Today’s Finales
CBS: Love Island at 9p
CW: The 100 at 8p
PBS: Islands of Wonder at 8p

IN THE NEWS

HBO gave a series order for a weekly late night show from SNL writer Sam Jay and Insecure producer Prentice Penny. The series will debut in 2021, with Jay tackling topics including race politics, sexual identity, religion and more. “Sam is fiercely funny, provocative, and a complete original,” said Nina Rosenstein, EVP, HBO Programming. “Her comedy seamlessly glides between vulnerability and grit, and she always makes you see the world in a whole new way.”

Disney+ is diving into social viewing with the rollout of GroupWatch, which allows up to seven subscribers to sync movies and shows. While GroupWatch does not offer texting, users can respond to content with emojis, and each user can pause, play, rewind or fast forward for the group. “Storytelling comes alive when you’re able to share and enjoy it with others, and in this moment when many are still apart from their friends and family, GroupWatch offers a way to safely connect virtually by co-viewing your favorite Disney+ stories with your favorite people from the comfort of your living room,” said Jerrell B Jimerson, SVP Product Management for Disney+. The feature is available on almost all connected platforms where the service can be viewed. Disney-owned Hulu launched Hulu Watch Party in June, and Amazon Prime Video added a co-watching feature in June.

Twenty-six percent of Americans say they use YouTube as a source for news, according to a new Pew Research Center study. YouTube news consumers said they at least sometimes turn to news organizations as well as independent channels for news, and while most say YouTube is not their primary news source, most say it is an important way to stay informed. The platform’s news viewers are split between primarily looking for opinions and commentary (51%) and mostly seeking information and facts (or “straight” reporting; 48%).

Good news for news: Advertising in news is brand safe, increases trust and drives consumers to take action, according to a new report from IAB in collaboration with Magid Research. Key findings in “The News Trust Halo: How Advertising in News Benefits Brands” include:
Consumers like brands more when they advertise in the news. They find brands:
· 49% relevant to them
· 47% customer-focused
· 46% high quality
As a result of seeing a brand advertising on their favorite news outlets:
· 45% of consumers are more likely to visit the brand’s website
· 43% would consider buying from the brand
· 39% are comfortable recommending the brand
“Never has trusted news been more important in our society. Over the past year we have seen significant growth in news consumption as we increasingly rely on news to keep us safe, connected, and informed,” said David Cohen, CEO, IAB. “The IAB study sought to understand the brand impact of advertising in the news. While historically some brands have avoided news due to negative association concerns, the study found that those concerns were unfounded.”

The Measurement & Data Virtual Experience is Cynopsis’ annual event with hundreds of analysts, researchers and media leaders coming together…only this year it’s via computer screens. During Nov 17-18, our experts will cover everything from cross media measurement to cybersecurity, attribution to data quality… and everything in-between. Register before Oct 27th to save!

A joint statement from Gabrielle Union and NBC Entertainment said they have reached an “amicable resolution” to Union’s allegations of a toxic workplace culture during her season as a judge on NBC’s America’s Got Talent. “NBC Entertainment appreciates the important concerns raised by Gabrielle Union and remains committed to ensuring an inclusive and supportive working environment where people of all backgrounds can be treated with respect,” said the statement. Since Union’s complaint was filed in June, NBC Entertainment President Paul Telegdy was let go amid a corporate restructuring and shortly after a Hollywood Reporter investigation found he fostered a toxic work culture.

Cable One is purchasing a 45% minority stake in Mega Broadband, parent company of Vyve Broadband, with the right to purchase the remaining interests beginning in 2023. Mega Broadband provides high-speed data, television and voice services to residential and business customers in rural markets. “This strategic investment in MBI reflects a continuation of our commitment to provide rural America with reliable high-speed internet service,” said Julie Laulis, President and CEO of Cable One. “MBI has developed an excellent network in geographies complementary to our existing footprint and we are excited to share in its future growth. MBI’s operating model and local-first focus mirrors our own.”

Sky Italy’s The New Pope was named Best TV Series at the Venice TV Awards. Sky One’s Breeders won the top comedy honor.

With more than a dozen categories, these companies reign supreme: Adobe, Amobee, Bell Media, Concert, Cuebiq, Dell, Disney, Dotdash, Discovery Engage, Gamut Total, GroundTruth, IBM, Imagine Communication, Jaguar Land Rover, ListenFirst, MagicLinks, NewsON, Nielsen, New York Interconnect, Premion, Publica, Realeyes, Roku, Simpli.fi, Spectrum Reach, Tap Native, The AI Exchange, TVSquared, Giant, Viamedia, Vistar Media, WarnerMedia, and Xandr.

Save the date for our virtual awards event on Dec. 1st to see who wins!

PRODUCTION & DEVELOPMENT

Julie Bristow, formerly CEO and president of Bristow Global Media, has launched a development and funding company focusing on content developed, delivered and designed by women and about women. The Content Catalyst Fund aims to boost the creation of stories made through a female lens. Based in Canada but with an international reach, the CCF will develop and invest in unscripted and scripted content, with an initial focus on unscripted.

Scholastic Entertainment is teaming up with Mainframe Studios to develop and produce JumpScare, an animated horror series for viewers ages 8–12. Man of Action Entertainment, the American writer collective behind Ben 10, is onboard to write and develop.

ABC grabbed two dramas from Sam Esmail (Mr. Robot). Acts of Crime got a production commitment, and Untitled CDC Project received a put pilot commitment. The projects come from UCP, where Esmail is under an overall deal.

WE tv renewed two of its Thursday night originals: Growing Up Hip Hop: Atlanta, the second installment of the Growing Up franchise, and new series Waka & Tammy: What the Flocka. Both shows are currently in production, safeguards in place.

NEW & RETURNING SERIES

Peacock’s reimagined Saved by the Bell premieres Wednesday, November 25. In the reboot, when California governor Zack Morris gets in trouble for closing too many underfunded high schools, he proposes sending the affected students to the most well-funded schools, including Bayside High. The original sitcom aired on NBC from 1989-1993.

The premiere of horror series Jujutsu Kaisen lands on Crunchyroll on Friday, October 4, followed by Crunchyroll original, Noblesse, centered on a powerful being thrown into modern life after 820 years of slumber, on Wednesday, October 7.

Two Travel Channel series are back next month. Ghost Nation appears Saturday, October 17 at 9p, investigating a haunted tattoo and body piercing shop, and Destination Fear returns Saturday, October 24 at 10p, exploring a scary sanitarium in upstate New York.

Secrets of the Zoo is back for season four on Nat Geo on Saturday, October 10 at 9p. On Saturday, October 31 at 10p, things head south with Secrets of the Zoo: North Carolina.

News producer Sally Ramirez is making her national debut with CNBC’s The News With Shepard Smith, premiering today, September 30 at 7p. Ramirez offers her vision for the new, high-profile newscast in Cynsiders.

Season two of Britannia debuts on Epix on Sunday, October 4 at 9p – and “the Romans are here and set to stay,” says Epix.

The first two episodes of OWN’s first digital animated short-form comedy series, Sincerely, Camille, launched yesterday on Twitter, and will be available across OWN’s digital platforms and app today, September 30. Subsequent episodes of the show, part of the network’s Own Your Vote initiative, will roll out twice weekly.

STREAMING

A+E Networks has introduced Skills + Thrills, a new FAST channel featuring reality series, premium nonfiction and competition. Available now on The Roku Channel, Skills + Thrills will roll out across major streaming platforms in the coming months. Among the first programs included in the schedule are adventure series Ice Road Truckers and Top Gear; reality series Ozzy and Jack’s World Detour and Duck Dynasty; competition series Top Shot and The Strongest Man in History; and nonfiction series Hunting Hitler and The Curse of Civil War Gold.

Viewer appetite for watching AVOD services is still growing, according to VAB’s latest custom study, “A Sea Change in Video Viewing: Helping Marketers Find More Fish in the Streaming Ecosystem.” Nearly half of AVOD viewers (46%) surveyed said they’ve been streaming more free ad-supported video content than paid content. Other findings include:
· Nearly 6 in 10 (59%) streaming service users said they won’t pay more than $20 a month for streaming subscriptions, indicating strong potential for free AVOD services to grow
· One in four (27%) SVOD subscribers also access AVOD services
· Nearly 4 in 10 adults wish there were more free streaming video services
· More than half of AVOD viewers (53%) appreciate that ads make their streaming service cheaper
· Fifty-seven percent of respondents wish there were discounts for bundling certain streaming services

Tastemade has launched Tastemade en Español, the media company’s first Spanish-language streaming TV channel. Tastemade en Español lifestyle programming is now available in the U.S. on The Roku Channel, and will be streaming on VIZIO SmartCast and XUMO in the coming weeks.

Short-form streaming service VideoElephant TV is launching today, September 30. Free and available across platforms, the service offers curated channels in major languages, and includes over 60 branded and exclusive linear channels from the brands around the world including EuroNews, PA Media, Al Jazeera, Sports Illustrated, Tribune Publishing, Bonnier Corp., AccuWeather, Chicago Tribune, and WatchMojo.

BBC Studios and ITV Studios have entered into a settlement with the operators of UKTVEverywhere, resulting in the shutdown of the streaming service targeting viewers of British television in the United States, due to the illegal streaming of both entities’ respective channels. UKTVEverywhere infringed BBC and ITV’s copyrights by live streaming the entire portfolio of BBC and ITV television channels to UKTVEverywhere subscribers, without authorization. UKTVEverywhere has also agreed to pay a confidential settlement sum to resolve claims of past infringement, and will be handing over its website domain name and taking other remedial measures aimed at steering former UKTVEverywere subscribers to BritBox, the primary authorized SVOD provider of BBC and ITV content in the US and Canada.

Too Hot to Handle topped the list of Netflix’s most popular titles in the US, Brazil, UK, Germany, France, Italy, India, Malaysia, Japan and Korea, ranked by Bernstein Research from March 4-September 20. Money Heist came in second, followed by The Last Dance, The Umbrella Academy and Dynasty. In the US alone, Outer Banks led the field.

COMING UP

Dolly Parton’s Christmas on The Square premieres on Netflix on Sunday, November 22. The holiday special, directed and choreographed by Debbie Allen, stars Christine Baranski, Jenifer Lewis, Treat Williams and Jeanine Mason, with Parton playing a guardian angel.

In more Debbie Allen news, the actress and director will be featured on TV One docu-series Uncensored on Sunday, October 4 at 10p.

Bad Hombres, a film chronicling the Tecolotes de los Dos Laredos, the world’s only binational professional baseball team, arrives on Showtime on Friday, October 16 at 9p. Filmed over the course of the 2019 Mexican Baseball League season, Bad Hombres examines how human trafficking, drug cartels, environmentalists and asylum seekers intersect with the Tecolotes’ pennant race.

Horror/reality competition/documentary feature The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula: Resurrection premieres on AMC Networks streamer Shudder on Tuesday, October 20. “The format is something incredibly different and it truly presents drag in an innovative way that has never been seen on TV before,” said the Boulet Brothers. “It’s easily the best content we have ever produced, and the highest level of drag that TV audiences have ever seen.”

Syfy’s Halloween lineup includes the TV premieres of The Strangers: Prey at Night on Thursday, October 1 at 9p, and Tales from the Hood 3, on Saturday, October 17 at 9p. Also on tap are movie marathons airing all month, including the return of Dark Arts Sundays.

Bravo is holding virtual happy hours for fans and Bravolebrities starting Monday, October 5. The kick-off event will focus on love and relationships, and include couples from Real Housewives, Married to Medicine, Shahs of Sunset and Summer House. For info, go to BravoTV.com.

Aspire TV and the CIAA are teaming to air memorable playback HBCU football games as part of a Saturday college football programming block. Kicking things off on October 3 at 1p is a 2017 game between Bowie State University and Virginia State University.

Rihanna’s Savage X Fenty Show Vol. 2 premieres Friday, October 2 on Amazon Prime Video. The fashion experience combines styles from Rihanna’s latest collection, with musical performances.

LMN’s fall slate includes 13 new movies premiering during its second annual Shocktober, Hateful & Grateful, and Slay Bells stunt months. The net will air thrillers all day from October 1 through December, as well as the conclusion of A+E sib Lifetime’s Fear the Cheer movie event, with the premiere of The Pom Pom Murders on October 24.

Biannual Disney fan event D23 Expo has been scheduled for September 9-11, 2022, in person at the Anaheim Convention Center. The event will offer a first look at the company’s plans for its 100th anniversary.

TECH TALK

ironSource Aura, the engagement platform for mobile carriers and OEMs, announced a new customer engagement solution for Pay TV providers. Aura’s solution allows media companies to dynamically enhance their existing Android TV set top boxes, and then bridge their TV and mobile technology to reach users across all of their screens. The solution empowers users to customize their TVs with their preferred content and services during the initial setup process, and throughout the lifetime of their Pay TV subscription. “As leading telcos expand 5G, they’ll become serious players in the home internet space, and are likely to bundle the service with their paid TV and mobile connectivity services,” said Sagi Benbasat, GM Enterprise Solutions, ironSource. “Our mission is to empower our telco partners with a cross-platform solution for these services, where they can engage with a customer across all of their screens. What’s more, they’ll be able to connect the consumer’s big screen with their mobile device – be it Android or iOS – for cross screen engagement and a richer user experience.”

FreeWheel and FastPay announced a partnership that extends FastPay’s media payments platform to users of FreeWheel’s Strata platform. This partnership provides the 1100+ agencies using the Strata platform with options to automate and streamline their media payment processes. “Financial accountability and business continuity have always been critical for agencies and media sellers, but this is especially true in 2020 as many companies adapt to tighter budgets and new work styles,” said Mark McKee, Chief Revenue Officer, FreeWheel. “FastPay was a natural partner for us. Working together, we are helping the industry adopt more modern financial processes that offer not only increased efficiency, but also greater security and accessibility.”

DOOH advertising company Accretive Media announced the launch of Accretive Connect, a solution enabling sequential messaging between programmatic DOOH and CTV advertising. “Accretive Connect will allow brands to intelligently display their messaging across big beautiful DOOH screens and then use format sequencing to amplify that same message to those same consumers with sight, sound and motion in the comfort of their own homes on another large, emotive screen – the connected television,” said Craig Benner, Founder and CEO of Accretive Media.

Makers of apps in Google Play Store will no longer be able to circumvent its payment system to avoid paying the 30% revenue-sharing fee for in-app purchases. “We’ve always required developers who distribute their apps on Play to use Google Play’s billing system if they offer in-app purchases of digital goods, and pay a service fee from a percentage of the purchase,” wrote Sameer Samat, VP of Product Management for Google, in a blog post. “To be clear, this policy is only applicable to less than 3% of developers with apps on Google Play. We only collect a service fee if the developer charges users to download their app or they sell in-app digital items, and we think that is fair. Not only does this approach allow us to continuously reinvest in the platform, this business model aligns our success directly with the success of developers.” Companies have until September 30, 2021 to comply.

CASTING

Chelsea Field has been promoted to series regular on season seven of CBS’ NCIS: New Orleans…Audrey Corsa was also elevated to series regular, on season two of CBS’s All Rise…Leo Howard was upped to series regular in season three of CW drama Legacies. He appeared for three episodes in season two…Erinn Westbrook (The Resident) has boarded the season five cast of CW’s Riverdale…Joey King (The Kissing Booth) will star in and executive produce an adaptation of dystopian novel Uglies for Netflix.

GOING GLOBAL

They will! Redseven Entertainment will air the first ever live wedding for the Married at First Sight franchise. The live wedding will be the centerpiece of an event special to kick off season 7 of Married at First Sight Germany (Hochzeit auf den ersten Blick), airing November 4, 2at 8:15p on SAT.1.

Heroes in Harm’s Way on China Central Television 1 has become the most-discussed CCTV TV series on social media in recent years, with a single clip on Douyin generating viewing as high as 15 million. Within one week after its of release on September 17, CITVC launched the English version of the TV drama, on Sky.

There’s never been a more important time for a holistic advertising approach to get your candidate’s message out. Join us & experts from Crossroads Media, Media Fortitude, New York Interconnect, and Sage Media to learn about the must-haves of political advertising.

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Answer to Our Last Trivia Question
Which sitcom did internet company Gryzzl call home? Parks and Recreation (2009-2015). Kudos to: Andy Pittman-TAMU/College Station, TX, Julie Liu Schettig-Warner Bros./Burbank, Lucie Prann-The Richards Group/Dallas, Allyson Haas-Babiekins Magazine/LA, Stephanie Ann/Chicago, David Garber-Loyola Marymount University/Playa Vista/CA, Susan Nessanbaum-Goldberg-M and S Entertainment/LA, Simone King-ABC/Hartsdale, NY, Seraphina Kleinen-Hofstra University/Hempstead, NY, Matt Laramee-Southern New Hampshire University/Manchester, NH, Jamie Bugner-AMC Networks/NYC

Today’s Trivia Question
Who moderated the first presidential debate between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon? (Email [email protected] with your answer and be sure to include your name, company, city and time zone. Unofficial rules: a limit of four per time zone.)