Business

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.

Wall Street rose Monday ahead of updates on spending by U.S. shoppers. The S&P 500 0.3%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.1% and the Nasdaq composite climbed 0.7%.

The green light follows objections to the blockbuster deal by American and British regulators on the grounds that it would undercut competition.

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.

As the start of the national TV upfront ad market draws near, total advertising — for live, linear TV — is estimated to drop 8% to $61.31 billion this year while total connected TV will rise 21% to $25.09 billion, according to eMarketer. YouTube, Hulu, and Netflix are among those that will see big gains, according to this analysis — with YouTube seeing the strongest rise. In terms of the upfront itself — where big brand advertisers typically commit 75% of their September- to-August TV season media before the season begins — eMarketer says YouTube will get “as much money as any TV network.”

It’s why 9-1-1 moved from Fox to ABC and why CBS canceled and then reversed course on SWAT.

Media companies, including NBCUniversal, Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery, will make their annual pitches to advertisers during their Upfront presentations this week. This year’s events come in the midst of a soft advertising market and the Hollywood writers’ strike, as well as accelerated cost-cutting by media companies. Advertisers will likely increase spending on ad-supported and so-called FAST options this year as cord-cutting accelerates. Franchise-related content will continue to take a big role.

Set designers, chefs and prop masters are out of work and growing anxious. Since the Writers Guild of America announced its strike last week, the work stoppage has had a sudden, profound impact on the entertainment industry. But overlooked in the dispute between the union’s 11,500 screenwriters and the major studios is the toll it could take on the wider economy — especially in Los Angeles, which remains, in part, a company town.

Vice Media Group, popular for websites such as Vice and Motherboard, filed for bankruptcy protection on Monday to engineer its sale to a group of lenders, capping years of financial difficulties and top-executive departures. Vice said that the lender consortium, which includes Fortress Investment Group, Soros Fund Management and Monroe Capital, will provide about $225 million in the form of a credit bid for substantially all of the company’s assets and also assume significant liabilities at closing.

CNN last Wednesday broadcast one of the most controversial news events of the year, a runaway town hall interview with former President Donald Trump, and advertisers like Subaru and Fidelity Investments went along for the ride. There are new questions about whether all of Madison Avenue will do so in the future.

New owner Nexstar has gutted the network’s roster that former CEO Mark Pedowitz built in favor of low-cost imports and unscripted shows — and a rejected cable drama. Pictured: Sullivan’s Crossing, starring Chad Michael Murray, Morgan Kohan and Scott Patterson, is one of many low-cost foreign series that The CW will program instead of homegrown original series. It’s already aired elsewhere.

Heavy hitters from both sides of the Standard General/Tegna merger debate, including former Democratic FCC and FTC chairs, met with the FCC’s Republican commissioners last week as the companies attempted to get the FCC to give them a thumbs up or thumbs down on the deal ASAP.

With Standard General’s deal to buy Tegna hanging by a thread, the broadcaster may continue on its pre-deal trajectory or be sold in pieces, analysts say. But the FCC’s glacial review process, which may have been triggered by private equity’s role in the deal, has had a chilling impact on other potential large transactions in the industry. Note: This story is available to TVNewsCheck Premium members only. If you would like to upgrade your free TVNewsCheck membership to Premium now, you can visit your Member Home Page, available when you log in at the very top right corner of the site or in the Stay Connected Box that appears in the right column of virtually every page on the site. If you don’t see Member Home, you will need to click Log In or Subscribe.

With just a few clicks, you can broadcast – and have your audiences participate in – news polls that update in real time. Works with all standard broadcast hardware and software.

Corporate America is closely watching to see whether one of the country’s most powerful companies can face down a threat to its self-governance and free speech.

The sides announced the deal in a joint statement Friday, roughly a month after they reached an agreement in principle on the sale for a record $6.05 billion.

Wall Street slipped Friday as households get more nervous. Despite the seemingly placid moves for the overall market, big swings have swirled underneath the surface amid worries about a possible recession, high inflation and the U.S. government inching toward what could be a catastrophic default on its debt.

“I am excited to welcome Linda Yaccarino as the new CEO of Twitter!” Musk wrote in a Friday tweet. He added that Yaccarino “will focus primarily on business operations, while I focus on product design & new technology.” Luring advertisers is critical for Musk and Twitter after many fled in the early months after his takeover of the social media platform, fearing harm to their brands in the ensuing chaos. Musk said in late April that advertisers had returned, but provided no details. Pictured: Musk with Yaccarino, chairman of global advertising and partnerships for NBC, at a marketing conference in Miami Beach on April 18.

The veteran TV executive Sarata (l) will succeed Patrick Schooley (r) as head of sales at Gray’s NBC Michigan affiliate.

NBCUniversal shook up its ad-sales executive suite with just days to go before the company is slated to present its next slate of programing to advertisers. Linda Yaccarino, the company’s longtime chairman of advertising and partnerships, is leaving the company. She has entered talks to become CEO of Twitter, according to a person familiar with the matter. Mark Marshall, a veteran executive who leads advertising sales for all of NBCU’s national media properties, has been named interim chairman of ad sales for the company. He will report to Mark Lazarus who oversees NBCU’s TV and streaming businesses.

NBCUniversal’s global ad chair Linda Yaccarino has resigned, the company said Friday. The announcement comes a day after Elon Musk said via Twitter there would be a new CEO of the social media website, although he didn’t name the new person. Musk said in his tweet the person would start in about six weeks. Yaccarino yesterday was said to be in advanced talks for the role. (JohnStaleyPhoto.com)

The impact included promising shows that lost their audiences, films rushed into production with flimsy scripts and turbocharging reality programming. Pictured: Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles saw its ratings plunge after an extended break during the 2007 writers’ strike.

Emily Barr, TVNewsCheck columnist and former CEO-president of Graham Media, weighs in on the troubling implications of Sinclair’s closure of five newsrooms across its markets and what shoes may drop next for an industry up against serious headwinds. A full transcript of the conversation is included.

Some unexpected early political spending was a bright spot in an otherwise rough quarter for both broadcast companies and their major tech competitors.

NBCUniversal’s head of advertising Linda Yaccarino is in talks to become the new CEO of Twitter, according to people familiar with the situation. Yaccarino, chairman of global advertising and partnerships at NBCU, has been with NBCU for more than a decade, where she has been an industry advocate for finding better ways to measure the effectiveness of advertising. As head of NBCU’s advertising sales, she was key in the launch of the company’s ad-supported Peacock streaming service. The news comes just days before one of the biggest events of the year for NBCU, the company’s annual upfront pitch event for advertisers , which is scheduled for Monday in New York.

Wall Street edged lower Thursday following inflation data and drops for Disney, banks.