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| Friday September 12, 2025 |
 IN THE NEWS |
| Paramount Skydance is reportedly preparing to make an all-cash offer for Warner Bros. Discovery. And the bid would be for the entire company, which is currently planning to split its global TV networks from its streaming business and studios, according to The Wall Street Journal. Shares of WBD hit a 52-week high after the report.
Meanwhile, Warner Bros. Discovery and Nielsen have signed a new, long-term, multi-year deal, covering measurement for all WBD platforms across linear and streaming. Warner Bros. Discovery will take on new services in 2026 that will tap into Nielsen’s Advanced Audience capabilities and continue to use Nielsen’s Big Data + Panel as currency for this Upfront and beyond.
What’s in store for Sunday’s Primetime Emmy Awards? Producers at Jesse Collins Entertainment are planning a “Golden Girls” tribute, cast reunions for “Gilmore Girls,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” and “Law & Order,” plus a revival of classic TV sets – a spectacle last seen during the 75th ceremony. The show goes on at 8p on CBS.
Week 1 of NFL action drove billions of TV ad impressions, but who were the biggest winners? iSpot data found that estimated linear TV ad spend for live airings only across ABC, CBS, ESPN, Fox, NBC was $357.1 million, and Household impressions hit 10.63 billion. Among brands:
· Verizon was the No. 1 brand during week one games (live-only across ABC, CBS, ESPN, Fox, NBC), with 2.45% of household TV ad impressions – led by its recently-introduced Google A.I. spot.
· Insurance providers Progressive (2.30% of TV ad impressions), GEICO (1.90%), Allstate (1.23%) and State Farm (1.20%) all appeared among the top 10 brands.
· QSR had a significant footprint during week one games, as both McDonald’s (1.72% of TV ad impressions) and Burger King (1.40%) appeared among the top six brands. |
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| AMC Networks and Netflix are expanding the content deal they struck last year. Among the additions to the streamer are season two of “Interview with the Vampire,” season three of “Dark Winds,” and seasons two of “The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon,” “The Walking Dead: Dead City,” and “Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches.” “We are pleased to expand and extend our branded content licensing agreement with Netflix, with an even stronger focus on the franchises that are resonating with viewers and performing so well on Netflix,” said AMC Networks CEO Kristin Dolan. “This renewal also brings some of our franchise titles, including forthcoming seasons, to Netflix subscribers in select international markets, complementing our own international reach.” |
 ABC’s Data Journalism team is out to help budget balancers with the ABC Owned Television Stations Price Tracker app, now live on digital platforms in all eight markets. The tool provides current and historical costs for housing, utilities, groceries, and gas by region and metropolitan area, aggregating data on the 100 largest metropolitan areas in the US. “This is something we’ve been asked for. People want to know how much things are costing in their area and how much that’s changed over time,” said ABC News Data Journalist Maia Rosenfeld. |
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Today’s Premieres
Disney: Wizards Beyond Waverly Place at 7p; Vampirina: Teenage Vampire at 8p
Netflix: Beauty and the Bester; Maledictions; Ratu Ratu Queens: The Series; You and Everything Else
Paramount: Reunion
Prime Video: Every Minute Counts
Saturday’s Premiere
Oxygen: Death Row Confidential: Secrets of a Serial Killer at 9p
Sunday Premieres
AMC Ride With Norman Reedus at 11p
Fox: Doc at 8p |
| PRODUCTION |
 Ricky Gervais has a new show for Netflix: Adult animated comedy “Alley Cats.” Gervais will star in and executive produce the series. “I play a fat, lazy, rude, opinionated creature with fangs, who’s not as smart or brave as he thinks he is,” said Gervais. “So quite a stretch.”
“Bishop” scored an order from Prime Video. The thriller series from co-creators/executive producers Little Marvin (“Them”) and Tony Salzman (“Dexter: Resurrection”), Vertigo and Amazon MGM Studios stars Joel Kinnaman (“For All Mankind”) as a homicide detective.
“Foundation” has been renewed for a fourth season by Apple TV+. The season three finale of the sci-fi epic drops today.
Apple TV+ has also renewed German-language series “Berlin ER” for a second season. The gritty drama was created by former emergency room physician turned screenwriter Samuel Jefferson.
LA-based Elex Michaelson will be staying up late for CNN. The former Fox affiliate anchor in LA will take over weeknights from midnight to 2a. “I am so excited to join CNN and learn firsthand from some of the most talented journalists on the planet,” said Michaelson. “I’m especially grateful that CNN is expanding its investment in my hometown as the West Coast houses so many global leaders in politics, entertainment, technology, sports and more.” |
 Paris-based Monello Productions is developing animated series “Pikky & Rhino.” The series targets children age 6-9.
Dandelooo, in collaboration with France Televisions, has greenlit a second season of preschool series “Billy the Cowboy Hamster.” The new season is co-produced by Belgian independent production company Bardaf! Productions and RTBF.
UK distributor West One International has been acquired by Singapore’s Bomanbridge Media. The agreement will see West One folded into the Bomanbridge group and rebranded as Bomanbridge West. |
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| TECH |
| Pinterest is launching where-to-buy links, enabling advertisers to drive interested customers to a selection of retailers while receiving purchase intent data. The links make standard image ads shoppable by helping find in-stock retail options for a single product directly from an ad. “With where-to-buy links, we can offer our CPG advertisers the best of both worlds: a seamless shopping experience for consumers and richer, more transparent purchase intent signals for brands,” said Julie Townsm VP for Product Marketing and Operations.
Locality announced the launch of Collective, a technology platform that gives advertising planners and buyers a single unified workflow to leverage local media for greater scale and efficiency. Powered by Deben’s media planning technology, Collective unifies local broadcast, local cable and streaming at national scale delivering an audience-first, data-driven approach to local linear and streaming advertising. “National advertisers need effective and scaled premium video buys,” said Brian Morse, Head of Collective at Locality. “While multi-market geographic targeting remains a powerful tool for scale and efficiency, with Collective, planners and buyers can roll-up premium local linear and streaming video into a national, data-driven, audience-first solution.”
SSP Index Exchange and Chalice AI have struck a strategic partnership with dentsu’s Media Practice. The two companies will form a core part of dentsu’s NextGen initiative, a company-wide transformation designed to evolve its core capabilities through data, modularity, and AI. Index will power dentsu’s NextGen algorithmic trading model, that leverages real-time audience signals available from the sell side. A set of platform-independent AI bidding agents, powered by Chalice, will offer clients transparent, customized AI models. “This partnership is a foundational step in building a next-generation programmatic capability that aligns with our broader NextGen transformation,” said Nicholas Halas, Head of Product, Global Amplifi, dentsu EMEA. “Chalice’s advanced decisioning technology and Index’s scaled infrastructure give us the ability to create a more intelligent, transparent, and value-driven media supply chain for our clients.” |
| COMING UP |
| CBS has two music specials on the way. “A Grammy Salute to Earth, Wind & Fire Live: The 21st Night of September” is set for Sunday, September 21, followed by “A Grammy Salute to Cyndi Lauper: Live from the Hollywood Bowl” on Sunday, October 5.
Live Telemundo special “Viva México, El Grito,” celebrating Mexico’s independence, airs Monday, September 15 at 11:45p. The event marks the first Grito ceremony led by a female president, Claudia Sheinbaum, who will deliver the traditional address from the National Palace and ring the bell in honor of the heroes of the War of Independence.
Streamer Kanopy will present the National Hispanic Foundation of the Arts’ collection of films and TV series. The collection is part of Kanopy’s celebration of Latino culture in observance of Hispanic Heritage Month, which runs from September 15 to October 15. |
| SPORTS REPORT |
SponsorUnited released its College Football Athletes to Watch 2025 report. A few highlights on breakout players:
· Arch Manning (Texas): His social media engagement rate sits at 16.5% – that’s 4x higher than the average college football player.
· Caleb Downs (Ohio State): The first defensive player to land an exclusive deal with Panini America and one of two defensive players with Beats by Dre.
· DJ Lagway (Florida): The first Jordan Brand college QB – and donated six figures back to his program’s NIL collective.
Intersport is helping bring college hoops to a national television audience on Thanksgiving Day with Michigan State-North Carolina at 4:30p on Fox in the Skechers Fort Myers Tip-Off and Duke-Arkansas at 8p on CBS in the CBS Sports Thanksgiving Classic. “We’ve developed incredible relationships with CBS and Fox over the years and to be able to partner with both networks to bring four brand-name programs to air alongside their traditional Thanksgiving Day programming is an incredible exposure opportunity for the sport of college basketball,” said Mark Starsiak, SVP at Intersport. “We’ve taken great pride in creating these showcase games for teams, fans and our television partners and we are eager to continue that tradition in November.” |
| RATINGS |
| The series premiere of HBO’s “Task” drew 3.1 million viewers in its first three days, making it one of HBO’s top series debuts ever. |
| EXECUTIVE MOVES |
| New positions at media and entertainment company QYOU USA: Morgan Barclay, who joined the company in 2020, has been promoted to SVP of Partnerships; Jessica Hunt and Danny Lee are joining as Directors of Partnerships; and Chris Smith has been elevated from VP of QYOU Studios to VP & General Manager of Studios. |
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This Day in History
1919 – Adolph Hitler joined the German Workers’ Party as its seventh member.
Friday Fun Fact
Glass sponges can live for 15,000 years.
Answer to Our Last Trivia Question
What kind of animal was the title character in “Rocko’s Modern Life” (1993-96)? Wallaby. Kudos to: Benjamin Robinson-D50 Media/Chestnut Hill, MA; D’Angelo Rashad Woods-Tires/Silver Springs, MD; Stephen Warren-Northeastern/Boston; Erin Bowles-American Public Television/Boston; Ashley Cajthamil-Spectrum Reach/Overland Park, KS; Dale Warshaw-MSB-TV/Tucson; Kayla Moriarty-Crooked Media/LA; Kerri Huyck/Kennewick, WA; Lorrie Shilling/El Segundo, CA
Today’s Trivia Question
What is the longest-running children’s animated series? (Email trivia@cynopsis.com with your answer and be sure to include your name, company, city and time zone. Limit of four answers per time zone.) |
MANAGER, CONSUMER INSIGHTS & BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE>>
SESAME WORKSHOP/NEW YORK, NY:
Support the Research & Insights team in understanding the behaviors, motivations, and needs of children, educators, and caregivers—especially as they interact with TV shows, digital content and experiences. This role will help execute research initiatives that inform content strategy, digital product development, marketing, and audience engagement. 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
INTEGRATED MEDIA PLANNER >>
VLADIMIR JONES/DENVER, CO:
Responsible for preparing and implementing client media plans of all types for existing and prospective clients. This includes audience identification, research, development, presentation and purchasing of media plans & buys as well as an expert at understanding emerging trends and best practices across the omni-channel media world. Full info HERE
MOTION DESIGNER (FREELANCE) >>
LONG STORY SHORT/WASHINGTON, DC: Collaborate closely with our creative team to develop high-quality motion graphics for a variety of projects. Deliverables could include lower thirds, kinetic text, full-screen visuals, logo animations, infographic animations, bumper/intro sequences, social media graphics, and event or presentation graphics. 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
RIGHTS AND CLEARANCE SPECIALIST (FREELANCE) >>
HEARST MEDIA PRODUCTION GROUP/GLENDALE, CA: Spearhead rights management for all contracts, including but not limited to network, distribution, acquisitions, production partner, sponsorship, and talent agreements, maintaining a system that streamlines the process of identifying terms, rights, avails, participations, holdbacks, and territories. Input rights information into our software. 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
ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE DIRECT RESPONSE >>
OPPORTUNITY MEDIA/NY(REMOTE/HYBRID): Seeking an energetic achiever with excellent written & organizational skills for role to assist in growing revenue for dynamic Direct Response Team: required: BA Degree, Min 5 yrs DR Experience. Wide Orbit Exp a +. 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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