Wednesday December 20, 2023

Today’s Finales
CBS: Survivor at 8p
FOX: The Masked Singer at 8p

IN THE NEWS

Apple TV+ has renewed period drama “The Buccaneers” for a second season. The series is based on the unfinished novel of the same name by Edith Wharton about a group of rambunctious young American women entering staid London society.

Also renewed for a sophomore run is Netflix’s “My Life with the Walter Boys,” which in its first full week topped the streamer’s English-language TV chart. The YA drama debuted on December 7.

“Ride,” canceled by Hallmark after one season, has found a new home. The CW will start airing the rodeo drama, starring Nancy Travis (“Last Man Standing”) as a cash-strapped ranch operator, on Monday, January 22.

Season six of FX’s “What We Do in the Shadows” will be its last. Season five of the vampire comedy ended in August.

Comcast’s Xfinity suffered a significant data breach when one of its software providers, Citrix, exposed customer information. “We are providing notice to customers about a data security incident which exploited a vulnerability previously announced by Citrix, a software provider used by Xfinity and thousands of other companies worldwide,” said the company in a statement. “We promptly patched and mitigated the vulnerability. We are not aware of any customer data being leaked anywhere, nor of any attacks on our customers.”

How sweet it is: Over $352 million was invested by nearly 150 candy companies through November of 2023, a 23% year-over-year increase from the $285 million spent during the same period in 2022, as well as a 10% increase in the number of companies advertising. That’s according to MediaRadar, which notes the top brands analyzed were M&M’s, Butterfinger, Nerds, and Werther’s Original.

The WGA is circulating a petition urging the Television Academy to return the “Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series/Special” categories to the primetime Emmys telecast. A letter accompanying the petition, signed by Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers, Jon Stewart and more talk show A-listers read, “As hosts of series eligible for the Emmy Awards’ ‘Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series/Special’ categories, we are profoundly disappointed by the Television Academy’s decision to not present this award during the 75th Primetime Emmy Awards’ televised ceremony on January 15, 2024. Our programs could not exist without the tremendous work of our writers — as proven by the writers’ strike that shut down late night television for 148 days.”

Hearst Media Production Group has added to its library of Jack Hanna programming with episodes from “Jack Hanna’s Wild Countdown” and “Jack Hanna’s Into the Wild” from Into the Wild LLC. “HMPG is committed to the important work Jack started,” said Suzi Hanna, wife of the wildlife advocate. “Their extensive knowledge of producing and distributing engaging wildlife programming ensures Jack’s lifelong commitment to wildlife education and conservation will reach fans of all ages for years to come.” HMPG launched FAST channel The Jack Hanna Channel in 2021.

Octavia Spencer (“Truth Be Told”) and Hannah Waddingham (“Ted Lasso”) will star in and executive produce a comedy, as yet untitled, that focuses on two best friends, one of whom has been living a double life as an assassin. The eight-episode Skydance Television series from Tessa Coates (“Feel Good”) landed a straight-to-series order from Prime Video.

“Zero Day,” a limited series starring and executive produced by Robert De Niro, has added to its cast. Among those jumping aboard are Angele Bassett (“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”), Dan Stevens (“Legion”), Matthew Modine (“Stranger Things”), and Bill Camp (“The Queen’s Gambit”). The show is in production in New York.

Molly Parker (“House of Cards”) will star in FOX’s “Doc,” centered on a brilliant doctor who suffers a brain injury that erases the last eight years of her life. The medical drama comes from writer, executive producer and showrunner Barbie Kligman, exec producers Hank Steinberg and 3 Arts’ Erwin Stoff, Sony Pictures Television and Fox Entertainment Studios.

NEW & RETURNING SERIES

TLC’s “90 Day Fiancé: The Single Life” kicks off a new season on Monday, January 1 at 8p. The following week, on January 8 at 9p, comes the debut of a new season of “90 Day Diaries.”

New animated series “Rock Paper Scissors” premieres Monday, February 12 at 5:30p on Nickelodeon. The show is the first short picked up for series from Nick’s Intergalactic Shorts Program.

COMING UP

Paramount Media Networks scheduled a festive programming slate for the holidays across MTV, CMT, Comedy Central, Paramount Network, Smithsonian Channel and TV Land. A few highlights: MTV’s Fa-La-F***ing-La Movie Marathon on December 24; TV Land’s Merrython Encore on December 24-25; and a week-long “Yellowstone” marathon on Paramount Network.

FOX Nation is going for the funny in January, with comedic programming dropping throughout the month. Offerings include stand-up specials helmed by FOX News Radio’s Jimmy Failla and “Gutfeld!” co-host and New York Times author Tyrus on Wednesday, January 3.

FOX News Channel will ring in 2024 with two New Year’s Eve specials. “Who Can Forget 2023” airs at 10p, followed by a special hosted by the aforementioned Tyrus, who will take viewers through the most viral trends, the most downloaded songs, and more. The special will also include an appearance by wrestler Ric Flair, as he provides advice on how to turn things around in 2024.

Turner Classic Movies will celebrate the 100th Anniversary of Columbia Pictures with a month-long event featuring films from different decades every Wednesday, starting January 3 at 8p.

“Ninja’s NYE,” a live entertainment option geared toward gaming and digitally native audiences for New Year’s Eve, will be multicast on the various platforms of Tyler “Ninja” Blevins and sponsored by Domino’s Pizza.

STREAMING

Pluto has launched three new channels, including cooking-focused Warner Bros. TV Sweet Escapes; Warner Bros. TV Say Yes to the Dress; and ION.

Samsung TV Plus is expanding its slate of programming to include series from A+E Networks nets Lifetime, A&E and History, along with Hallmark movies, FOX local coverage in new markets and more.

TECH

Google has agreed to pay $700 million to settle a suit by state Attorneys General that accused it of monopolistic conduct in its app store. Epic Games, which took its own case against Google to trial, was not impressed. “The State Attorneys General settled with Google before trial to get a one-time payout with no true relief for consumers or developers,” said the company’s VP of Public Policy. “After originally seeking $10.5 billion in antitrust damages identified as Google’s unjustly collected fees, the States Attorneys General settled for a $700 million payout.”

Media company Adwanted USA announced the launch of AI-powered search engine, Allocator, in the US. Currently available in France, the tool helps advertisers and media buyers find suitable digital and traditional advertising space for the commercialization of their products.

Snowflake has entered into an agreement to acquire data clean room startup Samooha. Samooha is built for developers and business users and delivers industry specific analysis templates.

MEASUREMENT

EDO, the TV outcomes company, and Fubo have partnered to measure consumer behavior across Fubo’s sports, news and entertainment content. EDO will provide CTV ad engagement data across all advertiser campaigns. “One of the strengths of CTV is its data-driven nature and the ability to measure ad campaigns more deliberately and accurately than on traditional linear TV,” said Dina Roman, SVP, Global Ad Sales, Fubo. “Brands and agencies today are seeking clear insights into the outcomes of their advertising campaigns and that is why we are tapping measurement partners like EDO to reinforce the value of Fubo’s premium content and audience.”

Media & Sports, Health & Pharma, and Education advertisers are the top three performing advertiser industries when it comes to attention measurement, while Travel, Financial Services, and Telecom were the lowest ranked, according to DoubleVerify’s report on attention metrics. “Our latest findings from the DV Attention Lab™ highlight the dynamic landscape of attention across various industries and regions,” said Daniel Slotwiner, SVP of Attention, DoubleVerify. Top performers tend to utilize engaging and timely content – for example, Media & Sports ad campaigns often contain exciting visuals, live-action content, and updates about ongoing or upcoming events, leading to higher engagement. “These findings demonstrate that it is not just one factor driving attention – it is the combination of device, environment, message, creative and more, that influence whether consumers pay attention to ads,” said Slotwiner.

SPORTS ROUNDUP

Amazon is in talks to invest in Diamond Sports Group, according to The Wall Street Journal. The regional sports programmer, which filed for bankruptcy in March, is negotiating for a strategic investment and multiyear streaming partnership that would make Prime Video the streaming home for Diamond’s games.

Digital subscription publication Puck is launching a sports vertical, headed by John Ourand, who joins from Sports Business Journal. “The business of sports is a half trillion dollar enterprise — from the leagues and the agencies to the media deals and marketing apparatus,” said Jon Kelly, co-founder and founding editor of Puck, in a statement. “John Ourand is at the nucleus of it all, and his reporting and analysis are essential tools to make sense of the industrial changes, deal flow, and characters who dominate the space.”

BCL Americans and FanDuel TV are partnering up to bring international basketball to fans in the US. The agreement calls for all 52 games of the BCL Americas competition to be televised/streamed on a variety of FanDuel TV platforms.

Outdoor Sportsman Group is combining Bowhunting titles Bowhunter Magazine and Petersen’s Bowhunting into a single, unified, multi-media consumer bowhunting brand under the Bowhunter nameplate.

GOING GLOBAL

Global Screen scored pre-sales for spy drama “Davos 1917” to Mediaset (Italy), MTV (Hungary) and ORF (Austria).

Great Pacific Media announced that Discovery Channel docuseries “Highway Thru Hell” is set to return for a 13th season. The series’ Canadian fans will also be treated to a “Highway Thru Hell” holiday marathon of seasons 1 to 11 on Discovery Channel, airing from Saturday, December 23 to Sunday, December 31.

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Viewership of television – broadcast, cable and streaming – was up 5.7% in November versus October, hitting its highest level since January, according to Nielsen. With a boost from sports, broadcast’s share of viewership was 24.9% for the month. That’s its highest share since January, but below the 25.7% share it held in November 2022. Cable’s share for November was at an all-time low of 28.3%, down from 31.8% in November 2022. Streaming platforms were up 4.3% in monthly usage, with a 31.6% share, but were down from a year-ago share of 38.2%. The “Other Streaming” category, which includes any high-bandwidth video streaming on television not individually broken out, rose to 10.7%, up from 4.3% last year.

With an average 1.7 million viewers on ESPN, the NCAA volleyball national title game was the most-watched NCAA women’s volleyball match in history, up 115% from last year. The audience was 51% female, with female viewership up 151% from 2022.

26.3 million viewers tuned in to watch the Bills defeat the Cowboys on FOX, up 23% from the comparable game last year, and the most-watched telecast of the week on any network.

EXECUTIVE MOVES

Maria Anguelova has been elevated from EVP Corporate Development and Strategy at Sony Pictures Entertainment to EVP, Global Head of Corporate Development. She replaces Erik Moreno, who has been promoted to EVP, Growth & New Initiatives for Sony Pictures.

Disney made three end-of-year promotions: Karen Slack to EVP, Finance, Disney Entertainment Television; Peggy Ting to SVP Finance and Business Planning, Disney Television Studios; and Amit Ziv to SVP Finance and Business Planning for ABC Entertainment, ABC News and ABC Owned Television Stations and Freeform.

ESPN has promoted Josh Krulewitz to the position of SVP of Communications. He succeeds Chris LaPlaca, who is retiring on December 31 after over 43 years at the company.

RAPP has hired Amit Deshpande as Global Chief Marketing Sciences Officer. Deshpande was previously Partner & Regional Head at Blend360.

Kathy Klingler has been appointed CMO and Jim Norton Chief Revenue Officer at Brightcove, effective January 8. Brightcove’s current Chief Strategy and Corporate Development Officer, David Beck, is taking on an expanded role as COO.

MSI (The Marketing Science Institute), a division of the ARF, announced the appointment of Dr. Tulin Erdem as its next Academic Executive Director for a two-year term beginning on July 1. Dr. Erdem succeeds John G. Lynch Jr., Distinguished Professor at Leeds School of Business, University of Colorado Boulder.

Answer to Our Last Trivia Question
Which series featured television’s first flashback episode? “I Love Lucy,” in 1956. Kudos to: Greg West-WATC/Atlanta; Andrew Goldman-CampNova TV/NYC; Susan Nessanbaum-Goldberg-M and S Entertainment/LA; John Kukla-KDFW Fox 4/Dallas; Maggie Takei-Moore Media/Sherman Oaks, CA; David Westberg-SAG-AFTRA Credit Union/Burbank; Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA

Today’s Trivia Question
How does Julius convince his family to celebrate Kwanzaa instead of Christmas in season three of “Everybody Hates Chris” (2005-09)? (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.)

Cynopsis Team