NEWFRONT SEASON
Hulu increased its total customer base to more than 28 million, comprising 26.8 million monthly paid subscribers and 1.3 million promotional accounts. Total hours watched on Hulu increased by 75 percent in 2018, and average time spent per subscriber increased by more than 20 percent for the service, which is the fastest-growing SVOD service in the US, with the addition of more than 7.5 million paid US subscribers in 2018.These were some of the topline of the company’s presentation yesterday, aptly at the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden. Hulu also will launch a “binge advertising” experience as it expands its suite of behavior-driven ad formats. “Because of our viewer-first advertising principles, we’re scaling rapidly,” said Peter Naylor, SVP/head of ad sales. “Hulu is future-proofing TV advertising and transforming the way brands connect with consumers.”
In content announcements, Hulu:
* is expanding its partnership with Marvel Television with two new live-action series, Marvel’s Ghost Rider and Marvel’s Helstrom
* inked a multiyear deal with Vox Media Studios to create food-focused originals with David Chang’s Majordomo Media and Chrissy Teigen’s Suit & Thai Productions under the Hulu Kitchen umbrella. The company also signed an original programming deal with Teigen
* gave a straight-to-series order for Nine Perfect Strangers, starring and produced by Nicole Kidman and Bruna Papandrea; greenlit limited series The Dropout, starring Kate McKinnon as Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes; and renewed freshman comedies Pen15 and Ramy.
The company also got granular around content, viewing and ad trends:
* Hulu viewers watched more than 100 million hours of TGIF content in 2018
* The Act saw more viewership in its first month than any other Hulu Original to date.
* Nearly 1.5 billion hours of adult animation was watched on Hulu in 2018, a 40 percent year-over-year increase.
* Average viewer watches Hulu on 3 devices
* 65 percent of Hulu + Live TV viewers watched something on-demand immediately after a sporting event
* Nearly half of ad-supported hours watched on Hulu are binged
* 40 percent of Hulu viewers binge more than one series each month
* Ad-supported audience grew by 43 percent to more than 58 million viewers
* Total ad-supported hours watched on Hulu increased by 82 percent YoY
* 21 million viewers on Hulu are cordless
Verizon Media’s presentation spotlighted the company’s 5G network as a boon to deliver premium content partnerships across mobile, TV and OTT, with more interactive data-powered ad formats to connect everything for its 1 billion global consumers. “We’re driving performance and quality through data insights, creating an ecosystem that spans content, commerce, search and social, and providing access to the industry’s most premium solutions built for brand safety and control,” said Jeff Lucas, head of North American sales and Global Client Solutions. Among content news:
* Verizon Media will world-premiere doc 5B, focused on the heartfelt humanity of nurses and caregivers in the midst of the HIV/AIDS crisis.
* New series Hypezilla, to debut on the Yahoo Play app, includes AR integration that will give the user the ability to virtually “try” on the showcased products, take part in related trivia and shop.
* Yahoo Sports is extending NFL streaming rights into the Yahoo Fantasy Football mobile app for the first time.
* Yahoo Lifestyle’s NowWith is adding Sofia Vergara and her son Manolo Gonzalez Vergara, who will launch an exclusive line of swim and resort apparel called the Wet Line.
* Yahoo Finance unveiled a slate of new programming, including a new video series and podcast slate.
Kanye West is making his first big foray into television. Showtime is developing Omniverse, a limited half-hour anthology series from West, Scooter Braun’s SB Projects, Westbrook Studios and writer Lee Sung Jin (Undone). Project aims to look at the many doors of perception, with season 1 explores the Ego through an alternate reality West. Jaden Smith is attached to star as a young West and also to exec produce with Jin, West and Braun.
Amy Holden Jones, co-creator of The Resident, is expanding her relationship with 20th Century Fox TV, the studio behind the series. Jones inked a new overall deal, through which she’ll continue her work on The Resident, recently renewed for a third season, and other projects.
There’s still time to nominate your colleagues and company for the Cynopsis Top Women in Media Awards. Get your nominations in before next week’s May 8th deadline. Nominate now.
Paramount Network put in development topical scripted drama series Coyote, starring and exec-produced by Michael Chiklis (The Shield). From Michelle MacLaren (Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad) and Sony Pictures Television, series follows an agent who, on the day of his mandatory retirement from the US Border Patrol, discovers an illicit tunnel used to shuttle black market goods into the country Mexico. Paramount Net also is developing Southern drama Heaven of Hell, in collaboration with Charter and its Spectrum Originals shingle.
Entertainment One, together with Brad Peyton and Bell Media, announced an eight-ep series order for mystery drama Albedo for Bell Media in Canada, in partnership with Vudu in the US. The show marks a return to television for Evangeline Lilly, who will star and exec-produce. Story takes place 150 years in the future, when detective Vivien Coleman is dispatched to the edge of the solar system to investigate a scientist’s mysterious death on board an isolated space station and finds herself trapped and cut-off from Earth along with a crew of scientists.
Netflix optioned feature rights to Jason Rekulak’s YA novel The Impossible Fortress; Aggregate Films and GoldDay will produce a film based on the tome, which the Rekulak will adapt the novel.
NEW & RETURNING SERIES
A couple of new Outdoor Sportsman Group series spotlight different angles on hunting. Matt Busbice hosts all-female hunting competition show For Love or Likes, airing Thursdays at 7p on Outdoor Channel, that unites the cultural power of social media with the traditional lifestyle of hunting. Mike Stroff, Jaime Satterfield and the Savage Outdoors pro-staff takes viewers on a wild ride through some of the best big game hunting in North America in Savage Outdoors, Tuesdays at 10p on Sportsman Channel.
USA Network set July 17 as the premiere date for the ninth and final season of Suits and the launch of its spinoff series Pearson, which stars Gina Torres. Suits will air at 9p, immediately followed by Pearson at 10p.
COMING UP
Telemundo Deportes will present pre- and post-fight coverage of the match between Canelo Alvarez and Daniel Jacobs across its digital platforms and on Titulares y Mas, the network’s sports and entertainment show. The Telemundo Deportes’ app and the Telemundo Deportes Facebook page also will live stream the undercard event to the fight Saturday, May 4 in Las Vegas, beginning at 9p… In related news, Telemundo Deportes this week unveils its campaign for the FIFA Women’s World Cup France 2019, for which it is the exclusive Spanish-language network.
More is More: E! will add a fourth hour of live red carpet television coverage at the 71st annual Met Gala on Monday, May 6, with coverage beginning at 5p. Also as part of the network’s multiplatform coverage, E! Stream The Red Carpet: Met Gala, returns to @ENews’ Twitter, the E! News” app and eonline.com beginning at 7p.
Revolt TV will premiere the doc Back to Natural Monday, May 6 at 10p. On the tail of the revolutionary announcement that California is moving to ban racial discrimination based on hairstyles, Back to Natural is an in-depth exploration of the “new” natural hair movement, the globalized policing of natural Black hair and the inextricable connection between hair, politics, and racial identity.
The Yeti is back in the spotlight in Travel Channel’s new series In Search of Monsters, which will have a one-hour ep dedicated to the mythical creature airing Wednesday, May 15 at 9p.
The Late Show With Stephen Colbert will air live following both nights of the first Democratic debate, Wednesday, June 26 and Thursday, June 27 at 11:35p on CBS.
PBS is rolling back the clock to 1969 with a summer slate commemorating the cultural milestones and technological triumphs of 50 years ago including gay liberation, the lunar landing and Woodstock. Among new specials and limited series are The Lavendar Scare, premiering Tuesday, June 18 at 9p and documenting the beginning of the LGBTQ rights movement; three-part Chasing the Moon on American Experience, beginning Monday, July 8 at 9p; and Woodstock: Three Days That Defined a Generation on American Experience on Tuesday, August 6 at 9p. In addition, PBS is dedicating the month of July to commemorate the wonder of the universe with its “Summer of Space” multiplatform experience, including more than 15 hours of new space and history content. Viewers also can revisit the journey of Apollo 11 for their eight-day, three-hour, 18-minute and 35-second mission in 8 Days: To the Moon and Back, a new BBC Studios doc premiering Wednesday, July 17 at 9p. PBS will round out its summer lineup with new three-part series Family Pictures USA, debuting Monday, August 12 at 9p, which explores American cities, towns and rural communities through the lens of the family photo album.
ADVERTISING
Sky is adopting NBCUniversal’s CFlight cross-platform advertising metric. CFlight captures live, on-demand and time-shifted commercial impressions on every viewing platform. The metric is already in use in the US by Viacom, and in the fall will roll out to Sky Media in the UK, its first international launch, with expansion across Sky’s European territories planned in 2020.
Executves at short-form startup Quibi are in the Upfront game, too, meeting with agency and brand execs in search of ad commitments. Quibi will launch with both a $5 ad-supported subscription tier and an $8 ad-free tier. The company has noted it projects advertising to account for 30 percent of revenue at 20 million subscribers.
Vice Media is uniting all of its content—which has been silo’d into channels including Vice News, Munchies, Noisey and Motherboard—into Vice.com. Channels will become feature sections, be rolled into new formats or be abandoned.
Lemuel Plummer, exec producer of Preachers of L.A., is launching a streaming VOD platform dedicated to faith-based African American consumers. Ebony/Jet magazines, Vimeo, music mogul Rodney “Darkchild” Jerkins and prominent Christian leaders are on board to support to the service, slated to bow in Q3.
Justin Lin’s YOMYOMF and Stage 13 are launching short-form, unscripted food and travel series Family Style, starring the “Foodie Fam” — eight friends, including Stacy Fan (contributing editor for Harper’s Bazaar, China), Lana McKissack (Shameless, Criminal Minds), comedian/actor Gilbert Galon and Anthony Ma (Dear White People, NCIS: Los Angeles), who are bonded over a love for culture, cuisine and memorable moments around the table. Series will debut on May 13 with two episodes featuring stops in Vietnam, China, the Philippines, Hawaii and LA.
The first ep of Adam Rippon’s new series Break The Ice is live. Episode 1 features YouTube creator and Late Night host Lilly Singh, and is available on Rippon’s YouTube channel.
TECH TALK
In a blog post to creators yesterday, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki defended the company’s decision this winter to disable the ability for viewers to leave comments on videos featuring kids, noting the top priority was to protect children. The move came in response to he revelation of sexual comments left by child predators on select YT videos. Wojcicki outlined additional company measures against this type of behavior, and also acknowledged creators’ concerns over the removal of comments. “I know this change impacted so many creators who we know are innocent… But in the end, that was a trade-off we made because we feel protecting children on our platform should be the most important guiding principle.”
Altice USA debuted its Altice One operating system 3.0, the evolution of the Altice One entertainment and connectivity platform that includes a new sports hub, a refreshed home screen for faster navigation and an optional Voice Guidance feature embedded throughout the user interface for a more accessible experience. Altice One, available to Optimum and Suddenlink customers, combines 4K video, streaming apps, ultra high-speed broadband, home wifi and digital voice service.
Serena Williams’ Serena Ventures and the Bumble Fund each will invest $50,000-$100,000 in two entrepreneurs and ventures: Erin Carpenter of hosiery and underwear company Nude Barre, and Arfa Rehman of digital health company Virtue Health. The two were the winners at the first Bumble Fund Summit in Napa.
Zeta Global closed its approximately $40 million acquisition of Sizmek’s demand-side marketing platform, a move that will impact the programmatic marketplace via the resulting Zeta demand side platform.
PODCAST POSTS
Slate yesterday added to its quickly accelerating podcast slate. The publisher announced the launch of Man Up, an interview show focused on modern masculinity. It’s the third podcast Slate has launched this year, and two additional launches are on the horizon before June.
KIDS NEWS
UPtv will air new eps of tween variety show Wonderama at 8a and 8:30a beginning Saturday, May 4. Hosted by Daytime Emmy nominee and 2018 Cynopsis Kids host David Osmond, series blends musical performances, science experiments, cooking demonstrations and more.
Three new eps of Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood are slated to air on PBS Kids May 20-22. New stories will address preschool experiences including being sad when a parent has to travel for work and worrying about doing something new. In other Daniel news, the companion app Daniel Tiger for Parents hit the 1 million download milestone.
GOOD WORKS
In celebration of “National Adopt A Shelter Pet Day,” NBCUniversal Owned Television Stations will for the fifth year stage its pet adoption campaign Clear the Shelters in communities in the US and Puerto Rico on Saturday, August 17. Since 2015, the NBC and Telemundo campaign has helped more than a quarter million pets find new homes.
