Wednesday March 24, 2021

Today’s Finale
Nat Geo: “Genius Aretha” at 10p

IN THE NEWS

NBCUniversal Syndication Studios has renewed “Judge Jerry,” promising it will be “turning up the heat” for the first-run court show’s third season in syndication. “I couldn’t be more excited for this new season where our audience gets an even closer look into the conflicts and drama of some very intense and outrageous disputes,” said Jerry Springer. “I’m totally aware of how fortunate I am to have such a rewarding job and I promise viewers and stations to do everything I can to dispense justice and fairness in a most entertaining way.”

Also coming back: FX’s “Snowfall,” currently in season four, has been renewed for season five. Ratings for the crime drama are up 41% over the same period in season three, averaging 5.1 million total viewers across platforms.

Not coming back? Hallmark Channel’s “Home & Family,” now in its ninth and final season. Paused due to COVID-19 restrictions, the show takes its final lap starting Monday, April 5, in a new three-day-a-week format. Final episode: Wednesday, August 4.

Roku is launching an advertising brand studio to produce content including short-form, ad-sponsored TV content, interactive video and other formats for marketers. “The shift to TV streaming has accelerated and leading advertisers are going beyond the 30-second ad,” said Dan Robbins, VP, Ad Marketing, Roku. “We’re excited to launch a new advertising brand studio for marketers to create streamer-first campaigns on America’s #1 TV streaming platform.” Roku struck a deal with the Funny Or Die Branded Entertainment division calling for a number of the company’s branded content team members to join Roku. Chris Bruss and Brian Toombs from Funny Or Die and Rachel Daly Helfman from Snap will join the studio in leadership roles.

Not so fast with a return to a theatrical window release pattern this summer. Theaters may be starting to open, but Disney is shifting release plans for its film slate to allow highly anticipated “Cruella” and Marvel Studios’ “Black Widow” to launch simultaneously in theaters and on Disney+ Premier Access on Friday, May 28 and on Friday, July 9, respectively. Disney and Pixar’s “Luca” will stream worldwide exclusively on Disney+ beginning Friday, June 18, as a special offering. “Today’s announcement reflects our focus on providing consumer choice and serving the evolving preferences of audiences,” said Kareem Daniel, Chairman, Disney Media & Entertainment Distribution. “By leveraging a flexible distribution strategy in a dynamic marketplace that is beginning to recover from the global pandemic, we will continue to employ the best options to deliver The Walt Disney Company’s unparalleled storytelling to fans and families around the world.”

Fox News Channel is still the go-to source for political news for most Republicans, but right-wing newcomers Newsmax and OAN are making progress in some quarters. According to a new survey from the Pew Research Center, 43% of Americans overall got news from Fox News the week of March 8, 10% got it from Newsmax and 7% from OAN. Among Republican and/or Republican-leaning Americans, the percentages were 62% for FNC, 21% for Newsmax, and 14% for OAN.
And among Republican respondents who identified themselves as conservative, 66% tuned into Fox News, 27% watched Newsmax and19% turned to OAN. All three conservative news channels index highest among men, especially older and non-college-educated ones.

VidCon will return – live and in person! – to the Anaheim Convention Center October 21-24. The event for online video and digital creators will also have on demand options.

Sesame Workshop introduced the “ABCs of Racial Literacy,” a new set of resources that are part of the Coming Together initiative, Sesame Workshop’s ongoing commitment to racial justice. The “ABCs of Racial Literacy” resources are designed to help families celebrate their unique identities, while also providing age-appropriate language and strategies to answer tough questions around race and racism.

Verizon Media announced at its Yahoo Build It Forward event that the company is donating $5 million in media to a number of disability organizations, including the National Association of the Deaf, the American Council of the Blind, and the American Association of People with Disabilities, in support of their advocacy work. In addition, Verizon Media will ramp up captioning efforts and commit to featuring closed captions on 100 percent of new user-facing video, and extend video ad captioning to its reserved and programmatic offerings. “Our mission at Verizon Media is to be the most inclusive scaled digital platform in the industry,” said Joanna Lambert, Head of Consumer, Verizon Media.

Attend Cynopsis’ 5th annual Measurement & Data Conference on June 15-16 to hear fresh thinking perspectives from the industry’s most prominent players on buying and selling across attribution, addressable TVOTT, data, and so much more. Register today to lock in your seat at the best ticket prices available.

UPFRONTS

In its first upfront since becoming a Latino-owned and managed company, Fuse Media is heading into the season under a banner “Fuse: Bringing Stories to Life That Reflect and Celebrate Our Blended America.” Among the announcements is the launch of a new streaming division bringing together the company’s existing digital distribution, social media and OTT properties, and Fuse.tv, with its streaming initiatives led by CEO Miguel (Mike) Roggero and Head of Digital Patrick Courtney. Fuse is debuting two new free ad-supported streaming television brands this month, Fuse Backstage and Fuse Sweat, with additional brands to be added to the company’s streaming portfolio later this year. “As a Latino-owned and operated company, Fuse Media is keenly positioned to serve our audience, because unlike others, we ARE this audience,” said Roggero. “Because we are able to turn on a dime to take advantage of the rapidly-changing media marketplace, we have been able to expand the Fuse Media brand to everywhere audiences want to view our content, including the rapidly-growing streaming universe.”

On the branded content and events side, Fuse Media has announced new partnerships with IPSY and Sofar Sounds, as well as a renewed partnership with Grand Park. The company has also greenlit and renewed several originals, with more in development. New originals include “Sex Sells,” exploring sex-related businesses; “Untitled Disruptor Show,” focused on how LA has influenced artists’ work; “Like a Girl,” bringing the fight for gender equality to life; and recently debuted “Shine True,” tracking the journeys of trans and non-binary young adults. “Entertainment has a unique opportunity to empower us, which is why Fuse focuses on telling stories that showcase creative self-expression, passionate entrepreneurs, and young leaders who are inspiring change,” said Marc Leonard, SVP of Content. “We’re celebrating our Blended America through these stories, and are excited to be extending our reach to new platforms, making meaningful connections with our audience through a slate of authentic and inclusive original content.”

Cynopsis is gearing up to recognize the Top Women – trailblazers who are pushing the industry forward, while empowering & inspiring others. We’re looking for innovators, risk-takers and those instrumental in executing strategy.
It’s an opportunity to nominate yourself or a colleague who stands out in the space.

[

NOMINATE BY 4/6 ]
(sponsored by Turnkey Search)

Hulu handed an eight-episode order to animated family comedy series “Koala Man

,” about a powerless superhero in an Australian suburb, created by and starring Michael Cusack. Justin Roiland (“Rick and Morty”) and Dan Hernandez and Benji Samit (“Pokemon Detective Pikachu”) are exec producing; the studio is 20th Television Animation.

Beacon Pictures (“Castle”) is developing a scripted series about, and financed by, crypto currency. Blockchain technology will allow investors to receive profits from comedy “Hold on for Dear Life” in their digital wallets.

Sherri Shephed (“Mr. Iglesias”) will star in and produce ABC pilot “Black Don’t Crack,” following three former sorority sisters who reunite during a pivotal time in their lives. The project comes from writer/EP Regina Hicks and executive producers Viola Davis and Julius Tennon, and Larry Wilmore.

Naomie Harris (“Moonlight”) and Jimmi Simpson (“Perpetual Grace”) will star in Showtime drama “The Man Who to Earth”, along with Chietel Ejiofor (“12 Years a Slave”). Production for the series, originally slated for Paramount+, is slated to start this spring in London, for a 2022 premiere.

It’s International Women’s Month, which means the Cynopsis Top Women in Media Awards are back! Put the spotlight on your female powerhouses and salute them for raising the standards across entertainment, tech, and sports media. Nominate your colleagues now>

NEW & RETURNING SERIES

Part One of HBO supernatural drama series “The Nevers,” set in Victorian London, debuts with six episodes beginning Sunday, April 11 at 9p. Part Two’s six episodes will follow at a later date.

Also on HBO, “Exterminate All the Brutes,” examining the “exploitative and genocidal aspects of European colonialism,” premieres Wednesday, April 7 at 9p with two back-to-back episodes. Sketch comedy series “A Black Lady Sketch Show” returns for season two on Friday, April 23 at 11p.

“Spy City,” a six-part espionage Cold War series starring Dominic Cooper (“Preacher”), premieres Thursday, April 15 on AMC+.

Production company LXTV, a part of NBC and Telemundo owned stations, is launching interview show “Celebrity Sleepover,” hosted by reality star Johnny “Bananas” Devenanzio. The weekly show launches Saturday, April 3 on NBC Owned & Affiliate stations (check local listings).

Season two “Izzy’s Koala World” premieres on Netflix Tuesday, April 20. The Dodo kids’ series follows the life of a 12-year-old as she works to rescue and rehabilitate koalas (with an assist from her parents).

Another children’s series, “My Little Pony: Pony Life” is headed for a second run. New eleven-minute episodes kick off Saturday, April 10 at 11:30a.

Duff Goldman and his puppet crew explore the science behind cooking and baking in “Duff’s Happy Fun Bake Time,” premiering Thursday, April 29 on discovery+. Duff and his puppet friends teach fundamental cooking techniques and easy-to-make recipes that inspire chefs of all ages to experiment in the kitchen

“The Circle” returns for season two on Netflix on Wednesday, April 14. Four episodes of the reality show will drop each week, with the finale available May 5.

The Real Housewives of New York City returns for lucky season 13 on Tuesday, May 4 at 9p. Attorney, broadcaster and producer Eboni K. Williams has jumped aboard for the ride.

VH1 docu-series “Black Ink Crew: New York” is set to return on Monday, April 19 at 8p. The new season will highlight the crew emerging from isolation and adapting to their new normal, as they strive to be better than ever before at their new flagship shop in Brooklyn.

Wild Alaskan Company, a direct-to-consumer service, is 100 percent digital with ads and outreach. Steph Hoppe, VP of Marketing, Wild Alaskan, explains her company’s recipe for surviving – and thriving – during the pandemic, in Cynsiders.

COMING UP

Cartoon Network event Spring Breakaway kicks off Monday, March 29 with the series premiere of the new sci-fi adventure comedy “Elliott from Earth,” and continues for 14 days with a line-up of action adventure-themed shows and movies to keep kids and families engaged, entertained and in vacation mode.

Shudder has acquired South African film “Fried Barry” for release in North America, the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand on Thursday, May 6. The film follows the story of a drug-addled degenerate who, after yet another bender, gets abducted by aliens.

Lifetime’s “Women Making History,” featuring Vice President Kamala Harris, debuts Tuesday, March 30 at 8p. Executive produced by Sharon Scott of Category 6 Media group, the show will encore on Wednesday, March 31 at 8p on LMN.

Popsugar announced the line-up for its “Girl Talk” event on March 25 at 9p, airing on TLC and discovery+ with an encore presentation at 10p on OWN. Joining former First Lady Michelle Obama will be host Sofia Wylie, Lilly Singh, Alicia Keys, Andra Day, Auli’i Cravalho, Demi Lovato, Julia Roberts, Kristen Bell, Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, Marsai Martin, Meryl Streep, Naomi Osaka, Natalie Portman, Shaun Robinson, and Shonda Rhimes among others. “Girl Talk” will encourage and advocate for the power of learning and education.

TECH TALK

Programmatic video platform Tremor Video announced the May launch of its data-driven TV Intelligence offering, a solution that will allow advertisers to reach the most relevant consumers with precision using a greater breadth and depth of audience data assets. “This announcement represents the next phase of our leadership within this ever-evolving space,” said Ofer Druker, CEO, Tremor International. “We’re excited that our enhanced offerings will empower our clients to remain ahead of the curve when it comes to reaching modern TV audiences in impactful and measurable ways.” Tremor Video’s TV Intelligence solutions will leverage television viewing and audience data coupled with video creative.

Integral Ad Science is taking media executives to school – literally. The digital ad verification company has launched IAS Academy, a globally accredited training program designed to empower digital advertising professionals to become experts in digital ad verification and its implementation during campaigns. The training program covers digital ad verification topics such as brand suitability and ad fraud, media quality measurement, programmatic, and advertising channels and environments including mobile, video, CTV and more. “In a fast-paced environment where technology evolves quickly, we’re proud to offer this program to the industry, helping marketers better control their media investments and deliver optimal outcomes for their campaigns,” said Tony Marlow, CMO, IAS.

Seventy-eight percent of US households are reachable via CTV programmatic advertising, up 56% year-over-year, and there has been a 122% increase in global programmatic ad spend in CTV over 2020, according to ad fraud intelligence and marketing compliance platform Pixalate’s “Connected TV Ad Supply Trends 2020.” Other findings include:
· 24% of CTV programmatic advertising was invalid traffic in Q4 2020
· 46% of programmatic ad spend in CTV went to Roku devices. Samsung, Apple, and Amazon come in at second, each with about 10% market share
· Apple increased its ad market share by 379% from Q120 to Q420

Creative studio Mindworks announced the launch of a new feature for its playable ad platform Playturbo that allows advertisers to use a wide range of pre-built playable ad templates to facilitate playable ad creative production, and to improve mobile campaign performance while reducing production costs.

OUTFRONT Media and Broadsign are teaming to deploy Broadsign’s out-of-home marketing platform as part of OUTFRONT’s OOH network. As the Broadsign Direct inventory and sales management system and Control content management system are onboarded for OUTFRONT’s in-car displays, the company will be able to streamline media sales and operations across inventory while also improving the media buyer experience.

STREAMING

Americans who turned to streaming services as they sheltered at home may be tweaking their streaming behavior, according to Hub’s newest “Predicting the Pandemic” research, but they’re not giving it up. Highlights from the study include:
* Among those who have added a TV service during the pandemic, post-Covid loyalty is strongest for Disney+ (77% of those who signed on since Covid say they’ll keep it; only 7% say they’ll drop) and Netflix (73% vs. 4%).
* 77% of TV viewers in February 2021 say they’re watching more TV now than before the pandemic, 7 points higher than in November 2020.
* 42% say they’re watching a lot more TV now than pre-pandemic, also up considerably compared to last year.
* 44% of all TV consumers added at least one TV service during the pandemic, 10 points higher than in November.“
What’s been most interesting to us in our pandemic-related research has been trying to determine which pandemic-induced changes in TV behavior will persist once life begins to return to normal,” said Peter Fondulas, principal at Hub and co-author of the study. “This wave of the study strongly suggests that Americans have grown more than just accustomed to the TV viewing adjustments they’ve made during the pandemic, and are ready to embrace a new, streaming-centric normal.”

GOING GLOBAL

Discovery+ announced a multi-territory SVOD deal with All3Media International that includes more than 250 hours of non-scripted content, including “Race Across the World,” “Naked Attraction,” “The Undateables” and titles from All3Media International’s Gordon Ramsay portfolio.

DUST has acquired the worldwide rights to “Awaken,” an immersive 4K HDR documentary showcasing the world’s natural wonders, narrated by Liv Tyler (“ Ad Astra”).

Belfast-based Sixteen South Rights has secured nine presales for its new preschool series, “Odo,” which is due to premiere on Channel 5’s Milkshake! and KiKA later this year. The series, aimed at kids aged 3-5, has been acquired by Canal+ France, ABC Australia, TVO-Kids! Canada, RTE Ireland, Mini Mini Poland, SVT Sweden, NRK Norway, S4C Wales and VRT Ketnet Belgium.

French animation studio Xilam Animation will launch its preschool series “Oggy Oggy” during its second Virtual Showcase event for TV channel and platform commissioners and buyers, running from April 7-9.

Insight TV struck an agreement with the Royal Dutch Football Association to broadcast a new five-part documentary series that follows the Dutch Under 21 National Football Team on their pursuit of European Championship glory. “Inside Oranje U21” (wt), produced in partnership with KNVB, charts the journey of the aspiring U21 team on their quest to qualify for the 2021 UEFA European Championships.

As vaccinations against COVID-19 accelerates, people are becoming increasingly optimistic about future travel and live events.

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MSNBC topped cable networks in total viewers in 1Q21 for the first time,averaging 1.404 million viewers for the full day. CNN averaged 1.398 million, and Fox News came in at 1.324 million.

The March 10, season five return of Fox’s “The Masked Singer” (2.0/13) delivered television’s #1 entertainment telecast in Live+7 Day ratings since the Super Bowl.

Disney+ series “The Falcon and The Winter Soldier” ranked as the most-watched series premiere ever on Disney+ during its opening weekend, Friday, March 19-Sunday, March 22, and the most watched title overall for the same time period on a global basis, including in Disney+ Hotstar markets.

TV Time Binge Report for the week of March 15
“Attack on Titan” (NHK) – 2.39%
“Ginny & Georgia” (Netflix) – 2.06%
“Grey’s Anatomy” (ABC US) – 2.04%
“Modern Family” (ABC US) – 2.04%
“One Piece” (Fuji TV) – 1.55%
“Formula 1: Drive to Survive” (Netflix) – 1.35%
“The Office” (NBC) – 1.27%
“New Amsterdam” (NBC) – 1.20%
“Naruto Shippuden” (TV Tokyo) – 1.10%
“Brooklyn Nine-Nine” (NBC) – 1.04%
The weekly Binge Report ranks shows with the most binge sessions. A binge session is when four or more episodes of a show are watched and tracked in the TV Time app within a given day.

Broadcast Nielsen Ratings for Monday, March 22
Show, P2+ 000s, (A18-49)
ABC: “American Idol”4;94 (0.7), “The Good Doctor” 4.26 (0.5)
CBS: NCAA Basketball 5.85 (1.35), NCAA Basketball 3.70 (0.9), NCAA Basketball 4.22 (1.14)
CW: “Bulletproof” 0.48 (0.1), “Black Lightning” 0.27 (0.1)
FOX: “9-1-1” 2.87 (0.4), “America’s Most Wanted” 2.25 (0.4)
NBC: “The Voice” 7.06 (0.9), “Debris” 2.77 (0.4)
Source: Nielsen live + same day time period averages

EXECUTIVE MOVES

?TEGNA promoted Kristie Gonzales to VP, Media Operations. In addition to her current role as President and GM of KVUE in Austin, Gonzales will now also oversee KYTX in Tyler, Texas, and help set the vision for recruiting across TEGNA’s 11 Texas markets.

Animation studio ZAG appointed Angela Cortez to the position of VP, Consumer Products, Latin America. Cortez was most recently VP of the LATAM region for VIMN.

Answer to Our Last Trivia Question
For which series did Kristy McNichol win two Emmy Awards? “Family” 1976-1980). Kudos to: Chris Fahey-Tamron Hall Show/NYC, Danny Frank-Citi CEATS/NYC,
Andy Pittman-TAMU/College Station, TX, Eric Litt-Nexstar/Chicago, Sandy Speigel-WTTW/Chicago, Cherie Wall-Sandbox Entertainment/Nashville, Kyle Krebs-Limestone Minerals/Dallas, Rick Dascher-WarnerMedia Studios/Atlanta, Judy Margolis-The Back Room/Dallas, Julie Houston-Tom Scott Agency/Boise, ID, Theresa Corigliano/LA, Peter Steckelman-Tennis Channel/Santa Monica, CA, Marc Goldstein-Media Solutioms/NY, Richard Quan-Heat/San Francisco, Kerri Huyck-Kennewick, WA, Steven Williams-Spectrum Enterprise/Columbus, OH, Tom Boyd-WGN/Chicago

Today’s Trivia Question
Who voiced Felicity’s friend Sally on “Felicity” (1998-2002)? (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.)