 IN THE NEWS |
| NBCUniversal and Google struck a long-term distribution agreement that averts an NBCU blackout on YouTube TV. “Our new agreement with Google is a clear win for both our business and our viewers,” said Matt Schnaars, President of Platform Distribution & Partnerships at NBCUniversal. “We’ve secured long-term access to our full portfolio of broadcast and cable networks on YouTube TV, and we’re advancing our Peacock strategy with an upcoming launch on YouTube Primetime Channels and ongoing presence on Google TV.” The agreement includes the launch of NBC Sports Network later this fall, which will offer YouTube TV subscribers a range of sports programming that complements properties available on NBC. The companies had agreed on Tuesday to a short-term extension of their previous deal, which expired September 30.
Spanish-language TV delivers +30% higher ad engagement than English-language TV, according to EDO’s Spanish-Language TV Outcomes Report. Across 1.2 million ad airings and $2 billion in spend, SLTV consistently outperformed ELTV benchmarks. Key highlights include:
· Scripted entertainment ads drove a +36% engagement lift, news delivered +49%, and live sports outpaced English-language sports with a +9% lift.
· Culturally resonant campaigns supercharge performance. Walmart’s back-to-school ads featuring Stephanie Beatriz outperformed department store primetime averages by +96%, while Burger King’s Mexican soccer team creative delivered +265% stronger results than the SLTV average.
· Campaigns on TelevisaUnivision’s ViX drove up to +52% stronger outcomes than equivalent English-language TV benchmarks, indicating Hispanic audiences are equally powerful on digital platforms |
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| The analysis encompasses over 1.2 million ad airings, 363 billion impressions, and $2 billion in ad spend from 715 brands.
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has agreed to testify before the Senate Commerce Committee over remarks he made leading up to ABC’s suspension of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”. “When we see stuff like this, look, we can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Carr said following comments Kimmel made about Charlie Kirk’s assassin. “These companies can find ways to change conduct on Kimmel, or there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.” The Senate committee, which has jurisdiction over the FCC, is chaired by Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, one of the Republicans who criticized Carr’s actions. FCC commissioners Anna M. Gomez and Olivia Trusty are also expected to appear
Netflix has canceled “The Ultimatum: Queer Love” after two seasons. The dating show’s sophomore run launched in June.
ESPN’s direct-to-consumer service and FOX One, both launched in August, are bundling up. The streamers have teamed to offer viewers the option to subscribe to both services together for $39.99/month ($10 less than subscribing to both separately). The bundle features content and live events from top leagues on all of ESPN and FOX’s networks and services. |
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| CYNOPSIS SCREENSHIFT
Inside the Minds of Media Buyers
Who decides where the ad dollars go? Find out in this no-holds-barred session where top buyers and planners reveal how budgets are set and campaigns get built. Bring your questions and get real answers from Tim Hill (Initiative), Samantha Rose (Horizon Media), and Luke Fowler (KSM Media). Moderated by Erin Firneno (Advertiser Perceptions).
Don’t miss your chance—reserve your pass now.
RESERVE MY SPOT |
| NEW & RETURNING SERIES |
| “The Guest,” from ITV Studios, premieres Friday, October 17 on Paramount+. The thriller series, following two unlikely friends as their lives begin to unravel, debuted on UK’s BBC One last month.
Season 18 of “Heartland” will have its cable premiere on Thursday, January 8 at 8p on UPtv. The Canadian family drama is based on the bestselling books by Laura Brooke.
Docuseries “Hawkeyes – The First Season with Iowa Women’s Wrestling” premieres Saturday, October 11 on FloSports.
Memphis-set series “G.R.I.T.S.”, following three friends navigating life, premieres on ALLBLK on Thursday, October 30.
The midseason premiere of “Tyler Perry’s Sistas” has been set for Wednesday, October 8 at 9p on BET. The drama is in its ninth season.
Season five of RFD-TV’s “On the Record” kicks off Friday, October 17 at 7:30p. The weekly interview series spotlights country music artists. |
Today’s Premieres
Apple TV+: The Sisters Grimm
Ovation TV: Murdoch Mysteries
OWN: Belle Collective at 8p
Netflix: Genie, Make a Wish; Monster: The Ed Gein Story; The New Force; Old Dog, New Tricks
Prime Video: Faceoff: Inside the NHL
Saturday’s Premieres
NBC: Forever Young with Dr. Pablo Prichard at 11:30a; Saturday Night Live at 11:30p
Netflix: Ranma 1/2
PBS: Austin City Limits at 11p
Sunday’s Premieres
Adult Swim: Smiling Friends at 11:30p
Bravo: The Real Housewives of Potomac at 8p
CNN: Tony Shaloub Breaking Bread at 9p; New Orleans: Soul of a City at 10p
ID: Ted Bundy: Mind of a Monster at 9p
PBS: Brian and Maggie at 8p; Maigret at 9p; The Gold at 10p
Ho ho ho! Cynopsis is gearing up for our annual Holiday Programming Guide – dropping November 3 and delivered straight to all Cynopsis subscribers. If your network has holiday programming airing from November 3 through January 1, please send your listing to janetdilauro@gmail.com and Lynn@cynopsis.com no later than October 22 with the subject line: Holiday Guide. To be included, programs must be listed by date, title of program, and start times, in the following format: “Thursday, November 19: Network Name: My One Christmas Wish at 9a, Paper Angels at 11a, 12 Days of Giving at 1p”. Holiday-related programs only! A confirmation email will be sent following each submission (if you don’t receive a confirmation email, please resubmit). |
| TECH |
Scammers are spending heavily on Facebook ads that use deepfake videos of political figures to hawk fake government benefits, reports Tech Transparency Project. An investigation by the nonprofit found:
· 63 scam advertisers who have collectively run more than 150,00 political ads on Meta platforms, to the tune of $4 million.
· The scammers were often among the top political ad spenders on Facebook and Instagram across a range of time periods in 2025.
· The ads often targeted seniors, giving the impression they were offering official Medicare and Social Security benefits.
Meta has disabled some of the accounts but not until they had spent substantial sums on advertising. While Meta prohibits scams, TTP found that Meta approved such advertisers, and let them run scams for days or weeks without taking action.
Viant is using recently acquired tech from IRIS.TV to enable Tubi’s library of 300,000 movies and TV episodes with IRIS_ID. The moves gives advertisers precise video-level contextual and emotional targeting capabilities. “Advertisers expect transparency along with improved performance as they continue to accelerate their CTV investments,” said Tom Wolfe, SVP of Business Development at Viant. “By combining Tubi’s extensive AVOD reach with Viant’s leadership in CTV, identity and measurement, advertisers achieve greater transparency and performance, at scale.”
Yahoo and Samsung News are partnering to expand the functionality of the Samsung News app. The upgrade introduces a new Sports tab and dedicated stock market module, powered by Yahoo Media Group. “Galaxy users turn to Samsung News multiple times a day for the latest headlines from the world’s top news sources. Now they have another critical reason to tune-in for access to live sports scores and financial markets updates,” said Maya Harris, VP & Head of Strategic Partnerships for Samsung’s TV & Mobile Services.
While 25% of marketers have already used AI to replace human employees, 66.4% feel that AI poses little-to-no risk for their own jobs in the next 3-5 years. At least that’s what they told Basis for its 2025 AI and the Future of Advertising Industry Jobs report. Additional insights include:
· 79.3% of respondents say their organizations plan to invest in technology that automates or streamlines processes within the next 12 months.
· 58.6% of marketers believe AI will cause substantial job losses in the industry within the next 3–5 years.
· 20% report that their organizations currently “employ” AI agents for marketing or advertising tasks.
Results of the survey “expose a critical vulnerability: the growing disconnect between leadership optimism and workforce apprehension,” concludes the report. “This enthusiasm gap represents a strategic risk that could undermine AI adoption and create talent retention crises, and those organizations that fail to bridge this divide risk losing the human expertise that is essential to any successful widespread AI implementation.”
On a related note, business leaders chasing AI-driven efficiency often overlook how AI can impact their customers, according to new research conducted by WSJ Intelligence and Code and Theory. The Experience Gap: AI’s Imminent Impact on CX report found that while 94% of executives say CX drives business success, 93% admit their digital experience is fundamentally broken. Just 28% of C-Suite executives surveyed say they are leveraging new technologies to fundamentally improve customer experiences. Barriers to CX transformation were found by 56% of respondents to be cultural and organizational rather than technological, including leadership mismanagement, siloed culture and creative talent deficits, and 88% believe the promise of AI-driven personalization is more promise than reality. |
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| CYNOPSIS TOP WOMEN IN MEDIA
Recognizing Excellence. Inspiring the Future.
On Oct. 8 in NYC, the Top Women in Media Awards Gala will honor visionaries driving progress across content, tech, and marketing. This is where the industry celebrates the women who move media forward.
Book your tickets now.
GET TICKETS |
| PRODUCTION |
| Religion of Sports is developing a game show based on Immaculate Grid, the online sports trivia game from Sports Reference that has attracted over 6.5 million users this year. “Immaculate Grid is the online game to play if you’re a serious sports fan. It’s very challenging and very addictive,” said Victor Buhler, SVP of Development and Production at Religion of Sports. “We believe the game can also become a terrific show, a future favorite for sports fans of every stripe.”
Netflix and the BBC have ordered a sequel to historical drama “Peaky Blinders” (2013-22) from the original’s creator, Steven Knight. “Peaky” star Cillian Murphy will executive produce.
Blue Ant Media has acquired MagellanTV, a digital streaming company that delivers premium factual content. “This acquisition of MagellanTV increases Blue Ant’s scale and adds audiences and distribution capabilities that are highly complementary to our business,” said Michael MacMillan, CEO, Blue Ant. “MagellanTV’s business model is primed for optimization within our global infrastructure, and we’re thrilled to welcome the talented team to Blue Ant.” MagellanTV co-founder Greg Diefenbach will join Blue Ant as Executive Vice President, Streaming. |
| COMING UP |
| ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars” goes Disney on Tuesday, October 7, when the 11 remaining couples celebrates Disneyland’s 70th anniversary by twirling to songs inspired by Disney films and attractions. |
| SPORTS REPORT |
| Disney+ customers in South Africa now have access to both ESPN and ESPN2 linear channels. The football season has kicked off with six leagues, including the English Football League (EFL), Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL), the Dutch Eredivisie, the German Football Association Cup (German DFB Pokal), the Saudi Pro League and the SüperLig from Turkey, along with NFL and NCAA games. |
| DISTRIBUTION |
| Wedotv has expanded its footprint in Italy for two of its FAST channels, wedotv movies Italia and wedotv Big Stories, with distribution on the Sky Italia satellite platform. |
| RATINGS |
| The premiere of ABC’s “Celebrity Wheel of Fortune” delivered 3.55 million viewers and an 0.31 rating among A18-49, rising by +17% in Total Viewers over its previous season premiere.
Age isn’t slowing down CBS reality shows. The premiere episodes of “Survivor” season 49 and “The Amazing Race” season 38 had their largest Live+3 viewership since Live+3 measurement was introduced in 2007. In streaming, the shows are up +138% and +127%, respectively.
FOX News Media closed out the third quarter as the top news brand in the competitive set on YouTube, with 1.1 billion video views, according to Emplifi. FOX News led nearest competitor MSNBC by more than 200 million video views and also topped NBC, ABC and CBS combined. Year-over-year, FOX News was up 45% with YouTube video views. FOX Business nabbed 166 million views on YouTube during the quarter. |
| EXECUTIVE MOVES |
| Lemonlight has appointed Sarah Ewing as SVP of Marketing. Ewing has held marketing leadership roles at Nitro Software, Glassdoor, and MYOB.
Akilesh Bapu, co-founder & former CEO of healthcare AI company Deepscribe, is joining agentic AI company Hightouch to lead gen-AI product development.
Simpli.fi has hired Michael Schoen as Chief Product and Technology Officer, and Susan Rothwell as Chief Revenue Officer. |
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This Day in History
1863 – President Abraham Lincoln designated the last Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day.
Friday Fun Fact
Albert Einstein was offered, and turned down, the presidency of Israel.
Answer to Our Last Trivia Question
What was Kramer’s name in the “Seinfeld” (1989-98) pilot? Kessler. Kudos to: Andrew Goldman-Phanes Funding Group/NYC; Eric Dunesky-Crossmedia/NYC; Betsy Frank-Betsy Frank Insights/NYC; Kathryn Tesoriero-WPP Media/NYC; John Kukla-KDFW Fox 4/Dallas; Dan Whitford-WTTW/Chicago; Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA; Susan Nessanbaum-Goldberg-M and S Entertainment/LA; Craig Waldschmidt-Tower Media Advertising/Chicago
Today’s Trivia Question
“The Railsplitter” was the title of the first episode of which miniseries? (Email trivia@cynopsis.com with your answer and be sure to include your name, company, city and time zone.) |
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
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
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
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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