| Good morning and welcome to Cynopsis — the media industry’s essential morning read. Looking for something new to watch? Emily Blunt shares her on-set experiences from “Mary Poppins” and other hit movies while facing off against the wings of death on the latest episode of “Hot Ones” on YouTube. |
 IN THE NEWS |
| Show me the money! The top 18 Hollywood executives saw their compensation increase 51% from 2024 to 2025, according to TheWrap’s analysis of company proxy filings. The combined total comes out to $746 million, with almost a fifth ($165 million) going solely to Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav. Considering that the entertainment and media industry lost 17,000 jobs that same year, according to some estimates, the pay gap discrepancy is not exactly a great look. (And not surprisingly, Zaslav also walked away with the highest CEO-to-worker pay ratio, at a rate of 1,378 to 1.)
Who doesn’t love to laugh? Comedian Tom Segura’s YMH Studios, a network of comedy-focused podcasts, is teaming up with FOX Creator Studios to expand its content slate and ad sales. FOX launched FOX Creator Studios at the beginning of the year as part of its efforts to expand its talent and IP to social media formats. The legacy broadcaster is putting a lot of energy into wooing a younger fanbase to FOX content, not just its FAST service, Tubi. For YMH Studios, the tie-up represents a way to produce and scale new content more quickly. It wouldn’t be the first time independent content creators have inked deals with TV networks or FAST channels as they seek higher viewership and, thus, more revenue. |
 “It’s a Small World” after all: Disney Advertising is tapping LUMEE to help it sell ads within the broadcaster’s made-for-kids content portfolio on YouTube.
· LUMEE is a joint venture co-formed by Hasbro and European production company Animaj earlier this year, and serves as an ad sales house for the brands under the JV’s umbrella, including “Peppa Pig,” “Transformers” and “My Little Pony.”
· LUMEE has intimate knowledge of YouTube’s Kids and Family category, which is under-monetized due to regulations around targeting advertising to children.
· The takeaway: Major media companies often prefer to maintain control over their own content, but it makes sense for Disney to entrust ad sales for MFK content on YouTube to LUMEE to maximize its chances of capitalizing on its kids content portfolio. |
 |
CYNOPSIS SPORTS AWARDS
Where Sports Media Comes Together
Join the executives, creators, and innovators shaping the future of sports media and marketing for an evening of recognition, networking, and industry celebration.
From the Top Women in Sports honorees to this year’s standout finalists, the Cynopsis Sports Awards brings the industry together in one room.
June 4 | New York City
RESERVE YOUR SPOT |
| NEW & RETURNING SERIES |
| Britbox released a new trailer for “A Woman of Substance,” a new eight episode original series inspired by the 1979 Barbara Taylor Bradford novel. The series premieres on June 24 and stars both Brenda Blethyn and Jessica Reynolds as two versions of protagonist Emma Harte.
Meanwhile, Apple TV’s new trailer for “Sugar” season 2, which stars Colin Farrell and premieres June 19, takes care not to spoil the first season’s biggest plot twist.
Guy Fieri is hosting a talk-show style show called “Guy’s Feast Club,” which will premiere exclusively on Food Network’s YouTube channel on June 7.
“All-American,” one of the last programming holdovers from before The CW was acquired by Nexstar in 2022, will begin its eighth and final season with a two-hour premiere on July 13. |
Today’s Premieres
Apple TV: Star City
HBO Max: Miss You, Love You at 8pm
Nat Geo: Ancient Autopsy: Mysteries of the Dead at 9pm
Netflix: Brazil ’70: The Third Star; Calabasas Confidential; Rafa
WE: Love After Lockup at 8pm; This Is Polly at 9:30pm
Saturday’s Premieres
A&E: Zombie House Flipping: Family Business at 11am; Storage Wars at 9pm
AWE: WBC World Title Fight: Kevin Lerena vs. Ryad Merhy at 3pm
CNN: Craig Ferguson: American on Purpose at 9pm
OWN: Heart & Hustle: Houston at 9pm
Netflix: Instadocs
Sunday’s Premiere
Netflix: The 51st AFI Life Achievement Award: A Tribute to Eddie Murphy |
| PRODUCTION |
| If Ted Danson had a nickel for every time he’d been cast in an Apple TV show set in a retirement community, he’d now officially have two nickels. The TV star is joining Elizabeth Banks and Rob Delaney in a new, still-untitled comedy series from creators Liz Heldens and Matt Ward.
An authorized TV series based on “Dion, A Family Saga,” a novel about Céline Dion’s childhood as written by her nephew Jimmy Dion, is currently in development under the working title “Growing Up Dion.”
After years of organizing efforts, feature animation production workers at Netflix have ratified their first contract with The Animation Guild.
Prime Video series Bishop announced a whopping ten recurring and guest stars additions to its cast, including Rick Hoffman and Bronson Pinchot. Filming will begin in Montreal this June and run through September. |
 A24 and HBO are developing an “Angel Heart” drama series, presumably based on the 1987 Mickey Rourke film of the same name. Both actor Zac Efron (“The Iron Claw”) and screenwriter Zach Baylin (“Black Rabbit”) are attached.
Clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose: Shawn Cauthen and Lee Leshen are producing a documentary series about “Friday Night Lights” in anticipation of the show’s 20th anniversary. |
| THE TOP WOMEN NETWORK
The Women Moving Forward Are Already Here
The Top Women Network connects women across media, marketing, PR, ad tech, and communications through recognition, mentorship, programming, and year-round community.
Powered by the Chief Marketer Network ecosystem—including PRNEWS, Chief Marketer, Cynopsis, AdExchanger, AdMonsters, CFX, and more.
LEARN MORE |
| TECH NEWS YOU CAN USE |
| European digital ad platform Azerion is integrating its demand-side platform (DSP) with the Spotify Ad Exchange, which includes programmatic video ad placements. The integration is Azerion’s next step toward becoming an omnichannel service – a goal it has in common with many programmatic platforms, especially as more streaming audio platforms adopt video features.
As more viewers cut the cord, marketers are increasing their investments in streaming media, with a special focus on YouTube. According to new research from DoubleVerify, 70% of marketers say they’ve raised their budgets for YouTube over the last year, compared with 65% for Netflix and 59% for Prime Video.
The FDA’s recent crackdown on misleading drug advertising introduced more regulatory clarity that reportedly sparked higher pharma ad spend across TV and streaming platforms. According to the Video Advertising Bureau (VAB), total TV ad spend among pharma marketers surged 53% in the six months following the FDA’s crackdown.
In a new copyright infringement lawsuit, CNN alleges that AI firm Perplexity has “unlawfully copied” over 10,000 stories, videos, images and other materials from the news media company. |
| COMING UP |
| All Women’s Sports Network announced the live TV schedule for the inaugural season of Professional Softball League, debuting on June 12.
Discovery’s “Shark Week” will kick off on July 26 through August 2.
CBS and the US Department of Education are joining forces for a broadcast of the first-ever “Presidential 1776 Award,” a nationwide civics challenge for American high school students. The special will air on June 30 and will be available to stream the next day on Paramount+. |
| SPORTS REPORT |
| CBS Sports announced that Paramount+ secured exclusive US airing rights for English-language Barclays Women’s Super League matches through the 2029-2030 season.
British sports streamer DAZN has acquired the global media rights to the Canadian Football League (CFL), as well as exclusive rights to broadcast Saturday Night Football games, beginning with the 2027 season. |
| DISTRIBUTION |
| DirecTV will premiere a new slate of films on its Tribeca Festival+ FAST Channel beginning on June 3 as part of an exclusive agreement with the Tribeca Festival.
The “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” YouTube channel will debut on June 4.
“Turbozaurs,” an animated adventure series for preschoolers, is launching on The Roku Channel and Cycle Kids as part of its efforts to expand distribution via FAST platforms.
The FAST channel brand “Wheels & Steel” is expanding into German-speaking markets on Samsung TV Plus, LG Channels, Rakuten TV and Titan OS.
Middle Eastern animation company TwelveP Animation is distributing its content slate for kids internationally through multiple YouTube content distribution deals.
Samsung TV Plus launched a FAST channel for Canadian audiences, called MotoAmerica TV. |
| RATINGS |
| Stephen Colbert’s audience didn’t stick around to see if Byron Allen’s “Comics Unleashed,” which now fills the 11:35pm timeslot on CBS, was worth watching. Nielsen data suggests that the show’s Friday night debut last week only drew a national average of 995,000 viewers, LateNighter reports. That’s down 85% from Colbert’s finale broadcast.
FOX Sports saw an 18% increase in viewership for the UFL game pitting Louisville against Dallas on May 24, compared to last year’s tune-in for the ninth week in the season. With 1.59 million viewers, the game is the most-watched regular-season UFL event since the league launched in 2024, following a merger between the USFL and XFL. |
 The final season of “Stranger Things” was the most watched non-sports TV series of the 2025-2026 season. According to Nielsen, the Netflix series averaged 32.9 million viewers over a 35-day period. The most-watched broadcast series of the year was “Marshals” on CBS, which came in third at 20.7 million viewers.
Prime Video original series “The Boys” earned the No. 1 spot in Nielsen’s Top 10 overall most-watched streaming shows during the week of April 27. It’s the second time the hit show topped the charts. The first time occurred in July 2024, during the final week of the fourth season. |
| EXECUTIVE MOVES |
| The Paley Center for Media added new members to its board of trustees, including new Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro, Spotify Co-CEO and Director Alex Norström, and TikTok CEO Adam Presser.
Investigative journalist Nick Bilton joins CBS News’ “60 Minutes” as executive producer, replacing Tanya Simon. He has previously directed, written and produced several documentaries, including “Fake Famous” and “Biggest Heist Ever.”
Vox Media CRO Geoff Schiller leaves to become CEO of cinema ad network Screenvision.
CNBC hires Ken Brown as Managing Editor of Digital and Editorial Strategy. |
|
Friday Fun Fact
Before she created the new Apple TV show “Widow’s Bay,” TV writer Katie Dippold became a part of internet meme history when she tweeted a photo of herself as the Babadook at a Halloween party.
Today’s Trivia Question
In the NBC sitcom “30 Rock,” what famous musician played a kidney opposite Liz Lemon in their fifth grade school play? (Email answers to trivia@cynopsis.com and include your name, company and city. Answers limited to four per time zone.)
Answer to Our Last Trivia Question
Which ‘00s sitcom got its title from a song by The Romantics? Answer: “What I Like About You.”
Congrats to: Nicole Langella-Two Twelve Direct/Manalapan, NJ; Mike Gioscia-NBCUniversal/NY; Gerry Bixenspan-TV Marketing Inc./NY; Fr. Mark Wajda/Clermont, FL; Judy Margolis-The Barber Shop Marketing/Dallas, TX; Aaron Paquette-AccelerateSG/Fort Worth, TX; John Kukla-KDFW Fox 4/Dallas, TX; Justin Pierce-JP Consulting Group/LA; Susan Nessanbaum-Goldberg-M&S Entertainment/LA; Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA; Melissa Friedman/LA; Kevin McDonough-Apex Exchange/Honolulu, HI |
|
