Today’s Premieres
Max: Naked. Loud. Proud.
MTV: All Star Shore at 8p
Netflix: LEGO Ninjago: Dragons Rising; The Days
Paramount+: iCarly
Travel: The Dead Files at 9p; Eli Roth Presents: The Legion of Exorcists at 10p

Today’s Finale
Paramount+: Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies

IN THE NEWS

As a follow up to the Upfronts season, MediaRadar has released new data on the state of TV and video advertising for 2022. Key findings include:
· Digital advertising, accounting for 47% of total spends, surpassed TV, which comprised 41% of the total $144 billion expenditure in digital, print, and TV advertising in 2022.Over $68 billion was allotted to digital, incorporating online video.
· Top categories investing in TV ads mirrored those in digital, with the top-5 largely consisting of finance, media & entertainment, retail, and tech sectors. However, except for media and entertainment, TV investment in these sectors witnessed a YoY decrease.
· Online video advertising rose by 86% YoY.
· OTT investments continued to grow with about 5.7k brands enhancing their stakes in streaming platforms in 2022.
· Short TV ads, 15 seconds or less, garnered $5.2 billion (35% of $14.8b) in Q1 2023, marking a 6% YoY increase. Longer ads, 16 to 30 seconds, dropped 10% YoY to $7 billion. In Q1 2023, ads over 46 seconds accounted for 17% of total TV ad spend.

Sixty-five percent of children aged 4-13 now have a fandom and are actively seeking out others who share their likes and preferences. That’s according to a study from Kids Industries spanning six continents that reveals that children are expressing their fandoms an average of 3.5 different ways, with 39% sharing moments with others, 31% buying or receiving products and 30% engaging with as many touchpoints as possible. “Our research demonstrates the appetite for fandom amongst young people, yet the reality is that fandoms are harder than ever to develop,” said Joshua Brocklehurst, Senior Researcher at KI. “Thanks to the overwhelming access and volume of content available (the global family has an average of 6.1 types of devices and 5.1 platforms to access video content) achieving cut-through is incredibly challenging. Add in the growing partial attention span issue thanks to multiple screening, and you can see the challenges that brands are facing in building fan communities.”

Lisa Ling has been named a CBS News contributor. Ling will report across CBS News broadcasts and platforms starting later this summer. “Lisa delivers some of the most authentic, human and revealing interviews because of how she embeds with communities and the people she covers. It gives her and us a chance to communicate the pulse of the country and the world in a more experiential way,” said Neeraj Khemlani, President and Co-Head of CBS News and Stations. “From war coverage at Channel One News to the anchor table at ‘The View’ to numerous cable series that showcase her immersive journalism, Lisa Ling is a multi-talented reporter and storyteller.”

Duluth Art Institute is the recipient of $10,000 Stand For The Arts Award, presented by Spectrum in partnership with Ovation TV to recognize local arts, cultural and educational organizations and programs.

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PRODUCTION & DEVELOPMENT

Parrot Analytics has launched Producer Package, aimed at helping producers, showrunners, and production companies value their creations as well as provide insights to make better decisions about which projects to pursue and how to best negotiate and monetize their content. “In this new era of portfolio optimization, we can help position content creators to find the very best fit for their TV series and movies, which simultaneously helps studios, distributors and ultimately audiences,” said Wared Seger, CEO of Parrot Analytics. “Our goal is to provide content creators with the necessary insight to not just weather the commotion of the constantly evolving industry, but thrive within the opportunity it provides.”

ViX is developing “Mundo Regional” (w/t), a docuseries that will closely follow influential figures in regional Mexican music, stars that are setting trends in the genre worldwide. Carlos Cerutti and Martin Halac’s Alton River Media and Diego Álvarez’s Plataforma production company are overseeing the project.

Studio71 is teaming with Ample Entertainment to produce “The Drive for Five,” a four-part series featuring racing legends Doug Herbert and George Poteet. The series will document the competition between the two drivers as they attempt to break the existing land speed record and surpass the 500mph milestone, in hot rod cars powered by automotive racing engines. Herbert and Poteet will be joined by dream teams that include NASCAR and Formula One racers and alumni. The series will be executive produced by Ari Mark and Phil Lott from Ample Entertainment; Arielle Worona, Michael Schreiber and Adam Boorstin from Studio71; and Larry Aidem from Reverb Advisors.

As a part of the overall branding initiative at Industrial Light & Magic, ILMxLAB is rebranding the creative studio to ILM Immersive. Said VP of Immersive Content Vicki Dobbs Beck, “We’re proud to be an innovation hub with a commitment to continuing to push the state-of-the-art on behalf of ILM and Lucasfilm, inviting our fans around the world to truly ‘Step Inside Our Stories.’ This new brand name really reflects the growth and evolution of our creative studio and will serve us for many years to come.”

NEW & RETURNING SERIES

Anthology comedy series “Miracle Workers: End Times” premieres Monday, July 10 at 10p on TBS. Daniel Radcliffe (“Weird: The Al Yankovic Story”), Steve Buscemi (“Boardwalk Empire”), Geraldine Viswanathan (“Bad Education”), Karan Soni (“Deadpool”) and Jon Bass (“She-Hulk: Attorney at Law”) return in the fourth installment of the series – originally slated to debut in January – as all-new characters in a dystopian future full of radioactive mutants, killer robots and a tyrannical homeowner’s association with outrageous annual fees.

The Weather Channel has four series premiering this month. New series “Prime Suspect: Earth” premieres Saturday, June 3 at 8p, and the season three launch of “Deep Water Salvage” comes Sunday, June 11 at 8p. “Search Party with Brandon Jordan” makes its debut Sunday, June 18 at 9p, followed by the return of “Fast: Home Rescue” at 10p.

Season six of Netflix anthology series “Black Mirror” debuts Thursday, June 15. Season five dropped back in 2019.

Homeowners’ family histories inspire the renovations in HGTV’s “Revealed,” premiering Thursday, June 29, at 10p. In each episode, designer Veronica Valencia will consult with a genealogist to learn more about her clients’ cultural identity and create a life-size mood board inspired by the details of their family.

MGM+ historical drama “Domina” returns for season two on Sunday, July 9 with two episodes. Added to the cast are Benjamin Isaac (“Holmes & Watson”) Joelle (“Dune”), and David Avery (“Doctor Who”).

“Teenage Euthanasia” is back for a sophomore run on Adult Swim starting Sunday, July at midnight. Guest stars this season include Kieran Culkin, Janelle James, Jinkx Monsoon and Ziwe.

Apple TV+ limited series “Lessons in Chemistry,” starring and executive produced by Brie Larson (“Captain Marvel”), premieres with two episodes on Friday, October 13. The series is based on the bestseller by Bonnie Garmus.

The second half of season one of Bounce’s “Act Your Age” kicks off Saturday, June 3 at 8p. The series premiere was seen by 2.14 million viewers in its debut telecasts in March, making it the most-watched half-hour series launch in Bounce history.

Stephen Dorff, Shea Wigham, Lukas Haas, Robert Oberst, Stephen Schneider, Iliza Shlesinger, Sturgill Simpson, Casey Wilson are all onboard season three of HBO’s “The Righteous Gemstones” as recurring players. The televangelist comedy returns Saturday, June 10 at 10p.

TECH

Snapchat+ subscribers chatting with My AI can now send Snaps of what they’re up to and receive a unique generative Snap back. “Snap My AI a picture of your pizza, OOTD, or even your furry best friend, and My AI may respond with a Snap back in reaction to what you’re doing. So, if you Snap My AI your latest grocery haul, it might recommend a recipe!”, reported Snap in its newsroom. “While it was designed to avoid biased, incorrect, harmful, or misleading information, mistakes may occur, so please do not rely on it for advice, and let us know if you have any feedback,” added the company.

Amazon is discontinuing celebrity voices on Alexa. Users who paid $4.99 for the privilege of hearing the likes of Melissa McCarthy, Shaquille O’Neal and Samuel L. Jackson on their Echo devices will continue to have access until September 30.

VideoAmp has added TransUnion’s TruAudience analytics information in its measurement platform. The integration is aimed at enabling marketers to measure the impact of their campaigns across TV and digital channels, connect their media placements to purchase behavior, and use media effectiveness insights to optimize media and creative placements, budget allocation, and audience targets.

COMING UP

Joanna Gaines is thinking small with half-hour special “Mini Reni,” streaming on Max and discovery+ and premiering on Magnolia Network Sunday, June 25 at 9p. In the special, Jo and her design team challenge themselves to renovate three rooms in an outdated home in need of a refresh, all in a week’s time and under $15,000.

For Pride Month, Ovation TV will recognize LGBTQ artists through weekday morning linear programming and in Celebrating Pride, a curated on-demand lineup in Ovation NOW destination Arthouse. Titles will be available on-demand starting Thursday, June 1 and on linear during the weeks of June 5 and June 12.

TECH

Twitter is now worth one-third of the $44 billion Elon Musk paid for it in October, according to Fidelity. The company marked down the valuation of its stake in the social media platform for the third time since Musk’s takeover.

STREAMING

wedotv has launched its core AVOD service around the world in the LG app store. In addition, wedotv’s FAST channels, wedo big stories and wedo movies are rolling out across Europe on the LG Channels smart TV platform.

SPORTS ROUNDUP

Sinclair subsidiary Diamond Sports Group announced it will not provide additional funding to the San Diego RSN that would enable it to make the rights payment it owes to the San Diego Padres – so it is no longer be broadcasting Padres games. “While DSG has significant liquidity and has been making rights payments to teams, the economics of the Padres’ contract were not aligned with market realities,” Diamond said. “MLB has forced our hand by its continued refusal to negotiate direct-to-consumer (DTC) streaming rights for all teams in our portfolio despite our proposal to pay every team in full in exchange for those rights. We are continuing to broadcast games for teams under our contracts.” MLB is offering access to Padres games through its MLB.TV app for free through Sunday; after that, San Diego-area fans will be able to stream games for $19.99 a month or $74.99 for the rest of the regular season.

WSC Sports and TelevisaUnivision struck a long-term partnership in which TelevisaUnivision will utilize WSC Sports’ AI video solution to generate sport highlights for 15 soccer related properties. WSC Sports’ technology will be used to analyze soccer games in real-time, clip highlights of all the matches, and create both short- and long-form content in real time that is customizable. The content generated with WSC Sports’ technology will be distributed among TelevisaUnivision’s digital outlets including OTT service ViX, along with TelevisaUnivision’s social media platforms, apps, and more.

Horizon Sports & Experiences announced its acquisition of Blake Sports Group, a sports marketing agency specializing in corporate consulting, event management, athlete marketing and global concierge programs. Founded in 2008, the Blake Sports Group features a diverse list of clients and partnerships including Cognizant for their sponsorship of the F1 Aston Martin car, their golf sponsorships with the Cognizant Founders Cup on the LPGA Tour and the President’s Cup on the PGA Tour.

WBD Sports’ Stanley Cup Playoffs coverage will culminate with the 2023 Stanley Cup Final — Hart Trophy finalist Matthew Tkachuk, Sergei Bobrovsky and the Florida Panthers take on Jack Eichel, Mark Stone and the Vegas Golden Knights — starting with Game 1 on Saturday, June 3 at 8p, on TNT, with a simulcast available on truTV. Games 1, 2, 3, 4 (and 6 and 7, if necessary) will also be simulcast on TBS.

FOX Sports announced select games from the network’s 2023 college football schedule, featuring top games from the Big Ten, Big 12, Mountain West and Pac-12 conferences. For the second season, “Big Noon Kickoff” will travel each week to college football’s top games, previewing the day’s matchups from campuses across the nation at 10a on FOX. “Kickoff” is followed by “Big Noon Saturday,” the network’s premier matchup each week.

Racing Prodigy announced the formation of the Prodigy Racing League™, an e2Real sports league. The racing league has been built to make motorsports more accessible, using esports as the pathway to racing cars on real tracks.

FITE has signed a deal to present Official Celebrity Boxing’s next five events live via PPV. The first event, “Clash in the Metaverse,” will be take place June 30, when Roy Jones Jr. faces NDO Champ in technological first–live physical boxing in the metaverse.

GOING GLOBAL

Banijay Production Media will produce the first adaptation of game show format “100%” for France 2. Originally created by Banijay Italia, the format sees contestants take turns guessing the tastes, habits, and perceptions of a panel of 100 people.

All3Media International announced PBS Distribution’s acquisition of “Marriage,” produced by The Forge and The Money Men. Further deals have been confirmed across Europe with streaming platform Magenta TV securing SVOD rights in Germany in addition to acquisitions by YLE (Finland), Canal+ (Austria), DR (Denmark), SVT (Sweden) and Filmin (Spain).

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RATINGS

TNT’s exclusive coverage of the 2023 NBA Eastern Conference Finals Game 7 averaged 11.9 million total viewers on Monday night to deliver the network’s most-watched NBA ECF Game ever and TNT’s third most-watched NBA game ever. The net’s coverage of the seven-game series averaged 7.4 million viewers to garner TNT’s most viewed ECF coverage in a decade, and a 6% lift in viewership vs. the same matchup in 2022.

Telemundo’s Spanish-language coverage of Chivas de Guadalajara delivered the highest-rated and most streamed Liga MX Clausura season for the network. Sunday’s Liga MX final of Clausura 2023: Chivas vs Tigres was the most-watched match of the season and in network history with a Total Audience Delivery of 3.3 million viewers including the highest digital average minute audience of 355,000. The Final ranked #1 program across broadcast and cable regardless of language among A18-49 in Total Day and the #1 sporting event on Spanish-language TV this year among A18-49 and P2+ with TV-only viewership of 1.46 million and 2.94 million, respectively.

Basic Cable Nielsen Top 10 for the week of May 22
Show, P2+ 000s
Primetime
TNT 3247
ESPN 1801
FOX News 1344
MSNBC 1166
HGTV 1166
INSP 693
Discovery 630
History 576
TLC 567
Hallmark Channel 539
Total Day
FOX News Channel 1034
MSNBC 734
TNT 703
ESPN 599
HGTV 420
CNN 381
INSP 370
Hallmark Channel 361
Food Network 340
History 320

Broadcast Nielsen Ratings for Monday, May 29
Show, P2+ 000s, (A18-49)
ABC: Celebrity Family Feud 2.85 (0.36), Celebrity Family Feud 2.43 (0.31), Celebrity Family Feud 2.16 (0.27)
CBS: The Neighborhood 2.74 (0.23), Bob Hearts Abishola 2.26 (0.19), Grammy Salutes 2.25 (0.17)
CW: Rising 0.42 (0.05), Barons 0.18 (0.03)
ION: FBI 1.18 (0.12), FBI 1.31 (0.14), FBI 1.18 (0.13)
FOX: Fox NASCAR Cup 3.40 (0.52), Fox NASCAR Cup 2.60 (0.41), Fox NASCAR Cup 1.90 (0.31), MasterChef 0.97 (0.16), Gordon Ramsay All Stars 0.88 (0.14)
NBC: American Ninja Warrior 2.25 (0.30), Weakest Link 1.42 (0.21)
Telemundo: Top Chef VIP 0.87 (0.18), Secretos de Sangre 0.65 (0.13)
Univision: Perdona Nuestros Pecados 1.30 (0.30), Amor Invencible 1.34 (0.32), Mujer 0.87 (0.18)
Source: Nielsen live + same day time period averages

EXECUTIVE MOVES

Paul Getto has joined Universal Studio Group as EVP of Strategy and Business Development. Getto was formerly EVP of Business Operations at Focus Features.

Onboard NBCUniversal Advertising & Partnerships as SVP, Enterprise Partnerships and Operations is Elyssa Byck. Byck was most recently VP, Global Strategy and Operations at Buzzfeed.

Radical Point Media has promoted Kristen Colle from Director of Content to Director of Operations, and hired Micheal McCray, former Art Director at Warner Bros. Discovery, as Director of Creative Innovation.

BET Media Group has named Jerry Leo as EVP of Programming Strategy. Leo was previously Chief Content Officer at Canela Media.

Brooke Brower has moved from the job of Managing Editor for CNN Politics to take the position of Executive Producer of ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos.” Kendall Heath, who served as interim EP of “This Week,” has taken the job of Executive Producer of Politics.

BBC Studios has appointed Melissa Rubinson as SVP, Business Development & Partnerships. Rubinson joins from Reuters, where she served as Senior Director of Strategic Accounts and Partnerships.

IN MEMORIAM

Actor John Beasley died May 30. He was 79. Among Beasley’s numerous TV credits were “Everwood,” “CSI: Miami,” “Harry’s Law” and “Boston Legal.”

This Day in History
2009 – Conan O’Brien debuted as host of “The Tonight Show,” a job he left eight months later.

Answer to Our Last Trivia Question
Which series was the first Fox sketch comedy not to use a laugh track? “The Ben Stiller Show,” which aired on MTV from 1990-91, moving to Fox for 12 episodes in 1992. Kudos to: Susan Nessanbaum-Goldberg-M and S Entertainment/LA;
Rev. Mark Wajda/Clermont, FL; Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA; David Westbeg-SAG-AFTRA Credit Union/Burbank; Gerry Bixenspan-TV Marketing Inc./NYC

Today’s Trivia Question
Which animated spy series was created by Bruce Willis? (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