Today’s Finales
HGTV: Brother vs. Brother at 9p
INSP: The Cowboy Way at 9p

IN THE NEWS

ViacomCBS Networks International announced a company-wide production policy: “No Diversity, No Commission,” requiring that all new international productions be made by a diverse team. The policy was initially launched by ViacomCBS Networks UK in July and calls for production companies to adhere to diversity guidelines before budgets are signed off and productions are approved to begin. “Expanding ‘No Diversity, No Commission’ to our entire international organization is an important strategic move for VCNI,” said David Lynn, CEO and President VCNI. “ViacomCBS Networks International creates and distributes content to audiences all over the world. This approach will ensure that we are both reflecting our audience, as well as elevating new diverse creative voices.”

Nearly $460 million entered the national TV marketplace in the first half of 2020 from 110 first-time national advertisers across 59 categories, according to VAB’s new analysis, “Welcome to TV: Introducing the New Kids on the Block.” Findings include:
· Brands spending over $5 million in national TV accounted for 15% of total new advertisers, led by pharmaceutical and video streaming categories.
· Of the new advertisers, there were 60 direct-to-consumer brands across 34 categories collectively spending over $144 million in national TV. DTC brands accounted for 56% of total new first half 2020 advertisers and 31% of total spend.
· Nearly 70% of new first half 2020 national TV dollars were invested during the second quarter, the heart of the pandemic, with over $316 million from 60 advertisers.

AT&T closed the sale of its stake in Central European Media, acquired with its purchase of Time Warner in 2018, to investment firm PPF Group for $1.1 billion. The deal “is consistent with AT&T’s ongoing efforts to monetize non-core assets to drive incremental shareholder value,” said the company.

While voters generally recognize the value of political advertising, 38% of undecided voters say removing political “attack ads” would most improve their experience, and 31% of decided voters say ads that made them feel hopeful helped finalize their voting decisions, according to Xandr’s Relevance Report. Other insights include:
· 42% of undecided voters want to see ads that educate them on the economy.
· 1 in 3 voters trust a political ad that includes data and statistics.
· 58% of voters report engagement with a political ad on TV at least weekly.
· 82% of voters say it’s important an ad appears unbiased.
· 65% of voters want to see ads featuring company CEOs explaining how they are keeping customers safe during COVID-19.

Call for Submissions: Cynopsis is producing our annual Holiday Programming Guide, which comes out on October 28 and will be sent to all Cynopsis subscribers. If your network has holiday programming airing from October 28 through January 1, please send your listing to [email protected] and [email protected] no later than Monday, October 19 with the subject line: Holiday Guide. To be included, programs must be listed by date, title of program, and start times, in the following format: “Thursday, November 19: Network Name: My One Christmas Wish at 9a,12 Days of Giving at 1p, A Christmas Kiss at 3p, A Very Country Christmas at 5p, Christmas on the Coast at 7p, A Christmas Cruise at 9p”. Holiday-related programs only! A confirmation email will be sent following each submission (if you don’t receive a confirmation email, please resubmit).

When it comes to smart TVs and advertising, 87% of consumers have concerns about how their personal data is collected, used and protected, and 61% say they are somewhat uncomfortable or uncomfortable with the idea that smart TVs are collecting data about their viewing, according to a new Hub Entertainment Research study. While that could hamper the wider rollout of addressable advertising, the study notes that there is openness among consumers about sharing some data, with 68% of respondents somewhat or completely willing to share data about gender (68%), ethnicity/race (65%), age (62%), and sexual orientation (61%).

Former President of Production at ThinkFactory Media Joanne Rubino (Hatfields & McCoys) is launching Be Brave Media, with a slate of projects that includes a biopic of chocolatier Milton Hershey. “In launching Be Brave Media, I’ve chosen to leave the beaten path and challenge the misnomer that to succeed, people must stay in a particular lane,” said Rubino. “Successful producers are flexible, collaborative and change agents with an understanding how the industry is shifting.”

An adaptation of the novel Pride, by Ibi Zoboi, is in development at HBO. Aziza Barnes (Snowfall) is writing the adaptation, and will executive produce with Natasha Rothwell (Insecure). Alloy Entertainment is producing in association with Warner Bros. Television.

Glass Entertainment Group announced a co-production partnership with plus-size model, activist, author, and social media influencer Tess Holliday. Under the deal, GEG will work with Holliday to develop and produce premium unscripted programming with a focus on body positivity, inclusivity and diversity. Holliday will work alongside GEG Chief Executive Officer Nancy Glass as well as Eric Neuhaus, SVP, and Ben Fetterman, VP of Business Development.

Netflix, 9 Story Media Group and Karma’s World Entertainment announced a new CG animated series, Karma’s World, created by rapper, actor, producer, and philanthropist Chris “Ludacris” Bridges. The coming of age story about a young Black girl finding her voice and using it to change her world, originally inspired by Bridges’ oldest daughter and based on the interactive educational website of the same name, is produced in partnership with 9 Story’s Dublin-based studio Brown Bag Films and its Creative Affairs Group, as well as Karma’s World Entertainment, Bridges’ production company.

Bryan Washington’s upcoming debut novel, Memorial, has been picked up for television by A24, with Washington set to adapt and Scott Rudin and Eli Bush producing alongside A24.

Management company ATN Entertainment has launched a production and development division, ATN Productions. First project out of the gate: Panic, a TV adaptation of the YouTube comedy series about a teen struggling with anxiety.

NEW & RETURNING SERIES

The eleventh and final season of Showtime’s Shameless kicks off Sunday, December 6 at 9p. Showtime’s number one comedy and longest-running series, Shameless will close its run with the Gallagher family grappling with changes caused by the pandemic, gentrification and aging.

Ten scripted series on CBS got premiere dates. Young Sheldon returns Thursday, November 5 at 8p, leading into the series debut of comedy B Positive at 8:30p, followed by Mom at 9p. NCIS: Los Angeles and NCIS: New Orleans are back Sunday, November 8 at 8:30p and 9:30p, respectively; NCIS returns Tuesday, November 17 at 8p. S.W.A.T. debuts with a two-hour premiere on Wednesday, November 11 at 9p, and Monday, November 16 brings The Neighborhood at 8p and Bob Hearts Abishola at 8:30p, followed by All Rise at 9p.

A new class of comedians is in the house for season two of Epix stand-up series Unprotected Sets, launching Friday, October 16 at 12a.

TLC is diving into digital with two new additions to its 90 Day Fiance franchise. Ask Mama Chantel, starring The Family Chantel’s Karen Everett, arrives Thursday, October 22, while Spice It Up with David & Annie, with 90 Day Fiance’s David Toborowsky and Annie Swan, premieres Wednesday, October 28. “David, Annie and Chantel’s mom Karen are three larger-than-life personalities whom fans have fallen in love with over several seasons and spinoffs of the 90 Day franchise,” said TLC President and General Manager, Howard Lee. “While we continue to lead with women audiences in cable, partnering with Facebook Watch lets us go deeper with current 90 Day devotees and expand to all-new digital audiences.”

All three episode of Black Narcissus will premiere on FX on Monday, November 23 at 8p. The limited series, based on the bestseller, is set in the Himalayas in 1934.

INSP’s Ultimate Cowboy Showdown will be back for season two on Wednesday, February 24 at 9p. The competition is hosted by country music star Trace Adkins.

STARZ Original docuseries Seduced: Inside the NXIVM Cult will premiere on Sunday, October 18 on STARZ in the US and Starzplay in the UK. The series chronicles the harrowing journey of India Oxenberg, daughter of actress Catherine Oxenberg, who was seduced into the modern-day sex-slave cult.

ViacomCBS subsidiary Awesomeness has a trio of twin reality shows coming up. Mystery Twin Bin, featuring Veronica and Vanessa Merrell competing in challenges, launches Saturday, October 17, and Twintervention, following YouTube stars Niki and Gabi DeMartino, launches Friday, December 11. Season three of dating show Twin My Heart, starring the Merrells, launches Saturday, November 28.

STREAMING

Peacock accounted for 17.2% of new streaming subscriptions in 3Q20, according to the latest Entertainment on Demand research by Kantar, which also found that 10% of new subscriptions in the third quarter were switched, or taken by households who cancelled one SVOD service to make way for another. In additional findings:
· Amazon Prime Video dropped to #2 spot among new subs, with 16% share in the quarter, down from 23% the previous quarter, while HBO Max saw steady growth as #3 with 11.3% share.
· Disney+ and Netflix’s share of new subscriptions slipped to single digits, as the newer launches of Peacock and HBO Max grabbed consumers’ attention. However, Netflix’ churn rate remained low, at just 4.1%.
· Hulu’s share of new SVOD additions remaining essentially static at 10%, with overall subscriber numbers edging up in 3Q20. Cord-cutting remains a key draw to Hulu, with 45% of the services subscribers holding cable TV versus an SVOD market average of 53%.

Newsy has added its slate of programming to Philo, both news coverage and its lineup of live shows including Morning Rush and Newsy Tonight. “With the presidential election less than a month away, Philo is excited to add Newsy to our news offerings and our growing list of more than 60 channels,” said Mike Keyserling, COO and head of programming at Philo. “The network’s focus on providing straightforward, opinion free news coverage is a perfect fit for Philo customers, who span every region and political affiliation in the United States.”

DistroTV, targeting multicultural, globally-minded viewers in the US, Canada, and UK, is adding celebrity news outlet Hollywire to its network lineup. DistroTV will broadcast live shows from Hollywire Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays.

TECH TALK

Apple unveiled its first 5G iPhones during a virtual event on Tuesday, marking “the beginning of a new era for iPhone,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook. The iPhone 12 has a new design, a super retina XDR display and comes in five colors. The $799 smartphone also includes a new chip, A14 Bionic, for faster processing and graphics. A new smaller iPhone, the iPhone Mini, will go for $699, while the iPhone Pro Max is priced at $1099, and the iPhone 12 Pro will cost $999. Apple also introduced a new smart speaker, called HomePod Mini, for $99.

Google announced improvements to Attribution in Google Ads, including coverage for YouTube ads and a significant expansion in the availability of data-driven attribution. “DDA requires a certain volume of data in order for us to build a precise model, but to make DDA available to more advertisers, we’re lowering the data requirements for eligibility,” said John Chen, Group Product Manager, in a blog post. “With this change, each conversion action in your Google Ads account that has at least 3,000 ad interactions and at least 300 conversions within 30 days will be eligible for DDA. This is possible due to ongoing improvements to the machine learning algorithms we use to train data-driven attribution models, so we can do more with less data without sacrificing precision.”

Thirty-nine percent of marketers and publishers don’t have a firm plan in place to prepare for the end of third-party cookies, according to a study from LiveIntent that polled senior marketers and publishers from mid-to small-sized firms. And of the 61% of respondents who do have a plan in place, 48% do not have confidence in it. Nearly two-thirds (64%) are at least somewhat concerned about the future of advertising as it relates to the phasing out of the third-party cookie, and 34% reported feeling email was most important for both identity and monetization.

Taboola introduced The Taboola Creative Shop, a global program aimed at helping brands and media agencies execute and optimize advertising campaigns. The Taboola Creative Shop leverages data from ad campaigns that have run on Taboola’s network of publishers, as well as thousands of ongoing A/B tests, coupling this dataset with a team of data analysts, content strategists, copywriters, graphic designers and video editors to provide brands with strategies and assets. “Testing, learning and continually improving advertising performance is more important now than ever before,” said Adam Singolda, CEO, Taboola. “We’ve learned that consumer response to every element of an ad differs significantly over time and across marketing channels.”

Yahoo is shuttering 20-year-old social media platform Yahoo Groups, effective December 15. Noting a “steady decline in usage over the last several years,” the company said, “We must sometimes make difficult decisions regarding products that no longer fit our long-term strategy as we hone our focus on other areas of the business.”

SOCIAL GOOD

Starting in January, each Scripps TV station and national brand will partner with schools and nonprofits in the national “If You Give a Child a Book …” campaign, led by the Scripps Howard Foundation. Books will go to children who need them, whether they are learning in a traditional classroom setting, remotely or a hybrid of the two.

GOING GLOBAL

MTV Cribs is back, and it’s going international. Following the successes of MTV Cribs UK last year and remotely produced lockdown special MTV Cribs: Footballers Stay Home, the reboot, titled MTV Cribs, will premiere across MTV’s international channels on Monday, October 26 at 8p BST.

The Royal Television Society, Britain’s forum for television and related media, has launched the RTS Television Journalism Awards 2021. The awards, for news and current affairs, recognize creative and excellent journalism by organizations whose broadcasts are transmitted on a UK-based platform or who create online video content from a UK production base.

Omens Studios is expanding its global footprint, opening an office in London to be led by new appointment Harry Teper as Managing Director. The new London base will act as Omens Studios’ pre-production hub, with all new IP development – as well as some production – being managed out of the UK.

NENT Studios UK has acquired Joe Biden: Comeback King. Produced by Legacy and written by Danielle Winter, the doc charts the former VP’s life from his blue-collar roots in Pennsylvania, to his battle for the White House.

Answer to Our Last Trivia Question
With which series did Magnum, P.I. (1980-88) have crossover episodes? Murder, She Wrote (1984-1996) and Simon & Simon (1981-89). Kudos to: Gerry Bixenspan-TV Marketing Inc./NYC, Charles Lore/NYC, Paul Blutter-Walk and Talk Production Rentals/Burbank, Jerry Maffia-PMC/NYC, Lorrie Shilling/El Segundo, CA, Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA, David Westberg-SAG-AFTRA Credit Union/Burbank, Synda Kollman-Charter Marketing Group/Boca Raton, FL

Today’s Trivia Question
What was the first original sitcom cancelled by TV Land? (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.)