PRODUCTION & DEVELOPMENT
Animal Planet greenlit season two of Dodo Heroes, from Group Nine’s digital hit The Dodo, for a 2019 premiere. Season one was a win-win – the premiere of Dodo Heroes in 2018 delivered new audiences to the network, with 1 in 5 viewers of the series being new to Animal Planet. And it also brought new viewers to The Dodo, with an increase in traffic through search for Dodo Heroes content on The Dodo’s YouTube channel during the season. At the completion of its U.S. season run, across Animal Planet and The Dodo platforms, Dodo Heroes content delivered 36 million worldwide viewers and 738 million social impressions.
Silver Buffalo and Citizen Skull Productions have struck a new strategic partnership to acquire and develop and create original children’s television and digital media. The alliance marks Silver Buffalo’s first foray into original programming, while integrating their consumer products expertise into Citizen Skull’s new and developing projects pipeline.
Comedy Central announced the development of three series: How to Be a Couple, from Broad City writers Naomi Ekperigin and Andy Beckerman, based on their real lives; The Chameleon, about “an extraordinarily talented, yet chronically broke entertainer who unwittingly stumbles into a world of covert operations and international espionage, where he’s finally offered his big break … as the government’s most fabulous spy”; and a scripted series from Samantha Irby based on her book of essays, Meaty.
Discovery Channel will air nature event series Serengeti, from American Idol creator Simon Fuller and wildlife film maker John Downer, in 2019. Six-part series follows the stories of a cast of African wildlife. “Of all the shows I have created or worked on, nothing compares to Serengeti,” said Fuller. “The heartfelt stories, the intensity of the drama and the depth of emotion, is something I have been genuinely moved by.”
ABC ordered a pilot for a comedy from Jessica Gao (Rick & Morty), Imagine Television, ABC Studios and CBS TV Studios. Story centers on a first generation Chinese-American whose struggle to set boundaries with her family is complicated when she finds herself the sole inheritor of her wealthy grandmother’s estate.
Netflix ordered eight episodes of Merry Happy Whatever, starring Dennis Quaid as a patriarch balancing the demands of his family with the complications of the Christmas season. Comedy comes from Tucker Cawley, Kapital Entertainment and TrillTV.
Lauralee Bell (The Young and the Restless) will exec produce and star in Lifetime movie Nightmare Tenant, reports Deadline. Bell plays a single mother who finds herself renting to a you-know-what after her daughter leaves for college.
NEW & RETURNING SERIES
A detective with a photographic memory is the focus of ID’s Gone But Never Forgotten, launching Tuesday, March 5 at 10p. Det. Pat Postiglione recounts his most daunting cases in exacting detail in the six-episode true crime series.
Investigative reporter Christof Putzel goes back in time to explore some of history’s most notorious mysteries in Travel Channel’s Mission: Declassified, premiering Sunday, March 24 at 10p. Also in the Travel pipeline: Jack Osbourne and paranormal researcher Katrina Weidman investigate haunted locations in Portals to Hell, starting Friday, April 19 at 9p.
Windy City Rehab will be back on HGTV for a 10-episode sophomore run. Renovation series currently ranks as the #1 series on the network for viewers P25-34, is a top 10 cable program among W25-54 in the Tuesday 9-10p timeslot, and has attracted more than 9.3 million viewers since it premiered on January 1.
Miley Cyrus will be on hand as guest judge for the season 11 premiere of VH1’s RuPaul’s Drag Race on Thursday, February 28 at 9p.
COMING UP
We’re ready! Nickelodeon is commemorating 20 years of SpongeBob SquarePants with a tribute to the series launched July 17, 1999. The “Best Year Ever” kicks off Friday, July 12, with the premiere of SpongeBob’s Big Birthday Blowout, a mixed live-action and animated special, and leads up to the Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies theatrical, The SpongeBob Movie: It's a Wonderful Sponge, coming in summer 2020. “This anniversary special is a love letter to everyone in the universe of SpongeBob, from the fans across the globe to the incredible creative team, crew and talent who continue to bring these great characters to life,” said Ramsey Naito, EVP, Animation Production and Development, Nickelodeon.
TLC’s Drag Me Down the Aisle follows four drag queens to the rescue as they help a struggling bride salvage her big day. Special premieres Saturday, March 9 at 9p. “TLC is the home of weddings and we are always looking for new ways to expand in the space that will appeal to a broader audience, beyond the bride-to-be,” said Howard Lee, President and General Manager for TLC.
Arts net Ovation will celebrate Arts Advocacy Day with the world premiere of Arts Across the Heartland, which looks at how cities across the country are making a difference in their communities through the power of art. Documentary airs Tuesday, March 5 at 8p as part of Ovation’s commercial-free Arts Advocacy Day programming event.
Three-hour special The Atlanta Child Murders premieres Tuesday, March 23 on ID. Doc revisits a horrifying 23 months starting in 1979 that saw 29 African-American children stolen from their families and killed. Decades later, the murderer has never been confirmed.
Showtime Sports Documentary Films explores the legalization of sports gambling and its impact on the gambling community in four-part docu-series Action, premiering Sunday, March 24 at 8p.
Stand-up special Amy Schumer Growing premieres on Netflix on Tuesday, March 19. It’s Schumer’s second special for the streamer.
TCA
“We are the media company of the future,” Discovery Inc. President and CEO David Zaslav declared at TCA yesterday, noting that Discovery is the number one international media company, and delivers more female viewers than that top three broadcast networks combined.
America Unearthed, homeless after A+E Networks’ H2 was rebranded to Viceland, has landed at Travel Channel. The net ordered ten episodes of the show, hosted by Scott Wolter. “Travel Channel is the perfect new home for this show,” said Wolter. “The series has always been known for great storytelling, cutting-edge science and beautiful cinematography, but now my adventures are going to be epic.”
On the way from Discovery: The net’s going live in two-hour multiplatform event Expedition Unknown: Egypt Live (wt), hosted by adventurer and explorer Josh Gates. Viewers will be guided through the inner chambers of an excavation site, where archeologists recently uncovered a network of vertical shafts leading to an underground network of tunnels and tombs....Film Cajun Navy (wt) will spotlight the everyday citizens - fishermen, lawyers, housewives - who united after Hurricane Katrina to save hundreds from the storm.
People have an irrational fear of wildlife, veterinarian Evan Antin, host of Animal Planet’s Evan Goes Wild, told journalists, adding, “I’d rather be bit by an 18-foot python than a hamster.”
“From the Property Brothers, Jonathan and Drew, to Flip or Flop’s Christina and Tarek, we’ve mastered the art of building stars,” said Allison Page, president, HGTV. “And when these stars resonate for our audience, we embrace the opportunity to build new hits with them.” Case in point: Christina Anstead, onstage for a panel about seizing new on-camera career opportunities, started out on Flip or Flop as a nearly broke house flipper with now ex-husband Tarek El Moussa. Now she’s set to star in her own series, Christina on the Coast, for HGTV this summer. “Cultivating and growing home renovation stars is a big part of HGTV’s success,” said Page.
Kate Gosselin, former star of Jon & Kate Plus 8, will be back on the dating scene in TLC reality series Kate Plus Date. Will the kids be told what to say? “Dear God, I can’t even get them to do their homework sometimes,” said Gosselin. “So they’re not going to spit out lines!” Six-parter launches in June.
Comedy Central TCA announcements included the return of Jimmy Kimmel and Adam Corolla puppet prank show Crank Yankers (original run: 2002-2007), with a 20-episode order. “Crank Yankers has always been my favorite show to make. Nothing is more fun or makes me laugh harder than a great crank call and I am thrilled that Comedy Central asked us to do it again,” said Kimmel. “At this time, I would like to ask all Americans to disable their caller ID.”
Finding out at TCA that their show landed a season two order were the cast and the producers of Comedy Central’s The Other Two, created and written by former SNL head writers Chris Kelly and Sarah Schneider. Of series, which premiered January 24, net president Kent Alterman told journalists, “The secret sauce is that it’s not just really funny, but a searing, social and cultural commentary.”
Kevin Reilly, President of TBS and TNT and Chief Creative Officer for Turner Entertainment, offered a look at WarnerMedia’s streaming plans. Included will be a “treasure trove” of content from HBO, DC, Looney Tunes, CNN and more from the company’s vault. “It will not all come from within WarnerMedia,” said the exec, but “as is the case with every business today, we’ll look at ourselves first.” Original content is expected to ramp up in 2020.
SVOD service Acorn TV shared the news that it grabbed the North American rights to Ms Fisher’s Modern Murder Mysteries and feature film Miss Fisher and the Crypt of Tears, both spin-offs of Australian drama Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries.
TECH TALK
Identity platform LiveRamp announced it is expanding the capabilities of its IdentityLink platform to include Connected TV. The launch of the CTV solution is aimed at allowing programmers to maximize CTV ad revenue with the audience data; let technology platforms deliver omnichannel buying, selling and measurement solutions that include CTV, and data providers monetize audiences across CTV for targeting and analytics; and offer consumers more relevant brand-connection moments across screens. “Today, TV and digital strategies are rapidly converging....LiveRamp is perfectly positioned to extend our capabilities and expertise into Connected TV,” said Allison Metcalfe, GM of TV, LiveRamp.
Discovery platform Taboola struck an exclusive partnership with Business Insider to integrate the Taboola Feed on desktop and mobile web. Under the partnership, Business Insider launched Taboola Feed to provides readers with personalized content. Taboola Feed encourages audiences on the web to stay engaged on a publisher’s site by scrolling through a personalized stream of content, video, and other experiences the user might be interested in discovering next. “Integrating Taboola into both our desktop and mobile web has led to more user engagement, while also providing us with an additional valuable source of revenue,” said Rich Kennedy, SVP, Business & Audience Development at Business Insider. Adam Singolda, CEO and founder of Taboola, tells Cynopsis, “Business Insider is known for its innovation in terms of both content and audience engagement. We are very excited about the opportunity to expand our strategic partnership.”
Activists in India petitioned a parliamentary panel to call for the heads of Facebook and its WhatsApp and Instagram, along with Twitter and Google, to be questioned. The parliamentary panel on information technology, the Centre For Accountability And Systemic Change and right-wing activist K.N. Govindacharya are looking for answers around tax, privacy and other issues.
President Trump signed an executive order aimed at encouraging the development of artificial intelligence. The “American A.I. Initiative” is designed to better educate workers and improve access to cloud computing services and data, but did not include funds and was scant on details. The order comes after concerns were raised that the U.S. is not keeping up with China and others in the development of A.I.
The number of digital voice assistants will rise from 2.5 billion at the end of 2018 to 8 billion in 2023, projects Juniper Research. Smartphone assistants will be the largest platform by volume, but the fastest-growing segments will be smart TVs, followed by smart speakers and wearables. “Digital Voice Assistants: Platforms, Revenues & Opportunities 2019-2023” also noted that as demand for multi-platform assistants grows, standalone apps from independent vendors will decline.
Telaria, the software platform to manage video advertising for premium publishers, announced it is offering The Trade Desk’s unified ID solution to its demand partners as part of an effort to increase efficiencies across the ecosystem by reducing the number of cookie syncs necessary. “The Trade Desk’s unified ID helps address an important need in the industry, the standardization of cookie IDs which helps minimize some of the complexity in the digital advertising ecosystem,” said Katie Evans, COO, Telaria.
MEASUREMENT
NBCUniversal is expanding its partnership with analytics company Data Plus Math to measure the impact of advertising campaigns, offering in-flight measurement of linear, VOD addressable and OTT ad inventory, with attribution of business outcomes. “This is an important step in NBCUniversal’s journey towards outcomes-based measurement that delivers on marketers’ objectives,” said Kavita Vazirani, EVP, measurement innovation, NBCUniversal Insights & Measurement. “Unifying impressions with CFlight was our first step in elevating industry measurement. Now, our partnership with Data Plus Math will elevate cross screen measurement and outcome attribution for our clients, addressing a critical need for advertisers in the marketplace.”
FreeWheel, another Comcast-owned company, and Nieslen have expanded their relationship to include the Nielsen Data Management Platform, Nielsen's omnichannel marketing technology. Using the Nielsen DMP, Freewheel Markets can analyze, build and target advanced audiences across Connected TV, OTT and digital video. “This integration with the Nielsen DMP strengthens our DRIVE solutions suite and represents an important step toward our end goal of data unification across linear and digital TV," said Neil Smith, GM of FreeWheel Markets.
Research firms MRI and Simmons Research are combining in a joint venture called MRI-Simmons, co-owned by GfK and SymphonyAI Group, with GfK as the majority partner. “Clients have told us that they need new products and services, including applications and APIs, to be developed with velocity,” said Gregg Lindner, President of GfK North America and Chairman of the new joint venture. “This joint venture provides a strong talent base with an ability to focus more resources on different product areas, from enhancing and expanding current products to building new ones even faster.”
CASTING
Ashton Sanders (Moonlight), Shameik Moore (The Get Down), Siddiq Saunderson (Mother’s Milk), Marcus Callender (Power), Zolee Griggs (Ballers) and Erika Alexander (Black Lightning) landed roles in Hulu’s Wu-Tang: An American Saga.
DIGITAL DATA
Henni Zuel, the former Ladies European Tour professional and experienced tournament broadcaster, has joined GolfTV to oversee the streaming service’s tour-player coverage. As part of GolfTV’s exclusive content partnership with Tiger Woods, Zuel will be working with the 80-time PGA Tour winner on tour and off, including daily hits with Woods during tournament weeks, practice-round coverage and behind-the-scenes interactions between Tiger and his team.
ADVERTISING
CBS’s broadcast of the Grammy Awards brought in TV ad revenue to the tune of $95 million, according to Kantar Media preliminary data, with the price of a 30-second spot going for $1.2-$1.3 million. Last year’s U.S. ad revenue was $96 million, up from $90 million in 2017.
GOING GLOBAL
Smithsonian Channel launched its first European service, in the UK. Already available internationally in Canada, Singapore and Latin America, British and Irish viewers now have access to the network’s programming in HD on Virgin (Channel 295), Sky (Channel 195) and Freesat (Channel 175), and in SD on Freeview (Channel 99).
Studio71, a Red Arrow Studios company, announced production of three factual series commissioned by the BBC. Fashion Conscious, Period Dramas and Sex in Seconds are being developed and produced by the UK arm of the studio for BBC digital platforms including iPlayer, YouTube and social.
Red Arrow Studios International inked a slate of new deals for its portfolio of US and German TV movies across Europe. A two-year output deal has been signed with Spanish broadcaster RTVE, giving it a first look at all Red Arrow Studios International’s TV movies, plus feature films from those Gravitas Ventures’ titles distributed by Red Arrow Studios International. In addition, French broadcaster M6 has renewed its long-running TV movie volume deal with Red Arrow. New package deals for US and German TV movies have also been concluded with Antena3 (Spain); Mediaset (Italy); RTL and RTBF (Belgium); RTS and RSI (Switzerland) and NBC Universal International Networks’ Movies24 for the UK market.
In yet more Red Arrow news, AN, Israel’s public broadcaster, has recommissioned July August Productions, a Red Arrow Studios company, to produce season two of sitcom Checkout! (local title: Cash Register).
Series Mania and the Berlinale Co-Production Market are teaming again for Berlinale’s Drama Series Days. In “Project Exchange”, one project pitched at Series Mania is invited to pitch again in Berlin; in return, Series Mania will invite a Berlinale project to pitch in Lille as part of its event on March 25-27, Series Mania Forum. The project chosen to be presented in Lille this March is Big Bones, an historical crime drama produced by Satelfilm and Superfilm (Austria).
PODCAST POSTS
Root of Evil, companion podcast to TNT’s I Am the Night, launches today. Podcast delves into the murder that inspired the series, 1947’s unsolved Black Dahlia case.
Westwood One tested podcast ads through a partnership with Advertising Benchmark Index, a creative testing service that evaluates every type of brand creative across all media, and found that on clear branding measures, all of the podcast ads tested were comparable to the television or online video ads that ran for the same brands. Podcasts were also found as effective at driving conversation and purchase as TV ads. One lesson learned: Ads with clear branding benefits mentioned early on performed better than ads that listed conversational details first.
Deviants has launched Cellar Media, a media company devoted to producing premium content for wine aficionados - including podcasts. “Much like our mission at snkrINC to tell the human stories in sneaker culture, we believe that every bottle tells a story. There’s nothing better than listening to a great story while drinking great wine,” said co-founder Ivan Dudynsky. “With Cellar Media, we are uniquely positioned to tell the stories of fascinating winemakers, while offering the public an opportunity to taste their wines. Pull Cork. Press Play. Enjoy.” The company, part content studio and part e-commerce site, launched its first six premium 40-minute podcast episodes, curated with six exclusive vintages made by each of the winemakers.
