Tuesday February 13, 2024

Today’s Finales
CW: Inside the NFL at 8p
HGTV: Why the Heck Did I Buy This House? at 9p
History: The Bermuda Triangle: Into Cursed Waters at 10p
PBS: Gospel at 9p

IN THE NEWS

Upwards of 115.5 million viewers tuned in to the Super Bowl across broadcast, cable, and CTV, estimates AdImpact. Most viewers watched the game on linear television (59%), while 14% watched on YouTube TV and 27% watched on other streaming services. That tops viewership of last year’s game, which was a record 115.1 million.

By iSpot’s preliminary calculations, the simulcast of Super Bowl LVIII on CBS, Univision and Nickelodeon and Paramount+ drew an average second TV audience of approximately 126,631,888 viewers (P2+), a year-over-year increase of 10.9%. The average second-by-second household audience on linear and streaming was 50.5 million households (HHs). The majority of viewership was on CBS, which tallied a 121.9 million average second audience inclusive of OOH and streaming. The OOH viewership totaled an average second audience of 25,876,592 viewers watching in public spaces.

Prime Video is being sued for breach of contract and violating California consumer protection laws in a class-action lawsuit over the streamer’s new ad-supported tier. Starting January 29, Prime members who wanted to continue their ad-free experience had to pay an additional $2.99/month. “Instead of receiving a subscription that included ad-free streaming of tv shows and movies, they received something worth less,” says the suit, which is looking for $5 million. “Amazon’s false advertisements harm consumers by depriving them of the reasonable expectations to which they are entitled.”

The Federal Communications Commission will require telecommunications and voice over IP providers to notify the FCC, Secret Service and FBI of data breaches within seven business days of discovery, and alert customers “without unreasonable delay.” Providers will no longer have to notify customers of a breach if it’s unlikely to cause harm. The rule takes effect next month.

The National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials Educational Fund and NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises are holding a national daylong phone bank today, dedicated to answering questions around voting options and requirements, from 12p to 9:30p.

Last chance to be recognized among these industry legends!

What do Ally Financial, Chipotle, FOX Sports, ESPN, the NFL, New York Jets, Telemundo Deportes, Walt Disney Company, and Prime Video all have in common? …They’re past winners of Cynopsis Sports Media Awards. Now, it’s your time to shine – entries close February 16th @ 11:59PM ET!

ENTER NOW

An animated series based on the Bill Bryson bestseller A Short History of Nearly Everything is in the works from Josh Weinstein (“The Simpsons”) and Jason Hazeley (“Paddington”). Altitude and Brouhaha Entertainment are producing.

Simone Kessell (“Yellowjackets”) landed a series regular role in Apple TV+ drama “The Last Frontier,” starring Jason Clarke as a US Marshal in Alaska.

NEW & RETURNING SHOWS

A documentary about Leonardo da Vinci will premiere on PBS on November 18 at 8p. The two-night series from Ken Burns is the filmmaker’s first focused on a non-American subject. PBS broke the news at TCA’s winter press tour, along with the addition of “Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch” to “Great Performances,” starring Leslie Odom, Jr., on Friday, May 24 at 9p. Three-part “Disco: Soundtrack of a Revolution” will premiere June 18, and “NOVA” celebrates its 50th anniversary with an array of specials and new content.

Also at the TCA event, PBS President and CEO Paula Kerger unveiled a new slate focused on ocean and freshwater-centered programming. New and returning series include new docuseries “Hope in the Water,” “Dynamic Planet,” “Sea Change,” and returning series and episodes from “Changing Planet, Nature,” “Independent Lens,” and “Weathered.”

ALLBLK docuseries “Supa Girlz,” following a Miami high school dance team and its visionary director, premieres March 7.

Season two of reality show “The Family Stallone” premieres February 21 on Paramount+. On February 27 comes documentary “As We Speak: Rap Music on Trial,” following rap artist Kemba exploring the growing weaponization of rap lyrics.

Dave and Jenny Marrs (“Fixer to Fabulous”) journey to Italy’s Tuscan countryside to revitalize a grand villa for longtime friends on HGTV spin-off, “Fixer to Fabulous: Italiano,” premiering Tuesday, March 12 at 8p.

TECH

Adform has joined the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), the first global Demand Side Platform to align itself with the group’s near-term emission reduction targets. In 2023, Adform became a member of Ad Net Zero and made history as the first global DSP to integrate with Scope3, helping partner brands measure and reduce their carbon emissions.

Fan platform Fandom is employing new AI features to deliver curated quick answers, easier image selection and management and optimized content recommendations for wiki admins while making information more accessible for fans. “AI serves as a powerful tool, enabling creators to effortlessly organize their content and also helps our visitors find what they’re looking for swiftly and seamlessly,” said Peter Mansour, Chief Product Officer at Fandom.

SUPER BOWL ADS: BY THE NUMBERS

According to YouTube, the top 10 top Super Bowl ads by gameday views on the platform (totaling over 90 million) were Booking.com’s spot with Tina Fey, T-Mobile, State Farm, Snapchat, Google: Javier in Frame, Mountain Dew, trailers for Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes and Twisters, Scientology and Skechers.

Which Super Bowl ads drove the greatest online engagement? According to EDO data, the top 10 were: Deadpool & Wolverine (Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures), which generated +2,243% as much engagement as the median-performing Super Bowl LVIII in-game ad; Wicked: Part One (Universal Pictures), +2,008%; Volkswagen, +1,594%; Poppi, +1,561%; Temu, +1,342%; Twisters, +1,125%; Temu, +1,041%; He Gets Us, +942%; Robert F. Kennedy for President, +891%; and Shogun (Hulu), +639%.

Kantar’s top 12 performers – ads that scored in the top 30% in two out of three KPIs or higher – include Booking.com, Reese’s, Squarespace, Toyota Tacoma, Doritos, Popeyes, M&Ms, Bud Light, Hellman’s, Coors Light, Oreos and Michelob Ultra.

Ads with celebrities topped TVision’s Attention Index chart. The five that registered highest, outperforming the Super Bowl in general, were T-Mobile (126.8), Dunkin (126.5), Hellman’s (125.6), Uber Eats (125.3), and DoorDash (125.2).

Four categories were responsible for 53% (29 minutes) of the commercial time, reports MediaRadar.
· 15 Media & Entertainment brands accounted for 17% of the ad time.
· 12 Technology brands contributed to 15% (eight+ minutes).
· 6 Retail brands were responsible for five minutes (9% of the ad time), with Temu alone airing four spots totaling two minutes.
· 9 Food brands contributed 9% (five minutes) of commercials with each airing one spot.

Who brought the funny? Asked by Cint which brand had the funniest ad, 25% of respondents said Doritos; 20% named Google; 11% pointed to Pringles; and Bud Light and Avocados Mexico each scored 8%.

As for mobile app installs and session lengths, Adjust found that:
· Lifestyle Delivery and Food Delivery took the spotlight, with a more than 40% install growth in the U.S. compared to last year’s game.
· People spent more time in apps during this year’s Super Bowl across lifestyle delivery, mobility, and shopping apps with sessions up 44%, 31% and 25%, respectively.
· Music apps saw a major increase in usage by nearly 150% compared to Super Bowl Sunday 2023.

AUDIO

SiriusXM is eliminating about 3% of its workforce, or 160 jobs. “To continue on our path to future subscriber growth and sustain our company’s success as the competitive landscape evolves, it’s imperative that we become even more efficient, agile and flexible,” wrote CEO Jennifer Witz in a memo to staff. “Therefore, today we are making several organizational changes, including the difficult decision to eliminate certain roles, which will allow us to move faster and collaborate more effectively in support of our long-term objectives.” The company laid off 475 employees in March of last year.

Spotify is expanding its partnership with recording platform Riverside, and shuttering some its own features, including Music + Talk, which allowed listeners to plug licensed, full-length tracks into episodes that ran on Spotify. “Music + Talk was a format we had high hopes for, but after 3 years of investment, it has not gained meaningful traction with listeners, and remains non-monetizable for creators,” said a Spotify spokesperson in a statement to Hot Pod. As for Riverside, the new partnership will enable users to bring in guests for remote interviews, make precise transcript-based edits to the recording, and use Riverside’s e suite of AI tools to clean up and enhance, Spotify wrote in a blog post.

GOING GLOBAL

Banijay will produce the first international adaptation of “No Strings Attached” (“Sexo, Famosos y Muñecos de Trapo”) alongside Flooxer for Atresplayer.

BBC Studios Social with BBC Studios Kids & Family and Ludo Studio introduced “Bluey Book Reads,” a digital series that has Kylie and Dannii Minogue reading the book Mini Bluey.

Fueling Growth in the CTV Boom

Connected TV shows no signs of slowing down. The numbers tell the story – 88% of marketers are reporting enhanced ad performance on CTV (eMarketer). Dive into the heart of this thriving ecosystem at CTV Connect 2024 on March 13-14 – secure your spot now!

CLAIM MY PASS

The premiere of Food Network’s “Tournament of Champions: The Qualifiers” last Wednesday posted a 0.89 P18+/1.06 W18+ Live+3 rating, up + 154% and +141% respectively vs. prior six-week time slot benchmarks. The network ranked as the #1 non news/sports cable network in prime among P18+ and delivered its highest Wednesday prime rating among P/W 18+ since 2020.

Discovery Channel’s “Expedition X” debuted with a 0.71 Live+3 rating among A25-54, a 31% increase over last season’s premiere, making it the highest rated episode for the series in four years, ranking as Wednesday night’s #2 cable program with M25-54, excluding news and sports.

February 9 marked the third straight Friday that REELZ topped cable with “On Patrol: Live” drawing 311,000 A25-54 viewers from 9p-midnight.

EXECUTIVE MOVES

Jason Wormser has been named SVP of CW Sports. Wormser most recently served as VP of Production, Soccer, for FOX Soccer Channel, FOX and FS1.

Warner Bros. Discovery has promoted Philippe Roucoule to the position of SVP of EMEA Consumer Products.

Friend MTS, the video content security and anti-piracy provider, has appointed Simon Thornberry as Chief Operating Officer. Thornberry was previously COO at Convertr.

Answer to Our Last Trivia Question
Which actor played a mobster on “Sopranos” (1999-2007) and guest starred as an angel on “Lucifer” (2016-21)? Michael Imperioli. Kudos to: Justin Pierce-JP Consulting Group/LA; Lorrie Shilling/El Segundo, CA; Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA; Susan Nessanbaum-Goldberg-M and S Entertainment, LA; Gerry Bixenspan-TV Marketing Inc./NYC; Louis Lewow-TrillerTV/Atlanta; Phyllis McQuillan-MSG Networks/NYC; Kristi Kohl-Scripps Networks/Atlanta

Today’s Trivia Question
On which procedural did Taylor Swift have a guest role? (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