As television executives prepare lavish stage presentations in New York this week to dazzle advertisers during the annual TV upfront sales season, a harsh economic reality looms offstage — digital video advertising now eclipses spending on traditional television ads. The shift in spending and competition from tech players like Amazon has taken a toll on media companies' financial results, raising the stakes for the annual showcase of TV content to attract spending commitments from advertisers.
Honey the therapy dog might need to seek some external help after Fox canceled animated series Housebroken. The series has aired two seasons on the network but struggled to break through. Season 2 of the show, which concluded in August 2023, averaged 1 million viewers and a 0.1 L7 rating among adults 18-49.
Some of broadcasters’ diginets have greater reach than many cable networks and are attracting general market advertising as well as original, first-run and off-network syndicated programs.
Forget MJ, Tiger or Serena. When it comes to boosting TV audiences, the former Iowa star — who plays her first WNBA game Tuesday — is in a league of her own. (Darren Cummings/AP)
Brands turn to retailers, Google, Meta and TikTok for additional reach.
Tech leaders working on the cutting edge of AI in media share how it can already be used to extensively version content and usher in a new era of efficiency, as well as safeguards emerging across the industry for content authentication and rights protection in this panel at TVNewsCheck’s Programming Everywhere conference. Click here to register as a TVN subscriber and get access to all videos from this exclusive event.
The new agreement expands the Writers Guild of America's jurisdiction at the shop to include writing for social media platforms, animated projects and all streaming titles.
NBC has made subtle changes to its schedule for fall, which features three new series, medical drama Brilliant Minds, starring Zachary Quinto; medical comedy St. Denis Medical, headlined by Wendi McLendon-Covey and David Alan Grier; and Reba McEntire's new sitcom, Happy’s Place. NBC is creating two clearly defined 8 p.m. comedy blocks next season — a workplace one on Tuesday and a family one on Friday.
In addition, showrunners Miranda Kwok and Jeannine Renshaw will step down, sources say, with a search for new leadership underway.
Host and producer Rob Lowe has also signed a first-look unscripted deal at the network.
New jobs posted to TVNewsCheck’s Media Job Center include openings for a station vice president and general manager and a lifestyle show producer. Existing jobs include openings for a director of student media, a national operations manager, a digital platform specialist and an account executive.
Streaming sales leaders from Gray Television, E.W. Scripps, Hearst Television, Ticker and Megaphone TV will share the latest developments in technology and strategy for OTT and FAST channels. Learn more about this critically important revenue source for broadcasters in a TVNewsCheck Working Lunch Webinar on May 16. Register here.
