Business

The purchase of KNXT-LP Bakersfield, Calif., by My Central Valley LLC tops the latest list of TV station transactions submitted to the FCC for its approval, according to BIA Advisory Services.

Stocks pulled back on Wall Street Tuesday as concerns over inflation increased. The S&P 500 lost 0.9%. That, plus its losses Monday, outweigh the benchmark index’s gains last week.

The group that was once assailed by the FCC steadily gained influence in Hollywood over the years until scrutiny of its practices and lack of diversity led NBC to say it would not air its show in 2022.

With Walt Disney Co. theme park operations limited due to the coronavirus pandemic, investors watching the company report earnings on Thursday are expected to zero in on its fast growth into streaming TV. During the January to March quarter, the Disney+ streaming service was aided by box office heavyweight Marvel Studios. The producer of blockbuster superhero films released its first TV series, WandaVision, in January followed by The Falcon and the Winter Soldier in late March.

What a difference a year makes. Automakers spent an estimated $238.6 million on TV in April 2021 — an increase of 148% year over year, according to iSpot.tv. Many large advertisers pulled back on TV last April, especially with live sports completely absent due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Media Rating Council says that Nielsen’s numbers during the COVID-19 pandemic undercounted viewers, as was alleged by networks and distributors represented by the VAB.
In a statement, MRC said it believes that total usage of television by persons 18-49 — the key demo used to sell advertising — was understated by approximately 2% to 6% for the February 2021 measurement period.

Vice Media Group’s plans to go public through a nearly $3 billion merger with a blank-check firm would leave existing investors with control of the company and remove Vice’s onerous financial obligations to private-equity firm TPG, according to people familiar with the matter. The blank-check firm, 7GC & Co. Holdings, is preparing to pitch institutional investors on the deal beginning this week, the people said. Company investors — including Disney, A&E Networks and TPG — would remain shareholders under the proposed structure.

A tech selloff dragged stocks lower Monday, pulling the market below highs. The S&P 500 fell 1% after wobbling between small gains and losses the first half of the day. The decline broke a three-day winning streak for the benchmark index, which set a record high on Friday.

GroupM is the latest agency to unveil efforts tied to helping to grow and support diverse and Black-owned media companies. The WPP-owned media giant is making a 2% pledge, calling on its clients to invest at least that amount of their annual media spend in diverse and Black-owned media. While GroupM is planning these investments now, the goal is to start these activations in the next 12 to 18 months.

The veteran broadcasting, marketing and sales executive with more than 30 years of large-market leadership experience will oversee KRON, KRON4.com and KRONOn.TV

EVP-CFO Victoria Harker said: “We continue to see recovery in non-political advertising in many categories,” including auto services, health care, home improvement, entertainment, gambling, insurance, banking and finance, packaged goods and education.

New jobs posted to TVNewsCheck’s Media Job Center include openings for a general manager, a creative services director, meteorologist, multimedia journalists, morning news anchor and master control operator/newscast director.

The increase to $727 million is driven by continued growth in subscription revenue and record first quarter advertising and marketing services (“AMS”) revenues.

The agency pledge comes as the ad world looks to diversify its media spend in this spring’s ad haggle.

Fresh from commitments from major advertisers and an agency holding company to boost their spending on Black-owned media, the Black-Owned Media Upfront announced a partial lineup of speakers today. Presenters will include, clockwise from upper left, Butch Graves, president-CEO, Black Enterprise; Roland Martin, founder, Nu Vision Media; Michele Ghee, CEO, Ebony & Jet; Paula Madison, chairman-CEO, Madison Media Management; Detavio Samuels, CEO, Revolt Media; and Byron Allen, founder, chairman and CEO, Allen Media Group.  Register to attend here and please register again if you initially registered prior to Wednesday, May 5. Start times for this event: Tuesday, May 11: 3 p.m. ET. Wednesday, May 12: Noon ET. 

Stocks rallied to set new records Friday after a grim jobs report undercut interest rates. Technology companies accounted for a big share of the broad rally, which included solid gains by stocks in the energy, industrial, and consumer discretionary sectors. The gains helped the S&P 500 notch its eighth weekly gain in the last 10 weeks.

It predicts station revenue for the second quarter “be up in the high-teens percent range. That includes core ad revenue up in the mid-40% range,” CFO Jason Combs told analysts. And for the company’s networks division — the former Ion operation, Katz Networks and Newsy — revenues are expected to be up about 20%.

TVNewsCheck‘s Michael Depp and Harry Jessell discuss Gray Television’s acquisition of Meredith and other potential moves on the M&A chessboard, along with changes at the top at CBS’s stations.

Dave Lougee, president and CEO, said: “We are pleased that our shareholders recognize the successful execution of our value-creation strategy, which is delivering record results.”

This year’s annual spring ritual known as the upfront, in which advertisers commit to buying commercials for fall programming, is expected to bounce back from a tepid 2020 and show more ad dollars migrating to streaming platforms.

The drop to $313 million reflected the sale of WPIX New York and lower core revenue due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

AMC Networks today reported a 6% downturn in revenue during the first quarter due to a slump in advertising and content licensing, but earnings per share beat Wall Street forecasts. Total revenue of $691.7 million fell from $734.4 million in the year-earlier period, missing analysts’ consensus estimate of $722.3 million. Earnings per share, though, topped the Street at $2.02, or $2.98 on an adjusted basis. Analysts on average were expecting $1.87

Comscore posted a loss in the first quarter, but reported a small increase in revenue. The report follows Comscore resetting its finances with a $204 million investment from Charter, Qurate Retail and Cerberus. The first quarter net loss was $36.4 million, or 49 cents a share, compared to a $13.2 million loss, or $19 cents a share, a year ago. The 2021 loss includes a $15.3 million non-chase charge related to the recapitalization.

U.S. stocks closed higher Thursday as banks and tech issues led a broad rally that pushed the S&P 500 to a 0.8% gain, reversing the benchmark index’s losses for the week. Gains in most Dow companies, including Goldman Sachs, IBM and Cisco Systems, nudged the blue chip index to a new high for the second straight day.

Roku kept rolling in the first quarter, reporting a 35% rise in active accounts, to 53.6 million, along with stronger-than-expected financial results. Revenue grew 79% compared with the same quarter a year ago, hitting $574.2 million, far higher than the consensus forecast by Wall Street analysts for $490.6 million.

The station group moves him from its KSDK St. Louis to oversee content, sales, brand and operations at the Texas CBS affiliate.

Gray President Pat LaPlatney: “We continue to believe gambling will be the fastest growing core ad category for us this year. The automotive category is pacing 48% ahead of last year’s horrendous second quarter. It nevertheless continues to lag improvement in other categories, due to the chip supply issue,” he said.