Peacock Struggles To Take Flight Amid Low Demand For Its TV Originals

Peacock has a serial TV problem and is counting on a pandemic-delayed pipeline of programming to help overcome it. More than a year after its launch, NBCUniversal’s streaming service lacks the buzzy original TV shows of its rivals or even the fan-friendly Star Trek offerings of Paramount Plus, the ViacomCBS service formerly known as CBS All Access. And while top brass praised Peacock as “headed in the right direction” during Comcast’s earnings call with Wall Street analysts last week, the lack of breakthrough hits, considered key to streamer growth, suggests the service has much work to do before it becomes truly competitive with its rivals.

QUARTERLY REPORT

Roku Stock Falls After Slight 3Q Earnings Miss

Roku stock dropped sharply in after-hours trading after the company reported third quarter revenue that fell just short of Wall Street analysts’ consensus estimate. Revenue of $680 million missed the Street number by a bit more than $3 million. On the bottom line, though, earnings per share of 48 cents far outpaced the estimate of 6 cents.

MRC Accredits IAS For Facebook, Instagram Measurement

Integral Ad Science (IAS) this morning announced it has been accredited by the Media Rating Council for impression and viewability measurement and reporting of display and video ads across Facebook and Instagram.

BRAND CONNECTIONS

‘Squid Game’ To Compete As Drama, Not Limited Series, At 2022 Awards Shows

Though Netflix’s most popular (OK, “sampled”) original series has yet to be renewed for any additional season, the nine-episode Korean thriller will compete as a drama series, and not as a limited series, at upcoming awards shows (including next fall’s Emmys). It thus will throw in against the anticipated likes of Succession, Better Call Saul‘s final season, The White Lotus and the farewell season of This Is Us.

Sinclair Says It Has ‘Critical Mass’ Of Rights For Direct-To-Consumer Sports Offering

IABM Appoints Callum Jones Head Of Digital

IABM has named Callum Jones head of digital at the international trade association for broadcast and media technology. Using the wealth of experience he has gained in leading digital initiatives at […]

Viant Partners With Beachfront To Scale Real-Time Programmatic Buying Of Linear And CTV

Viant Technology Inc., an advertising software company, and Beachfront, a convergent TV advertising platform, have integrated Beachfront’s premium linear and connected TV (CTV) inventory into Viant’s Adelphic advertising software. With the […]

Endemol Shine North America Moves Into Podcasting

NBC & Telemundo Station Apps Now Available On Amazon Fire TV

NBCUniversal Local, the home of NBC and Telemundo owned stations and bilingual TV newsrooms in the country’s top TV markets, today announced that its stations’ apps are now available on […]

FuboTV Taps Dentsu’s Audience Data To Better Target Live Sports Fans

FuboTV has fully integrated with Dentsu International’s M1 people-based identity and data platform to better target the live sports viewers on its live streaming TV platform. The companies said that advertisers can now use M1’s connected individual, device and panel data across fuboTV’s connected TV inventory that includes 50,000 live sports events per year along with more than 100 sports, news and entertainment channels.

Netflix Rolls Out Its First Mobile Games

Netflix is officially ready to compete with the likes of Fortnite, launching its expansion into the gaming world. Starting today, the streamer has rolled out five exclusive mobile games to all Android subscribers, including two based off its Stranger Things franchise.

Peacock Losing $3.56/Month On Each Of Its 21.5M Users: Analyst

While urging Comcast to get out of the video business altogether, LightShed Partners’ Richard Greenfield assembles a rather bleak snapshot for the conglomerate’s struggling streaming service.

Facebook To Halt Facial Recognition, Delete Faceprints

After more than a decade of controversy, Facebook will halt its use of facial recognition technology.

CBC Is Keeping Facebook Comments Closed On News Posts

VUit Expands Hyper-Local News And Event Coverage

The streaming service’s new agreements with Hearst, Citadel, Morris Network and others add more than 70 stations from top DMAs including Boston, Baltimore, Orlando and Pittsburgh.

‘Broadcast Bulletin’ TV News Podcast Launches Nov. 25

Charter Boasts More Than 10 Million Users For Its Spectrum TV App

Charter looks poised to go over the top, with Chairman Tom Rutledge telling investors that he “likes the Comcast model of putting its platform on televisions.”

Amazon To Launch First Two Internet Satellites In 2022

Competing with SpaceX, OneWeb and others, the e-commerce titan will rely on small rockets to get prototypes of its satellite constellation into space.

What’s Next For Comcast’s Suddenly Busy Smart TV Business

In the span of one month, Comcast has gone from outlier in the streaming platform market to suddenly having a robust smart TV strategy on two continents.

TVN’S MEDIA JOBS

New Jobs Posted To TVNewsCheck

New jobs posted to TVNewsCheck’s Media Job Center include openings for a director of strategy and creative, two digital sales managers, a director of technology and an anchor/reporter for stations owned by Nexstar, Gray, Lockwood and Heritage Broadcasting.

The TV Hit That Wasn’t

There was a lot of advance hype for the FX series American Crime Story: Impeachment with Edie Falco as Hillary Clinton. But it won’t be available on any major streaming platform for another 10 months, and that’s a problem in 2021.

Scripps Octane Verify Helps Buyers Measure Streaming And Linear Ad Performance

The E.W. Scripps Co. has introduced a suite of new linear attribution features to its Scripps Octane Verify solution, an integrated advertising and measurement tool that advertisers are using to gauge […]

NEWS ANALYSIS

The Metaverse Is Mark Zuckerberg’s Escape Hatch

If his new strategy works — a big if — it could help address several of Facebook’s biggest problems.

Samsung TV Plus Adds Channels Including Holiday Pop-Ups

ABC Owned Television Stations To Premiere Streaming Docuseries ‘Being Blago’ On Hulu

ABC Owned Television Stations announced that it produced an exclusive streaming docuseries, Being Blago, about former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, which premieres on Hulu, Friday, Nov. 5. The four-part docuseries is […]

Locast To Fork Over $32M To Settle Broadcaster-Led Copyright Suit

In the wake of a court order that permanently shut down Locast, the erstwhile provider of free streams of local broadcast TV feeds is now on the hook to pay $32 million in statutory damages after agreeing to settle a copyright lawsuit brought by ABC, CBS, Fox and NBCUniversal.

Facebook Goes Meta To Stress ‘Metaverse’ Plan

Facebook the app, along with Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, are here to stay; the company’s corporate structure also won’t change. But on Dec. 1, its shares will start trading under a new ticker symbol, “MVRS.”

COMMENTARY

TV Ads Will Straddle Streaming And Linear For Years To Come

What does a dual channel TV future of both streaming and linear mean for the ad business? The implications are significant.

‘Squid Game’ Dominates Nielsen Top 10 Chart Again

Netflix’s Squid Game utterly dominated Nielsen’s latest U.S. streaming ranking, and it did so by joining the elite “3 Billion Club” — as in, total minutes viewed during the week-long evaluation period.

Freeform Ups Nathan Muller To VP Development