Friday June 11, 2021

Today’s Finale
WE tv: “Mama June: From Not to Hot” at 9p

Saturday’s Premieres
Nickelodeon: “Danger Force” at 9p, “Tyler Perry’s Young Dylan” at 8:30p

Sunday’s Premieres
Adult Swim: “Tuca & Bertie” at 11:30p
AMC+: “Kevin Can F**k Himself”
discovery+: “90 Day Journey: Pride Month”
HLN: “Murder Nation” at 9p
Sony Canal: “Rosario Tijeras”
Starz: “Blindspotting” at 9p

Sunday’s Finales
AMC: “Fear the Walking Dead” at 9p
CNN: “United Shades of America” at 10p
TLC: “Extreme Sisters” at 10p

IN THE NEWS

US ad spend will grow by 16.5% in 2021 (up 22.3% not counting 2020 political ad spend), projects GroupM. That’s up from the 9.1% growth projected in March. National TV ad spend is expected to grow by 8.7% in 2021, more than making up for a 6.9% decline in pandemic-impacted 2020. That includes CTV advertising as well as linear. Digital advertising is expected to jump 33% this year, after 10% growth last year. “It was evident that the ad market was relatively strong during the first quarter and that it would further benefit from high inflation across the economy, lifting our expectations for growth,” says GroupM’s report. “But we didn’t fully appreciate just how much the economy and advertising market were heating up. It was only after we saw results for the quarter from the likes of Google, Facebook and Amazon (and Snap, Pinterest and others) that we could appreciate just how strong the market was, especially for digital media.”

HBO Max renewed “Starstruck,” which just launched season one, for a second round. The comedy about a struggling millennial’s romance with a film star is produced by Avalon Television (“Breeders”).

NBCUniversal is teaming with Target and producer Will Packer for “Scene in Color Film Series Presented by Target.” The series, launched last night, spotlights three emerging Black filmmakers and their work across NBCU’s One Platform, during commercial time on NBCU’s summer movie nights on Bravo, SYFY and USA; across digital properties including the NBC One App, Rotten Tomatoes, and Fandango Movieclips; and on Peacock. NBCU will be providing blind script deals for all three emerging creators, as well as the opportunity to grow under Packer’s continued mentorship, supported by a grant from Target.

The search is on for the digital innovators making their mark and transforming the industry with their standards for excellence. The Model D + It List awards are back, spotlighting the best digital work and the people behind it across video and advertising. Enter now and save $150 on your submission.

CNN chief legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin returned to the news net Thursday, eight months after exposing himself during a Zoom call with colleagues from The New Yorker. Toobin apologized during an interview on “CNN Newsroom,” and said he is “trying to become the kind of person people can trust again.”

Sam Pollard, documentary producer/director and feature film and television editor, has won the Peabody Career Achievement Award. Pollard has spent over thirty years chronicling the Black experience across film and television. Judy Woodruff, anchor and managing editor of the PBS NewsHour, won a Peabody Award for Journalistic Integrity.

SESSION SPOTLIGHT: Best Use Cases for Multi-Platform Measurement
Many companies are advancing their own Multi-Platform Measurement solutions. On Tuesday, June 15 at 1:40pm, experts such as Helen Lum (App Science), Jane Clarke (CIMM), George Musi (Solve(d) FCB Health Network), Rob Jayson (USIM), + Mariel Estrada (WarnerMedia) will showcase what they’re doing & how it’s working going forward.

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“Ted” talk: Peacock handed a straight-to-series order for “Ted,” based on the Seth MacFarlane hit 2012 comedy. MacFarlane is in negotiations to reprise the voice of the foul-mouthed teddy bear. The live-action series from UCP will be executive produced by MacFarlane and Erica Huggins for Fuzzy Door.

Participant is developing a limited series about the brutal 1982 murder of Chinese American Vincent Chin. Activist Helen Zia, the executor of Chin’s estate, will serve as part of the creative team, with Vicangelo Bulluck, Donald Young and Paula Madison. Miura Kite, SVP of Global TV, will oversee on behalf of Participant.

Writer-Producer Laeta Kalogridis and New Republic Pictures’ President Bradley Fischer have optioned the film and TV rights to Adam Roche’s podcast “The Secret History of Hollywood.” The deal includes all 11 existing seasons, as well as any future seasons of series.

AYR Media has teamed with Audible Inc. to create “Bitter Blood: Kasem vs. Kasem,” an original anthology podcast docu-series revealing the inside story behind the lawsuit and elder abuse allegations surrounding the death of radio legend Casey Kasem. AYR Media also has s TV series in development for the show.

HBO has put in development a series based on the 2017 book The Gang’s All Queer: The Lives of Gay Gang Members, from Jaboukie Young-White (“The Daily Show”), and Issa Rae and her Hoorae Productions.

Streaming platform Fox Soul has teamed with media brand Black Enterprise for original programming that highlights black creatives and executives. “Partnering with Fox Soul to broadcast Black Enterprise’s video content gives us the opportunity to expand our reach and continue to uplift, enlighten and educate audiences by telling positive black stories,” said Justin Barton, VP of Digital Strategy & Partnerships at Black Enterprise.

CASTING

Joining the cast of Peacock’s “MacGruber,” based on the SNL parody skit, are Sam Elliott, Laurence Fishburne and Mickey Rourke. SNL alums Will Forte and Kristen Wiig are reprising their roles, along with Ryan Phillipe, who starred in the film adaptation.

Hulu limited series “The Dropout,” starring Amanda Seyfried as disgraced Theranos owner Elizabeth Holmes, boasts a recurring cast that includes William H. Macy, Laurie Metcalf, Elizabeth Marvel, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Kate Burton, Stephen Fry, Michael Gill, Michael Ironside, Bill Irwin and Josh Pais.

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NEW & RETURNING SERIES

Showtime’s “Billions” is back for the second half of season five on Sunday, September 5 at 9p. Season six premieres early next year.

Season two of Netflix’s “Never Have I Ever” premieres Thursday, July 15. The coming-of-age comedy from Mindy Kaling centers on a first-generation Indian American teen.

Helena Bonham Carter (“The Crown”) is set to narrate BBC America’s natural history series “Eden: Untamed Planet,” which will be simulcast on BBC America and AMC starting Saturday, June 24 at 8p.

Nickelodeon’s interactive learning service, Noggin, will launch a BBC Studios animated series, “JoJo & Gran Gran,” on Monday, June 14. The show tells the story of a little girl in London and her grandmother.

Canine detectives, rescuers, protectors and more are profiled in Smithsonian Channel’s “Dogs with Extraordinary Jobs,” premiering Wednesday, June 30 at 8p.

Showtime’s “Desus & Mero” resumes new episodes starting Sunday, June 20 – and will be back filming in a revamped studio. The hosts filmed remotely from their homes starting in March 2020.

Tom and Jerry are moving to the Big Apple. Original series “Tom and Jerry in New York,” produced by Warner Bros. Animation, is slated to debut Thursday, July 1 on HBO Max.

COMING UP

As part of “11 Weeks of Reveals until Season 11” of “The Walking Dead,” AMC announced “The Walking Dead: Origins,” a series of specials exploring the journeys of the series’ most celebrated characters. The specials premiere Thursdays, beginning July 15, exclusively on AMC+. “TWD” is back Sunday, August 22 at 9p.

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Comcast has suspended its funding of Hulu, which is co-owned by Comcast and Disney, according to The Information. Comcast reportedly objects to Disney’s decision to change its international expansion plans for Hulu, focusing instead on growing its Disney+ service by building on India’s Hotstar.

Haystack News struck a content distribution agreement with Deutsche Welle, Germany’s international broadcaster. Haystack News launched DW’s world news content as the latest addition to its AVOD service and also added DW to its portfolio of live 24/7 streaming news channels.

RetroCrush, devoted to classic anime, is now available on Peacock. Launched by DMR in 2019 as a social video channel, Retrocrush now has more than 1.2 million subscribers/followers. In March 2020, RetroCrush launched as a standalone OTT service.

TECH TALK

TEGNA announced the selection of TVSquared to power cross-platform, closed-loop measurement and attribution for its advertisers, delivering incremental reach and web, location and app outcomes for local data-driven linear television and CTV and OTT campaigns. “The TV ecosystem is in the midst of an evolution that demands cross-platform analytics,” said Jessica Daigle, VP of Sales Intelligence, TEGNA. “TVSquared is an industry leader for local TV and OTT ad measurement and attribution.”

Advertising and analytics platform Innovid announced the addition of audio ad serving to their suite of omni-channel delivery capabilities. Marketers using Innovid’s platform can now upload, traffic and independently measure their digital audio media investment together with TV, video, display, and social. At launch, audio ad serving capabilities have been utilized by over a dozen clients, including Nationwide.

On the move: Vistar Media can now measure moving inventory, including taxi and rideshares, alongside non-moving OOH media types. “The beauty of programmatic has always been the ability to reach consumers when and where they are out in the world,” said Michael Provenzano, CEO and Co-Founder at Vistar Media. “This new capability not only allows brands to take advantage of the variety of venue types available, but also fully understand the effectiveness of their campaigns for each of the DOOH inventory types and as a collective buy.”

GOING GLOBAL

Moonbug Entertainment is partnering with the BBC, making all available episodes of titles including “CoComelon,” “Digley and Dazey,” “Little Baby Bum,” “Go Buster” and “Playtime with Twinkle” accessible across the UK on BBC iPlayer.

Red Arrow Studios International has secured a deal with Hulu for a package of factual entertainment titles including “Renovate Don’t Relocate,” “House Rules,” and “The Great House Revival.”

Boat Rocker Studios struck global deals for docu-series and specials, among them “Secrets in the Ice” for A+E UK/Poland/Romania/South Africa, Nat Geo for MENA, and Discovery Benelux and RTI for Italy.

Banijay announced a green light for the tenth season of “Big Brother Canada” for Corus Entertainment’s Global Channel.

Federation Kids & Family has partnered with China’s Tencent Video and UYoung Media on the kids’ animated action comedy series “Kung Fu Wa!”. The show is currently in production and scheduled for delivery later this year.

Endeavor Content, Element Pictures, Lenny Abrahamson and author Sally Rooney’s series “Conversations With Friends” has landed deals with Amazon Prime Video (Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Africa), HBO Max EMEA (Spain, Portugal, Nordics, CEE, Netherlands, Baltics), Lionsgate Play (India), SYN (Iceland) and Wavve (Korea). RTÉ will broadcast the series in Ireland.

Entertainment One announced that season 2 of animated series “Ricky Zoom” will launch during 2021 on Nick Jr. in France and in APAC. Nickelodeon International has also licensed the rights of “Ricky Zoom” season 1 and season 2 for Nicktoons in Africa.

On June 16 at 12:15pm, learn how MVP is leveraging TiVo’s broadcast TV data to enhance their measurement capabilities and offer brands, properties and agencies 360-degree coverage of their premium sports sponsorships, from evaluating Super Bowl spend and beyond.

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Broadcast Nielsen Ratings for Wednesday, June 9
Show, P2+ 000s, (A18-49)
ABC: “Press Your Luck” 2.90 (0.4), “A Million Little Things” 2.65 (0.4), “A Million Little Things” 2.29 (0.4)
CBS: “Kids Say the Darndest Things” 3.05 (0.4), “S.W.A.T.” 2.15 (0.3), “S.W.A.T.” 1.96 (0.3)
CW: “Kung Fu” 0.51 (0.1), “Whose Line Is It Anyway” 0.40 (0.1), “Whose Line Is It Anyway” 0.42 (0.1)
ION: “Law & Order: SVU” 0.72 (0.1), “Law & Order: SVU” 0.68 (0.1), “Law & Order: SVU” 0.68 (0.1)
FOX: “MasterChef” 2.42 (0.6), “Crime Scene Kitchen” 1.66 (0.4)
NBC: “Chicago Med” 2.95 (0.4), “Chicago Fire” 2.91 (05), “Chicago PD” 2.46 (0.3)
Telemundo: “Exatlon” 1.05 (0.3), “Suerte de Loli” 1.13 (0.4), “Buscando Frida” 0.84 (0.3)
Univision: “Disenando Tu Amor” 1.25 (0.3), “Si Nos Dejan” 1.47 (0.4), “Hija del Embajador” 1.30 (0.3)
Source: Nielsen live + same day time period averages

EXECUTIVE MOVES

Randall Rothenberg, former Interactive Advertising Bureau CEO, has joined EDO as the Chair of their Advisory Board. Rothenberg will advise the company as it expands its Convergent TV advertising measurement platform.

Marc Bourbonnais has been promoted to COO of Canada’s Digital Dimension Entertainment Group. He was formerly Head of Production.

The Royal Television Society has appointed Yasmina Hadded as Director of Business Affairs at Netflix and Sinéad Rocks, Managing Director, Nations & Regions at Channel 4 to its Board of Trustees.

Bavaria Fiction is reorganizing its top management. Starting this fall, Marcus Ammon will join the company as Managing Director Content, and Managing Director Jan S. Kaiser will be responsible for production and finance. Manfred Haus-Pflüger will exit at the end of the financial year.

WarnerMedia has appointed Melissa Lim as the new head of content acquisitions and co-productions for its kids networks in Asia Pacific, which include POGO, Cartoon Network and Boomerang. Lim’s previous roles include stints at MTV Asia and StarHub.

Lori Mozilo and Kim Berglund have been elevated to VP, Original Programming, Disney Junior. Mozilo and Berglund will continue to be part of the creative team focused on providing developmental value for kids ages 2-5.

Lifetime promoted Tia Maggini to SVP, Scripted Programming. She was previously VP.

National CineMedia announced that President Clifford (Cliff) E. Marks is retiring as of July 1. He will continue working with NCM on major new initiatives, corporate development, and affiliate partnerships as a consultant in a multi-year agreement through his new strategic media and marketing company, CMarksCo.

Emily Barfuss has been named CMO of Tremor International. Most recently, Barfuss built marketing and brand strategies at grace+grit, a marketing consulting firm she founded.

Rachelle Savoia has joined Fandom in the newly created role of VP of Communications. Savoia previously served as VP of Communications at WarnerMedia.

Tastemade tapped Rubi Chavez to serve as its first Head of Marketing. Most recently, Chavez was VP of Marketing at Entertainment One.

Popsugar announced Angelica Marden as President, replacing founder Lisa Sugar. In her new role, Marden will run all business operations for the women’s lifestyle site. Sugar will remain part of the Group Nine leadership team.

IN MEMORIAM

Character actor Ernie Lively died June 2 of cardiac complications. He was 74. Lively’s numerous TV credits include roles on “Hill Street Blues,” “Falcon Crest,” and “Newhart,” among many others, in addition to playing the father of his real-life daughter, Blake Lively, in “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” films.

Listen in on Wednesday, June 16 at 1:55pm ET as Kochava’s VP of Sales, Trevor Hamilton, presents!

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Friday Fun Fact
Cats, camels and giraffes are the only animals to walk by moving their right feet, then their left feet.

Answer to Our Last Trivia Question
What short-lived series was billed as young adult version of “American Bandstand”? “Dick Clark’s Nitetime” (1985-86). Kudos to: Louis Lewow-FITE/Atlanta; Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA; Charles Lore/NYC; Paul Blutter-Walk and Talk Production Rentals/Burbank; David Westberg-SAG-AFTRA Credit Union/Burbank

Today’s Trivia Question
Who was host of syndicated show “Girl Talk” (1963-1969)? (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.)