A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE FROM WARNER BROS. DISCOVERY

THREE REASONS TO RUN YOUR AD ON
DISCOVERY + AND HBO MAX

VIEWERS AGREE ADS ARE MORE IMPACTFUL HERE

LIGHTER AD LOAD AND HIGH-QUALITY CONTENT DELIVER THE BEST VIEWING EXPERIENCE AND MOST SATISFIED VIEWERS

TARGETED ADS IN OUR ENVIRONMENT INSPIRE PURCHASE

Source: HUB 2022 TV Advertising Study Wave 3 June 2022

Today’s Premieres
BET: House of Vicious at 8p, Sacrifice at 9p
IFC: Good Grief at 11p
Netflix: Unsuspicious; High Heat; Junior Baking Show
WOW Presents Plus: Drag Race Philippines

IN THE NEWS

Prime Video’s “Thursday Night Football” will be measured like NFL games on traditional TV, using Nielsen’s panel-based national TV ratings. A three-year deal between Amazon and Nielsen marks the first time a live program on a streaming service will be part of Nielsen’s measurement of national TV audiences, and will include full coverage of the TNF broadcast – pregame, in-game and postgame programming – on Prime Video and Twitch, as well as the over-the-air stations in teams’ local markets each week, and out-of-home viewing. “Our collaboration with Nielsen will allow us to provide advertisers with familiar campaign measurement to make apples-to-apples comparisons across their multi-channel media investments,” said Srishti Gupta, Director of Media Measurement for Amazon Ads. “Additionally, advertisers will have access to metrics from Amazon that will provide actionable insights to understand brand awareness, engagement and sales.”

Linear TV ad spend dipped 1% in June, to $3.138 billion, according to data from Standard Media Index. Spending on broadcast increased 23%, to $1.05 billion, offset by a 12% drop, to $1.946 billion, for cable. Syndication saw a 33% rise, to $142.2 million. For the quarter, broadcast was down 2%, cable was down 1% and syndication was up 6%.

NBC’s “The Tonight Show” is the first late-night show to rack up 30 million subscribers on YouTube. “The Late Late Show With James Corden” is next, with 27.9 million.

Sinclair Broadcast Group has partnered with Project RELO, a not-for-profit organization focused on improving the quality and number of career opportunities available to military veterans. Sinclair’s newsrooms will participate in Project RELO’s Task Force Tribute, a veteran-inspired journey of remembrance, as the media partner and will produce news coverage to air on Sinclair’s local stations and on The National Desk, Sinclair’s national news program, with additional coverage from stations in communities along the route.

Hallmark Movies & Mysteries’ Mahogany is partnering with tour operator Collette to celebrate the August 28 premiere of the inaugural Mahogany film, “Unthinkably Good Things.” The winner of the Unthinkably Good Italian Holiday Sweepstakes will win a grand prize of a trip for three to Tuscany; additional prizes include two Hallmark branded Vespas. The contest runs through September 12.

2022 Tempest Awards

Join in on the fun!

Tempest Awards is a fun-filled night of excitement and awards, recognizing the key leaders and innovators that drive the competitive gaming industry. Held in conjunction with 2022 Esports Business Summit, you won’t want to miss out on this unforgettable night. With our regular entry deadline just this past Friday 8/12, it’s not too late to enter – spots are still open!

ENTER NOW

PRODUCTION & DEVELOPMENT

Prime Video placed an order for “Dr. Seuss Baking Challenge,” hosted by Tamera Mowry-Housley (“The Real”). The unscripted series, produced by Amazon Studios, Dr. Seuss Enterprises and Super Delicious, tasks bakers with creating treats inspired by Dr. Seuss characters.

Jay Baruchel (“LOL: Last One Laughing Canada”) has inked a first-look deal with Boat Rocker Studios, calling for the actor-director to produce and develop original film, TV and digital projects.

The Black List is helping CBS Studios/NAACP source writers who exemplify authentic storytelling of Black narratives, via a submission period on blcklst.com. The Black List will create a shortlist of writers to share with CBS Studios/NAACP. “Our CBS team has seen tremendous growth in the breadth of writing talent from diverse voices that crosses our desks every day,” said Tiffany Smith-Anoa’i, EVP, Diversity and Inclusion West Coast at Paramount Global. “But what many of these gifted writers lack is a specific opportunity. This new initiative will provide us with a platform to reach and ultimately nurture writers who wish to tell compelling and inclusive stories that speak to the Black experience.”

NEW & RETURNING SERIES

New anime horror series “Housing Complex C” will premiere on Toonami, Adult Swim’s anime programming block, on Saturday, October 1 at midnight. The half-hour series centers around Kimi, who lives in a small housing complex located in the sleepy seaside town of Kurosaki. But trouble seems to follow Kimi wherever she goes, and soon, horrific incidents begin to occur.

HGTV’s “Love It or List It” returns Monday, September 12 at 9p with eight new episodes. In a special 90-minute season premiere, co-host Hilary Farr will be her own client as she renovates a quaint North Carolina cottage into her dream home.

The first two episodes of Prime Video’s “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” will drop Thursday, September 1 at 9p, with the rest rolling out weekly. The original plan was to release just one episode on the premiere date.

Disney Junior’s “Firebuds,” an animated comedy-adventure series featuring a team of young first responders and their talking vehicle sidekicks, premieres Wednesday, September 21 at 10:30a.

Simone Biles’ new Snap Original, “Daring Simone Biles,” premieres Saturday, August 20 on Snapchat. The series follows the Olympic medalist as she tries new things – including hosting a talk show.

Season two of Oxygen’s “911 Crisis Center” kicks off Saturday, September 3 at 9:30p, with new episodes beginning at 9p starting September 10.

“Living by Design with Jake & Jazz” is back for season three on Cleo TV on Wednesday, August 24 at 9p.

COMING UP

“Rise of the Bolsonaros,” telling the story of a family’s rise from obscurity to the ultimate seat of power in Brazil, premieres Tuesday, August 30 on PBS (check local listings).

Great American Family’s next round of Saturday evening rom-coms begins August 20 with “Identical Love” at 8p.

Peacock original “Meet Cute” premieres Wednesday, September 21. The film, starring Kaley Cuoco and Pete Davidson, follows a couple who realize their magical meeting wasn’t love at first sight, but the result of a time machine.

SPORTS

ESPN announced that the complete Sunday NFL Countdown roster returns for its sixth season together with the multi-year re-signings of Randy Moss, Matt Hasselbeck, and Tedy Bruschi, along with host Sam Ponder. NFL senior insider Chris Mortensen also has a new agreement, extending his 30+ year tenure with ESPN.

CBS Sports cemented its announcer lineup for the 2022 NFL ON CBS season, led by Jim Nantz, Tony Romo and Tracy Wolfson who will team up for their sixth season together, calling the marquee game on CBS each week, as well as CBS Sports’ Thanksgiving and Christmas games, the AFC Playoffs and the AFC Championship Game. In addition, all NFL ON CBS announce teams from last season will return, including Ian Eagle, Charles Davis and Evan Washburn as the No. 2 announce team.

The United States Hockey League announced a 5-year global media streaming rights partnership with FloSports. Over 500 USHL games annually will be exclusively streamed on FloHockey, FloSports’ dedicated hockey platform, through the 2026-2027 season. Across its FloHockey and HockeyTech platforms, FloSports’ hockey programming now includes the ECHL, American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA), Southern Professional Hockey League (SPHL), USA Hockey, Hockey Canada and the USHL among others.

TECH TALK

Researchers at NYU have launched a searchable database of Facebook digital ads, despite Meta’s 2020 threat to sue over a similar initiative. Ad Observatory, part of NYU’s Cybersecurity for Democracy, attempts to bring transparency to digital political advertising by providing access to political advertising across Meta’s Facebook and Instagram. They might have better luck this time. In May, Meta started allowing academics and researchers registered with the Facebook Open Research and Transparency project to see data on how political ads were used to target people.

Facebook failed to catch violations of its misinformation rules ahead of Brazil’s 2022 election, according to a report from UK-based Global Witness. False election information in ads included an incorrect voting date, incorrect voting methods and questions about the integrity of the election. “We’re investing in teams, technology and partnerships to help protect the upcoming elections in Brazil,” said an August 12 post on Meta’s website. “As we approach Election Day, we will activate our Elections Operations Center to identify potential threats in real time and speed up our responses.”

Nielsen reports its national TV panel has expanded to 42K homes and 101K viewers ahead of next year’s launch of the cross-platform Nielsen One product. The panel’s minimum numbers had slipped notably during the pandemic, causing issues with the TV industry. In turn, 85% of TV networks used new measurement currencies during this spring’s upfronts, says VAB. The TV industry trade group says Nielsen’s pandemic issues led to undercounting of impressions, costing TV companies $700M in revenue.

STREAMING

In the second quarter of 2022, 55% of consumers reported using at least one FAST channel, an increase of almost 10 since the end of 2021, according to Hub’s “TV Advertising: Fact vs. Fiction.” Most TV consumers (56%) said they’d rather watch ads and pay $4-$5 less per month for a streaming service. Subscribers to the ad-supported tiers of streaming services were, for the most part, equally likely to feel they get “excellent” or “good” value from the service as those who subscribe to the ad free versions, according to the study.

Walmart has added Paramount+’s ad-supported plan to its premium membership offer. Starting next month, Walmart+ customers will have access to the streaming service’s Essential subscription at no extra cost. “With the addition of Paramount+, we are demonstrating our unique ability to help members save even more and live better by delivering entertainment for less, too,” said Chris Cracchiolo, SVP and GM of Walmart.

NBCUniversal Local announced that three more NBC local news channels are now available on The Roku Channel: NBC Bay Area News, NBC Boston News and NBC San Diego News. “Since launching our local news category earlier this summer, we have seen users come to The Roku Channel to engage with this programming category in a meaningful way,” said Ashley Hovey, Head of The Roku Channel AVOD. “We’re proud to offer a convenient way for millions of streamers to stay informed on important local topics and current events.”

Fox Nation is set to release its first in-house movie production. “The Shell Collector,” based the bestseller by Nancy Naigle, premieres September 1. Over the course of the next year, Fox Nation will roll out three additional original films.

The Joy of Painting from The Bob Ross Channel has launched on Snapchat’s Discover. “Since the way audiences view and engage with entertainment is constantly changing, so is Cinedigm’s approach to the market. We carefully assess the landscape and cater specific content for specific platforms,” said Daniel Schneider, SVP, Revenue at Cinedigm. “The Joy of Painting from The Bob Ross Channel was the perfect series to debut on Snapchat.”

GOING GLOBAL

The Dutch adaptation of the Amazon Original series “Modern Love,” “Modern Love Amsterdam,” will premiere exclusively on Prime Video worldwide in more than 240 countries and territories.

2022 THAT BIG TV CONFERENCE

New speaker announcements

BIG TV is proud to be welcoming Anthony Katsur, CEO of iAB Tech Lab to this year’s speaker line-up, where he will be joining Wil Danielson, Senior VP of Digital Sales at Nexstar Digital, as the moderator of “AI-Powered Audience Solutions.” AI continues to dramatically transform advertising, and you won’t want to miss out on these key content discussions of the latest tools and disruptors of the industry.

Learn More Now

RATINGS

Lifetime’s “Flowers in the Attic: The Origin” ranked as cable’s #1 new scripted series in the 2022 TV season-to-date with W18+, W25-54, A25-64, and W25-64. The limited series also ranks as #2 with total viewers and with A25-54. To date, “Flowers in the Attic: The Origin” has been seen by 10 million total viewers on linear and digital platforms.

In syndication, “Family Feud” (5.2 live plus same day national rating, up 2% from the week before) handily won the syndication sweepstakes in the session ending August 7. “Judge Judy” (4.4, steady) was the second highest show on the overall chart, followed by “Jeopardy!” (new season low 4.2, down 19%) and “Wheel of Fortune” (4.2, down 5%). The downturn for “Jeopardy!” was triggered by entering its first week of repeats.

Last week, Fox News’ “Gutfeld!” delivered its highest-rated week in program history, averaging 2.4 million total viewers and 397,000 among A24-54, topping all broadcast and cable late night programs.

ESPN closed the WNBA regular season with Sunday’s Storm/Aces battle averaging 852,000 viewers on ABC to rank as the most-viewed WNBA game across all networks in 14 years. Through 25 games this year, viewership for the WNBA on Disney Networks is up 19% over 2021 numbers, averaging 372,000 viewers. That ranks as the league’s most-viewed regular season since 2008. The 2022 WNBA Playoffs Presented by Google tips off today with a doubleheader featuring the top-seeded Las Vegas Aces and defending WNBA champion Chicago Sky in action.

NBC Sports saw its coverage of the FedEx St. Jude Championship score television’s most-watched sporting event of the weekend with the final round ranking as the most-watch for the first event of the playoff since 2017, peaking at over 4.6 million viewers. Across four days, viewership averaged 1.39 million viewers.

Nielsen Top 10 M-F Syndicated Strip Series for the week of August 1 ranked in order by HH Rtg
Family Feud (CMV) 5.2 AA
Judge Judy (CMV) 4.4 AA
Jeopardy! (CMV) 4.2 AA
Wheel of Fortune (CMV) 4.2 AA
Inside Edition (CMV) 2.0 AA
The Big Bang Theory (WB) 1.9 AA
Entertainment Tonight (CMV) 1.8 AA
Live With Kelly and Ryan (DAD) 1.5 AA
The Dr. Phil Show (CMV) 1.4 AA
Hot Bench (AT) 1.2 AA

Basic Cable Top 10 Nielsen Ratings for the week of August 8
Network, P2+ AA (000)
Prime Time
Fox News 2703
MSNBC 1546
HGTV 961
CNN 893
Hallmark Channel 770
ESPN 765
NFL Network 758
TLC 743
INSP 684
TBS 653
Total Day
Fox News 1668
MSNBC 934
CNN 662
HGTV 508
Hallmark Channel 452
ESPN 407
INSP 388
Food Network 385
USA 378
TV Land 370

Broadcast Nielsen Ratings for Monday, August 15, 2022
Show, P2+ 000s, (A18-49)
ABC: The Bachelorette 3.29 (0.7), Claim to Fame 1.94 (0.4)
CBS: The Neighborhood 3.15 (0.3), Bob Hearts Abishola 2.88 (0.3), NCIS 3.17 (0.3), NCIS: Hawai’i 2.88 (0.2)
CW: Roswell: New Mexico” 0.49 (0.1), In the Dark 0.32 (0.1)
FOX: Don’t Forget the Lyrics 1.53 (0.3), Beat Shazam 1.487 (0.3)
NBC: American Ninja Warrior 2.91 (0.4), Weakest Link 2.05 (0.2)
Telemundo: Top Chef VIP 0.92 (0.2), Amor Valiente 0.82 (0.2), Infiel: Historia de un Engano 0.97 (0.3)
Univision: Mexicana Y El Guero 1.01 (0.3), Herencia Legado Amor 1.33 (0.4), Muher de Nadie 1.06 (0.3)
Source: Nielsen live + same day time period averages

EXECUTIVE MOVES

CNBC Chairman Mark Hoffman announced to his staff on Tuesday that he is stepping down after a 28-year career at NBCU. Hoffman rejoined CNBC in 2005, overseeing the expansion of the network’s domestic and international footprint. “During his tenure, CNBC became a world leader and every year it has grown better and stronger,” said Cesar Conde, chairman of the NBCUniversal News Group. KC Sullivan, President and Managing Director of Global Advertising and Partnerships at NBCUniversal, will take on the role of CNBC President on September 12.

Also stepping down is eOne President and CEO Darren Throop. “Darren’s legacy will be felt for years,” said Chris Cocks, CEO Of Hasbro, which acquired eOne in 2019. Throop will depart at the end of the year.

FuboTV has appointed Lynette Kaylor as SVP, Advertising Sales. In her role, she’ll lead Fubo’s North American sales strategy and ad operations. Kaylor joins from Merkle.

Vanessa Vigil has been promoted to Chief Brand Officer at NGL Collective. The move is timed to the merger of NGL Collective with mitu.

TelevisaUnivision has appointed Guillermo Borensztein as SVP of International Content Licensing and Co-Production. Borensztein joins TelevisaUnivision from ViacomCBS International Studios, where he led the content sales and co-production business and spearheaded the new film division.

This Day in History
1903 – Joe Pulitzer donated $1 million to Columbia University, beginning the Pulitzer Prizes in America.

Answer to Our Last Trivia Question
What is Cece’s last name on “New Girl” (2011-2018)? Parikh. Kudos to: Charlotte DeVries-CHRA/Morristown, NJ; Alyson White-KTBC/Austin, TX; Andy Pittman-TAMU/College Station, TX; Gerry Bixenspan-TV Marketing Inc./NYC; Stephanie Williams-MMSI/Meridian, ID; David Westberg-SAG-AFTRA Credit Union/Burbank; Paul Blutter-Walk and Talk Production Rentals/Burbank; Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA; Susan Nessanbaum-Goldberg-M and S Entertainment

Today’s Trivia Question
What was the first show to air in UPN? (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