of its operations in Australia and New Zealand. Anderson has agreed to stay in his role for now to help oversee the company’s transition. ViacomCBS will not seek a replacement CEO, but instead plans to introduce a new management structure for its combined operations in Australia and New Zealand, with co-leads for the business.

Cineflix Media has appointed J.C. Mills as President and Commercial Director of Cineflix Productions. Mills previously served as President and General Manager of Glass Entertainment Group

Univision Communications Inc. appointed Ron Estrada as Senior Vice President, Head of Government Relations and Corporate Social Responsibility, following the departure of Jessica Herrera-Flanigan. Estrada has been with the company for six years.