The Golden Globes organization is halting the $75,000 annual salary it had been paying former members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association since 2023, after the HFPA was acquired by Penske Media Eldridge. Those members will be offered $102,500 in severance, with voters invited to reapply for accreditation each year, Globes president Helen Hoehne told members on Friday. The move puts the Globe in line with the Oscars, Emmys and Grammys, which do not pay voters.

Marketers are increasingly recognizing the value of conversational commerce, according to a study by AI advertising platform Smartly and conducted by Forrester Consulting. The study notes that 73% of marketers plan to increase their investments in conversational commerce (interactions across channels including social media, company websites and messaging apps) by up to 50% over the next two years. Highlights include:
– Over half of the surveyed marketers already allocate dedicated budgets for conversational commerce, separate from programmatic or paid social.
– While clicks and conversions are still key, marketers are looking to conversational commerce to boost brand reputation and enhance customer experiences.
– 68% believe creative is critical in driving full-funnel effectiveness from awareness to conversion, with conversational commerce emerging as a powerful tool to enhance engagement.

“With conversational ads, brands don’t have to guess what people want. They tell you—you just listen,” said Laura Desmond, CEO, Smartly. “Combining that with media and creative working seamlessly together, people engage, brands learn, and marketing just works better. It’s intelligent creative.”

Advertising for the Oscars sold out – most of it weeks before Sunday’s show –reported Disney on Friday. That included commercial inventory tied to the event, TV, streaming, social and more; packages included offerings like day-after sponsorship on “Good Morning America.” It was the first time the ceremony streamed live on digital platforms. Prices were said to be on a par with last year, reportedly in the $1.7-$2.3 million range for a 30-second spot.

Season six of “Bargain Mansions” has its streaming premiere Friday, March 28 on Max and discovery+. The renovation series follows Tamara Day and her father Ward as they breathe life into dilapidated, bargain priced mansions.

Lifetime has greenlit “A Sorority Mom’s Guide to Rush” (w/t), a new unscripted series from Vice Studios. Each one-hour episode will follow girls during the application process, moving into the dorms and on-campus Rush week, all leading up to Bid Day. The series will debut later this year on Lifetime.

Apple TV+ has picked up “Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed,” a dark comedy from creator and showrunner David J. Rosen (“Citadel”) starring Tatiana Maslany (“Orphan Black”) as a newly divorced mom who falls into a rabbit hole of blackmail and murder. The series from Apple Studios and Counterpart Studios will be executive produced by Simon Kinberg and Audrey Chon for Genre Films under their first-look deal with Apple TV+, and Bard Dorros for Anonymous Content.

Off The Fence has entered into a development deal with US journalists Gloria Gomez and Robin Carter. Under the agreement, OTF will co-develop and produce new true-crime series based on the intelligence, access and contacts amassed by Gomez and Carter during their careers as investigative journalists. First out of the gate: “Love & Death Row: The Rosalie Bolin Story.”

Advertising digital and linear rep firm Viamedia announced today that it has become the first US ad sales firm to represent more than 100 video service providers. “It’s a remarkable achievement when you consider so many operators are dropping video,” said David Solomon, President and CEO of Viamedia. “Today, local advertising is not just a revenue stream, it is the voice of the community and provides our political infrastructure to connect with voters.”

Karate Combat live and archived events are now available on Dooya Media Group’s network of FAST and AVOD channels. The partnership kicked off Friday with Karate Combat’s 53rd event live from Denver.

Today’s Trivia Question
Which TV character drove a Jeep named Dixie? (Email answers to [email protected] and include your name, company and city. Answers limited to four per time zone.)