Wednesday December 16, 2020

Today’s Finales
CBS: “The Amazing Race” at 8p
CW: “Devils” at 8p
Fox: “The Masked Singer” at 9p

IN THE NEWS

NBCUniversal Syndication Studios has sold “The Kelly Clarkson Show” to the NBC Owned Television Stations group for two additional seasons, through 2023. The hourlong daytime program, which currently airs in 100% of the country on more than 200 stations, has already been sold in national syndication to more than 75% of the US for its third and fourth seasons. “One ray of sunshine in this wildly unpredictable year is that we get to continue to deliver to stations and fans a show that brings people together,” said Tracie Wilson, EVP, NBCUniversal Syndication Studios.

HBO Max is removing “Chappelle’s Show” from the service on December 31, at the request of Dave Chappelle. Chappelle got Netflix to pull the sketch series, which launched on Comedy Central in 2003, last month. Chappelle posted a video from a stand-up gig during which he expressed his frustration over the fact that due to a deal he signed years ago, he gets no compensation when his show is licensed to streaming services. “Perfectly legal ‘cause I signed the contract,” says Chappell in the video. “But is that right? I didn’t think so either.” During Variety’s Virtual FYCFest on Tuesday, Casey Bloys, Chief Content Officer at HBO and HBO Max, said, “We had a conversation with Dave. I won’t get into it, but it’s very clear that it’s a very unique and specific and emotional issue he’s got. So, at the end of the year, December 31, we’re going to honor his request and take the show down.”

Third time’s the charm? Fox gave a straight-to-series order to a “Fantasy Island” reboot from Liz Craft and Sarah Fain (“The Shield”). Sony Pictures Television is producing with Gemstone Studios and Fox Entertainment. The original series aired on ABC from 1978-84, followed by a second version on ABC in 1998-99. “’Fantasy Island’ has always been one of our most popular and iconic series, and when we heard Liz and Sarah’s vision of this world, we immediately knew they were onto something special,” said Sony Pictures TV President Jeff Frost and Co-President Jason Clodfelter. “We can’t think of better partners than Fox to work on this entirely novel take on this classic property.”

Sony Pictures Television exercised its option to trade its ownership stake in Crackle Plus for the right to obtain $40 million of preferred stock in Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment. The transaction gives AVOD player Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment 100% ownership and control of Crackle Plus. “Sony has been an incredible partner for Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment and this transaction is the natural next step in our relationship,” said William J. Rouhana Jr, CEO of Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment. “We welcome Sony as a large shareholder and look forward to continuing to work closely with them.”

Fuse Media filed a complaint with the FCC, accusing AT&T and its DirecTV service of discriminatory practices in carriage negotiations. Fuse alleges AT&T is using its market muscle to treat Fuse unfairly, particularly compared with networks AT&T owns and operates. “Since January, Fuse has been the last English-language network carried by AT&T that serves Latinos,” said Fuse. “If AT&T truly values minority voices, then their words must match their actions, especially during a time in which our nation is undergoing a seismic social awakening. We are hopeful that AT&T will reverse course and negotiate in good faith moving forward.” Responded an AT&T spokesperson, “We treat all programmers fairly, including Fuse. They want the FCC to order us to provide programming our customers don’t want or value.”

An LA Superior Court Judge ruled in favor of Viacom in its lawsuit accusing Netflix of poaching a longtime employee. California law bars employment contracts longer than seven years, and Netflix contends extensions of contracts mid-term amounts to coercing employees into signing on to additional years. “Employee mobility and open, fair competition are at the heart of California’s innovation and economic prosperity,” said a Netflix rep. “We strongly disagree with the judge’s ruling which we believe wrongly allows Viacom to use unfair and unlawful contract terms to prevent its employees from taking a job of their choosing.” Netflix is also facing legal action from Fox and Activision for interfering with employee contracts.

Hulu landed US rights to “Everyone Is Doing Great,” a comedy crowdfunded after its first episodes debuted on the festival circuit. Creators James Lafferty and Stephen Colletti (“One Tree Hill”) star as men navigating life and love after their hit vampire drama ends.

Support the 2020 Lustgarten Foundation Holiday Bash
A month-long virtual benefit in support of our pancreatic cancer research fund

Click here to donate or learn more

Presented by MSG Entertainment, MSG Sports and AMC Networks

100% of your donation goes directly to pancreatic cancer research.

Latinx family drama “The Three Joaquins” has been put in development at ABC. Written by Jordan Heimer and Manny Figuero (“Step Up”), the series from The District and ABC Signature centers on a wealthy family whose life is turned upside down by a 16-year-old’s proof of their father’s secret life.

Docu-series “Philly D.A.”, from PBS, ITVS and Topic, will premiere on February 2 at the Sundance Film Festival, detailing the work inside the office of Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner as he and his team work to end mass incarceration and transform the criminal justice system from the inside.

NEW & RETURNING SERIES

New series “Kitchen Crash” lands on Food Network Wednesday, January 6 at 10p. In each episode, hosted by Jeff Mauro, professional chefs head to a local neighborhood block for an outdoor cook-off.

History’s “The Proof Is Out There” analyzes videos of unexplained phenomena, like people seemingly immune to lightning, and UFOs that split and dive underwater. Hosted by journalist Tony Harris, the series premieres Tuesday, January 5 at 10p.

Showtime’s “The Circus returns for season six on Sunday, January 10 at 8p. The first half of the season will include eight episodes, with political strategist and commentator Jennifer Palmieri joining as a co-host along with John Heilemann, Alex Wagner and Mark Mckinnon.

The first trio of episodes from season four of comedy thriller“Search Party” drop on HBO Max on Thursday, January 14.

COMING UP

CBS Sports and Nickelodeon are teaming for a special slime-filled presentation of the NFL’s Wild Card game on Sunday, January 10, at 4:30p. “The NFL Wild Card Game” on Nick will feature kid-focused content and Nick-themed elements, and air alongside CBS Sports’ broadcast of the game on CBS. Play-by-play announcer Noah Eagle (son of CBS announcer Ian Eagle) will be joined by CBS Sports’ analyst Nate Burleson and Gabrielle Nevaeh Green (“All That,” “Unfiltered”) in the booth.

Allison Janney (“Mom”) assists with a home renovation for her assistant and close friend of 20 years on HGTV’s “Celebrity IOU,” airing Monday, December 21 at 9p.

ID is prepping an exposé into a conspiracy of networks of men preying on children in the 1970s. Connecting the murders of John Wayne Gacy in Chicago with the Houston Mass Murders by Dean Corll, “The Clown and the Candyman” traces a path through the past to expose how a dark web was able to exploit America’s youth. The story begins with a podcast, released on Tuesday, and continues with an ID special airing Monday, January 18 and Tuesday, January 19.

Joe Biden will be making his sixth appearance on CBS’s “The Late Show,” and his first since being elected President, tomorrow, December 17. 46’s wife, Dr. Jill Biden, will appear with him.

TECH TALK

Amazon Web Services struck a deal with Twitter calling for AWS to provide global cloud infrastructure to deliver Twitter timelines. Under the multi-year deal, Twitter will leverage AWS’s infrastructure and portfolio of services to support delivery of millions of daily Tweets, marking the first time that Twitter is leveraging the public cloud to scale their real-time service. The new agreement builds on the companies’ long-term collaboration, where AWS continues to provide Twitter with storage, compute, database, and content delivery services to support its distribution of images, videos and ad content. “The collaboration with AWS will improve performance for people who use Twitter by enabling us to serve Tweets from data centers closer to our customers at the same time as we leverage the Arm-based architecture of AWS Graviton2 instances,” said Parag Agrawal, Chief Technology Officer, Twitter. “In addition to helping us scale our infrastructure, this work with AWS enables us to ship features faster as we apply AWS’s diverse and growing portfolio of services.”

The average consumer uses seven SVODs and free streaming services, up from five as of April, according to a study from NPD Group. Access to exclusive content was the main reason for consumers to use SVOD services (39%). A fifth of consumers switched, canceled or decreased their engagement with services because they felt there was better content elsewhere, up from 14% in April. Consumption of free streaming services rose from 39% among consumers in April to 47%. “Amidst COVID-related content production challenges, viewers are increasing the number of streaming services they use, as they seek to find content that captures their interest,” said John Buffone, Executive Director, Industry Analyst with NP’s Connected Intelligence practice. “Competition will become an even greater challenge for services. Both now, as viewers try more options and later as production ramps up and each service gets new programming.”

TV data measurement company Samba TV has entered into a deal with TiVo, which Samba says will allow advertisers to add reach with regards to TV audience lost to viewers skipping with digital video recorders. “Whenever we integrate viewership data from new brands and platforms, we learn more about how unique each brand and its customer base truly is,” said Samba TV co-founder and CEO Ashwin Navin. “It would be a huge mistake to assume that one brand of smart TV or set-top box data is representative or accurate enough to create a normalized view of the TV audience at large.”

Tech giants could face significant fines in the UK if they don’t remove dangerous online content, under the government’s proposed Online Harms Bill announced on Tuesday. Ofcam will have policing power, including blocking online services not in compliance. “Today marks a major step forward in laws that will see powerful tech companies held to account,” said Julian Knight, chair of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee of the UK parliament’s House of Commons. “The government listened to the case for tech companies to be given clear legal liabilities to act against harmful or illegal content, covered by a compulsory code of ethics and policed by an independent regulator.”

IAB Tech Lab released the authorized digital sellers list (ads.txt) specification and its mobile app counterpart (app-ads.txt) to address transparency and anti-fraud for CTV and OTT inventory, for a 30-day public comment period, which lasts until January 14. Through these enhancements, the IAB Tech Lab Programmatic Supply Chain Working Group intends to support CTV/OTT apps in which multiple entities may have ownership rights over ad slots, commonly referred to as “inventory sharing.” The ads.txt and app-ads.txt specs have been updated to include the ability to designate another domain as a trusted partner, and validate the sellers upon a bid request from that partner. “The Connected TV marketplace can be complex and requires a new approach to ads.txt to increase transparency among buyers and sellers,” said Amit Shetty, Sr. Director, Product, IAB Tech Lab. “As Connected TV growth continues to skyrocket, having standards that support these formats is critical.”

STREAMING

WarnerMedia and Comcast announced the rollout of the HBO Max app on Xfinity X1 and Xfinity Flex. X1 and Flex customers will be able to access the HBO Max app over the Internet by saying “HBO Max” into the Xfinity Voice Remote, or saying the name of a desired title. Xfinity customers will also be able to find the HBO Max app content library integrated throughout the X1 and Flex experience, including in current and evergreen collections.

Common Sense Networks announced the 2021 launch of Sensical (sensicaltv.com), a free streaming platform offering age-appropriate, short-form videos for kids 2-12. The ad-supported service filters for quality through a proprietary rubric and evaluates content based on comprehensive child development research.The immersive library will be organized and tiered into three categories: Preschoolers, kids 5-7, and kids 8-12.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle inked a deal with Spotify, via their production company, Achewell Audio. “What we love about podcasting is that it reminds all of us to take a moment and to really listen, to connect to one another without distraction,” said the couple. “With the challenges of 2020, there has never been a more important time to do so, because when we hear each other, and hear each other’s stories, we are reminded of how interconnected we all are.”

Pluto TV launched a new holiday channel, Pluto TV Christmas, featuring holiday shows and movies. The merriment doesn’t end Christmas Day – the service will air marathons daily from December 26-31.

Video on Demand 365, a provider of branded OTT TV channels via Freeview, YouView, Freesat, mobile and smart TV devices, is launching its kids’ channel Ketchup TV in the US. VOD365’s flagship preschool channel will be available via Roku, and also accessible as premium apps on Amazon Fire, iOS, TVOS, Android, Desktop, Android TV with more platforms set to launch Q1 2021.

Funimation, the distributor of anime globally, is now available on Nintendo in the US and Canada, with plans to expand to the UK, Ireland, Mexico and more countries in the coming months. Funimation is the only anime app on Nintendo Switch and the second SVOD app on Nintendo Switch.

Music video service Vevo reports it has reached weekend daily highs of one billion global views, with its expansion this year via OTT partners including Samsung TV Plus, VIZIO and Netrange. Vevo’s global CTV viewership rose 30% compared to last year. “In a year when the world grappled with a global pandemic and demanded social justice for all, music was a unifier,” said Alan Price, CEO, Vevo. “On the business front, we saw our audience grow as people watched more music videos than ever before. In part, that’s due to our expansion into the living room, which brought new levels of engagement across our platform.”

NBCLX, NBCUniversal Owned Television Stations’ TV and streaming network, is now available to US audiences on Peacock. Featuring news, lifestyle, entertainment and esports programming, NBCLX is designed for adults 18-45.

ADVERTISING

Buyers are optimistic about 2021 and expect a 6% overall increase in their 2021 budget (versus estimated actual spend in 2020), according to IAB’s “2021 Marketplace Outlook Survey Results.” However, they have concerns about preparing for a cookie-less future/loss of identifiers; the need for 1st party data; and cross-platform measurement solutions. Key findings include:
· More than ? of buyers believe that they need more first party data.
· Digital media is expected to represent 71% of total budgets. Social, SEM, display and video represent nearly 60% of 2021 total budgets.
· Digital video buyers are shifting budget from traditional TV and digital display to CTV. Average shift of budget from linear to CTV in 2021 is 21% among digital video buyers.
· Half of buyers say they are looking to place more business with minority owned media companies in 2021.
· Data and privacy ad tracking are top challenges in 2021 – 31% of media buyers do not know if their stakeholders have a clear understanding of the implications they will face once cookies and identifiers are terminated/blocked.

The most moving global festive ad of 2020 is Disney’s “From Our Family to Yours,” according to new research from Unruly, which released a ranking of the most emotionally engaging festive campaigns around the world. Disney’s animated ad generated a positive emotional response from UK viewers that was 126% higher than the UK market average. That put it just ahead of Coca-Cola’s Christmas campaign, which follows the story of a dad trying to deliver his daughter’s letter to Santa against all the odds, which generated an emotional response 118% higher. Australian retail chain Big W finished third, with UK retailer Kohl’s in fourth. Ads from confectionary brand Milka, the UK’s Great Ormond Street Hospital and German pharmacy company DocMorris finished fifth, sixth and seventh respectively. Amazon’s “The Show Must Go On” was eighth.

The Weather Channel is rolling out a new brand campaign, “Get Into The Out There,” to encourage viewers to check out the weather and how it influences the daily moments in their lives. Building on the legacy of the network’s past campaign, “It’s Amazing Out There,” the goal of “Get Into The Out There” is to help take viewers out of the studio and show the network’s shared fascination with weather from the perspective of weather fans.

GOING GLOBAL

Fox News International will be made available in Chile, Panama and Portugal starting December 17. The launch expands the platform’s distribution to 30 countries worldwide, surpassing Fox News Media’s original goal of reaching 20 countries by year end.

Fugitive has added two Channel 4 factual specials to its catalogue. The company has picked up the international rights for Bright Button Productions’ “Prue Leith: Journey with My Daughter,” and Pulse Film’s “Hair Power: Me and My Afro.”

Please take a minute to answer our 4-question community poll.
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/Q3WXCDR

Thank you in advance!

The top syndicated entertainment magazines posted double digit rating increases in the week ending December 6. “Entertainment Tonight” (2.4 Live+SD national Nielsen rating, up 14% from the week before) set the pace for the group; “Access Hollywood” (1.1, up 10%) matched its season high. “TMZ” (0.8, up 14%) and “Extra” (0.7, up 17%) also popped up, with “Extra” surging 33% in the key W25-54 demo and tying its season high despite numerous preemptions.

Hanukkah lights up Hallmark Channel: The net’s December 12 premiere of “Love, Lights, Hanukkah!” averaged a 3.0 Household rating, 433,000 among W25-54, and 3 million Total Viewers, and ranked as the #1 entertainment program of the week among Households, W18+, and Total Viewers. The December 13 premiere of “Christmas Comes Twice” averaged a 2.5 Household rating, 405,000 W25-54, and 2.5 million Total Viewers, and ranked as the #2 Household-rated entertainment program of the week.

Hallmark Movies & Mysteries’ “ A Glenbrooke Christmas” averaged a 2.2 Household rating, 167,000 W25-54, and 1.8 million Total Viewers, ranking as the #2 entertainment cable program of the day among Households, Women 18+, and Total Viewers, behind Hallmark Channel’s Saturday night debut of “Love, Lights, Hanukkah!”.

“Kevin Hart: Zero F**ks Given” has racked up over 21 million views since its November 17 debut, making it Netflix’s top comedy special of the year.

Basic Cable Top 5 for the week of December 7
Primetime (P2+)
Fox News (2,762,000)
ESPN (2,318,000)
MSNBC (2,155,000)
CNN (1,815,000)
Hallmark Channel (1,589,000)
Total Day (P2+)
Fox News (1,374,000)
MSNBC (1,293,000)
CNN (1,220,000)
Hallmark Channel (907,000)
ESPN (749,000)
Source: Nielsen

Top 10 M-F Syndicated Strip Series for the week of November 30 ranked in order by HH Rtg
Judge Judy (CTD) 5.80 AA
Jeopardy! (CTD) 5.7 AA
Family Feud (CTD) 5.7 AA
Wheel of Fortune (CTD) 5.5 AA
The Big Bang Theory (WB) 2.7 AA
Inside Edition (CTD) 2.4 AA
Entertainment Tonight (CTD) 2.4 AA
Live With Kelly and Ryan (DAD) 2.0 AA
Last Man Standing (DAD) 1.9 AA
Source: Nielsen

TV Time’s Shows on the Rise for the week of November December 7
The Mess You Leave Behind (Netflix) – 100%
Mr. Iglesias (Netflix) – 97.5%
Your Honor (Showtime) – 92.5%
Power Book II: Ghost (Starz) – 81.2%
Squeezie (YouTube) – 77.4%
Euphoria (HBO) – 65.8%
NCIS: Los Angeles (CBS) – 59.5%
Winx Club (Rai Gulp) – 58.1%
Shameless (Showtime) – 58%
Archer (FXX) – 57.7%
Shows on the Rise is calculated by determining the week-over-week growth in episodes watched for a given program.

EXECUTIVE MOVES

Jimmy Horowitz has been promoted to the newly-created position of Vice Chairman, NBCUniversal Business Affairs & Operations. Horowitz, previously Universal Filmed Entertainment Group Vice Chairman and President, will continue with that responsibility while advising and collaborating with business affairs teams across the company.

Emily K. Graham has been named Chief Equity and Impact Officer and SVP, Diversity and Inclusion Communications at Omnicom Group. Graham was previously Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer at Omnicom PR firm FleishmanHillard.

Answer to Our Last Trivia Question
The set of game show “Win, Lose or Draw” (1987-90) was modeled after which actor’s real-life living room? Burt Reynolds. Kudos to: Benjamin Zander/Great Neck, NY, Julio Marenghi-ViacomCBS/NYC, Anthony Salerno-Horizon Media/NYC, Paul Gluck-TUTV/Philadelphia, FL, Eric Litt-Nexstar/Chicago, Andy Pittman-TAMU/College Station, TX, John Kukla-KDFW/Dallas, Dale Warshaw-KMSB/Tucson, Darren Wadyko-Darren Wadyko Media/North Hollywood, CA, Kevin Moran-Blarney Productions/Pasadena, CA, Paul Blutter-Walk and Talk Production Rentals/Burbank, Sally J. Maisel-Wienermania/Van Nuys, CA, Mark Selby-BT/A/Toronto

Today’s Trivia Question
In which sitcom did a character accidentally throw his family’s Hanukkah gifts out the window, destroying them? (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.)