Wall Street drifted to a mostly higher close Tuesday and Treasury yields fell. Gains in technology stocks, retailers and other sectors helped temper declines elsewhere in the market.
CLOSING BELL
Disney CEO Bob Iger focused on instilling employees with renewed optimism about the Mouse House’s “blessed” and “fortunate” state during a virtual company-wide town hall Tuesday, rather than making any proclamations about the company’s future. The event, moderated by ABC News’ David Muir, was held just over a week after the one-year anniversary of Iger’s return to the helm at Disney.
A new report from Frequence finds frontline workers would benefit from better tech.
BRAND CONNECTIONS
Rupert Murdoch is set to be questioned under oath on Tuesday and Wednesday as part of voting technology company Smartmatic's $2.7 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox Corp. over coverage of debunked vote-rigging claims involving the 2020 U.S. presidential election, a person familiar with the matter said. Murdoch will be deposed in Los Angeles, according to that person, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The deposition does not appear on the public docket for the case.
Paramount Streaming has elevated the top programming executives at flagship platform Paramount+ and free, ad-supported service Pluto TV. Jeff Grossman, most recently EVP, content & business operations, Paramount Streaming for Paramount+, has been named EVP, Programming, Paramount+. Amy Kuessner, most recently Pluto TV’s EVP, content strategy and global partnerships, has been named EVP, programming, Pluto TV. Both report to Tom Ryan, president-CEO, Paramount Streaming, and will closely collaborate in their new roles.
Exclusives
This fresh pact means that Fieri retains his title as the Warner Bros. Discovery-owned cable channel’s highest-paid talent and bests his most recent multiyear deal, which closed in 2021 for $80 million. This fresh pact means that Fieri retains his title as the Warner Bros. Discovery-owned cable channel’s highest-paid talent and bests his most recent multiyear deal, which closed in 2021 for $80 million.
TelevisaUnivision today appointed Steven Wolfe Pereira chief client officer of its U.S. advertising sales and marketing unit, a new position at the company. Wolfe Pereira, a veteran advertising executive, was most recently with 3Pas Studios, a multiplatform entertainment company he co-founded. In his new role, Wolfe Pereira will report to Donna Speciale, president of U.S. advertising at TelevisaUnivision.
At a time when competition between streaming and broadcasting often drives a wedge between networks and their affiliates, the year-old NBC News Daily appears to be an unusual example of cooperation. The one-hour newscast, designed to replace the long-running soap opera Days of Our Lives when it moved from NBC to Peacock in 2022, appears on both the NBC News Now streaming channel and all of NBC’s affiliates and ratings are rising.
The first month of the Israel-Gaza war is now the deadliest month for journalists since the Committee to Protect Journalists began documenting journalist fatalities in 1992. As of Nov. 27, CPJ’s investigations showed at least 57 journalists and media workers were among more than 16,000 killed since the war began on Oct. 7 — with some 14,800 deaths in the Palestinian territories of Gaza and the West Bank and 1,200 in Israel. This deadly toll is coupled with harassment, detentions and other reporting obstructions in Gaza, the West Bank, Israel and beyond.
Sports Illustrated on Monday said it had deleted several articles from its website after a report found the once-celebrated legacy magazine had published the pieces under fake author names and profile images generated by artificial intelligence. The report, which was published by Futurism, found that the magazine had repeatedly published articles whose authors could not be found online outside the Sports Illustrated website. The articles were all accompanied by AI-generated profile photos that Futurism also found for sale on digital marketplaces that sell AI-produced headshots.
Jeff Shell is in advanced discussions to lead the firm’s sports and entertainment investment business.
The latest analysis of the effects of invalid traffic/IVT estimates that the problem will result in $72.37 billion in wasted ad spend in 2024 — up 33% from an estimated $54.63 billion wasted in 2022. The report, from marketing efficiency platform Lunio, was based on an analysis of 2.6 billion paid ad clicks and 104 billion impressions from more than 60,000 ad accounts across Lunio’s clients — all resulting from paid media campaigns — conducted between May 2022 and May 2023.
A year into the run of Bob Iger 2: Return of the CEO, the Walt Disney Co. has not yet rediscovered its mojo. For most of Iger’s initial 14-year stint in the corner office, Disney was the pace-setter in media and entertainment, pulling off stunning M&A deals and amassing a sizable competitive advantage. Now, the company has fallen back to the pack as a Biblical series of challenges have come to define a centennial year that many staffers would just as soon forget than commemorate. On Tuesday morning at 9 a.m. PT, Iger and a handful of top executives will convene a town hall for employees and there should be no shortage of questions on the minds of those listening to management frame the current circumstances.
Investors claim that WWE board members favored a merger with Endeavor's UFC to allow Vince McMahon to stay on as executive chairman of TKO Group.
Innovid's Dan Mouradian: "While conversations around attention metrics might grab your (ahem) attention, whether or not a consumer has 'paid attention' to your ad does not define your campaign’s effectiveness. What’s more, in an environment that has seen significant investment such metrics shouldn’t be your main focus when measuring performance in connected TV."
Google will start the process of shutting down accounts that have been inactive for two years next month. The purge follows Google’s decision in May to update its policy on inactive accounts in an effort to curb cybersecurity concerns.
TVN’S MEDIA JOBS
New Jobs Posted To TVNewsCheck
New jobs posted to TVNewsCheck’s Media Job Center include an opening for a vice president and general manager. Other current jobs posted on TVNewsCheck’s Media Job Center include openings for a vice president and general manager, assistant news director, two marketing consultants, weekend content manager, local sales manager, content manager, executive news producer, assistant engineer and reporter/MMJ, maintenance technician and general sales manager.
News leaders from E.W. Scripps, NBCUniversal and NewsNation will confront the high stakes the industry faces in a pivotal election year, the journalistic and technological resources they’ll bring to bear against it and the repercussions for American democracy itself in a keynote panel at TVNewsCheck’s NewsTECHForum conference on Dec. 12 in New York. Register here.
Leading executives from Sinclair, Fox News, Hearst Television and Newsbridge will share the latest technologies and methodologies they’re employing to harness the full content potential of their vast archives for new shows and revenue streams in a panel at TVNewsCheck’s NewsTECHForum conference at the New York Hilton on Dec. 12. Register here.
SPONSORED BY MEGAPHONE
Megaphone TV launches new interactive sponsorship platform
Interactive sponsorship is the fastest way for your local station to increase revenues, sell more advertising, expand its inventory, AND charge a premium. By acting as a focal point for a brand’s advertising efforts with your station, interactive sponsorship allows you to sell complete 360-degree campaigns quickly and easily. In 2023, Megaphone TV has seen an over 800% growth in interactive sponsorship adoption across all our local station clients. Why? Because it helps them sell bigger ad packages and deliver immediate results to advertisers.
Top broadcast technology executives from Tubi, Tegna, Sinclair, Cisco Systems and Lawo will offer their predictions for cloud, IP, streaming, generative AI, cybersecurity, NextGen TV and more in a TVNewsCheck Working Lunch Webinar on Dec. 5. Register here.
