Wednesday March 31, 2021

Today’s Finales
ABC: “American Housewife”at 8:30p, “The Con” at 10p
Lifetime: “Marrying Millions” at 10p
Syfy: “Resident Alien” at 10p

IN THE NEWS

Univision Communications’ PrendeTV, a free, ad-supported streaming service created specifically for US Hispanic audiences, has formally launched with 10,000 hours of VOD content across movies, international drama series, reality shows, children’s programming, telenovelas and sports programming. Audiences can access exclusive programming from Univision and Televisa’s content libraries, as well as content from Spanish-language partners including Banijay, Blue Ant Media, Calinos, Caracol, Cisneros, Filmrise, Globo, Nelvana, RCN and more. In the coming weeks, PrendeTV will be adding movies from studios including Disney, Lionsgate and MGM. Launch partners include Chase, Clorox, Coca-Cola, Dunkin’, McDonald’s, Toyota, Universal Pictures, Verizon and Walmart.

A+E Networks and Lifetime have partnered with Northwestern Mutual on the one-hour “Women Making History” special, featuring Vice President Kamala Harris. The show premiered yesterday on Lifetime, and will encore tonight at 8p on LMN.

CBS renewed “Young Sheldon,” currently in season four, for three more seasons. The “Big Bang Theory” prequel is the most-watched comedy on television, averaging 9.6 million viewers. “‘Young Sheldon’ dominates the broadcast comedy landscape by over +2.5 million viewers and is the lynchpin of CBS’ top-rated Thursday comedy lineup,” said Kelly Kahl, President, CBS Entertainment. “The humor, warmth and heart exuded by the Cooper family is an undeniable hook for the millions of fans who tune in each week.”

Pop superstar Ariana Grande is joining the Fall 2021 cycle of NBC’s “The Voice” as coach. The “Thank U, Next” singer will claim her red chair alongside Blake Shelton, John Legend and Kelly Clarkson. “I have been a huge fan of the show for such a long time,” said Grande. “I can’t wait to go head-to-head with the incredible coaches, get to know these new artists and help to take their craft to the next level.”

Kayleigh McEnany is joining Harris Faulkner and Emily Compagno as a co-host on Fox News daytime show “Outnumbered.” “Kayleigh’s unique background in politics and law coupled with her experiences confronting women’s health challenges and life as a new mom will add robust insight to ‘Outnumbered’,” said Suzanne Scott, CEO of Fox News Media. Former White House Press Secretary McEnany joined FNC as a commentator earlier this month.

ABC renewed “Dancing With the Stars” for a 30th season. The reality competition is expected to return in the fall.

Attention shoppers: Grocery chain Albertsons and Google announced a multi-year partnership to make shopping easier and more convenient. The companies, which have been collaborating behind the scenes for the past year, are debuting several new enhancements covering a range of technologies and services, like integrating with Google Search and Maps to help shoppers more easily find what they need; making it easier to shop with Google Pay; and infusing Google Cloud AI technologies such as Vision AI, Recommendations AI, and Business Messages into operations to create a predictive grocery engine.

The average commercial unit rate for a 30-second Super Bowl spot this year dipped 5%, to $4.73 million, according to Standard Media Index. Total ad revenue was down 6%, to $400.7 million. Average revenue per game in the regular season was down 1%, to $25 million.

WWE and USA Network struck a multi-year extension for “NXT,” which will move from Wednesdays to Tuesday nights on USA Network at 8p beginning April 13. “By transitioning ‘NXT’ to a Tuesday timeslot where WWE has performed well in the past, we are giving our passionate fanbase more of what they love with back-to-back nights of exhilarating, live programming.” said Frances Berwick, Chairman, Entertainment Networks, NBCUniversal. The shift also eliminates competition from TNT’s “AEW: Dynamite” on Wednesdays. In 2020, the weekly “NXT” block averaged 847,000 total viewers and its special Tuesday episodes were even stronger, delivering gains of nearly +30% among the key 18-49 and 25-54 demos.

TVSquared, Upwave, Kinetiq and Ace Metrix have joined forces to quantify the effectiveness of the Ad Council and COVID Collaborative’s “It’s Up to You” COVID-19 Vaccine Education Initiative, measuring the reach and impact of the linear TV and OTT ads. “The Ad Council has long said that success for this campaign relies on our ability to serve the right message to the right audience at the right time and frequency,” said Anne Deo, SVP, Analytics at the Ad Council. “These partners have provided us with the technology and analytics needed to do just that, and we are excited to be working with them.”

Sports Media’s Most Valuable Players are in! See the full list of finalists here, and don’t forget to secure your complimentary pass to toast the winners on April 21 at 1p.

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Legendary TV and Range Media Partners are teaming

to develop author Ken Follett’s The Evening and the Morning as a series. “Ken Follett is one of the great authors of our time – and The Evening and the Morning is exactly why,” said Range Media Partner’s Michael Cooper. “Its power and beauty and brutality and humanity all swirl together in the most immersive ways. It’s a beautiful book for this medium.”

Amazon Prime Video ordered seasons two and three of “Como Sobrevivir Soltero,” which premiered in June of 2020. The romantic comedy was created by brothers Emiliano and Sebastián Zurita.

Disney Television Studios has launched a new division, 20th Television Animation, to be run by 20th Century Television veteran Marci Proietto. In addition to developing and producing new shows, the unit will house existing titles.

Constance Wu (“Fresh Off the Boat”) inked a first-look production deal with eOne. Wu will work alongside Justine Jones, the newly-named VP of Wu’s new production company, to develop and produce scripted series.

Casting notes: Naveen Andrews (“Lost”) landed the lead opposite Amanda Seyfried in Hulu limited drama “The Dropout,” about disgraced tech company founder Elizabeth Holmes…Donald Faison (“Scrubs”) will play Professor Drake Utonium on CW pilot “Powerpuff.”…Jordan Fisher (“To All the Boys”) has joined CW’s “The Flash” as Bart Allen, aka Impulse….Gil Bellows (“American Gods”) has been cast in ABC limited series “Women of the Movement.”

Adult film star Maitland Ward is set to produce and star in comedy series “The Big Time,” in development with Leaving Normal Productions. Ward plays an adult superstar who hires a nerdy aspiring writer to breathe life into her steamy scenes. The series is executive produced by Rob Alicea, and produced, along with Ward, by Charlie Alberto IV and Tim O’Hanlon of Velvet Horizon Films.

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NEW & RETURNING SERIES

In new HGTV series “Inside Out,” an interior designer and a landscape designer each pitch their plans to clients, trying to get a bigger piece of the set budget for their creations. Series premieres Monday, April 26 at 9p.

Season nine of Bravo’s “Million Dollar Listing New York” premieres Thursday, May 6 at 9p, with new broker Kirsten Jordan. The 13th round of “Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles” will make its debut this summer.

TLC’s “Extreme Sisters” bows Sunday, April 25 at 10p. The reality show follows obsessive and inseparable siblings.

A&E has two premieres set for Tuesday, April 20. The bidding begins on a new season of “Storage Wars” at 8p, followed at 9p by the launch of “Hustle & Tow,” following tow truck operators.

FX docu-series “Pride,” chronicling the struggle for LGBTQ+ civil rights in America from the 1950s onward, will premiere its first three episodes back-to-back on Friday, May 14, at 8p, followed by the final three episodes on May 21 at 8p.

Animated series “Star Wars: The Bad Batch” starts streaming on Disney+ on Tuesday, May 4 with a 70-minute premiere, followed by new episodes every Friday starting May 7. The show follows the experimental clones introduced in “The Clone Wars” as they find their way in a rapidly changing galaxy.

Season five of “Rick and Morty” launches on Adult Swim at 11p on June 20 – a day the network has declared Rick and Morty Day. Adult Swim will offer sneak peeks, behind-the-scenes footage and surprises across digital and social to kick off the new season.

COMING UP

The 27th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards will highlight and expand on the show’s “I Am An Actor” stories through docuseries-inspired interviews woven throughout the telecast, airing Sunday, April 4 at 9p on TNT and TBS.

CBS News presents “Asian Americans Battling Bias: Continuing Crisis,” an hour-long special exploring the ongoing rise in discrimination against Asian Americans. The special will stream live on CBSN today, March 31 at 6p, and on Smithsonian Channel on Sunday, April 4 at 10p.

Lifetime’s “Lust: A Seven Deadly Sins Story” premieres Saturday, April 10 at 8p. The morality tale movie follows the first of the Seven Deadly Sins book series.

Cinedigm is celebrating the history of the Academy Awards with a month-long event on The Film Detective, a classic media streaming network and film archive that restores and distributes classic films. Cinedigm recently acquired The Film Detective’s library. The streamer will feature a different Oscar-nominated or winning film from Hollywood’s Golden Age every night at 8p leading up to the 93rd Academy Awards ceremony on April 25.

Also on the way from Cinedigm: pandemic thriller “The Island,” from ZDF Enterprises. The series is slated to premiere on horror destination Screambox.

One-hour special “Crikey! It’s a Baby!,” documenting the moments leading up to the birth of Bindi Irwin and Chandler Powell’s daughter, premieres Sunday, April 25 on discovery+.

A holiday-themed episode of “Bluey” premieres on Disney Junior Easter Sunday, April 4 at 9a, with re-airings during the day.

TECH TALK

Spotify has acquired Betty Labs, launcher of Clubhouse-like, sports-focused live audio app Locker Room. “Creators and fans have been asking for live formats on Spotify, and we’re excited that soon, we’ll make them available to hundreds of millions of listeners and millions of creators on our platform,” said Gustav Söderström, Spotify’s Chief Research and Development Officer. “The world already turns to us for music, podcasts and other unique audio experiences, and this new live audio experience is a powerful complement that will enhance and extend the on-demand experience we provide today.”

OOH media specialist Talon has partnered with Hivestack to enable Talon to expand access to OOH for North American advertisers and agencies, and provide a single point of access to the programmatic DOOH sector. “We’re investing to make OOH buying as frictionless as possible with self-serve access for our advertisers,” said Jim Wilson, Talon North America CEO.

DoubleVerify announced an expanded brand safety and suitability integration with Facebook, extending verification to new premium inventory channels while providing new tools to boost control and efficiency. “We are excited to enter this phase in our work with Facebook,” said Mark Zagorski, CEO of DoubleVerify. “We are expanding our partnership to ensure an even more brand-safe and brand-suitable advertising environment for the global brands we serve across the Facebook ecosystem.”

STREAMING

Latin Americans are enthusiastic about streaming on all platforms, but mobile is their preferred platform, with 54% expressing a preference for mobile, followed by ConnectedTV (22%), and PC (21%), according to Penthera Insights’ latest “Latin American Streaming Behavior Report.” Other findings include:
· 92% of panelists experience streaming frustrations. The top 3 most common streaming issues are re-buffering ( 58%) followed by the video taking too long to start-up (52%), and the ads stalling (40%).
· Latin American panelists experience long wait times for their mobile videos to load – 29% said they wait between 8-10 seconds and 29% said they are waiting longer.
· 70% of panelists across Latin America said they don’t feel represented in the ads they see on streaming services.

US viewers spent 116% more time watching SVOD content on social video in January 2021 vs. last year, according to Tubular Labs report, “The New Battlefield: How SVODs Leverage Social Video to Win the Streaming Wars.” Other highlights from the report include:
· 67% of top SVOD’s US audiences are 13-34 years old, while only 54% of audiences for top traditional broadcasters fall into the age bracket.
· Netflix diversifies their social video content more than any other SVOD (including longer trailers, special behind the scenes content, interviews, clip compilations, and talent snippets).
· The “nostalgia route” was a hit strategy during the pandemic. Engaging content reflected older/familiar movies and shows was used most by Netflix and Disney+.

GOING GLOBAL

BET International announced that My5, Channel 5’s on-demand streaming platform, will be the official home of BET UK as it transitions to a digital-first brand on April 8 in the UK. The brand will also launch a dedicated BET channel on Pluto TV in the UK on April 5, following recent launches in Brazil and France.

Lineup Industries’ format “Taboo” has been commissioned in Denmark, with TV2 joining the broadcasters who have produced local versions of the series, which explores the boundaries of what is considered acceptable humour. The Danish version will be produced by Monday Production Denmark.

Dynamic Television has sold the Icelandic dark comedy “My Funeral” to ARTE. The series will premiere on the European culture channel, exclusively on its website, arte.tv later this year.

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The premiere of the “52nd NAACP Image Awards” on Saturday, March 27 drew 3 million total viewers P2+,up +72% vs. a year ago, as it was simulcast \ across 13 ViacomCBS networks including BET, BET Her, Comedy Central, Logo, MTV, MTV2, Paramount, Pop, Smithsonian, TV Land, VH1, CMT, and for the first time on CBS, where it garnered 1.7 million total viewers.

In syndication, newcomer “The Drew Barrymore Show” scored its second highest rating to date and clocked the biggest increase among all talkers in the week ending March 21. “Barrymore,” which was just renewed for a second season, rose 20% from the week prior to a 0.6 Live+SD national Nielsen, its highest rating since February. Other talkers notching double digit improvement were “The Kelly Clarkson Show” (0.9, +13%), “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” (1.0, +11%) and “The Dr. Oz Show” (0.7, +17%).

Bragging rights were split between cable news networks for the first quarter of 2021. Fox News was first in primetime with an average 2.48 million viewers (-27% vs. 1Q20), followed by 2.34 million for MSNBC (+16%) and 1.94 million for CNN (+35%). CNN was first among A25-54 with 524,000 (+22% vs. 1Q20), followed by 391,000 for Fox News (-33%) and MSNBC’s 365,000 (+7%). MSNBC was tops in total day with 1.37 million viewers (+25%); CNN averaged 1.35 million (+50%) and Fox News drew 1.32 million (-31%).

In other first quarter news results, Fox Business Network’s Business Day programming averaged 195,000 total viewers and 20,000 among A25-54 demo in 1Q21, while the network’s Market Hours programming netted 201,000 total viewers and 21,000 viewers in the demo.

Basic Cable Top 5 for the week of March 22
Primetime (P2+)
TBS (2,683,000)
Fox News (2,388,000)
MSNBC (1,632,000)
HGTV (1,156,000)
CNN (1,148,000)
Total Day (P2+)
Fox News(1,294,000)
MSNBC (936,000)
CNN (757,000)
TBS (719,000)
HGTV (647,000)

Top 10 M-F Syndicated Strip Series for the week of March 15 ranked in order by HH Rtg
“Family Feud” (CMV) 5.4 AA
“Jeopardy!” (CMV) 5.3 AA
“Judge Judy” (CMV) 5.2 AA
“Wheel of Fortune” (CMV) 5.0 AA
“The Big Bang Theory” (WB) 2.5 AA
“Inside Edition” (CMV) 2.4 AA
“Entertainment Tonight” (CMV) 2.4 AA
“Live With Kelly and Ryan” (DAD) 1.8 AA
“Last Man Standing” (DAD) 1.7 AA
“Dr. Phil” (CMV) 1.6AA
Source: Nielsen

TV Time Binge Report for the week of March 22
“Attack on Titan” (NHK) – 2.76%
“Grey’s Anatomy” (ABC US) – 2.05%
“Modern Family” (ABC US) – 1.96%
“One Piece” (Fuji TV) – 1.55%
“Ginny & Georgia” (Netflix) – 1.4%
“The Office” (NBC) – 1.26%
“Sky Rojo” (Netflix”) – 1.24%
“Formula 1: Drive to Survive” (Netflix) – 1.16%
“New Amsterdam” (NBC) – 1.16%
“Jujutsu Kaisen (MBS) 1.10%
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.

EXECUTIVE MOVES

Eric Becker has joined strategic communications and advisory firm ICR as SVP, Consumer, Media & Entertainment on the Corprate Communications team. Becker, previously Principal for Becker PR, brings Haystack News, MyBundle.TV and Lucia Entertainment with him.

Icon Films has appointed Belinda Cherrington as Creative Director. Cherrington joins from Red Rock Films, where she was Creative Director.

Australia’s WildBear Entertainment has established WildBear Aotearoa in New Zealand, and recruited Craig Meade as General Manager. Meade joins from NHNZ, where he was Head of Production.

OkayMedia, the multimedia organization dedicated to uplifting the artistic and progressive voice of global Black culture, announced that author, journalist, and former CNN International anchor Isha Sesay has been appointed to the role of CEO.

?Objective Fiction (“Feel Good”) is setting up a permanent US-based operation. Hannah Mackay, previously Objective Fiction’s Head of Scripted, will be relocating to LA to take the role of SVP: Objective Fiction America.

Charter Communications has promoted Mike Reid to SVP of Corporate Services. Reid oversees Charter’s Corporate Real Estate and Portfolio Administration, Facilities Management, Fleet Management and Travel Management departments.

Paradise Advertising & Marketing Inc. has promoted its Integrated Media Director, Cyndy Murrieta, to VP, Integrated Media.

Answer to Our Last Trivia Question
Which actress won Emmy nods for roles on “Fraiser” and “Fargo”? Jean Smart. Kudos to: Jim Kelly-Jim Kelly Consulting/Central Islip, NY, Dennis McGuire-Apple/Tampa, FL, Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA, David Westberg-SAG-AFTRA Credit Union/Burbank, Susan Nessanbaum-Goldberg-M and S Entertainment/LA

Today’s Trivia Question
Which actresses, who played the same role on “All My Children,” graduated from the same high school? (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.)