Tonight’s Finales
BYUtv: Wizard of Paws at 9p
FX: What We Do in the Shadows at 10p

IN THE NEWS

A social media campaign launches today that has Black women speaking from the Instagram accounts of white women with large platforms, to magnify Black women’s voices and their work. In #ShareTheMicNow, Opal Tometi will take over Ashley Graham’s account; Kahlana Barfield Brown will take over Julia Roberts’ account; Bozoma Saint John will take over Kourtney Kardashian’s account; Ibtihaj Muhammad will take over Alex Morgan’s account; Latham Thomas will take over Gwyneth Paltrow’s account; Angelica Ross will take over Hilary Swank’s account; and more. Audience reach for the first iteration of #ShareTheMicNow is over 300 million on Instagram.

Most Americans believe Twitter is right to add warning labels and fact-check dubious tweets, according to a survey from Piplsay. A third of respondents said the new policy is good as long as it applies to everyone equally, while 16% said such policies could be misused to benefit certain people/parties, and 9% said they were against social media platforms determining what others can say.

MTV’s MTV Movie & TV Awards event, which normally takes place in the summer, is on indefinite hold. Variety reports the net had considered moving the show to December pre-pandemic, but hasn’t committed to a production this year, due to uncertainties about the future of live audience events.

REVOLT Black News is now airing Tuesdays and Thursdays at 9p, in addition to the news updates from field correspondents airing at the top of every hour from 4-10p daily. Eboni K. Williams (State of Culture) hosts.

The PGA Tour and Twitter announced a global live content execution to mark the PGA’s return to competition at the Charles Schwab Challenge, June 11-14 in Ft. Worth, Texas. “Twitter Multicast” will take place on Thursday, June 11, from approximately 1-2:30p and will showcase athletes and celebrities creating their own live commentary in conjunction with PGA Tour Live Featured Groups coverage during the first round of the tournament. “The PGA Tour is proud to be among the first major sports leagues to return to competition,” said Rick Anderson, Chief Media Officer of the PGA Tour. “With no spectators on site, we want to work harder than ever to connect our fans to the event, across numerous platforms and devices.”

The Television Academy Foundation added four new members to its board of directors: Cris Abrego, Chairman, Endemol Shine Americas, and CEO, Endemol Shine North America; music director, producer and composer Rickey Minor; Jonathan Murray, co-founder of Bunim/Murray Productions; and OWN President Tina Perry. “Our incoming board members bring extensive business and creative acumen in key sectors of our television industry,” said Madeline Di Nonno, chair of the Television Academy Foundation. “We welcome their thought leadership, strategic guidance and support as the Foundation expands its educational programs and community outreach, which are designed to promote diversity and inclusivity within the television industry and deepen support for the next generation of entertainment leaders.”

Disney+ led the pack in a new survey on telecommunications companies from American Customer Satisfaction Index, with a score of 80. Last year’s winner, Netlfix, came in second with a score of 78, followed by Hulu and Apple TV with 77, and Amazon Prime Video and Microsoft Store with 76. Verizon Fios and AT&T U-verse led pay-TV with scores of 70, Dish Network and DirecTV hit 65 and 64, and Comcast rose 11% from last year to score 63.

Which streaming service gives the most bang for the buck? Movie and TV search engine Reelgood looked at “big six” Amazon Prime Video, Apple+, Disney+, HBO Max, Hulu and Netflix, and offered these stats:
· Quantity: Amazon Prime has the largest content library, with 15,048 movies and TV shows. Netflix is second with 5721, and Hulu has 2771.
· Quality: Amazon Prime has the most critically acclaimed movies, while Netflix is tops for original shows. HBO Max is third in terms of high-quality movies.

Comscore has expanded its relationship with Cox Media Group. Under a new agreement, six additional markets have signed on for the company’s TV measurement: Syracuse, NY; Spokane, WA; Idaho Falls, ID; Eureka, CA; Binghamton, NY and Alexandria, VA.

Original Vanderpump Rules cast members Stassi Schroeder and Kristen Doute have been cut because of a racist prank against former co-star Faith Stowers several years ago, details of which Stowers shared during an Instagram Live chat last week. New cast members Max Boyens and Matt Ciprioni also got the boot, for past racist remarks. Bravo and Evoluion Media confirmed the exits.

MTV and Bunim/Murray Productions have cut ties with The Challenge’s Dee Nguyen, after the reality star posted offensive comments about the Black Lives Matter movement. The season will air as planned, but Nguyen will not appear in the yet-to-be-filmed reunion.

Animal-focused media brand The Dodo will produce a weekly show, The Dodo Presents, for LX, NBCUniversal Owned TV Stations’ new TV and streaming network for Gen Z and millennials. “Our partnership with LX comes at a time when Americans are looking for optimism and hope – and The Dodo Presents will highlight the amazing animal stories from local communities around the country,” said The Dodo’s President, YuJung Kim.

Pre-production has begun on Gusto Worldwide Media’s new studio-based series, CombiNATION Plates. The show will be shot in Gusto’s production facility, beginning June 16 in Ottawa. The series is commissioned by Bell Media for their CTV Life Channel, and will subsequently air on all Gusto TV channels in the US, LATAM, APAC and the UK. “We’ve had the studio on lock-down for nine weeks and have implemented extensive health and safety protocols,” said Chris Knight, President & CEO Gusto Worldwide Media. “This is a single purpose studio, so nobody in or out without an invite. We’re looking forward to creating more exceptional content in the new normal.”

Speaking of the “new normal,” Eric Tomosunas, founder, and CEO of Swirl Films, suggests six steps to take to protect crew and talent as productions spring back to life. You’ll find them in Cynsiders.

COMING UP

Science Channel special Cleopatra: Sex, Lies and Secrets uses archaeological research to uncover the woman behind the mystery, on Sunday, June 21 at 8p.

Lifetime Presents Variety’s Power of Women: Frontline Heroes, originally scheduled to air yesterday, June 9, was postponed due to recent events. The one-hour special celebrating women serving on the frontlines of the pandemic will now air on Thursday, June 25 at 10p on Lifetime and Facebook. GMA’s Robin Roberts hosts, virtually.

Out-of-home marketing association DPAA will hold its third annual Canada Summit on Wednesday, July 15 at 11a. The live zoom event will focus on reimagining OOH as the world reopens.

TECH TALK

With use of VOD content surging, Comcast Technology Solutions and FreeWheel announced a new industry solution that will bring programmatic capabilities to premium set-top-box VOD video inventory. The solution allows content owners and distributors to offer advertisers access to STB VOD content, unifying it with other inventory sold programmatically across connected TV and digital video channels. “Until today, it has not been possible to effectively monetize this content in the same programmatic fashion as other video inventory,” said Richard NunnVP/general manager of advertiser solutions at Comcast Technology Solutions. “By enabling unified programmatic auctions and seamless distribution of ad assets across all inventories including STB VOD, we are helping programmers and distributors open up new opportunities for advertisers.”

NEW & RETURNING SHOWS

Funny or Die is teaming again with Baron Vaughn and Open Mike Eagle (The New Negroes with Baron Vaughn and Open Mike Eagle) for web series Call & Response, debuting June 16 on Funny or Die’s and Black millennial platform Blavity’s YouTube, Facebook and Twitch channels. New episodes will drop Monday through Friday at noon, with Vaughn and Eagle talking with comedians, musicians, educators and more.

Season two of Australian pre-school series Bluey is launching Friday, July 10 on Disney Channel and DisneyNOW. All season two episodes will subsequently air on Disney Junior. “The show offers relatable situations for engaging kids every day, which is so important to parents at this current time,” said Henrietta Hurford-Jones, Director of Children’s Content Partnerships, BBC Studios. “Disney Junior and Disney Channel are the perfect homes for a brand new season of inspirational episodes, bringing families together for a genuine co-viewing experience.”

ADVERTISING

Ninety percent of advertisers that planned to launch products/services in 2020 will introduce them in the second half – 48% postponed launches, and 41% previously scheduled efforts, according to the latest installment of Advertiser Perceptions report, “The Coronavirus Effect on Advertising.” “The second half of 2020 will be a more dynamic advertising market than we’ve seen in many years,” said Justin Fromm, EVP/Business Intelligence at Advertiser Perceptions. “Advertisers are restarting in a crowded space with lots of moving parts – product launches, an election, and competitors trying to make up for lost time.” Strategies are in flux – according to the report, while 29% have a strategy in place, 52% say they are still working on one. And the focus of strategy varies widely, per the report, with some advertisers resetting KPIs altogether.

New data from mobile advertising company MobileFuse looks at advertisement receptivity over the course of the last few months: pre-COVID-19 (Jan-Feb), early COVID-19 (March 1-16), early shutdown (March 17-31), deep COVID-19 (April), and the push to reopen (May). The sample size is across millions of consumers, and hundreds of orders within the MobileFuse platform. Research found:
· Household incomes on the lower end (< $30k; and $30k – $50k) and upper end ($250k) are engaging with ad units more than ever, while middle income is lagging.
· 18-34 year olds engaged the most in every phase, but other age groups are catching up.
· Women always led with engaging with ad units, but coming out of the pandemic, men are engaging at nearly the same rate.
· Rural and suburban ads served have much higher engagement rates than urban.
· Not only has scale in mobile increased, engagement rates increased 15%.

With polling showing Joe Biden increasingly competitive in Arizona, Democratic Super Pac Priorities USA Action is expanding spending in the state with ads critical of President Trump’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and protests over the death of George Floyd. New TV and digital ads in Arizona and other states total $4 million in spending.

GOING GLOBAL

Canada’s Kidscreen announced the launch of its Next Wave Mentoring Program, a three-month initiative designed to connect post-secondary animation students preparing to graduate with experienced mentors who can help guide their successful entry into the kids entertainment industry.

About Premium Content has signed broadcast deals for season one of its Cold War drama series Shadow Lines with Sundance Now in the US, Canada and UK; SBS in Australia; Viasat World’s Epic Drama Channel across Central & Eastern Europe, Baltics and CIS; RTP2 in Portugal; Proximus in Belgium; AMC’s Sundance TV in Spain, and in Switzerland both public broadcaster RTS and cable channel UPC.

ITV Studios is the new international home of the upcoming sixth season of police drama, Line of Duty, following the collapse of Kew Media Distribution. Netflix struck a streaming deal for the return past seasons of the show in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Europe and Asia-Pacific; BritBox holds US rights.

Red Arrow Studios International has scored new sales in Europe and Asia for its crime drama Vienna Blood. Mediawan Rights has acquired the series for French-speaking markets; in Spain, the series has been sold to Movistar; YLE has picked up the show for Finland; while Viasat World will air it on the Epic Drama channel in Central and Eastern Europe and the Baltics.

Channel 5 announced that it has grown its peak time share of viewing more than any other UK commercial terrestrial channel since the beginning of the COVID-19 lockdown. In the eleven weeks since lockdown began, the channel was up 17% YOY during peak time hours, taking it from a 3.64 to a 4.27 share.

Australia’s LGI Media has sold over 500 hours of programming to China, Hong Kong and Vietnam. The deals include a package of over 397 hours to YuanLai Education, an educational program broadcaster based in Wuhan, China.

UK’s Moonbug is set to launch its first original series, Mia’s Magic Playground, on Sky Kids, part of the company’s planned global distribution.

AVOD W4free, featuring series, documentaries, and movies, has completed feature film licensing deals with Kaleidoscope, Platform Entertainment, The Film Consortium and Icon Film Distribution, which between them add over 100 titles to the company’s new film offering. The films will be made available to W4Free registered users in the UK over the coming months.

For the second consecutive week, Univision was the #1 network in all of television during prime time the week of June 1 among A18-34, with 241,000 in the demo.

UniMás’ novela series, Qué Culpa Tiene Fatmagül, increased the net’s Monday to Friday 8p-9p time period by double-digit margins year-over-year among Total Viewers 2+ (+45% to 496,000), A18-49 (+43% to 232,000) and A18-34 (+28% to 82,000).

Late Night Average Broadcast Ratings for the Week of June 1
CBS: Late Show 2.53 viewers, 0.29/3 A18-49
ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live! 2.10 million viewers, 0.33/3 A18-49
NBC: Tonight 1.71 million viewers, 0.33/3 A-18-49

Basic Cable Top 5 for the Week of June 1
Primetime (P2+)
Fox News (3,978,000)
CNN (2,510,000)
MSNBC (2,266,000)
HG TV (1,342,000)
TLC (1,086,000)
Total Day (P2+)
Fox News (2,034,000)
CNN (1,475,000)
MSNBC (1,352,000)
HGTV (725,000)
Food Network (525,000)
Source: Nielsen

TV Time’s Binge Report for the Week of June 1
13 Reasons Why (Netflix) – 5.21%
Dynasty (The CW) – 3.49%
Modern Family (ABC) – 1.70%
Space Force (Netflix) – 1.62%
Friends (NBC) – 1.59%
The Office (NBC) – 1.58%
Fuller House (Netflix) – 1.50%
Brooklyn Nine-Nine (NBC) – 1.36%
Grey’s Anatomy (ABC) – 1.21%
The 100 (The CW) – 1.11%
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.

Top 10 M-F Syndicated Strip Series for the week of May 25 ranked in order by HH Rtg
Family Feud (CTD) 6.2 AA
Jeopardy (CTD) 5.8 AA
Judge Judy (CTD) 5.8 AA
Wheel of Fortune (CTD) 5.5 AA
The Big Bang Theory (WB) 3.0 AA
Inside Edition (CTD) 2.5 AA
Entertainment Tonight (CTD) 2.3 AA
Dr. Phil Show (CTD) 2.0 AA
Last Man Standing (DAD) 2.0 AA
Hot Bench (CTD) 2.0 AA

Broadcast Nielsen Ratings for Monday, June 1
Show, P2+ 0000s, (A18-49)
ABC: The Bachelor Presents: Greatest Seasons Ever! 2.71 (0.5), 2.36 (0.4), 2.21 (0.4)
CBS: The Neighborhood 4.06 (0.5), Bob Hearts Abishola 3.56 (0.4), All Rise 3.06 (0.3), Bull 3.91 (0.4)
CW: Whose Line Is It Anyway 0.90 (0.2), Whose Line Is It Anyway 0.94 (0.2), Roswell, New Mexico 0.67 (0.1)
FOX: 9-1-1 2.57 (0.4), 9-1-1: Lone Star 2.28 (0.4)
NBC: The Titan Games 3.89 (0.8), The Wall 3.74 (0.7), Songland 2.41 (0.5)
Telemundo: Cennet 1.21 (0.4), 100 Dias Enamorarnos 0.91 (0.3), La Reina del Sur 0.66 (0.2)
Univision: Te Doy la Vida 1.65 (0.5), Amor Eterno 1.87 (0.6), Como Tú No Hay 2 1.55 (0.5)
Source: Nielsen, live + same day time period averages, fast nationals

EXECUTIVE MOVES

FuboTV named Diana Horowitz to the newly-created position of SVP, Advertising Sales. Horowitz was previously VP, Sales for Telestream’s advanced media technologies in the eastern US.

Melissa Waters has been named Global Head of Marketing for Instagram. Waters was most recently CMO at startup Hims & Hers.

Answer to Our Last Trivia Question
Which crime drama’s star worked for a fictional FBI division, the Organized Crime Bureau? Wiseguy (1987-1990). Kudos to: John Ferlazzo/London, Tom Glynn-Hubbard Broadcasting/Minneapolis, Andrew Goldman-Fathom Events/NYC, Jerry Maffia/NYC, Synda Kollman-Charter Marketing Group/Boca Raton, FL, John Carlo-UPtv/NYC, Paul Blutter-Walk and Talk Production Rentals/Burbank, David Garber-Loyola Marymount University/Playa Vista, CA, Lorrie Shilling/El Segundo, CA, Dan Haberer-Creo Entertainment/Playa del Rey, CA, Dan Whitford-WTTW/Chicago

Today’s Trivia Question
What series did Jane Lynch have to leave in order to take her part in Glee (2009-2015)? (Email [email protected] with your answer and be sure to include your name, company, city and time zone. Unofficial rules: a limit of four responses per time zone.)