| Good morning, this is your first early-morning briefing.
Tonight’s Premieres:
CW: Two Sentence Horror Stories at 9p
Dropouts: Gods of Food
Netflix: Dollar, The Naked Director, Wu Assassins
Science: Contact: Alien Mysteries at 9p
TBS and TNT: Chasing the Cure at 9p
WE tv: Beyond the Pole at 10p
Tonight’s Finale:
Science: What on Earth? at 10p
IN THE NEWS
This year’s prime time Emmys will not have a host. The decision – which follows a well-received host-less Oscars, after Kevin Hart pulled out – gives more airtime to celebrate series, noted Fox Entertainment CEO Charlie Collier, who announced the decision at the TCA summer press tour. “If you have a host and an opening, that’s 15 or 20 minutes you can’t have to salute the shows,” Collier said. The Emmys also went host-less in 2003 (Fox), 1998 (NBC) and 1975 (CBS).
Fox’s Sunday Animation Domination programming block returns this fall, with season 31 of The Simpsons at 8p, newcomer Bless the Harts at 8:30p, season 10 of Bob’s Burgers at 9p and season 17 Family Guy at 9:30p. The animation block first ran on the net from 2005-2014.
In more TCA news, Empire may be entering its sixth and final season, but the hip hop drama could continue via a spin-off. “We’re in the Lee Daniels and Danny Strong business – if there is more story to tell we want to hear it,” said Charlie Collier…The Beverly Hills, 90210 reboot could last longer than the planned six episodes, if the BH90210 cast has anything to say about it. “We would love to continue to work together,” said Tori Spelling. “It’s been such an amazing experience.”… Collier made the case that working in the traditional broadcast model could be a real competitive advantage when it comes to attracting the best and brightest, explaining, “At a time when the industry’s-undergoing significant change … we at Fox Entertainment still believe in creating and sharing-with-our-talent the holy grail of television – the backend.”
Fox revival Paradise Hotel, launched in May, will not make it to season two. Kristin Cavallari hosted the romance reality TV reboot, which originally aired on Fox in 2003.
BAFTA will continue to allow streaming services to compete for film awards, despite discontent from some exhibitors after Netflix’s Roma nabbed awards in February. But though the rules won’t change, the British academy said it will make sure films have an acceptable release. BAFTA also announced casting awards for film and TV.
Judgment welcomed: Entries are closing soon for the Cynopsis Digital Awards, the industry’s top honor for innovations in digital media. We’re sourcing new judges to join our expert panel – if you’re interested, please fill out this brief survey by tomorrow night. You’ll receive recognition in our various winner announcements and in the program guide at the awards event in November.
The Walt Disney Co. finished upfront deals with CPM gains in double digits for broadcast and low double digits for cable and sports. More than half of Oscars inventory has been sold. This was Disney’s first upfront season that included its new Fox assets.
Fox Corp. topped analyst estimates in its first quarter on its own, helped by affiliate growth of 7% driven by an 18% increase in its TV unit. “The strategic rationale for the formation of Fox Corporation, with our unique set of assets, is underscored by our strong Fiscal 2019 operational and financial results,” said CEO Lachlan Murdoch. “We are strongly positioned as we enter our first full fiscal year.”
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DID YOU HEAR?
That Big TV Conference has a cocktail hour… but we need your help!
Four specialty cocktails – Blueberry Moscow Mule, Blueberry Margarita, Lavender Lemonade, and French75 with Chambord – are in the running to become the featured drink, “ The Gamut .” Vote for your favorite by 8/ 16!
Cocktail Hour Sponsor: Gamut
Conference Sponsors: Gamut – Sinclair – NY Interconnect – FriendMTS – iSpot.tv – ListenFirst Media – NCC Media – TV Time – Tubi – a4 – Simpli.fi – TVsquared
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PRODUCTION & DEVELOPMENT
Going natural: Comcast’s Sky acquired at 24.9% stake in UK natural history producer True to Nature (Gangs of Lemur Island). “The content coming out of True to Nature has blown us away,” said Gary Davey, CEO, Sky Studios. “Viewers have never been more interested in the natural world than they are today.”
Showtime Documentary Films announced The Kingmaker, from director Lauren Greenfield (The Queen of Versailles), will debut at the Venice Film Festival this month. Doc centered on former first lady of the Philippines Imelda Marcos will have a theatrical release this fall, followed by its TV premiere on Showtime in early 2020.
Jeff Davis (Criminal Minds) signed an exclusive overall deal with Fox to develop scripted dramas. The company’s first direct overall deal “underscores our commitment to being in business with the industry’s best creators – and offering them flexibility and backend, both rare commodities in today’s marketplace,” said Michael Thorn, President, Entertainment, Fox Entertainment.
Phill Lewis (Happy Together) will direct the first episodes of Netflix’s The Big Show Show. Family comedy stars WWE superstar The Big Show (aka Paul Wight).
NEW & RETURNING SERIES
Jay Leno’s Garage launches season five on Wednesday, August 18 at 10p. Guests for this spin around the block include John Travolta, Matt Damon, Martha Stewart, Billy Joel, Kevin Hart and Charlie Sheen, to name a few.
Bananya, centered on a kitty who lives in a banana, will be back for a second season on Crunchyroll. Crunchyroll has partnered with Bioworld to create a new slate of products tied the anime series.
OWN and OZY Media are teaming for new series OWN Spotlight: Black Women OWN the Conversation, premiering Saturday, August 24 at 10p. Series features conversations hosted by Carlos Watson with panelists and 100 Black women across four episodes focusing on “love and relationships, motherhood, beauty, and mind, body and soul.”
TECH TALK
Comcast Spotlight announced the launch of an attribution solution aimed at bringing greater accountability to local TV advertising. Instant IMPACT, launched in partnership with TVSquared, allows local cable TV advertisers to measure lower-funnel activity. “As we move toward a more data-driven, audience-based approach to TV buying, connecting the purchase funnel has become an increasingly important priority for advertisers,” said Andrea Zapata, VP, Research and Insights, Comcast Spotlight. “At the local level, however, measuring lower funnel activity has always been a challenge due to much lower sample sizes compared to national campaigns. Instant IMPACT allows us to move past this hurdle and helps bridge the gap between TV exposure and business outcomes.”
Altice USA unveiled Altice Amplify, a high fidelity home speaker. The sound system features Devialet’s sound technologies, and includes Amazon Alexa Built-In for voice control of smart devices, music playback, simplifying the connected home while delivering better sound. Altice Amplify is compatible with all TV systems and offers hands-free voice control of the Altice One entertainment and connectivity platform. “Altice Amplify brings audio back to the forefront of consumers’ living rooms, taking entertainment to new auditory heights with unparalleled sound while providing simple and seamless control of the connected home,” said Hakim Boubazine, Co-President and Chief Operating Officer, Altice USA.
Comscore announced that social media analytics solution ListenFirst will provide measurement for Comscore’s Branded Content service. “In today’s advertising landscape, brand integrations and sponsorships are taking a larger and larger part of the media budget. We’re seeing strong demand for ever-more-sophisticated performance measurement, regardless of content type or platform. Social has become an integral part of these content campaigns and clients are demanding consistent, holistic measurement across all aspects of the integration or sponsorship,” said Gary Warech, SVP, Comscore Branded Content. “By partnering with ListenFirst, Comscore provides advertisers with a complete view of a brand’s involvement within content across TV, Digital and Social.”
Google Ad Manager and AdMob now support app-ads.txt, an extension of IABTech Lab’s ads.txt, aimed at preventing fraud for app publishers. Starting August 27, Google said Ad Manager and AdBlock will block ad serving of unauthorized in-app inventory for publishers with app-ads.txt files implemented.
Verance Corporation, a provider of standards-based watermarking, announced plans to add support for Project OAR (“Open Addressable Ready”) to its Aspect platform. Project OAR is a multi-industry consortium that was created to establish open standards to deliver better advertising experiences to viewers through the use of dynamic advertising on internet-connected TVs and devices. The support for Project OAR extends Aspect’s existing support for ATSC watermarking standards.
Odaseva, the cloud data protection, compliance and operations platform for enterprises running Salesforce as a business-critical application, announced the availability of its Full Sandbox Anonymization application. The new data app allows Odaseva users to anonymize all personal data in Salesforce Sandbox environments with one click. “Any company that is safeguarding private customer data in Salesforce Production but fails to anonymize their Salesforce Sandbox data is pretty much locking the door but leaving the window open,” said Sovan Bin, CEO and founder of Odaseva. “Even though the data has not gone into production and might still be residing in the test environment, personal data can still be accessed by unauthorized technical or personnel teams.”
STREAMING
Forty-seven percent of all homes in the UK subscribe to at least one SVOD service, reports Ofcom, up from39% last year. In 1Q19, Netflix accounted for 11.5 million subscriptions, followed by 6 million for Amazon and 1.6 million for Now TV. Most-watched show: Friends.
Disney is developing reboots of films from its newly acquired 20th Century Fox film library, but not all are headed for the big screen. Disney CEO Bob Iger said streaming service Disney+, slated to launch November 12, might be the beneficiary of some franchise faves.
COMING UP
Taylor Swift will perform at the MTV Music Video Awards, airing August 26. The “You Need to Calm Down” singer is tied with Ariana Grande for the most VMA noms, at 10. Swift last performed at the awards event in 2015.
Antenna TV is marking the 40th anniversary of Archie Bunker’s Place with a marathon of 40 episodes starting Monday, September 2 at 7a. Sitcom airs regularly weeknights at 7p.
CASTING
Li Jun Li (The Exorcist) will recur on CBS All Access’ Why Women Kill…Emily Swallow (The Mentalist) landed a recurring role on season three of CBS’s SEAL Team…Julio Macias was upped from recurring to series regular for season three of Netflix’s On My Block.
PODCAST POSTS
Celebrity podcasting network PodcastOne is launching a free hosting platform, Launchpad Digital Media, for podcasters. “We will see which podcasts are performing well and offer them the opportunity to partner and grow with PodcastOne, and provide them with all the resources the network offers, including production, talent booking, promotion, a dedicated sales team and more,” said PodcastOne chief executive, Peter Morris. “We are embracing the over 700,000 podcasts out there, and are here to support the long-term growth of independent podcasters.”
Radio company Entercom acquired podcast studio Pineapple Street Media and podcast network Cadence13. Entercom paid for a 45% investment and strategic stake in Cadence13 in 2017.
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IT’S DEADLINE DAY
THE CYNOPSIS DIGITAL AWARDS
As an advocate for digital communications, we’re delighted to recognize and celebrate media’s trailblazers for the seventh year running. Make sure you lead the pack by entering the 7th Annual Cynopsis Digital Model D Awards (for campaigns, content & tech) and the Digital “It List” (for individuals).
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RATINGS
NBC’s America’s Got Talent and Bring the Funny rose from season lows last week to 9.53 million viewers (+1.6 million) and 1.4 among (+0.2) A18-49 for AGT, and 4.5 million viewers (+1.0 million) and 0.9 (up 0.2) for Funny.
UPtv launched Reba with a programming stunt over the weekend that reached over 2.4 million P2+ over 38 telecasts before settling into its regular timeslot. Sitcom airs weeknights at 7p.
The premiere of Disney Channel’s Descendants 3 was cable TV’s highest-rated telecast in over two years among Kids 6-11, Tweens 9-14, Girls 6-11 and Girls 9-14, according to L+3 data. 8.43 million Total Viewers (2+) watched the movie, making it the #1 telecast of the day across all television. It grew 84% from DVR viewing over three days (L+SD to L+3).
TVision Top Shows for Ad Viewability, P2+, Live+SD, July 2019
Broadcast – Primetime
The InBetween, NBC, 85.1% Ad Viewability
Reef Break, ABC, 82.3%
Songland, NBC, 82.1%
So You Think You Can Dance?, FOX, 81.9%
The Code, CBS, 80.8%
Cable – Primetime
Chrisley Knows Best, USA Network, 96.0%
Hidden Potential, HGTV, 93.6%
Deadliest Catch, Discovery Channel, 87.4%
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, BRAVO, 85.8%
Supersize My Pool, HGTV, 85.1%
These are the shows where ads averaged the best viewability in July. Viewability is defined as opportunity to view – someone was in the room.
Live + Same Day Viewers AA (millions): Tuesday July 30 time period averages
Source: Nielsen Live+SD
NBC: 6.93 million
America’s Got Talent 9.65, Bring the Funny 4.21
CBS: 2.50 million
Love Island 1.95, NCIS 2.82, Blood & Treasure 2.72
ABC: 2.16 million
Bachelor in Paradise 3.56, Bless This Mess 1.50, black-ish 1.37
FOX: 1.50 million
Spin the Wheel 1.60, First Responders Live 1.41
TELEMUNDO: 1.16 million
Un Poquito Tuyo 0.81 , Betty en NY 1.55, Preso No. 1 1.11
UNIVISION: 1.16 million
La Reina Soy Yo 1.26, Rosa de Guadelupe 1.19, Sin Miedo a La Verdad 1.02
CW: 0.57 million
Pandora 0.56, The 100 0.59
Tuesday A18-49 Ratings
NBC 1.2/6, ABC 0.6/3, FOX 0.4/2, TELE 0.4/2, UNI 0.4/2, CBS 0.3/2, CW 0.2/1
EXECUTIVE MOVES
Fox Entertainment named Amy Carney as Chief Operating Officer. Carney stepped down as President, Advertising Sales & Research at Sony Pictures Television last year.
Showtime promoted Brendan Countee to Senior Vice President, Original Programming. He had been VP.
Tinopolis USA and A. Smith & Co. Productions added to their executive leadership teams. Caroline Baumgard will join A. Smith & Co. Productions as CEO in October 2019, while founder Arthur Smith will become Chairman of A. Smith and continue to executive produce several of A. Smith’s franchises while also focusing on his duties as Chairman of Tinopolis USA. Frank Sinton, a 14- year veteran of A. Smith & Co., has been named Chief Operating Officer, Tinopolis USA, after having served in the same role at A. Smith & Co. Productions since 2011. Sinton also retains his role as President of A. Smith & Co.’s Dox division.
Tony Calfo has joined ScreenEngine/ASI as Senior Vice President, TV News Group. Prior to joining ScreenEngine/ASI, Calfo served as Executive Vice President at Simple Opinions.
Ready for your next career move? To see all the opportunities from the past few weeks, visit the Cynopsis Jobs Site today.
This Day in History
1974 – President Nixon announced he would resign the next day.
Answer to our last trivia question
Who was the original owner of the Peach Pit on Beverly Hills 90210 (1990-2000)? Salvatoria Bussichio, Nat’s father. Kudos to: Phyllis McQuillan-MSG Networks/NYC, Evan Williams-Roger Wilco Productions/New Canaan, CT, Corey Lambert-Showtime Networks/NYC, Lisa Nordstrom-FitzCo-Compass Point/Minneapolis, Lori Ingram-Discovery/Knoxville, TN, Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA, David Westberg-SAG-AFTRA Credit Union/Burbank, Synda Kollman-Charter Marketing Group/Boca Raton, FL, Susan Nessanbaum-Goldberg-M and S Entertainment/LA
Today’s Trivia Question
Janusz Liberkowski was the winner of the first season of which reality TV show? (Email [email protected] with your answer and be sure to include your name, company, city and time zone. Unofficial rules: A limit of four correct answers from each time zone will be selected.).
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ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE >>
Trifecta Entertainment
NYC
Dynamic individual to focus on developing new and growing business among major agencies via strong relationships and superior client service. 5+ yrs sales exp w/syndication, national cable, broadcast ad sales or media buying background req’d.
Full info HERE
CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER >>
PointsBet/Denver: Exceptional candidate with broad, hands-on operational skills to lead our US company through our next stage of growth. Min 10+ yrs of operational exp; proven operational success in gaming, sports or technology sectors a +. Strong written/comm skills. Full info HERE (8/22)
DIRECTOR, OTT ADVERTISING STRATEGY >>
NBCU/NYC: Work w/Business Operations & Strategy group & impact new rev generation across the NBCU portfolio by identifying growth opps; 8 yrs work exp; this could incl professional services (e.g., consulting, investment banking) or media exp at a large network/publisher/agency. Full info HERE (8/22)
SR ANALYST, AD SALES STRATEGY >>
NBCU/NYC: Design/execute strategic sales initiatives in the NBCU Digital Partnerships team along w/the wider Ad Sales org. Min 2 yrs exp @ either a leading investment bank, mngmnt consulting firm or in strategy/finance role at a major TMT corp. Full info HERE (8/22)
ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE >>
Trifecta Entertainment/NYC: Dynamic individual to focus on developing new and growing business among major agencies via strong relationships and superior client service. 5+ yrs sales exp w/syndication, national cable, broadcast ad sales or media buying background req’d. Full info HERE (8/21)
PRODUCER/SHOOTER/EDITOR >> Overtime/NYC: Applicants should have a min of 2 yrs filming doc and/or reality content. Exp functioning as a one-person-band is mandatory since it will be a standard part of the job. Full info HERE (8/21)
CONSUMER INSIGHTS MGR >>
Gamut – Cox Media/NYC: Lead data-driven rsrch projects that align w/sales objectives & client needs. Thru analysis of mult rsrch sources, he/she will support the media ad sales team to consult clients on their ad strategies. 6-9 yrs of exp in a rsrch or insights role at a media agency. Full info HERE (8/20)
MEDIA INSIGHTS ANALYST >>
Gamut – Cox Media/NYC: Perform data runs & analysis through the use of multiple rsrch sources to support the media ad sales team & consult clients on their media plans. 1+ yr exp in a rsrch or insights role at a media agency, brdcst/dig co., or media rep firm. Full info HERE (8/20)
MGR, AD SALES MARKETING >>
Gamut – Cox Media/NYC: Lead planning/execution of multi-channel mktg strategies designed to drive ad sales revenue for the co. Must possess a demonstrated ability to comm & collaborate with all levels of the org; 5+ yrs of exp in Ad Sales Marketing at a Media, Brdcst or Ent co. pref’d Full info HERE (8/20)
DIGITAL ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE >>
AMI Entertainment Group/NYC: Secure digital advertising from a diverse list of Entertainment, CPG, Beauty, Fashion and misc. Strong knwldg NY based digital advertising mkt. 2+yrs of exp selling online advertising; recent online sales req’d. Full info/apply HERE (8/20)
DIRECTOR, BUSINESS STRATEGY >>
FX/LA: Work cross-functionally w/FX leadership team, while also being resp for creating models, performing analyses around talent term deals, orig prgrmng costs, back-end profit participations, ancillary rev streams, content windowing & AdHoc projects. 5+ yrs relevant exp. MBA req’d. Full info HERE (8/17)
BUSINESS ANALYST, INT’L & DIGITAL SOLUTIONS >>
A+E/NY: Analyze existing business processes & systems functionality; propose new or updated solutions to changing business needs; be an active member of Technology Team. 5+ yrs exp working w/applications & technology solutions that are vendor supported, strong analytical skills, project mgmt exp, detailed oriented, strong communication skills, exp w/HTML, CSS or WordPress preferred. Apply HERE (8/17)
Sales Planner, Direct Response >>
Hallmark/NYC: This position is responsible for providing sales and analytical support to the Direct Response sales team for Crown Media Family Networks: Hallmark Channel, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries, and Hallmark Drama. Must have a minimum of 1 years of industry-related experience. Apply HERE (8/16)
DIRECTOR of SALES, USA >>
NHNZ: Generate and maximize sales for NHNZ in the USA through proactive, business orientated, results driven client management. Self-starter with a clear creative vision and an understanding of all things TV. Full info HERE (8/15)
DIRECTOR, PRICING & PLANNING >>
Fuse Media/NYC: Play a critical role in the design, development, planning & execution of our comprehensive product & services pricing strategy. 10+ yrs ad sales exp w/strong understanding of pricing a variety of inventory, within the NY mktt (Nati’l Broadcast/Cable ntwrk) Full info HERE (8/15)
SALES ASSISTANT >>
REELZ/NY: Responsible for providing service to clients on a daily basis, maintaining sales orders and supporting Account Executives and the Management team. BA/BS & Wide Orbit experience preferred. Full info/apply HERE (8/15)
DIRECTOR OF TEAM SALES >>
Momentous/Remote: Responsible for building relationships with professional teams, colleges and universities, coaches, trainers and dietitians to sell our products on a long-term basis. 3+ yrs of team sales exp, preferably in food or supplements. Full info/apply HERE (8/15)
AD SALES ANALYST >>
Discovery Inc/NYC: seeking numbers whiz to learn & leverage rsrch resources to provide data-driven intel for ad sales/mkting initiatives on media rsrch team. Utilize data systems & translate info into digestible presentations. 1-2 yrs media exp. Full info HERE (8/15)
CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS COORDINATOR >>
BECK Media/Santa Monica CA: Seeking a team member with 2-4 years of corporate communications experience, strong writing chops, deep interest in the business of sports and sponsorship/ strategic partnership experience. For more information apply here (8/15)
MANAGER, AD SALES INSIGHTS, PRIMARY, TARGETING & ATTRIBUTION RESEARCH >>
Turner Sports/NYC: Run custom primary research projects for Turner Sports Ad Sales, including ad effectiveness, ROI studies, audience targeting and attribution, from design to final presentation of results to both internal and external clients. Full info/apply HERE (8/13)
MGR, CAMPAIGN REPORTING & ANALYSIS >>
Viacom/NYC: Resp for media campaign reporting, data aggregation & analysis for performance mktg initiatives. 3-5 yrs exp digital mktg & analytics role on either in-house/client side or at a media or dig. agency w/exp in programmatic & social measurement. Full info HERE (8/13)
MGR, MULTI-PLATFORM MEASURMENT & ANALYTICS >>
Viacom/NYC: Develop/produce regular & ad-hoc reporting, providing various corp stakeholders w/an understanding of how Viacom’s brand portfolio is consumed by distributor and platform.3-5 yrs of exp in TV /video audience research. Full info HERE (8/13)
DIGITAL STRATEGIST >>
Octagon/Stamford CT: Resp for developing and executing investment recommendations for our clients and generating social and digital first marketing campaigns and strategies tailored to specific business objectives. BA deg related field or min 3+ yrs exp in digital/social strategy. Full info HERE (8/12)
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER, MORNINGS WITH MARIA >>
Fox Business Network/NYC: Responsible for overseeing content for a three-hour morning cable television news program. 8+ years’ experience producing at a local station or News network, Full info HERE (8/12)
DIRECTOR, AD SALES >>
The Weather Channel and Entertainment Studios/Chicago: responsible for generating ad revenue for the Midwest and Detroit Region and achieving target goals. Serve as primary lead with Midwestern Region agency and client relationships. 10 yrs of relevant exp with demonstrated achievements. Full info HERE (8/12)
VP, BRAND MARKETING >>
POINTS BET/Jersey City NJ: Join a growing & fact-paced team in need of VP w/huge hunger & passion for sports knowledge to create, implement, and innovate impactful brand campaigns across advertising, content, PR & more. 7-10 years of consumer brand marketing, sports exp a huge + Full info HERE
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THURSDAY AUGUST 8
ABC: Holey Moley, Family Food Fight, Reef Break
CBS: Big Bang Theory, Young Sheldon, Big Brother, Elementary
CW: The Outpost, Two Sentence Horror Stories [p], Two Sentence Horror Stories
FOX: MasterChef, Spin the Wheel
NBC: The Wall, Hollywood Game Night, Law & Order: SVU
PBS: This Old House Hour, Grantchester on Masterpiece, Antiques Roadshow
Telemundo: Un Poquito Tuyo, Betty en NY, Preso No. 1
Univision: La Reina Soy Yo, Sin Miedo a La Verdad
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