Today’s Finale
ID: See No Evil at 9p

IN THE NEWS

ViacomCBS is launching a connected video advertising platform, EyeQ. The platform will serve as a single transactional point of entry for digital video content from ViacomCBS’ networks, with enhanced capabilities to deliver incremental reach. “The launch of EyeQ marks the arrival of one of the biggest premium video platforms in digital media,” said John Halley, COO of Advertising Revenue at ViacomCBS. “In unifying the operating backend and go-to-market of three large pre-existing players – CBS Interactive, Pluto TV, and Viacom Video – we have consolidated a massive audience footprint that will deliver quality, scale, and capabilities that cannot be matched.”

Fixer Upper is getting a reboot and moving to upcoming Magnolia Network, Discovery Inc.’s joint venture with series stars Chip and Joanna Gaines. “The day we wrapped our final episode of Fixer Upper, we really believed it was a chapter closed. We knew we needed a break and a moment to catch our breath,” said the Gaineses. “I don’t think either of us anticipated how the show would become such a permanent fixture in our hearts.” The renovation show ran for five seasons on HGTV, wrapping in 2018 as the #1 unscripted show in cable television. Magnolia Network is set to make its debut in 2021.

Also newly added to the Magnolia slate are Self Employed (wt), following a Texas-based entrepreneur who meets with inspiring small business owners, and an untitled project showcasing interior designer Brian Patrick Flynn’s eclectic style.

AMC Networks’ revenue for 2Q20 dropped 16.3% to $646 million, due to a soft advertising quarter, but beat analysts’ expectations. “We remain focused on our strategic priorities and are making progress on our major initiatives – which include creating great content and monetizing that content across an expanding array of platforms,” said CEO Josh Sapan. Production on Fear the Walking Dead is expected to resume in late August; new series Kevin Can F*** Himself restarts at the end of September; and The Walking Dead will get moving in October. “Our ability to resume in the safest possible way is something we are closely focused on,” said Sapan in a call on Tuesday. “We will continue to monitor and adjust accordingly depending on local circumstances.”

Fox Corp. met expectations with reported total sales of $2.42 billion in 2Q20, down 4% from year-ago and down $1 billion from the quarter prior, thanks to the pandemic’s impact on advertising. “Fox delivered strong results for the fourth quarter and full fiscal year, even in spite of the unprecedented environment in which we all continue to operate, underscoring the strength of our brands and content offering,” said CEO Lachlan Murdoch. “We continue to expand the way audiences interact and connect with our brands while simultaneously diversifying and enhancing our revenue base.”

Discovery Channel’s Shark Week doesn’t just lure viewers – the stunt reels in new viewers to the network, according to an analysis by Alphonso. Looking at the viewing of 15 million HHs, average unique viewers (total day) for Shark Week last year were up 23% compared to the week before. In total, the share of the audience that was new (defined as viewers that did not watch the network the week before) for Shark Week in 2019 was 28%. The top five shows that 2019’s unique viewers watched the previous week were SportsCenter, NBC Nightly News With Lester Holt, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir, America’s Got Talent and Good Morning America. Shark Week also helped increase the average watch time among unique viewers, with 179 minutes on average watched during the stunt, compared to 161 minutes the week before and 137 minutes the week after.

While 1% fewer viewers are watching 27 widely-viewed TV networks than in June 2019, TV watching time rose by 39%, according to Samba TV. News nets were big gainers, not surprising during a period spanning COVID-19 and social unrest – time spent on CNN spiked 322%, with jumps of 202% on Fox News and 167% on MSNBC.

The White House withdrew the nomination of FCC member Mike O’Rielly to serve another term, after the nomination had been approved by the Senate, reportedly because O’Rielly expressed reservations about regulating social media platforms. President Trump told the Commerce Department in May to petition the FCC to impose new regulations on social media practices; last week O’Rielly, who has been on the FCC since 2013, said, “The First Amendment protects us from limits on speech imposed by the government – not private actors – and we should all reject demands, in the name of the First Amendment, for private actors to curate or publish speech in a certain way.” The White House didn’t comment on the move.

Rebel Entertainment Partners is suing Judge Judy Sheindlin and CBS for over $5 million, over alleged shenanigans in the $95 million sale of the Judge Judy library. The lawsuit from talent agent Richard Lawrence claims former CBS CEO Les Moonves and former programming head Armando Nunez “seriously underestimated the value of the episode library and sold the rights to these episodes to series star Judith Sheindlin for a song,” in 2015. Responded Sheindlin to Deadline, “If Mr. Lawrence can produce a contract, signed by me and Mr. Lawrence on the same page, at any time in history from the beginning of time, I will toast that contract, smear it with cream cheese and eat it on national television.” It’s not the court show’s first legal tussle – in a now settled suit filed in 2016, Rebel claimed it was entitled to 5% of any profits from the show.

NBCUniversal has started layoffs as part of a planned streamlining of operations, according to multiple reports. On July 30, CEO Jeff Shell said, “A few months ago, we combined our television and streaming businesses under Mark Lazarus, which will allow us to more rapidly shift our resources and investment from linear to streaming. Mark is finalizing a new structure that will demonstrate the unique way we intend to manage this business going forward.” The Wall Street Journal reported the cuts will impact less thank 10% of staff.

Amy Adams will reunite with Adam McKay to star in and exec produce Netflix’s Kings of America, a limited series based on a real-life class action lawsuit against Walmart. McKay will direct the first episode and EP along with Betsy Koch through Hyperobject Industries.

Under its first-look production deal with A+E Networks, OZY is developing dating show The Science of Dating (wt), produced by A+E’s Six West Media, for Lifetime, and a campaign special, The Contenders, ordered by History. “OZY has been an innovative and creative partner with great IP,” said A+E Networks Group President Paul Buccieri. “We are pleased about the projects in the pipeline and look forward to what we will accomplish together in years to come.”

Landmark Studio Group and District 33 are teaming for Shadows in the Vineyard, a limited series based on the bestseller, Shadows in the Vineyard: The True Story of the Plot to Poison the World’s Greatest Wine. Noah Wyle (Falling Skies) and Judith Light (Transparent) are attached to star and executive produce.

The Wheelhouse Group and TikTok content-creator collective Hype House are teaming to develop and produce docu-series The Hype Life. Part of a larger overall content and brand-focused alliance, the project will take viewers inside the group’s communal mansion in LA.

Live-events and entertainment company Joe Lewis Company and format distributor Small World IFT have entered into a strategic partnership calling for Small World to spearhead JLC’s diversification into TV entertainment and its expansion into the MENA media market. Small World, which will rebrand as Small World International, will continue to operate as an independent format sourcing and distribution company.

Michelle Gomez (The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina) landed a series regular role in HBO Max’s drama series The Flight Attendant, starring and exec produced by Kaley Cuoco (Big Bang Theory).

NEW & RETURNING SERIES

Starz’ Power spin-off, Power Book II: Ghost, has a premiere date: Sunday, September 6. Michael Rainey Jr. will reprise his role as teen drug dealer Tariq.

Discovery’s Dodgeball Thunderdome turns the middle school mainstay into a sporting adventure, starting Wednesday, August 19 at 9p. YouTube star David Dobrik hosts the competition series.

Syndicated AIM series Raw Travel has been greenlit for an eighth season, set to kick off on October 3 and 4. Thanks to an aggressive shooting schedule pre-pandemic, Raw Travel will be rolling out an entire season of first-run content.

Enslaved, a docu-series shedding new light on 400 years of human trafficking from Africa to the New World, launches on Epix on Monday, September 14 at 10p. Samuel L. Jackson heads up the six-parter.

(Un)Well, a docu-series investigating controversial wellness fads, premieres on Netflix on Wednesday, August 12. “Wellness is a multi-billion dollar industry around the world, and in this new Netflix series we wanted to explore some of the more polarizing trends and meet the people who are inspired by them,” said Anneka Jones, EVP Development & Current Production at producer Left/Right.

OWN’s The Haves and the Have Nots returns for its mid-season premiere with back-to-back episodes on Tuesday, August 25 at 8p.

“Minisodes” of Nickelodeon’s Danger Force kick off Saturday, August 8 at 8p, picking up after the events of the show’s “Quaran-kini” special that aired in May. New episodes will air weekly.

STREAMING SCOOP

AMC Networks streamers Acorn TV, Shudder, Sundance Now and UMC “delivered impressive year-over-year growth in revenues and subscribers,” said Josh Sapan on Tuesday’s call with investors, with horror service Shudder “doing extraordinarily well.” Added Sapan, “What is uniquely attractive about targeted subscription services, which is somewhat less true of something-for-everyone, big SVOD services, is they are slightly less individual-show dependent.” AMC Networks said it expects to see 3.5 million to 4.0 million paid subscribers for its streamers by the end of 2020.

While Disney’s parks, experiences and products division took a $3.5 billion hit in the second quarter as a result of the shutdown, there was better news from Disney+. The streamer now counts 57.5 million subscribers, up from 54.5 million at the beginning of May and well on the way toward the 60-90 million subs the company told investors to expect by 2024. Hulu now has 35.5 million subscribers, and ESPN has scored 8.5 million – more than triple the number it had one year ago. “Despite the ongoing challenges of the pandemic, we’ve continued to build on the incredible success of Disney+ as we grow our global direct-to-consumer businesses,” said CEO Bob Chapek. “The global reach of our full portfolio of direct-to-consumer services now exceeds an astounding 100 million paid subscriptions — a significant milestone and a reaffirmation of our DTC strategy, which we view as key to the future growth of our company.”

Disney’s live-action version of Mulan, originally scheduled to premiere in theaters on March 27, will be accessible to Disney+ customers for $29.99 starting September 4. In countries where Disney+ is not available, the film will be released in theaters on the same date.

Pluto TV announced a global smart TV distribution deal with LG Electronics, making Pluto TV available on LG smart TV models (2020) in the US, with rollouts on 2016-2019 models beginning in the fall. Expansion plans to other regions will be announced at a later date. Pluto TV currently has a global footprint spanning 22 countries across three continents.

Rakuten Viki, the streaming service for Asian content, expanded its library of movie offerings. Said Sarah Kim, SVP of Content and Partnerships, “In response to a growing appetite for Asian films, we are excited to expand our selection of entertaining movie content. Our subscribers will be thrilled to have access to a vast new collection of movie titles across a variety of countries and languages.” Films include hits and new discoveries from across Korea, Japan, Mainland China and Taiwan.

ViacomCBS sibs Bellator MMA and Pluto TV have partnered to launch an exclusive channel on Pluto TV featuring past matches from Bellator’s library of content. The Bellator MMA channel on Pluto TV is housed in the “Sports” category.

TECH TALK

Twitter expects to lose between $150 million and $200 million because of alleged violations of its 2011 consent order with the FTC and the FTC Act, barring it from misleading consumers about the extent of its security and privacy practices. The FTC sent Twitter a draft complaint alleging that between 2013 and 2019, Twitter used phone numbers and email addresses collected ostensibly for security purposes, that were used for targeted advertising. Twitter said the action was inadvertent.

While the majority of Gen Zers continue to use TikTok for fun videos (96%), the social networking service is also an outlet for political action. Ninety-four percent of Gen Z say the platform has generated meaningful action for the BLM movement, and exposure to social activism posts on TikTok has driven Gen Z engage in discussions with family and friends (54%); sign petitions (44%); and educate themselves further because of something they saw on the platform (32%).

The #StopHateForProfit boycott resulted in brands sharing -67% fewer new ads on Facebook and Instagram in July 2020 compared to July 2019, according to the ListenFirst Data Co-op. Early evidence indicates that brands are advertising less going into August – adjusting numbers to account for the fact that the month began on a weekend, on August 1 and August 2 brands shared -73% less new Facebook and Instagram ads during the first weekend of August 2020 compared to the first weekend of August 2019.

Do you have what it takes? Nominations for the Cynopsis Digital “It List” are due on Tuesday (the 11th) and we’re looking for this year’s group of innovators who are elevating our industry during these unprecedented times. The nomination process is simple – click here to get started.

ADVERTISING

The Partnership for Responsible Addressable Media, made up of industry organizations including the ANA, 4A’s, IAB, along with advertisers and agencies, has been created to “advance and protect” ad companies’ ability to serve personalized digital ads and collect data used for analytics, in a way that safeguards privacy and improves the consumer experience. The group will approach browser and platform developers about reconsidering decisions to limit tracking that could have a major impact on the advertising ecosystem, like Google’s plan to configure the Chrome browser to block cookies set by third parties, and Apple’s upcoming new operating system, which will allow consumers to prohibit tracking by an app.

In a new report, “Tracking Metrics,” FreeWheel looked at metrics that can help buy and sell sides understand inventory. Four sets of metrics were identified to help manage revenue, improve the viewer experience and deliver the most value to advertisers. Key takeaways include:
* The most sophisticated publishers in the video industry don’t just monitor a small set of metrics, they’ve built full dashboards customized to how they run their business, looking out for viewers, advertisers, and their own revenue.
* Publishers commonly look at “fill rate” to see how well they are monetizing their inventory, but with video commercial breaks, the added dimension of time means that a “fill rate” can look different depending on how you calculate it.
* Digital video viewers want to see relevant ads with minimal repetition, but many systems need to work together correctly to ensure that happens. “Through our work with some of the largest video publishers, we found a nuanced set of metrics that help them identify risks to their revenue, viewer experience and advertisers that are unique in long-form video,” said David Dworin, Head of Global Advisory Services, FreeWheel.

COMING UP

Circle is celebrating the career of country music star Luke Bryan on Wednesday, August 19 with a network takeover called Luke Bryan Lives Here, kicking off with a new episode of Circle Sessions at 8:30p.

BTS, Doja Cat and J Balvin are the first round of performers announced for the 2020 VMAs, airing live on MTV Sunday, August 30 at 8p.

SOCIAL GOOD

People-based technology company Viant announced the results from its Feeding America pro-bono display advertising campaign that ran on its Adephics self-service DSP from from April-May. The campaign drove more than 1,500 site visits and donations during COVID-19, with much of the engagement taking place on mobile devices, with New York, California and Texas being the top delivering states.

In conjunction with Paris City Hall and in association with UNICEF, ZAG and ON kids & are producing a PSA featuring superhero stars of the aspirational action-comedy series Miraculous- Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir. In the spot, which is being translated into eight languages, Ladybug and Cat Noir teach children how to practice effective handwashing, hygienic sneezing, social distancing and more, to help keep people safe.

REGISTER TODAY
Sponsored by: Turnkey Search

The Discovery and Science Channel multiplatform event, Space Launch Live: Splashdown, ranked #1 in all of television among P25-54 during Sunday’s live coverage as audiences witnessed the splashdown of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft. The event was simulcast live coast-to-coast on Discovery and Science Channel and was ranked #1 in its timeslot across all of television on Discovery among P/ M25-54; #2 with W25-54, P/M/W18-49, and Total Viewers P2+; and #3 among kids P2-11.

In syndication, Judge Judy (5.7 Live+SD national Nielsen rating, up 2% from the week before) and Hot Bench (nine-week high 2.1, up 5%) saw its audience grow by 214,000 to more than 8.0-million viewers each day and jumped 5% in the key W25-54 demo while clocking its second highest rating in two months. Ellen DeGeneres hit a new all-time low 1.0, down 9%, to tie with Steve Wilkos (1.0, up 11%).

Univision delivered double-digit year-over-year primetime audience growth for the fourth consecutive week among Total Viewers 2+ (+39% to 1.5 million), A18-49 (+28% to 556,000) and A18-34 (+43% to 252,000) the week of July 27. The network also ranked #1 in primetime among A18-34 in all of television for the tenth consecutive week, the longest winning streak in the demo since the 2010/11 season.

Basic Cable Top 5 for the Week of July 27
Primetime (P2+)
Fox News (3,159,000)
MSNBC (1,927,000)
CNN (1,377,000)
HGTV (1,304,000)
TLC (1,210,000)
Total Day (P2+)
Fox News (1,632,000)
MSNBC (1,224,000)
CNN (989,000)
HGTV (695,000)
Hallmark Channel (631,000)

Top 10 M-F Syndicated Strip Series for the week of July 20 ranked in order by HH Rtg
Family Feud (CTD) 5.7 AA
Judge Judy (CTD) 5.7 AA
Wheel of Fortune (CTD) 4.8 AA
Jeopardy (CTD) 4.7 AA
The Big Bang Theory (WB) 2.7 AA
Inside Edition (CTD) 2.5 AA
Entertainment Tonight (CTD) 2.4 AA
Hot Bench (CTD) 2.1 AA
Last Man Standing (DAD) 2.0 AA
Dr. Phil (CTD) 1.8 AA
Source: Nielsen

TV Time’s Shows on the Rise for the Week of July 27
Get Even (BBC iPlayer) – 98.9%
The Umbrella Academy (Netflix) – 97%
Locked Up: El Oasis (Fox Espana) – 95.5%
Last Chance U (Netflix) – 92.2%
Good Girls (NBC) – 83.6%
Wynonna Earp (Syfy) – 75.9%
Euphoria (HBO) – 48.9%
Manifest (NBC) – 25.3%
Shameless (Showtime) – 24.2%
The Alienist (TNT) – 19.3%
Methodology: Every week, millions of viewers around the world use TV Time to track their favorite series. “Shows on the Rise” is calculated by determining the week-over-week growth in episodes watched for a given program.

Broadcast Nielsen Ratings for Monday, August 3
Show, P2+ 0000s, (A18-49)
ABC: The Bachelor: The Greatest Seasons Ever 1.70 (0.3)
CBS: The Neighborhood 3.65 (0.4), Bob Hearts Abishola 3.27 (0.3), All Rise 2.65 (0.3), Bull 3.20 (0.4)
CW: Whose Line Is it Anyway? 0.92 (0.2), Whose Line Is it Anyway? 0.91 (0.2), Penn & Teller: Fool Us 0.90 (0.2)
FOX: 9-1-1 2.19 (0.4), 9-1-1: Lone Star 1.85 (0.3)
NBC: The Titan Games 3.66 (0.7), America Ninja Warrior 2.65 (0.5)
Telemundo: Exatlon Estados Unidos 1.05 (0.3), Cennet 1.14 (0.3), Enemigo Intimo 0.75 (0.2)
Univision: Te Doy la Vida 2.12 (0.6), Medicos Linea de Vida 1.43 (0.4), Como Tu No Hay 1.49 (0.5)
Source: Nielsen live + same day time period averages

EXECUTIVE MOVES

A+E Networks has promoted Sara Hinzman to SVP, Distribution & Strategy. In this expanded role, Hinzman continues her oversight of content distribution sales and takes on additional responsibility of distribution strategy for the company’s portfolio of products and services from A&E, HISTORY and Lifetime.

Looking for the right media professional to add to your team? We offer hiring managers a deep pool of media-savvy, skilled candidates at a range of experience levels and sectors. Email [email protected] or visit CYNOPSIS JOBS to learn more!

Answer to Our Last Trivia Question
The location of which animated series started in Florida, moved to Mississippi, and then Tennessee? Deputy Dawg (1962-63). Kudos to: Paul Blutter-Walk and Talk Production Rentals/Burbank, Susan Nessanbaum-Goldberg-M and S Entertainment/LA, David Westberg-SAG-AFTRA Credit Union/Burbank

Today’s Trivia Question
Who played sassy secretary Margo on Open House (1989-1990)? (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.)