Today’s Premieres
BET: Tyler Perry’s House of Payne at 9p; Tyler Perry’s Assisted Living at 9:30p; The Ms. Pat Show at 10p; I Love Us at 10:30p
Comedy Central: Digman! at 10:30p
Netflix: Waco: American Apocalypse; Invisible City; The Kingdom

IN THE NEWS

Consumers understand that advertising can help make programming less expensive and generally welcome ads in CTV environments, according to a study from Yahoo and Publicis Media, “CTV Ad Attention & Receptiveness.” Forty-six percent of respondents said they would rather pay less and receive some ads when adding a new streaming service, and 82% of CTV viewers expect ads on free streaming services. Seven out of 10 AVOD users report being at least somewhat satisfied with their CTV ad experience. And a significant percentage of respondents found ads to be useful, with 56% agreeing that ads and commercials provide them with useful information. Placement matters – the study found attention varied by pod position. On average, ads aired in the first in-pod position capture 6% more attention than ads aired in the mid or last pod position. If an ad airs in the first in-pod position, it captures at least 2 seconds of attention 38% of the time.

Fox News producer Abby Grossberg has filed two lawsuits against the news network, alleging the company’s lawyers coerced her into providing misleading testimony in Dominion Voting Systems’ $1.6 billion lawsuit against FNC. “Fox News Attorneys acted as agents and at the behest of Fox News to misleadingly coach, manipulate, and coerce Ms. Grossberg to deliver shaded and/or incomplete answers during her sworn deposition testimony, which answers were clearly to her reputational detriment but greatly benefitted Fox News,” says the lawsuit. Responded FNC, which filed a suit of its own against Grossberg, “Fox News Media engaged an independent outside counsel to immediately investigate the concerns raised by Ms. Grossberg, which were made following a critical performance review. We will vigorously defend these claims.” Grossberg is currently on administrative leave.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday a Delaware judge heard arguments from Fox News and Dominion Voting Systems, each side hoping to convince him they should prevail before going to trial. Dominion lawyers claimed Fox News knew allegations that the election technology company helped rig the 2020 presidential election were false but continued airing them in pursuit of ratings, while FNC maintained it was reporting newsworthy allegations.

“The Steve Wilkos Show,” hosted by the former US Marine, has been renewed for a 17th season in national syndication, it was announced by Tracie Wilson, EVP, NBCUniversal Syndication Studios & E! News. “We’re so proud to have reached this milestone as one of the longest-running talk shows in broadcast syndication,” said Wilson. “Along with our talented production team who bring riveting stories each day, Steve’s life experiences, his quick wit and no-nonsense approach create an organic connection with his audience.” Wilkos’ TV career started in 1994, as head of security on “The Jerry Springer Show.”

2023 Cynopsis Virtual Job Event

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Cynopsis is hosting a virtual jobs event (including a live Q&A) on April 26th from 1-2 PM EST with hiring pros from A+E Networks, TV ONE, Scripps and Nexstar Digital. Let us help set you up for success to nail your dream job!

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PRODUCTION & DEVELOPMENT

Look for cross-network content and promotions for competition series “Barbie Dreamhouse Challenge,” set to debut this summer, in tandem with Warner Bros. Pictures film “Barbie.” The show will feature eight teams of HGTV stars transforming a California home into a real-life Barbie Dreamhouse. “By aligning two admired brands – HGTV and Mattel’s Barbie – and mobilizing the power of the best-in-class portfolio of Warner Bros. Discovery, ‘Barbie Dreamhouse Challenge’ will deliver a unique, visually stunning payoff for millions of fans,” said Loren Ruch, Head of Content, HGTV. Supermodel Ashley Graham – model for a Barbie doll in 2016 – hosts the show.

Prime Video handed a series order to an adaptation of the E. Lockhart novel, We Were Liars, from Julie Plec, Carina Adly MacKenzie, Universal Television and Amazon Studios. “We’ve been obsessed with this beloved story for years, and for a while it seemed like it might be the one that got away from us,” said Plec and Adly MacKenzie. “But finally, we are elated to be bringing it to life with everyone at Prime Video and UTV, who are just as passionate about this twisty tale as we are.”

Upgrade Productions, the LA-based production company that develops and produces local language productions for a global audience, is partnering with Iceland’s newly launched ACT 4 and Croatia’s Drugi Plan on the new, original eco-political drama-thriller series “Volcano.” The eight-part series is produced by ACT 4.

James Patterson has signed a first-look deal with Skydance Television, calling for the prolific author to develop a slate of series based on several of his book series. “James Patterson is one of the most successful authors in publishing of all time,” said Matt Thunell, President, Skydance Television. “He is a master of his craft, who transcends genres and crosses borders with every story he writes.”

Fremantle Media has launched a premium documentaries unit, Undeniable, led by Head of Documentaries Mandy Chang. “Working with the very best filmmakers and emerging talent, the label will provide editorial and production expertise and support in multiple genres,” said Chang. “Importantly, it will provide a platform and freedom for creative talent to unlock and explore important issues and stories to be told.”

Eddie Redmayne (“The Theory of Everything”) will star in “The Day of the Jackal,” a reimagining of the 1971 Frederick Forsyth novel, for Peacock and Sky. Redmayne will also executive produce the series, from Carnival Films.

NEW & RETURNING SERIES

“A Black Lady Sketch Show” returns for its fourth season on HBO on Friday, April 14 at 11p. Returning cast members Robin Thede, Gabrielle Dennis and Skye Townsend will be joined by three new featured players: DaMya Gurley, Tamara Jade, Angel Laketa Moore, along with more than 20 celebrity guest stars.

Game Show Network and Yahoo have teamed for a new series, “Hey Yahoo!” hosted by Tom Cavanagh (“The Flash”). The half-hour original series, tasking contestants with guessing what people are searching for on Yahoo Search, is scheduled to premiere early this summer.

Kabillion is welcoming another classic character today, March 22. “Woody Woodpecker,” a series of animated shorts produced by Splash Entertainment, commissioned by Universal 1440 Entertainment, will be broadcast on both Kabillion’s cable and OTT services.

“Game Changer: Battle Royale” returns April 3 on the Dropout streaming service. In the comedic game show, contestants have to figure out the rules as they compete.

Season two of “Masters of the Game” premieres Friday, March 31 on theGrio, with a new host: Maiysha Kai.

Paramount+ original series “Yonder,” from South Korea, will premiere on the service on April 11 in Canada, the US, UK, Australia, Latin America, Brazil, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Austria and France. The drama centers on a widower who reunites with his wife in a world based on her memories.

“My Little Pony: Tel Your Tale” launches on Netflix on March 27, with ten 20-minute episodes.

Anime series “Beyblade Burst Quadstrike” launches on DisneyXD on Monday, April 3 at 3p and Monday, April 8 on Hulu. The seventh installment of “Beyblade Burst” franchise follows the launch of new products by Hasbro.

STREAMING

FuboTV is rebranding to Fubo. “Alongside our continued growth, our consumers have affectionately shortened our name to Fubo and we feel that name represents the premium media brand we are today,” said Fubo Co-Founder and CEO David Gandler. The company has also launched a marketing campaign in partnership with Ryan Reynolds’ Maximum Effort. Part of a deal between the companies includes the launch of the Maximum Effort Channel, a linear network on Fubo.

Big Media has teamed with VlogBox, the CTV channel development, video content distribution, and monetization company, to create “The New Frontier,” a CTV channel featuring the scientific documentary series of the same name. “The New Frontier” presents scientific findings in an accessible format.

Guinness World Records has launched its first TV channel. Along with GWR Studios, the brand has teamed with streamer Atmosphere on the FAST network to offer shows focused on sports or fitness record-breaking.

SPORTS ROUNDUP

Knicks legend Willis Reed has died at age 80. The NBA Hall of Famer won two championships with the New York team. “The Knicks organization is deeply saddened to announce the passing of our beloved Captain, Willis Reed,” the Knicks said in a statement. “As we mourn, we will always strive to uphold the standards he left behind – the unmatched leadership, sacrifice and work ethic that personified him as a champion among champions.”

College Football NIL (name, image, likeness) deals saw 146% year-over-year growth during the 2022 season, with the sport accounting for 60% of new NIL deals overall last year, according to SportsUnited’s 2022-2023 NIL Marketing Partnership Report. Other findings include:
· Women’s basketball athletes experienced a 186% YoY increase in sponsorships, with more sponsorships than men’s basketball (67% YoY).
· Apparel and Accessories is the most popular brand category for NIL deals.
· Twitter saw a near 10% decrease in usage for deal promotions, as athletes shift to Instagram and TikTok.

Speaking of, Buffalo Wild Wings has signed its first two NIL deals of the March Madness 2023 tournament with University of Southern California guard Destiny Littleton and Marquette guard Mackenzie Hare, who hit shots that sent both of their games into OT this past weekend, triggering Buffalo Wild Wings’ Wings’ Overtime WIngtime.

FOX Sports, America’s home for the UEFA EURO 2024, and Fubo unveiled coverage plans and broadcast schedules for the first two rounds of the European Qualifiers. Beginning today, March 22 and continuing through to the end of the second round of matches on Tuesday, March 28, FOX Sports will air 20 qualifying matches and five friendly matches across FS1, FS2 and FOX Soccer Plus. During this window, 26 qualifying matches and two friendly matches will stream exclusively on Fubo’s 24/7 sports network, Fubo Sports, as part of Fubo’s subscription packages.

The Association of Pickleball Professionals announced New Belgium will return as an official partner of the APP in 2023. New Belgium’s renewal will see the brand embedded in the APP Tour throughout 2023, including on-site activations in Mesa, Sacramento, Cincinnati, San Jose and San Diego.

Major League Soccer announced English Premier League side Arsenal FC as the MLS All-Stars’ opponent for the marquee showdown on Wednesday, July 19 at Audi Field in Washington D.C. Additionally, the 13-time English league champions, who currently sit in first place in the Premier League, will face off against the best of the MLS in the 2023 MLS All-Star Skills Challenge on Tuesday, July 18. This event will also take place at Audi Field, and can be viewed on MLS Season Pass on the Apple TV app.

OutKick, the multimedia platform founded by Clay Travis, finished as the fastest growing year-over-year in the top 50 sports sites in unique viewers in February 2023, according Comscore. “We’re continuing our growth trajectory every month and that’s directly correlated with the incredible OutKick talent that drives engaging content every day with personalities who are able to speak their minds,” said Travis. OutKick also saw over 1 million social interactions on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, up 258% in February 2023 versus February 2022.

Cash App and UNINTERRUPTED, the athlete empowerment brand founded by LeBron James and Maverick Carter, announced the launch of “The Road to NILion$,” a game show hosted by Richard Jefferson featuring star athletes including former Kentucky Quarterback and upcoming 2023 NFL draft pick Will Levis, UCLA Women’s gymnast and U.S. Olympian Jordan Chiles, incoming class of 2023 Duke Men’s basketball player Jared McCain and Juju Watkins, the no. 1 Women’s basketball recruit and USC commit. The four-part series aims to educate student athletes and their parents about ways to help sustain their lives and finances past their playing careers.

More athletes are set to take the polar plunge for Kevin Hart’s internet sports talk show “Cold As Balls,” back for season eight Tuesdays on the Laugh Out Loud YouTube Channel. “It has been amazing to see the overwhelming love for “Cold as Balls” over the past seven seasons,” said Hart. “I am looking forward to diving in with a whole new set of sports figures to bring our audiences more laughs, more perspective, and maybe even some tears for what is sure to be one of our best seasons yet.”

Sportcast, the FITP (Italian Tennis and Padel Federation) group company that manages the SuperTennis TV channel, has reached an agreement with the United States Tennis Association to acquire all the media rights of the US Open in Italy on an exclusive basis. The multi-year agreement starting from 2023 will allow Italian tennis fans to watch America’s Grand Slam® tournament live on free to air for the first time.

TECH TALK

Microsoft has introduced a generative image creation feature to Bing and Microsoft Edge, using OpenAI’s DALL-E to create text-prompted images. “By typing in a description of an image, providing additional context like location or activity, and choosing an art style, Image Creator will generate an image from your own imagination. It’s like your creative copilot,” said a company blog post. “Just type something like draw an image’ or ‘create an image’ as a prompt in chat to get creating a visual for a newsletter to friends or as inspiration for redecorating your living room.”

Young women are an overlooked opportunity when it comes to in-game marketing. According to Kantar’s US Monitor Youth Spotlight report, 85% of Gen Z women who play video games play at least once a week vs. 93% of Gen Z men who play video games. Other findings include:
· 55% of young women and 40% of young men gamers say the amount of pressure they put on themselves is “a lot.”
· “It’s fun,” “something to do with friends,” “escapism,” and to “relax” are considered the top 4 most important parts of young women gamers’ gaming hobby.
· Gender-based harassment detracts from the joy of gaming, with 53% of young women gamers and 42% of young men gamers saying they have been either bullied, harassed, or shamed online.

Advanced media buying platform Infillion announced the launch of InfillionX, a digital advertising product that builds and executes campaigns across the Infillion platform. As the first full-funnel media product delivering against any KPI combination, InfillionX aims to optimize any campaign with sequential messaging, custom targeting and guaranteed attention while also leveraging geolocation and store visit data. InfillionX comes one year after Infillion was created out of the merger of TrueX, Gimbal, and live fan and digital OOH company InStadium.

Innovid announced a partnership to power more personalized ad creative for Walmart DSP, the demand-side platform for the omnichannel retail media business Walmart Connect. In addition to creative personalization, optimization and interactive experiences for placements like CTV, Innovid will also offer ad delivery services. “Through this partnership, our customers will be able to create even more personalized and relevant ad campaigns that drive better results, while maintaining a seamless, efficient workflow,” said Krista Panoff, SVP Global Enterprise Development, Innovid.

COMING UP

Starting April 1, The Africa Channel will present a new slate of films from West and East Africa and the global Black Diaspora in its Movie Line Up every Saturday at 9p. First up from Nigeria: Flower Girl.

To mark the 100th anniversary of Disney, ABC Owned Television Stations will present a 30-minute special, “Disney100: The Exhibition — Making the Magic,” hosted by Alicia Vitarelli and TaRhonda Thomas of 6abc/WPVI-TV Philadelphia. The special debuts March 23 at 7:30p on 6abc and across the ABC Owned Television Stations on linear, digital and streaming platforms, and will be available on the Localish network and for Hulu subscribers.

The inaugural “People’s Choice Country Awards” are set to air live on September 28 at 8p across NBC and Peacock, from the Grand Ole Opry stage in Nashville. The project comes from the collaboration resulting from NBCUniversal’s equity investment in Opry Entertainment Group alongside Atairos, which was finalized last year.

GOING GLOBAL

Fuse Media has launched its flagship Fuse channel in South Africa. Fuse is now part of South African television distributor Openview’s new subscription-based service Ultraview.

Sagafilm and Cineflix Rights announced the second season of political drama “The Minister.” The series has been commissioned by Iceland’s RUV together with DR (Denmark), SVT (Sweden), NRK (Norway), and YLE (Finland).

Canada’s Bell Media has commissioned Pixcom to produce “The Ultimate Fan.” The new variety/musical nostalgia show will be rolled out in 10 one-hour episodes this fall on Noovo.

Nordic drama production company Nevis Productions is in development on limited drama series “YOP,” inspired by the i true story of Swedish artist and music producer David Jassy, who was imprisoned after an altercation at a crosswalk in LA that resulted in the death of a man. Jassy was given a life sentence for second degree murder.

2023 Cynopsis Measure Up! Awards

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RATINGS

The Sunday premiere of MSNBC’s “Inside With Jen Psaki” drew 1.1 million viewers in its 9a timeslot, the net’s most-watched weekend debut since January 2019. Among A25-54, the show was number one in cable, with 137,000 viewers, according to Nielsen Live+SD ratings.

From Thursday, March 16 – Sunday, March 19, Warner Bros. Discovery averaged a 50.7 share of viewing across ad-supported cable from 8p-12a. This was driven by the NCAA tournament coverage as well as strong deliveries by TLC’s “90 Day: The Other Way,” and “MILF Manor”; Food Network’s “Tournament of Champions”; HGTV’s “Home Town” and “The Flipping El Moussas”; and Discovery’s “Gold Rush.”

Basic Cable Top 10 for the week of March 13
Network, P2+ AA (000s)
Primetime
Fox News 1985
TNT 1844
TBS 1785
truTV 1160
MSNBC 1105
HGTV 935
INSP 742
Fox Sports 1 739
History 722
ESPN 710
Total Day
Fox News 1286
MSNBC 695
TBS 655
TNT 607
HGTV 495
ESPN 454
truTV 402
INSP 398
Hallmark Channel 397
CNN 395
Source: Nielsen

Broadcast Nielsen Ratings for Monday, March 20
Show, P2+ 000s, (A18-49)
ABC: The Bachelor 3.26 (0.6), The Good Doctor 3.48 (0.3)
CBS: The Neighborhood 5.68 (0.5), Bob Hearts Abishola 5.09 (0.4), NCIS 6.60 (0.4), NCIS: Hawai’i 4.98 (0.3)
CW: All American 0.46 (0.1), All American: Homecoming 0.36 (0.1)
FOX: 9-1-1 4.41 (0.6), TMZ Investigates 2.08 (0.3)
ION: FBI 1.04 (0.1), FBI 1.06 (0.1), FBI 0.87 (0.1)
NBC: The Voice 6.57 (0.6), Quantum Leap 1.92 (0.3)
Telemundo: La Casa de los Famosos 1.25 (0.3), El Señor de los Cielos 1.15 (0.4), Juego de Mentiras 0.73 (0.2)
Univision: Perdona Nuestros Pecados 1.43 (0.4), Mi Camino es Amarte 1.72 (0.5), Cabo 1.47 (0.5)

EXECUTIVE MOVES

Telstra has named Nitin Tikku as VP of Global Business Development for the Americas. Most recently, Tikku held the position of Senior Director of Sales at AT&T.

Cyle Zezo has left his position as Head of Alternative and Digital Programming at The CW. “Cyle is following his passion to be a producer,” said a network spokesperson. “He will continue to executive produce many unscripted shows for The CW and we look forward to continuing to work with him.”

PubMatic has appointed Sandro Catanzaro as VP of Product Management for CTV and Video. Catanzaro was previously Head of Publisher Media Strategy at Roku.

Brent Lang has boarded Versus as Director of Client Partnerships. Lang joins from Compadre, where he was New Business Director.

Advertiser Perceptions has named Josh Becker as Chief Financial Officer. Becker was most recently Global Head of Decision Support at Thomson Reuters.

This Day in History
1903 – Niagara Falls ran dry due to a drought.

Answer to Our Last Trivia Question
What was the first drama to be shown on PBS anthology series “Masterpiece”? “The First Churchills.” Kudos to: Heather Allen-WWE Corporation/Stamford, CT; David Rubinsohn-American Public Television/Boston; Louis Lewow-FITE/Atlanta; Synda Kollman-Charter Marketing Group/Boca Raton, FL; Wendy Holmes/Denver; Sandy Spiegel-CST/Chicago; Susan Nessanbaum-Goldberg-M and S Entertainment/LA; Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA; David Westberg-SAG-AFTRA Credit Union/Burbank

Today’s Trivia Question
What was the first music video to air on TV? (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