Programming

TNT and ESPN continued to ride live sports programming to the top of the primetime charts during the second week in May. TNT led all cable networks with an average of 3 million viewers in primetime May 5-14, according to Nielsen ratings supplied by Fox News, followed by ESPN with 2.8 million viewers. Both networks were powered by their respective NBA and NHL playoffs coverage. Fox News finished third with 1.4 million viewers, followed by MSNBC with 1.1 million viewers and HGTV with 731,000 watchers.

ABC’s Jeopardy Masters dominated Tuesday in the demo (5.5 million/0.6), while CBS’s FBI easily copped the night’s biggest audience (6.3M/0.3). Fox’s 9-1-1: Lone Star was steady with its two-hour finale, which averaged 3.25M/0.4.

Set for Jan. 16-18, 2024, the marketplace will be headquartered at the InterContinental Hotel.

Just as with the previous writers strike, the longer this one goes on, the more likely its effects will be permanent and significant. Nor is that only a problem for writers; in the era of TikTok and YouTube, producers also have a lot on the line.

The 50th Annual Daytime Emmys will be postponed due to the WGA strike, Adam Sharp, president and CEO of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences announced on Tuesday. The ceremony was planned for Friday, June 16, on CBS. The Creative Arts & Lifestyle ceremony, which was scheduled for June 17, will also be postoned. “We look forward to our community gathering together as one to celebrate our Golden Anniversary and all of the talented nominees and honorees at a later date,” Sharp said in a statement.

ABC’s Jeopardy Masters led Monday in the demo (5.6 million/0.6) , while CBS’s NCIS copped the night’s largest audience (6.4M/0.4). Fox’s ABC-bound 9-1-1 (4.1M/0.5 rating) was steady with its final Fox outing.

Spanish-TV giant TelevisaUnivsion wants to speak a different language than its English-speaking rivals when it comes to audience measurement. “We all know that today’s TV measurement is inadequate for our multi-screen world, and as a consequence, U.S Hispanics have been undercounted,” says Donna Speciale, president of U.S. ad sales and marketing at the company. “In fact, our audience is 26% bigger than current measurement. How did we get that information? Nielsen just told us,” she says, using its traditional panel-based tabulation as well as its “big data” product. “This is huge and and a huge step for equity,” she adds, noting that TelevisaUnivision will ask all agencies and clients to base this year’s upfront ad deals on that measurement.

TelevisaUnivision, the Spanish-language media giant, says it has partnered with the NFL and CBS Sports to secure the Spanish-language rights to the next Super Bowl, which is set for Feb. 11, 2024, in Las Vegas. TelevisaUnivision announced the news at its upfront presentation Tuesday in New York with sports anchor Alejandro Berry teasing “four major and very exciting announcements,” before introducing star athletes to bring out trophies for the UEFA Champions League, the EuroCup, and the Copa America.

Not Dead Yet has lived up to its title: ABC has renewed Gina Rodriguez’ rookie sitcom for a second season. The network, as expected, also picked up The Conners for a sixth season, while punting a decision on remaining bubble shows Home Economics and The Rookie: Feds until “a later date.” On the unscripted side, ABC on Tuesday renewed America’s Funniest Home Videos (for Season 34), American Idol (for Season 7 on ABC and a 22nd season overall), The Bachelor (for Season 28), Bachelor in Paradise (for Season 9), Celebrity Wheel of Fortune (for Season 4), Celebrity Jeopardy! (for Season 2) and Shark Tank (for Season 15).

Fox made its annual upfront pitch to advertisers at the Manhattan Center on Monday afternoon, pushing the messages of Fox Entertainment, Tubi, Fox News and Fox Sports, all while promising the audience that don’t worry, we’ll get you hammered soon. Coming off of presentations hampered by the pandemic in recent years, Fox was back in nearly full force, with the writers’ strike limiting the number of network stars in attendance. The event also featured some football antics courtesy of Rob Gronkowski and some well-placed cursing by Gordon Ramsay.

Get ready for a different kind of upfront. Sure, the foggy economy and the Writers Guild of America strike will affect the willingness of the buyers to engage and exactly what the network will put on their schedule. But while the economy is likely to be cyclical, turning up at some point, and while the strike by the WGA will eventually be settled — returning fresh scripted shows to network schedules that already count reality and competition series like The Masked Singer and The Voice among their top performers — deeper changes are taking place in the TV advertising business.

The league and NBCUniversal announced Monday that the Saturday night game on wild card weekend will be on Peacock. The Peacock exclusive game on Jan. 13 would start at 8:15 or 8:30 p.m. ET. The game will be broadcast on NBC stations in the markets of the two teams. It will also be available on mobile devices through the NFL+ package. It will be preceded by a late afternoon playoff game on NBC and Peacock that will kick off at 4:30 p.m. ET.

The union last week denied a request by Tony organizers to have a waiver for their June 11 glitzy live telecast. It reiterated that in a statement late Monday, saying the guild “will not negotiate an interim agreement or a waiver for the Tony Awards.” But the guild gave some hope that some sort of Tony show might go on, saying organizers “are altering this year’s show to conform with specific requests from the WGA, and therefore the WGA will not be picketing the show.” What is being altered was not clear, but it may be to allow a non-scripted version of the Tonys to go on.

The impact of the Hollywood writers strike was felt as major television networks began their annual week of sales presentations to advertisers on Monday, with news personalities like Willie Geist and Stephanie Ruhle left to hawk comedies and dramas for NBCUniversal.

Dozens of protesters greeted marketers as they entered the first major event of the upfronts, an annual showcase for advertisers in which media companies stage lavish gatherings to promote their lineups.

After serving as Season 23’s mega mentor on The Voice, Reba McEntire is officially returning to Season 24 as a coach. The announcement was confirmed at NBCU’s upfront presentation on Monday. The Country Music Hall of Fame inductee joins veteran coach John Legend and returning coaches Niall Horan and Gwen Stefani.