A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE FROM GAMUT

Cynopsis Special Report:
GAMUT TAKES LOCAL ADVERTISING TO THE NEXT LEVEL
With Uber-Local Messaging More Important than Ever, Gamut Gets Personal

They say what’s old is new again. For the advertising industry, whose roots are in targeting audiences by postal code via direct mail, that adage rings true today. Streaming may be replacing stamps, but the core tenet remains the same: If you want to engage consumers and drive ROI, you need to reach specific audiences with specific messaging.

Read the Special Report

Today’s Premieres
A&E: Court Night Live at 9p
Disney+: Bluey, I Am Groot
Netflix: Indian Matchmaking, Instant Dream Home, Iron Chef Brazil, Locke & Key, School Tales: The Series
Smithsonian: Supersenses at 8p
Syfy: Resident Alien at 10p

Today’s Finales
FOX: So You Think You Can Dance at 9p
PBS: Expedition With Steve Backshall at 10p

IN THE NEWS

Kenan Thompson will host the 74th annual Emmys for NBC and the Television Academy. A six-time Emmy nominee, this will be Thompson’s first time helming the award show. The three-hour live telecast will air September 12 on NBC and will stream live on Peacock, for the first time.

First Lady Jill Biden will appear in Nat Geo’s “America’s National Parks” docuseries. Each night of the upcoming five-part series will kick off with a message from Biden on how each national park connects people to a piece of the American story, and on closing night she will highlight the parks and animals showcased throughout the season.

An incendiary device was thrown onto the Chicago set of “Justified: City Primeval.” The cast and crew took cover when the incident occurred but the device did not explode and no injuries were reported. Sony has since beefed up protection on the set by adding a security team trained in high-threat situations.

The UN formally raised “grave concerns” with Iran over treatment of BBC News journalists. The BBC filed a complaint earlier this year regarding BBC News Persian staffers, spotlighting the violence against journalists, gendered attacks facing women, increased financial pressure, and an ongoing asset freeze that operates as a “blunt financial sanction.” Four UN experts who examined the case said Iran was “showing a pattern and practice of employing these measures to hinder journalists from carrying out their work” and has requested a formal response from the Iranian government.

Telemundo kicked off its national soccer campaign to inspire Hispanic youth. NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises’ multi-city campaign, “El Campeón En Ti” (“The Champion In You”), builds on its commitment to inspire Hispanic youth to discover themselves through soccer, with a series of events in the months leading up to the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.

“Strange Adventures” series will not move forward at HBO Max. The DC Comics series was given a green light for development in 2019 but is the most recent project placed on the chopping block following the Warner Bros. Discovery merger.

2022 Esports Business Summit

EBS Partners with WESCO

EBS is thrilled to announce its partnership with World Esports Consortium (WESCO), a proud partner of this year’s summit. On Thursday, November 3rd, Daniel Cossi — President of WESCO — will be delivering a spotlight session on building global community, joined by Boban Totovski, General Secretary of ISEF. Join us for this three day program in Las Vegas on November 1st-3rd!

REGISTER NOW

PRODUCTION & DEVELOPMENT

Marlon Wayans’ comedy “Book of Marlon” moved to Starz. The comedy, inspired by Wayans’ life and career, was previously in development at HBO Max, where it was originally set up in 2020. The pilot was unofficially greenlit but never went to production and was eventually sold. Wayans is set to star, co-write and executive produce.

Apple TV+ ordered six-episode dramedy series “Land of Women.” Eva Longoria will star in and executive produce the series, directed by Iris Award winner Carlos Sedes. Shot in both English and Spanish, the plot centers on a NYC empty nester whose life is turned upside down as a result of financial improprieties, which force her to flee debt-collecting criminals.

IDW Entertainment put five series based on graphic novels and comics in development. With Ánima Studios, Cartoon Network Studios, HBO Max, Universal Content Productions, Universal International Studios and Warner Bros. Television, the projects are based on IDW Publishing and Top Shelf Productions. Titles include “Dark Spaces,” “The Delicacy,” “Rivers,” “Ballad for Sophie” and “Brutal Nature.”

STREAMING

Netflix inked a contract with SAG-AFTRA to join Legacy Studios’ bargaining unit. The new agreement is a follow-up to the 2019 contract that marked the first agreement between the actors union and the streaming studio; it will also be the last one made exclusively between the two sides. Netflix will join the unit run by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, after having signed with the organization last year.

“Love Island USA” was the most streamed unscripted original series on Peacock in its first three weeks. The record-breaking series received upfront a two-season order, with the next installment coming in 2023.

TECH TALK

Nielsen’s Gracenote ID distribution system will allow content sources to better manage and optimize distribution of program metadata. The new platform seeks to help maximize ROI on TV shows and movies by improving visibility and easing complexity around descriptive program metadata, image, and content identifiers.

Multicultural households are more likely to stream TV apps than the general market, a new report from App Science found. Sports, crime and drama were the most popular CTV viewing genres among multicultural audiences.

“Selling Sunset” star Christine Quinn debuted a new crypto credit scoring platform. Quinn previously left the Oppenheim Group and co-founded a brokerage with her husband to serve the crypto-rich and has now released a product from RealOpen, called RealScore. The brokerage primarily serves high-net-worth clients who want to purchase property using cryptocurrency.

CASTING

Yvonne Orji will star in female empowerment series “Stronger” (working title). The bodybuilding drama – created and written by Sheldon Turner – comes from A+E Studios and will be developed by Netflix. Orji will executive produce.

Chyler Leigh joined Hallmark’s “The Way Home.” The “Grey’s Anatomy” actress will star alongside Andie MacDowell in the original primetime series, to premiere in 2023.

GOING GLOBAL

BritBox boss swiped at rival streamers with the comment, “They’re what we would call British-ish.” CEO Reemah Sakaan took aim at fellow streamers’ UK content in an effort to carve out a niche for Anglo-centric programming in the US. Sakaan said the streamers are “well intentioned” but “definitely lack a little of what we would define as the essence of British.”

Austria’s ORF signed onto Euro-drama “Rise of the Raven.” Produced by Robert Lantos, the multi-million dollar series is being billed as “the most epic Central European television production of all time” – starring Hungary’s Gellért L. Kádár and Vivien Rujder.

“Newsnight” Prince Andrew interrogator Emily Maitlis will deliver this year’s Edinburgh TV Festival MacTaggart Lecture. The former “Newsnight” host will focus on the role TV plays in accountability; this will be her first public appearance since leaving the BBC. She is most well known for her 2019 interview with Prince Andrew regarding the Jeffrey Epstein scandal.

MBC Studios began production on Saudi fantasy-adventure “Rise of the Witches.” The mythological adaptation tells the story of a war between two rival witch covens in ancient Arabia. The show’s budget is the largest ever for special effects in a Saudi production and is being filmed on three studio sets, including Saudi Arabia’s biggest backlots to date.

SPORTS

The FOX MLB team returns to Dyersville, Iowa, for year two of the MLB At Field of Dreams Game presented by Geico, with the Cubs taking on the Reds in a regular-season matchup tomorrow at 7p on FOX, FOX Deportes and the FOX Sports app. Joe Davis joins John Smoltz in the booth. Host Kevin Burkhardt joins David Ortiz and Alex Rodriguez on the network’s pregame show at 6p. On production, FOX Sports delivers the game in 4K HDR, employing multiple aerial production drones and adding a “Pole Cam” with Dream Chip technology, as well as the new Sony Super 35mm 4K camera system. As part of an arsenal of nearly 40 cameras, four cinematic Super SloMo cameras, a pair of DirtCAMS and a Flycam capable of traveling between the movie set and primary field highlight the lineup.

ESPN inked a multi-year extension with the German Football Association for exclusive U.S. media rights to DFB-Pokal, Germany’s top domestic soccer cup competition. The agreement brings a minimum of 40 DFB-Pokal matches each season exclusively to ESPN+ in English.

CBS Sports’ final round coverage of the Wyndham Championship delivered a 7% spike in viewership this year over 2021 numbers. Sunday’s coverage peaked with more than 2.5 million viewers.

NBC Sports will deliver the HBCU Pigskin Showdown, a college football all-star game for student-athletes from HBCU institutions, on Dec. 17, at 1p on Peacock and CNBC. The inaugural HBCU Pigskin Showdown in 2021 featured 84 top HBCU players competing in front of scouts from 16 NFL teams. NBC Sports will also present select students from HBCU institutions with the opportunity to cover the event for NBCSports.com.

ESPN Films’ latest documentary “Fate of a Sport” will debut August 29 on ESPN+, showcasing the story of lacrosse legend Paul Rabil and launching a new professional league, the Premier Lacrosse League. The program will have its linear debut Sept. 15 at 7p on ESPN and will also air on ABC on Sept. 18 at 1p leading into the PLL Championship Game.

On the talent front, ESPN reached a multiyear contract extension with ESPN soccer reporter and host Alexis Nunes to continue in her role as one of the lead reporters for ESPN’s European soccer coverage. As part of her new agreement, Nunes will continue reporting from the pitch and in studio across ESPN and ESPN+ platforms.

In addition, Michael Smith will join Thursday Night Football as a news analyst for Prime Video. In this role, Smith will break down the latest news from around the NFL, and advance pertinent stories through TNF pregame, halftime, and postgame coverage.

The Big Ten is on the verge of $1 billion in TV deals that exclude ESPN. Recent deals are expected to create a college football triple-header featuring FOX, CBS and NBC. If the agreement goes through, ESPN will be out of the business of Big Ten football and basketball for the first time in 40 years.

2022 THAT BIG TV CONFERENCE

Vevo sponsors BIG TV

Vevo joins BIG TV as proud sponsor, with Bethany Atchison, Senior Director, Distribution Partner Management at Vevo, speaking at “What’s Old is New Again – Nostalgia is in Full Force on CTV.” Learn more about the impact nostalgia is having on CTV and so much more at BIG TV, taking place September 29th-30th in NYC.

Learn more & Register NOW

RATINGS

“Jeopardy!” turned the tables on “Family Feud” to lead the group for all syndication in the session that ended July 31. By a narrow margin, the trivia game show with a 5.2 live-plus-same-day national Nielsen rating inched up 2% from the week before and overtook “Family Feud,” which had a rating of 5.1 and fell 2%.

Broadcast Nielsen Ratings for Monday, August 8
Show, P2+ 000s, (A18-49)
ABC: The Bachelorette 3.33 (0.7), Claim to Fame 1.83 (0.3)
CBS: The Neighborhood 3.13 (0.3), Bob Hearts Abishola 2.75 (0.3), NCIS 3.01 (0.3), NCIS: Hawai’i 2.62 (0.2)
FOX: Don’t Forget the Lyrics! 1.96 (0.3), Beat Shazam 1.89 (0.3)
NBC: American Ninja Warrior 2.75 (0.4), Weakest Link 2.12 (0.3)
Telemundo: La Casa de los Famosos 1.66 (0.5), Infiel: Historia de un Engaño 0.94 (0.2)
Univision: La Rosa de Guadalupe 1.23 (0.4), La Mexicana y el Güero 0.96 (0.3), La Herencia, Un Llegado de Amor 1.27 (0.4), Mujer de Nadie 1.08 (0.4)
Source: Nielsen live + same day time period averages

EXECUTIVE MOVES

The Daily Wire staffed up its kids division with the hire of Chris Sonnenburg as SVP animation development and production. The right-wing news service recruited the “Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventure” showrunner to oversee a team of writers and animators that include Eric Branscum and Ethan Nicolle.

Exile Content Studio promoted Nando Vila to head of studio. In his new role, Vila will be responsible for overseeing Exile’s film and television content strategy, succeeding Daniel Eilemberg.

Joanne Roberts Wiles joined Black Bear Pictures. Wiles will be a partner in the production company’s newly formed management division, Black Bear Management.

The North Road Company hired JPMorgan Chase’s Darian Singer as CFO. Singer will lead the integration of Peter Chernin’s company assets and oversee the development of North Road infrastructure.

NBC promoted Margaret Walker to lead marketing brand strategy and audience growth.

This Day in History
1993 – Ruth Bader Ginsburg was sworn in by 96–3 votes as a US Supreme Court Justice.

Answer to Our Last Trivia Question
What is Malcolm’s last name on “Malcolm in the Middle” (2000-2006)? Wilkerson. Kudos to: Randall Bosley-Studio Talent Group/Santa Monica, CA, Gerry Bixenspan-TV Marketing Inc./New York, Lorrie Shilling/El Segundo, CA, Kevin McDonough-Wavemaker/NYC, Andy Pittman-TAMU/College Station, TX, Susan Nessanbaum-Goldberg-M and S Entertainment/LA, David Westberg-SAG-AFTRA Credit Union/Burbank, CA

Today’s Trivia Question
What is Tokyo’s real name on “Money Heist” (2017-2021)? (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