 IN THE NEWS |
 Things turned out just fine for US Senate candidate James Talarico. The politician’s scheduled interview on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” yanked after what host Colbert described as pressure from CBS lawyers concerned over federal rules stipulating equal time for political parties, generated over 8 million engagements across YouTube and social media in 72 hours, according to Deadline. “The Late Show” averages about 2.6 million viewers on CBS.
A group of Democratic senators sent a letter to Paramount Chairman & CEO David Ellison requesting he preserve all records related to the proposed Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery transaction. In the letter, Cory Booker (D-NJ), Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), and Peter Welch (D-VT) noted that Paramount declined to appear before the February 3 hearing titled, “Examining the Competitive Impact of the Proposed Netflix-Warner Brothers Transaction.” Ellison offered to provide written testimony, but the politicians maintain concerns about political interference in the merger review process were not addressed. Ellison was also asked to preserve documents related to CBS news and content decisions.
“The Jennifer Hudson Show” is coming back for season five, with Fox Television Stations locking in another year for the Emmy-winning host. The show posted double-digit growth year over year (+10% among W25–54), ranks as the number one daytime talk show on TikTok and Threads, and stands as the second-most-followed daytime talker across social media overall. “Jennifer Hudson is a powerful force on every platform and a tremendous partner for our stations. We’re thrilled to have her back for year five,” said Frank Cicha, EVP of Programming for Fox Television Stations. In a tough syndicated landscape, Hudson outlasted Fox stations’ “Sherri” and NBC stations’ “The Kelly Clarkson Show,” which are both wrapping up this season.
Sports programming across the top five SVOD services jumped 52% year-over-year, according to the latest Gracenote Data Hub update. Paramount+ overcame Prime Video and Netflix to lead in streaming sports programming at the individual game and event level – following its acquisition of UFC broadcast rights from ESPN in January, the service now delivers more than twice the sports content of any SVOD platform, up 219% year-over-year. Sports content on FAST channels grew 15%, with 96% of the available sports programming is competitions, versus 35% on SVOD.
Fox Corporation announced it will match the US government’s one-time $1,000 contribution to the “Trump Accounts” children’s retirement savings account program for eligible US employees. “This contribution match will help our employees provide a strong financial foundation for their children as they learn to save, invest and grow a healthy financial future,” said Fox Corp. CEO Lachlan Murdoch.
The FCC requested transcripts from Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime performance amid concerns from Republican lawmakers that the show could have violated federal indecency regulations, reported Reuters. Anna Gomez, the sole Democrat on the commission, said she reviewed the transcript of the Spanish-language performance, and “found no violation of our rules and no justification for harassing broadcasters over a standard live performance.” The FCC will not be pursuing the matter barring further evidence, according to the New York Post.
We asked 10 industry influencers, including two buyers and three sellers, to rate the current state of channel convergence, the pain points they’d most like to see solved and which opportunities they are most looking forward to this year. For takeaways from those conversations, go here. |
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| CONVERGENT TV WORLD 2026
Help Shape the Conversation
Spend a minute sharing your insights on awareness, engagement, and conversion. Your answers will be featured at Convergent TV World (March 5–6). Plus, enter for a chance to win one of six $25 Amazon gift cards.
TAKE THE SURVEY |
| NEW & RETURNING SERIES |
| “Bedtime Stories With Ryan,” a live-action story time series from Ryan Reynolds’ Maximum Effort, debuts Monday, March 2 on Nick Jr. Ten episodes will air weekdays through March13, at 9p.
A new season of “House of David” kicks off Friday, March 27 on Prime Video. Season two of the biblical drama sees David rise from shepherd to warrior.
TLC’s “7 Little Johnsons” is back for season 17 on Tuesday, March 17 at 9p. The new session of the reality show features the first wedding among the Johnston kids.
“Talking Pictures: A Movie Memories Podcast” is going video in season three. The show starts Monday, February 23 with two episodes focused on this year’s Oscar nominees for Best Directing.
Polish dark comedy “The Stroke” makes its US debut Thursday, March 12 on streamer Viaplay. |
Today’s Premieres
Apple TV: The Last Thing He Told Me
HBO Max: Portobello
Netflix: Strip Law
Showtime: Dreaming Whilst Black at 9p
Saturday’s Premiere
Hulu: Shoresy
Sunday’ Premieres
Fox: American Dad! at 9p
History: History’s Greatest Picks With Mike Wolfe at 9p
Paramount: Bar Rescue at 10p |
| PRODUCTION |
| Netflix handed a series order for adult animated comedy “Dang!”. The Universal Television show comes from Andrew Law, Matt Murray and Mike Schur (“The Good Place”). Titmouse is the animation studio.
Agentic AI media company Chronicle Studios is partnering with illustrator Teo Skaffa (“Fright Nights”) on his upcoming young adult Webtoon series “Graveheart Keep.” It’s Chronicle Studios’ first Webtoon channel partner. |
| THE TOP WOMEN NETWORK
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A cross-industry community designed to amplify women across media and marketing—through recognition, mentorship, and meaningful connection.
This is your power circle.
JOIN THE TOP WOMEN NETWORK |
| TECH |
| Canela Media has entered into a strategic partnership with LiveRamp. Advertisers using LiveRamp’s platform can now use LiveRamp’s interoperable, durable identifier, RampID, to connect to Canela’s inventory. The partnership enables advertisers to directly access CAS segments in the LiveRamp Data Marketplace.
IAB Tech Lab has opened public comment on the Live Event Playbook (LEAP), a proposed standard designed to help buyers and sellers discover and plan around upcoming live and premium programming in a more structured and interoperable way. Content owners can now share information with partners like schedules, expected ad breaks, and expected viewership. “Live events continue to be one of the most valuable and technically complex areas of digital advertising,” said Anthony Katsur, CEO, IAB Tech Lab. “This proposal moves the industry earlier in the process by making future live inventory visible and actionable. It is about giving buyers and sellers the tools they need to plan ahead with confidence and scale those workflows through shared standards.”
Digital Remedy announced the launch of Echo, a platform designed to help marketers measure and evaluate performance across channels. Echo unifies cross-channel performance data across environments such as display, CTV, video, audio, DOOH, and more. “Marketers don’t have a lack of data – they have a lack of clarity,” said David Zapletal, COO at Digital Remedy. “Echo brings measurement and execution together so teams can see how channels influence one another, identify inefficiencies earlier, and make better decisions while campaigns are still running, not weeks later.” |
| SPORTS REPORT |
| ESPN is filling the hole left by “Sunday Night Baseball” with women’s sports programming, including WNBA and NWSL games, as well as studio programming. The sports net ended its “SNB” run after 36 years when NBC Sports picked up the package. |
| COMING UP |
| Yerin Ha (“Bridgerton”) has been named Ambassador for The 32nd Annual Actor Awards Presented by SAG-AFTRA. Ha was selected for “exemplifying the utmost values of the acting profession, serving as a positive role model for the next generation of performers and actively using her platform to advocate for humanitarian and public service endeavors.” The awards stream live on Netflix on Sunday, March 1 at 8p. |
| DISTRIBUTION |
| Reality competition format “Code Red: The Lighthouse” has been optioned by Endemol Shine in Germany and ALP in France.
“The Traitors” is set to be adapted by Indonesia’s Falcon. The series will be transmitted on Falcon’s OTT platform and will be a 10-episode celebrity version of the show. |
| RATINGS |
| Super Bowl update: Viewership for the big game rose to 125.6 million viewers, up from 124.9 million, across NBC, Peacock, Telemundo, NBC Sports Digital and NFL+, according to Nielsen’s Big Data + Panel measurement. Nielsen attributes the adjustment to the fact that a Big Data provider did not properly collect data from its devices on February 8, which impacted the Big Data + Panel count.
The season finale of ABC’s “Shifting Gears” drew 6.9 million Total Viewers after seven days of cross-platform viewing, up +59% over its Live+Same Day number, and the best audience since its fall premiere.
Telemundo’s presentation of “Clasico de Mexico” on Saturday, February 14 delivered record-breaking cross-platform performance across Telemundo, Universo, Peacock and the Telemundo app, averaging a Total Audience Delivery (TAD) of 1.97 million viewers to rank as the most-watched edition of the soccer event since Telemundo re-acquired the rights in 2020. The following day, Telemundo’s presentation of the NBA All-Star Game across Telemundo, Peacock and the Telemundo app averaged a TAD of 337,000 total viewers, ranking as the most-watched NBA game on Spanish-language television in 20 years.
Fox Sports delivered 7.49 million viewers for Sunday’s Daytona 500, an +11% jump over 2025.
Netflix’s “Stranger Things” returned to #1 overall on Nielsen’s Streaming Top 10 with 1.66 billion minutes the week of January 19, a little over three weeks after the series finale aired. Paramount+ drama “Landman” fared similarly (1.62 billion minutes, #2), with a 10th consecutive week in the overall top three following the conclusion of its second season on January 18. |
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| EXECUTIVE MOVES |
| Sandra Stern is stepping down as Vice Chairman of the Lionsgate Television Group. “Sandra has been my friend, partner and protégé for the past 40 years,” said Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer. “She is an amazing strategist with unparalleled relationships with our partners, and few people understand our business as well as she does. Sandra has been a pillar of our studio’s growth and success for 23 years.” Stern will be transitioning to a consultancy role at the company.
Wildstone has appointed Andrew Foster to the newly created position of Group Partnerships Director. Foster was previously Partnerships Director.
All Sports News has named Ravi Teja Mandapaka as Bureau Chief and Correspondent, based in India. Since 2012, Mandapaka has written extensively on Indian field hockey.
Luke Leinberger has been named Gravity Global’s first-ever Global Head of Social Media. Leinberger joined the company in 2024. |
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Friday Fun Fact
Their anatomy prevents pigs from being able to look up into the sky.
This Day in History
1872 – New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art opened.
Answer to Our Last Trivia Question
What was Hulu’s first original scripted series? “Battleground” (2012). Kudos to: Gerry Bixenspan-TV Marketing Inc./NYC; Ed Horwitz-Witz End Productions/Hollywood, CA; Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA; Susan Nessanbaum-Goldberg-M and S Entertainment/LA; David Garber-Loyola Marymount University/Playa Vista, CA
Today’s Trivia Question
Which were the first Olympic Games to be broadcast internationally? (Email trivia@cynopsis.com 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.) |
PRINT TRAFFICKER AND TECHNICAL COORDINATOR >>
FILM FEST DC/WASHINGTON, DC: Coordinate direct communication between print sources and the festival to ensure the on-time inbound and outbound delivery of all film materials and work with venue staff to deliver and test each film and KDM. Request and collect KDMs for all encrypted DCPs and maintain a spreadsheet that contains all the aspects of the film. Full info HERE
MANAGER, MEMBER ENGAGEMENT AND ANALYTICS >>
TELEVISION ACADEMY/NORTH HOLLYWOOD, CA:
Lead the execution of initiatives such as the Peer Circle program and Your Voice Matters, reviewing data to enhance program participation and ensure metrics are achieved; collaborate with the Senior Director of Engagement and Retention and stakeholders across marketing to manage delivery and optimization of the Member Benefits Perks newsletter. Full info HERE
BROADCAST ENGINEER >>
HIGH POINT UNIVERSITY/HIGH POINT, NC: Ensure high-quality production environments and provide technical leadership to faculty, staff, and students in live and recorded productions and play a role in supporting the school’s mission to provide industry-standard production experiences for students and will have opportunities to contribute to the development of emerging media technologies. More info HERE
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF THE PRACTICE, MULTI-EPISODE TELEVISION PRODUCING >>
BOSTON UNIVERSITY – COLLEGE OF COMMUNICATION/BOSTON, MA: Develope, produce, and manage scripted and unscripted multi-episodic series for linear television and/or streaming. Qualified applicants will be distinguished multi-platform practitioners with a significant body of “boots on the ground” work in the TV and streaming industry. The position will require in-class instruction and on-set exercises. Full info HERE
PROFESSOR OF THE PRACTICE: STUDIO AND/OR FIELD DIRECTING; MULTIPLE CAMERAS >>
BOSTON UNIVERSITY – COLLEGE OF COMMUNICATION/BOSTON, MA: We seek a colleague with a significant body of practical work in television directing using multiple cameras for linear television and/or streaming platforms. Familiarity with visual effects and AI-supported tools is considered a plus. This position includes teaching directing of scripted and/or unscripted content using multiple cameras at many levels. Full info HERE
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF THE PRACTICE: VERTICAL FILMMAKING/CONTENT CREATOR >>
BOSTON UNIVERSITY – COLLEGE OF COMMUNICATION/BOSTON, MA: We seek a colleague with a professional track record in the creation and development of original short-form content aimed at promoting, activating, and motivating young people through social activism, experimentation, entertainment, brand building, and audience engagement across today’s leading content platforms and social media ecosystems. More info HERE
SALES MANAGER – AP AD INSIGHTS HUB >>
ADVERTISER PERCEPTIONS/NEW YORK, NY: Drive direct sales of the platform offering, focusing heavily on new client acquisition. Reporting to and working closely with the GM of the Ad Insights Hub, this individual contributor will partner cross-functionally with Sales, Business Intelligence, Operations, and Client Services teams to build awareness and engagement with new clients. Full info HERE
SALES DIRECTOR – OMG
MOONBUG ENTERTAINMENT
NEW YORK, NY
Deliver and exceed sales revenue targets as well as build, manage and grow a strategic account list with a focus on Omnicom agencies and their clients directly, within the northeast. Ability to navigate holding company structure and negotiate strategic partnerships with key stakeholders (ratecards, preferred programmatic deals, content deals, etc.). More info HERE
DIRECTOR OF PERFORMANCE MARKETING >>
ATHLETE TO ATHLETE/SANTA MONICA, CA: Lead the performance marketing team across Meta Ads and new paid digital channels (TikTok, YouTube, Google, etc.) as well as build and execute a roadmap for channel expansion and profitable scale. Develop and run structured testing frameworks. Partner with Creative Strategist on ad briefs, testing priorities, and creative feedback loops. Full info HERE
SENIOR MANAGER, TRAFFIC >>
INSP, LLC./CHARLOTTE, SC: Oversee the Traffic staff and manage and monitor the day-to-day operations. Responsible for the prompt and accurate execution of broadcast logs for three networks. The manager assumes a leadership role within our Network Operations and consistently looks to streamline processes and increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of the Traffic department. Full info HERE
NATIONAL SALES MANAGER>>
HEARST MEDIA PRODUCTION GROUP/CHARLOTTE, NC: Oversee daily sales pipeline operations focused on national sponsorships, integrations, and branded content tied to unscripted programming. Manage and coach the Business Development team, drive outbound activity, shape proposals and pricing, and lead CRM strategy, reporting, and optimizations via Salesforce. Full info HERE
ASSOCIATE PRODUCER >>
NTD/WASHINGTON, DC: Pitch story ideas and write scripts/segment outlines as well as research guests and interview topics. Book guests and coordinate interviews. Help with logistics and sometimes field production. Support shoots and ensure production runs smoothly. Review footage and work with editors to shape final episodes. Write headlines, teasers, and social posts. Full info HERE
DIRECTOR, HUMAN RESOURCES AND ADMINISTRATION >>
THE JIM HENSON COMPANY/HOLLYWOOD, CA: Responsible for all HR functions and oversight of administrative and management needs. This strategic role is charged with operating from a customer service driven viewpoint that prioritizes employee satisfaction as well as enforce legally compliant policies, increase efficiency by implementing administrative and record-keeping best practices. Full info HERE
SENIOR DESIGNER >>
REELZ CHANNEL/ALBUQUERQUE, NM: Responsible for the concept, design and execution of various motion graphics projects for on-air promo and sales presentations. Will be required to design and create graphics for social media, digital and print. Must be able to follow brand guidelines and expand and change the brand look when necessary. Full info HERE
EVP, COMMERCIAL & TECHNOLOGY TRANSACTIONS, LEGAL & BUSINESS AFFAIRS >>
A+E GLOBAL MEDIA/NY(HYBRID): Oversee the three major areas of commercial transactions (comprised of supporting the Distribution, Total Media Solutions and Global Content Sales divisions) and the adjacent areas supported by the attorney teams that principally support those divisions (including vendor management and privacy). Full info HERE
SR. DIRECTOR OF SALES, KSTU & KUPX >>
THE E.W. SCRIPPS COMPANY/SALT LAKE CITY: Leverage our suite of advertising solutions to unlock growth opportunities for local and national businesses. Play a role in driving the station’s revenue goals as well as serving as the home station for Utah’s new NHL team. Collaborate with our production team to create campaigns that connect our clients with their customers in meaningful ways. Full info HERE
DIGITAL MEDIA BUYER >>
FURMAN ROTH ADVERTISING/NY(HYBRID): Plan, launch, and optimize digital marketing campaigns across various paid media channels (including Display, Google products, Paid Social, CTV, and Programmatic, etc.) while managing budgets effectively. Support the execution of media plans across platforms, overseeing targeting, budget allocation, and performance tracking to drive campaign success. Full info HERE
ACCOUNT DIRECTOR; CTV BRAND PARTNERSHIPS – MID WEST/WEST COAST
FUTURE TODAY
REMOTE
Build, maintain and expand a pipeline of sales targets, contacts, and sales opportunities leveraging your relationships with a heavy focus on new business revenue. Build/nurture relationships with the investment, strategy, precision and digital agencies as well as clients. Also maintain an ongoing knowledge of the streaming media landscape. Full info HERE
DIRECTOR, AD MARKETING & SALES >>
THE SHADE ROOM/REMOTE: Develop and execute a revenue growth strategy to drive direct advertising, branded content, and sponsorship sales as well as lead the development of compelling advertising and branded content offerings tailored for TSR’s audience and cultivate and maintain strong relationships with key advertisers, media agencies, and brand partners. Full info HERE
PROFESSIONAL LECTURER OF COMMUNICATION/SPORTS BROADCASTING >>
MARIST UNIVERSITY/ POUGHKEEPSIE, NY: Teach studio and field broadcasting and new media courses in sports media and journalism as well as be able to teach a studio course on producing a newscast and help students live stream a podcast or produce short-form feature content suitable for social media streaming. Also demonstrate through their teaching, professional activity, and service. Full info HERE
SALES LEAD – AGENCY PARTNERSHIPS
UPWAVE
NEW YORK, NY
Build and manage relationships with our agency partners – mostly targeting media buyers and planners – and help them see the value of adding Upwave measurement to The Trade Desk campaigns. You will both leverage your existing network and open new doors to achieve aggressive but achievable sales targets. Full info HERE |
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