IN THE NEWS

Could this be less of a surprise? Friends is the #1 show on HBO Max, reports WarnerMedia. More surprising is the #2 show – HBO Max Original anthology series Love Life, starring Anna Kendrick. In third place is The Big Bang Theory. The company said 70% more time is being spent on the streamer versus HBO Now, based on January 2020 HBO Now viewership. HBO Max users are also significantly younger than subscribers of traditional HBO, with 23% falling between the ages of 18-24.

Sony Pictures Television and Fox Television Stations are launching a four-week test of Game Show Network trivia show Common Knowledge. Starting August 3, the show will air on Fox stations in eight markets, including New York, LA, Chicago, Phoenix, Tampa, Orlando, Minneapolis and Austin.

Most Google employees will have the option to work from home until at least July 2021. “To give employees the ability to plan ahead, we’ll be extending our global voluntary work from home option through June 30, 2021 for roles that don’t need to be in the office,” wrote CEO Sundar Pichai in a memo to workers. “I hope this will offer the flexibility you need to balance work with taking care of yourselves and your loved ones over the next 12 months.” Previously, the company said most employees would work remotely through the end of the year.

The movie timeline for the 78th Annual Golden Globes has shifted due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced that films with release dates set through the show’s scheduled date of February 28 will be eligible for Golden Globes; that means the nomination processes for television and film categories will have different dates. After the submission deadline of November 30, the nomination period for TV categories will be from December 30 to January 12; the nomination period for film categories will be January 13-30. Films that were set for theatrical release but were released on streamers or on-demand because of the health crisis will be eligible for Globes. Nominations will be announced February 3.

Discovery and Science Channel are going live for the splashdown return of the NASA launch of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft on Sunday, August 2 at 1p. The event captures the first landing at sea for US astronauts since 1975.

Feeling lucky? Hallmark Channel has launched the Summer Nights Backyard Adventure Sweepstakes, presented by Edible. Open through August 30, the promotion offers daily prizes as well as a grand prize of $5000 and a summer bundle from Edible, along with sneak peeks from Hallmark’s Summer Nights programming event.

The next phase of BET’s #ReclaimYourVote effort includes the first-ever National Black Voter Day, recognized on September 18, 2020. The goal is to energize Black voters nationwide to take collective action toward civic engagement. The date coincides with the country’s first early voting day, in South Dakota and Minnesota.

Apple TV+ became the first streaming service to land Daytime Emmys in its first year of eligibility, with wins for Ghostwriter and Peanuts in Space: Secrets of Apollo 10. “We could not be more thrilled and proud to have our children’s programs honored by the Daytime Emmy Awards,” said Tara Sorensen, Apple’s Head of Children’s Programs. “These awards are a true testament to the hard work, creative vision and undeniable talents of everyone involved, and tremendous fan response from kids and families around the world.” Also taking home a trophy her during her show’s first time at bat was Tamron Hall, for Best Talk Show Host (Informative). Amazon Prime Video, HBO and Netflix were the biggest winners, with 6 awards each. For a complete list, go here.

Registration is now open for the Virtual Cynopsis Top Women in Media Awards (Oct 13 – 16). Join us as we spotlight the outstanding contributions by women in every facet of the media industry. From mobile to marketing, social media to social good, and data to distribution, we’re shining a light on the best of the best in TV, digital/tech, esports, sports and advertising. Click here to view these incredible honorees and register your team today.

Netflix prequel The Witcher: Blood Origin, set 1200 years before The Witcher, will shoot in the UK, with Declan de Barra as executive producer and showrunner. “A question has been burning in my mind ever since I first read The Witcher books – What was the Elven world really like before the cataclysmic arrival of the humans?,” said de Barra. “I’ve always been fascinated by the rise and fall of civilizations, how science, discovery, and culture flourish right before that fall.” The Witcher drew 76 million views globally in its first four weeks.

Showtime is developing a mob drama from Brian Grazer, Terence Winter and Nicholas Pileggi. Imagine Studios is producing, with Grazer and Samie Kim Falvey executive producing for Imagine; Winter and Pileggi are also exec producing.

Starz greenlit a second season for P-Valley, from creator and showrunner Katori Hall, after setting a new record on the Starz App for most-viewed series premiere, 17% above the previous high. Viewership on the app has grown by 37% from episodes 101 to 103 and to date, the series ranks #1 among 2020’s new premium series with African American viewers (L+3, P2+ 262,000) and is in the Top 5 of all premium series among African American households.

Adam McKay is developing a limited series based on the upcoming book by Brendan Borell, The First Shot, about the global race for a COVID-19 vaccine. McKay, Todd Schulman and Borrell are set to exec produce the project, from McKay’s Hyperobject Industries.

MotorTrend App gave a greenlight to season two of Faster With Finnegan, offering help for weekend mechanics on a budget. The show is slated to return in 1Q21.

ADVERTISING

Digital advertising will account for 51% of global ad spend in 2020, up from 49.5% forecast in December, projects Zenith. “The coronavirus forced brands to embrace digital advertising even faster than expected and made digital transformation of businesses more urgent than ever,” said Jonathan Barnard, Zenith’s head of forecasting. “This year will be the first in which digital advertising will attract more than half of total global adspend, a milestone we previously expected in 2021.” By 2022, spend on digital will come close to 55%, projects Zenith.

NEW AND RETURNING SERIES

Star Trek: Discovery’s third season is prepared to launch Thursday, October 15. The U.S.S. Discovery crew will land in an unknown future, and work to restore the Federation with the help of some new friends.

2017 World’s Strongest Man winner Eddie “The Beast” Hall hits gourmet hotspots across the country in Cooking Channel’s Eddie Eats America, making its debut Tuesday, August 11 at 10p.

British import Taskmaster debuts on The CW on Sunday, August 2 at 9p. The show features five contestants asked to carry out comedic and bizarre tasks.

The Drew Barrymore Show, a nationally syndicated daytime show making its broadcast premiere on Monday, September 14, has a lineup of digital series including docu-series The Making of The Drew Barrymore Show. “I have been on this show journey for a year. We started in 2019, it is now 2020, a very different year,” said Barrymore. “And what that year-long journey has been … I’m really looking forward to telling you that, in a storytelling way.”

Oprah Winfrey will interview newsmakers and thought leaders on Apple TV+ series The Oprah Conversation, filmed remotely and premiering Thursday, July 30. The guest on the first episode, “How to Be an Antiracist,” is bestselling author Professor Ibram X. Kendi. Also coming up on the streamer are Oprah Talks COVID-19 and Oprah’s Book Club.

Freeform’s two-night romantic comedy Love in the Time of Corona, shot remotely in the cast’s homes, premieres on Freeform Saturday and Sunday, August 22 and 23 at 8p.

We Are Who We Are, following two American kids who live on a US military base in Italy, debuts Monday, September 14 on HBO and HBO Max.

Season 7 of Endeavour on Masterpiece kicks off Sunday, August 9 at 9p on PBS. Shaun Evans and Roger Allam return for crime-solving in Oxford.

Lifetime has new episodes of Supernanny on deck, starting with two set to air back-to-back on Tuesday, September 1 at 8p.

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A series based on Nippon TV game show format Sokkuri Sweets was ordered by Quibi. Eye Candy, from Main Event Media and exec produced by Chrissy Teigen via her Suit & Thai Productions, has teams attempting to identify edible creations designed to look like ordinary objects.

TECH TALK

The NBCUniversal Owned Television division inked a multi-year deal with Comcast’s FreeWheel to help advertisers access and transact with NBC Spot On’s premium inventory through the Strata platform. NBC Spot On is the owned stations group advanced video advertising business designed for local/regional CTV and OTT. “Owned station inventory has never been more attractive to buyers as viewers turn to their local broadcast stations to find out what is happening, day by day, in their communities,” said Mark McKee, CRO of FreeWheel. FreeWheel’s OTT/CTV advertisers can get access to NBC Spot On’s fully owned or directly purchased, long form, premium inventory to activate campaigns across all US DMAs and NBCUniversal’s Regional Sports Network group.

A full quarter under COVID-19 “stay-at-home” measures has resulted in significant smartphone sales volume decline, accordimg to Kantar. Smartphone purchasing shifted to online in most reported markets, accounting for nearly two-thirds of sales in the latest quarter (up by at least 11% points in EU5, USA and Japan versus last year). iPhone and Xiaomi shares grew, while Huawei continued its decline; since Google announced it was pulling Huawei’s Android license, Huawei sales have been diminishing across Europe, Australia and Japan. “The desire for lower cost smartphones is a trend we have been monitoring closely for a while; from the category disruption caused by Huawei, the rise of Chinese brands, Samsung A series relaunch and now to the launch of iPhone SE,” said Jennifer Chan, Insight Director for Kantar. “The emphasis on high quality smartphones, at a fraction of flagship prices, couldn’t be more relevant at a time when many consumers are feeling financial pressures as a result of COVID-19.”

COVID-19 has had a significant impact on the CTV industry – in March alone, the video streaming industry grew by 20% globally, according to Conviva, and the average number of SVOD transactions spiked to over 53% versus the same period in 2019. Daniel Elad, Chief Strategy Officer of TheViewpoint, offers 7 tips for making the most of CTV advertising in a post-COVID world, in Cynsiders.

COMING UP

PaleyFest LA will be held virtually for the first time, on the Paley Center’s YouTube channel, with Citi serving as the official sponsor. Starting on Friday, August 7, programs will be available for view to Citi cardmembers and Paley Members, and Monday, August 10 to the public.

Seeing America with Megan Rapinoe, hosted by the soccer star, airs Saturday, August 1 at 10p on HBO. Joining her for conversation will be House of Representatives member Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones, who covers racial injustice for theNew York Times, and comedian and television host Hasan Minhaj.

Biography: The Nine Lives of Ozzy Osbourne traces the musician’s life from a childhood in poverty, to prison time, to fronting Black Sabbath, to reality TV stardom, in The special premieres on A&E Monday, September 7 at 9p.

“Against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic and civil upheaval, we felt it was necessary to create a new vehicle that would provide additional information and insights beyond our daily newsletters and events,” says Cynopsis Publisher Robbie Caploe. “Our membership program is designed to put proprietary, actionable intel at the fingertips of our community, to help them think and plan clearly in what is an unprecedented time in the media space, and all over the globe.” Click here to learn more and become a Cynopsis member.

STREAMING SCOOP

BritBox has plans to launch in 25 countries across Europe, Asia, the Middle East, South America and Africa. “BritBox has very quickly found a place in viewers’ hearts and we know there is further appetite amongst international audiences who love great British content,” said BBC Studios’ Tim Davie of the streamer, a joint venture between BBC Studios and ITV.

Spotify and Mark and Jay Duplass (Room 104, Togetherness) have signed a development deal to create exclusive original programming for Spotify, via their Duplass Brothers Productions banner. The brothers plan to produce both scripted and unscripted podcast series. “We are incredibly excited to partner with Spotify for our first foray into podcasting,” said Mark and Jay Duplass. “Also terrified because making a truly engaging narrative podcast seems really, really difficult.”

Genius Brands International announced its first iOS launch for Kartoon Channel!, with the debut of an all-new dedicated app, available free on Apple iOS. The digital channel launched across multiple AVOD and OTT platforms on June 15.

Gaming company Omnia Media is launching Omnia Kids Gaming, a new division dedicated to producing and distributing gaming content for kids aged 6-13 to OTT and streaming services. Its first distribution deal is with children’s streaming entertainment service Kidoodle; streaming starts next month.

GOING GLOBAL

AMC Networks International Luxembourg’s POST Luxembourg announced the launch of four new entertainment channels on PostTV. CBS Reality, Extreme Sports Channel, KinoweltTV and Outdoor Channel are now part of Entertain Me!, PostTV’s à la-carte package.

Armoza Formats dance makeover format, The Moves, and CGI-based interactive studio game show, Beat the Grid, have been taken in India by Frames Production Company.

Elephant will produce Rebecca, a French adaptation of the international thriller Marcella, for TF1 in a deal with Cineflix Rights, which also sees the distributor taking exclusive worldwide rights.

Broadcaster RTL and Vincent TV are teaming for a Dutch version of RuPaul’s Drag Race. Drag Race Holland, produced by Vincent TV Production and executive produced by World of Wonder, will bow later this year.

Documentary Hiroshima and Nagasaki: 75 Years Later, co-produced by A+E Networks International, HISTORY U.S. and Hulu Japan, will premiere on Hulu Japan and on HISTORY in the US on Sunday, August 2; and on HISTORY Japan on August 30.

In addition to award finalists (

see who made the cut), we’ll spotlight this year’s Luminary Award Honorees being recognized for their stand out work in improving the space while executing successful campaigns + initiatives during a time when the sports industry has been turned on its head.

[Sponsored By] Twitch
[Supporters] WWE, BLOK Sports, SiriusXM, NBCSports, Showtime

Over 3.2 million Total viewers P2+ tuned in during the season finale of Tyler Perry’s The Oval (Live+3 simulcast across BET and BET Her), with 2.9 Million Total viewers tuning in to BET alone. The final two episodes of the series also logged double-digit Live+3 ratings lift versus their Live+SD numbers, +52%.

The premiere of CBS’s The Greatest #AtHome Videos delivered the most viewers Friday night, with 3.49 million.

Shareablee Top 10 TV Shows for the week of July 20
Program, Network, Total Actions, Total Content, Actions per Content, Fans & Followers
E! News (E!) 16M, 600, 26,696, 37.7M
The Daily Show (Comedy Central) 4.2M, 145, 28,707, 25.2M
Sean Hannity (Fox News) 3.8M, 299, 12,855, 9.4M
Today Show (NBC) 2.2M, 871, 2,552, 13.7M
Entertainment Tonight (CBSTD/syndicated) 1.9M, 543, 3,507, 9M
The Rachel Maddow Show (MSNBC) 1.7M, 83, 20,004, 12.8M
MLB on FOX (FOX) 1.2M, 302, 3,910, 1.9M
Good Morning America (ABC) 1.1M, 935, 1,228, 14M
Fox & Friends (Fox News) 1.1M, 108, 10,021, 4.8M
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (CBS) 848.9K, 141, 6,021, 4.3M

Shareablee Top 10 Streaming Shows for the week of July 20
Program, Platform, Total Actions, Total Content, Actions per Content, Fans & Followers
Umbrella Academy (Netflix) 2.3M, 47, 49,677, 2.2M
Cursed (Netflix) 493K, 71, 6,937, 133K
Netflix Is A Joke (Youtube) 358K, 54, 6,629, 1.9M
Lucifer (Netflix) 276.7K, 3, 92,243, 5.6M
Black Clover (Funimation) 257.4K, 16, 16,085, 608.2K
One Piece (Funimation) 251K, 11, 22,810, 2.9M
Elite (Netflix) 249.4K, 1, 249.4K, 1.2M
Queer Eye (Netflix) 181.7K, 6, 30,288, 2.9M
The Boys (Netflix) 150.7K, 18, 8,373, 547.3K
Gilmore Girls (Netflix) 141.8K, 2, 70,891, 4.3M

TV Time’s Shows on the Rise for the Week of July 20
How to Sell Drugs Online Fast (Netflix) – 95.5%
Ashley Garcia: Genius in Love (Netflix) – 92%
Norsemen (NRK1) – 86.1%
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO) – 80%
The Alienist (TNT) – 78.2%
Indian Matchmaking (Netflix) – 71.1%
Kissing Game (Netflix) – 48.6%
Skin Decision: Before and After (Netflix) – 43%
Cursed (Netflix) – 41%
Absentia (AXN) – 33.2%
Methodology: Every week, millions of viewers around the world use TV Time to track their favorite series. “Shows on the Rise” is calculated by determining the week-over-week growth in episodes watched for a given program.

Broadcast Nielsen Ratings for Friday, July 24
Show, P2+ 0000s, (A18-49)
ABC: Shark Tank 2.58 (0.3), 20/20 2.63 (0.4)
CBS: The Greatest #AtHome Videos 3.49 (0.4), Magnum P.I. 3.19 (0.3), Blue Bloods 3.31 (0.3)
CW: Masters of Illusion 0.62 (0.1), Masters of Illusion 0.50 (0.1), Whose Line Is It Anyway 0.54 (0.0), Whose Line Is It Anyway 0.60 (0.1)
FOX: WWE Friday Night Smackdown 1.92 (0.5)
NBC: The Wall 2.04 (0.3), Dateline Classic 2.83 (0.4)
Telemundo: Exatlon Estados Unidos 0.88 (0.2), Cennet 1.0 (0.2), Enemigo Intimo 0.62 (0.2)
Univision: Te Doy la Vida 1.76 (0.5), Medicos Linea di Vida 1.45 (0.4), Como Tu No Hay 1.63 (0.5)
Source: Nielsen live + same day time period averages

EXECUTIVE MOVES

Data platform Blockgraph named Aleck Schleider as Chief Revenue Officer. Most recently, Schleider was SVP of Client and Data Strategy at Amobee.

VICE Media Group has appointed Bea Hegedus as SVP, Global Head of Distribution. Hegedus was previously VP of Global Scripted Content at ITV Studios.

IN MEMORIAM

Actress Royana Black died of acute myeloid leukemia. She was 47. Black, who starred in 1988 sitom Raising Miranda, also made guest appearances on shows including The Cosby Show, Medium and Touched by an Angel.

Answer to Our Last Trivia Question
Which presidential campaign produced the first nationally televised debate? While many believe 1960’s debate between Kennedy and Nixon was the first, it was actually in 1956, when surrogates represented the candidates; Former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt for Democrat Adlai Stevenson, and Senator Margaret Chase Smith for incumbent Republican president Dwight Eisenhower. Kudos to: Gerry Bixenspan-TV Marketing Inc./NYC, Susan Nessanbaum-Goldberg-M and S Entertainment/LA

Today’s Trivia Question
Aside from Full House (1987-1995), which sitcom, launched in the 1980s, focused on a family with the last name Tanner? (Email [email protected] with your answer and be sure to include your name, company, city and time zone. Unofficial rules: a limit of four.)