Tim Pastore, president, original programming & production, National Geographic, talks about the unprecedented challenges of groundbreaking event Earth Live, a program using new technology to show viewers live wildlife lit only by the moon. National Geographic is offering the two-hour live broadcast of what it calls “the Olympics of the natural world” on Sunday, July 9, […]
CynCity
Adaptive Studios Takes a New Approach to Development: Scavenging
Adaptive Studios might be best known for reviving the HBO Project Greenlight series with Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, but in fact much of Adaptive’s strategy calls for mining for gold in abandoned Hollywood intellectual property. Perrin Chiles, CEO and founder, explains why the scavenger approach works. Cynopsis: What is your business model? Perrin Chiles: The idea for Adaptive […]
Going Over the Top to Reach Hispanic Viewers
HITN, the Spanish-language educational network, is going OTT. Guillermo Sierra, Head of Television and Digital Services, talks strategy, including partnerships that expand the brand. Cynopsis: How will HITN’s OTT service stand out from the pack? Guillermo Sierra: HITN has a very clear mission that will extend to all its digital services including its OTT, that is to improve the quality of life […]
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Flipping the Script on Gender Inequality in Hollywood
Satirical short-film digital series Flip the Script is part of a campaign to open a fresh dialogue on a hot topic: gender parity in Hollywood. The satirical series is based on real-life, sexist experiences of women in the industry, re-enacted verbatim – but with gender roles swapped. Writer/creator Ally Iseman (American Housewife) tells Cynopsis why she thinks laughter could […]
Keeping a Format Fresh Takes More than a New Coat of Paint
Producer Arthur Smith, founder of A. Smith and Co. Productions, says avoiding format fatigue means meeting audience expectations with meaningful change. When an ongoing TV series is being produced – whether it’s Amazing Race, Survivor, or Hell’s Kitchen, it’s always important to avoid complacency, freshen the format, and bring new things to the table. This applies […]
Reaching the LGBT “TVideo” Viewer
By Amy Hunt, VP, TVideo and Media Sales, GfK MRI A core promise of OTT viewing and programmatic ad buying is the ability to target key audiences. With a deeper understanding of key consumer groups, advertisers have the ability to target potential customers with greater accuracy and effectiveness. Collectively, LGBT consumers in the US account […]
Why the B2B TV Ad Business Needs the Human Touch
By Fred Cunha, VP of Video Network & Support, Extreme Reach No matter the industry, today’s business world is more automated than ever before. We’re seeing increasing examples of “business chatbots” deployed to assist customers, and sales of automated kiosk technology is expected to be worth more than $30 billion by 2020. This digital-centric, “self-service,” model […]
When it Comes to Emerging Advertising – What’s Smoke, and What’s Fire?
Addressable, programmatic, OTT, data-driven… with so much confusion surrounding the emerging forms of linear TV advertising, Dave Morgan, CEO and founder of Simulmedia, offers his take on where there’s smoke, and where there’s fire. What’s Smoke and what’s Fire? List of 5 Things you need to know about Emerging Advertising The months of April and May roll around every […]
Nat Geo Goes Further with Genius
Genius marks “a true turning point” in the rebranding of National Geographic, says Carolyn Bernstein, EVP, Head of Global Scripted Development and Production, an example of the bold and ambitions storytelling that is helping the network go…Further. Cynopsis: How would you describe the network’s rebranding? Carolyn Bernstein: As part of the rebrand in the fall, we adopted a tagline […]
Looking for New Answers to the Age-Old Question
More data is good – but relevant data is better, says Manish Bhatia, North American CEO, Kantar Media. Bhatia offers his take on the burning issue in advertising. Cynopsis: Where do you see the digital ad market heading? Manish Bhatia: Advertisers follow eyeballs, and whichever screen gets an increasing amount of people’s time […]
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Reinventing the Ritual
The television Upfront has survived streaming, cord-cutting, and the rise of programmatic — but 2026...Outcomes Over Inventory: Disney Advertising’s 2026 Upfront View
The Upfront is changing — and few people have a better view of that shift...Built for This Moment: Telemundo’s 2026 Upfront Play
As the 2026 Upfront season heats up, Telemundo arrives with momentum — and a clear...
