Streaming Grabs 35% Of TV Time In August

Nielsen's latest report from The Guage, the media measurement company's monthly total TV and streaming snapshot, revealed that streaming usage represented 35% of overall television consumption in August, marking another record-high share for the format and its second month as the the top TV viewing category in The Gauge. Broadcast and cable each gained in August as well, with shares at 22.1% and 34.5%, respectively.

Although total time spent watching TV in August was down slightly compared to July, broadcast, cable and streaming each saw an increase in share compared to the prior month, largely at the expense of the "other" category. Broadcast was the only format to gain in viewing volume in August versus July (+1.6%), while cable and streaming remained fairly flat over the same interval (-0.4% and -0.1%, respectively).

Lemon, Harlow, Collins to Anchor New CNN Morning Show

Don Lemon, Poppy Harlow, Kaitlan Collins

CNN Worldwide Chairman and CEO Chris Licht announced today co-anchors for the network’s reimagined morning show, his first major programming move since taking the helm of CNN in May. Anchored by Don Lemon, Poppy Harlow and Kaitlan Collins, the new morning news program will debut later this year with a fresh name, format and set.

“There is no stronger combination of talent than Don, Poppy and Kaitlan to deliver on our promise of a game-changing morning news program,” said Licht. “They are each uniquely intelligent, reliable and compelling; together they have a rare and palpable chemistry. Combined with CNN’s resources and global newsgathering capabilities, we will offer a smart, bold and refreshing way to start the day.”

Don Lemon, one of CNN’s most recognizable news personalities, will close the curtain on his nightly program Don Lemon Tonight to headline the brand-new morning show. Lemon, a New York Times best-selling author and award-winning journalist whose 30-year career in broadcast news includes 16 at CNN, has played a prominent role in every major news event over the past decade. He helped to reignite CNN’s primetime lineup when he landed the coveted 10p timeslot in 2014. During his time at CNN he has produced numerous documentaries and specials; and served as moderator for multiple political town halls and co-moderator for a 2020 Democratic Presidential Debate.

“The last eight years have been an incredible ride. I’ve had the opportunity to work with one of the best show teams in the business, but it’s time to shake things up. I am so appreciative of the Don Lemon Tonight team, my wonderful, loyal viewers and everyone who has believed in me,” said Lemon. “I was honestly floored when Chris Licht asked me to do this and I’m honored by his belief in me. It’s going to be a thrill to take on this challenge with Poppy and Kaitlan. I’ll get to work with two of my dearest friends. Set your alarms folks, because we’re going to have a lot of fun.”

NYC Radio: Craig Carton’s FS1 Show Off To Rough Ratings Start

The early returns for Craig Carton’s ratings on FS1 have not been good, according to The NY Post.

There are some caveats for the show, which debuted last Tuesday, to have such a notable decrease. The average viewership for the first five shows, as measured by Nielsen, was 17,400. Last year, “First Things First” averaged 76,400 viewers in the week of five shows that began the Tuesday after Labor Day and concluded on the Monday after the first weekend of the NFL.

This represents a decline of about 77 percent.

However, “First Things First” aired from 7:30-9:30 a.m. whereas “The Carton Show” airs from 7-9:30 a.m.. This early half hour presumably drags down Carton’s average viewership. At that time, less of the country is awake; it’s 4 a.m. on the West Coast. Secondly, sports talk shows have a given amount of die-hard viewers who DVR shows. That takes years to build up, and Carton is starting from scratch.

One week is too soon to write off this television experiment as a disaster. Carton has also proven in both morning and afternoon drive on WFAN that he can adapt to listener preferences and drive radio ratings. His TV show has high energy, and a few funny clips have gone viral. Visually, the show and studio look crisp. Monday’s show averaged 25,000 viewers, compared to 14,000 for the debut last week. A rise was to be expected given the start of the NFL, but it’s still some positive momentum.

Nonetheless, the initial numbers have to be considered lower than anybody plausibly expected.

YouTube Closes In On Spotify As Top Music Streamer

Spotify is the king of music streaming — but its lead is dwindling. 

Billboard reports YouTube generated over $6 billion to the music industry in the 12 months ended June 2022, the company announced Tuesday (Sept. 13). That was a 50% increase from the last figure YouTube reported, $4 billion over a 12-month period, in June 2020.

Reaching the $6 billion milestone raises the question of when — if at all — YouTube might surpass Spotify in terms of value to rights holders and creators. “We want our twin engine of ads and subscriptions to be the #1 contributor of revenue to the industry by 2025,” wrote Lyor Cohen, YouTube’s global head of music, in a blog post on Tuesday.

That won’t be easy, but it isn’t impossible, according to Glenn People at Billboard. Consider how fast YouTube has grown since Cohen joined the company in 2016 from 300 Entertainment, the label he co-founded after his tenure as chairman and CEO of recorded music at Warner Music Group.

The Nation's Newspaper Reaches A Milestone

The First Issue

USA TODAY turns 40 on Thursday.

The genesis of USA Today was on February 29, 1980, when a company task force known as "Project NN" met with Gannett chairman Al Neuharth in Cocoa Beach, Florida, to develop a national newspaper. 

Comcast To Disney: Hulu Will Not Come Cheap

Comcast Corp Chief Executive Brian Roberts used the unusually public forum of a Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology Conference on Wednesday to signal that the company will seek market value for its minority stake in Hulu, reports Reuters.

Roberts was asked to respond to Walt Disney Co Chief Executive Bob Chapek's comments to the Financial Times published on Monday in which he said he would like to accelerate the timetable for acquiring Comcast's one-third stake in Hulu.

Chapek said he would love to settle the matter of Hulu sooner than January 2024 but he told the publication that Comcast has seemed reluctant. It’s a sentiment the executive repeated Wednesday, in remarks at the Goldman Sachs conference.

The deal, reached in 2019, established a minimum valuation of $27.5 billion for Hulu, in a transaction that would give Disney complete ownership of the service. Chapek noted that market sentiment has cooled significantly since the original agreement was struck and investors have grown more skeptical about streaming, suggesting a more modest payout.

RAB, Amplifi Media to Benchmark Local Podcast Ad Revenue

The Radio Advertising Bureau, announced today a new partnership with Amplifi Media with the goal of benchmarking the local marketplace’s podcast advertising revenue. Radio groups and stations are invited to participate in the "Local Podcast Opportunity" survey and provide insights into the challenges, opportunities, and revenue generating successes they’ve been able provide local advertising clients.

"We know that podcast advertising dollars continue to grow and we’re seeing good momentum at the local level, however, we have not been able to size the market up," said Erica Farber, president and CEO, RAB. "By partnering with Amplifi Media which has been at the advent and a leader in the podcast space, we hope to be able to provide broadcast radio a benchmark report that can show the growth and opportunities ahead."

"Up to this point, podcasting has been national, but that is changing rapidly as local sports, news, food, and culture podcasts are popping up across the country from major companies and entrepreneurial content creators," said Steve Goldstein, founder and CEO, Amplifi Media. "Local podcasts are a remarkable opportunity for radio stations to both retain and grow audience. That's why Amplifi partnered with RAB to field the first survey examining what's happening with commercial radio and local podcasts. It is a landmark study with tremendous implications."

The Local Podcast Opportunity survey aims to uncover the current state of local podcasting among commercial radio and identify guidelines to create, scale, and monetize.

Report: Disney Could Grab $700M From College Football Ads

The Walt Disney Co. is poised to reap a windfall from college football ad sales on ESPN and ABC this year, reports Front Office Sports.

This season’s coverage should generate well over $700 million in combined ad sales from more than 350 advertisers across Disney’s linear and digital networks, sources told Front Office Sports. 

Disney has sold roughly 90% of its college football inventory for the season and signed 36 new sponsors including Vrbo, DoorDash, and Old Dominion Freight Line. 

ABC/ESPN just posted its most-watched college football kickoff weekend since 2016, and many brands are paying for new, customized integrations.

Xfinity sponsored game action for ESPN’s Kickoff Week, while Allstate was the title sponsor of ABC’s Louisiana Kickoff.

Chick-fil-A returned as title sponsor for kickoff games on Saturday and Monday, while Mercedes-Benz again sponsored the Labor Day Kickoff show on ESPN’s digital properties. 

Wake-Up Call: Biden Says Tentative Rail Labor Agreement Reached

RAILROAD STOPPAGE SEEMS TO HAVE BEEN AVERTED: President Joe Biden announced a tentative agreement was reached to give rail workers better pay, improved working conditions, and “peace of mind around their health care costs.” “I thank the unions and rail companies for negotiating in good faith and reaching a tentative agreement that will keep our critical rail system working and avoid disruption of our economy,” Biden said in a statement. Negotiators from railroad carriers and unions met in Labor Secretary Marty Walsh’s office Wednesday as the sides tried to negotiate a deal ahead of Friday’s strike deadline. A Department of Labor official confirmed that a deal “that balances the needs of workers, businesses, and our nation’s economy” was reached early Thursday morning after 20 consecutive hours of negotiations between rail companies and union negotiators.

Engineers and conductors for freight rail companies had been negotiating for better working conditions, particularly in scheduling and sick leave policies. A freight rail strike would have had a significant impact on delivery of goods throughout the U.S. About a third of goods move by rail in the U.S. The details of the tentative agreement have not been shared.

🛫DeSANTIS FLIES MIGRANTS TO MARTHA'S VINEYARD: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis sent two full planes of migrants to Martha’s Vineyard on Wednesday — making good on his promise to ship off illegal immigrants to progressive states.  The migrants got off the planes from Florida and could be seen on the tarmac at Martha’s Vineyard Airport on the small Massachusetts island, Fox News Digital reports. A spokesperson for the Republican governor confirmed in a statement to the outlet that the flights were “part of the state’s relocation program to transport illegal immigrants to sanctuary destinations.”

Netflix Expects Ad-Supported Tier Will Reach 40M By Late 2023

Netflix Inc. estimated that an advertising-supported version of its streaming service would reach about 40 million viewers globally by the third quarter of 2023, according to a document reviewed by The Wall Street Journal that Netflix shared with ad buyers.

Executives from Netflix and its advertising partner, Microsoft Corp. have met with ad buyers in recent weeks, seeking to lock in deals ahead of a planned launch later this year.

In preliminary projections, Netflix told ad executives it expects to have 4.4 million unique viewers worldwide at the end of the year, with 1.1 million coming from the U.S. The company estimated that would grow to over 40 million unique viewers by the third quarter of 2023, with 13.3 million from the U.S.

Netflix’s projections for advertisers covered a dozen launch markets, including Brazil, Mexico, Japan, the U.K., France, Germany, Korea, Spain, Italy, Australia and Canada.

The metric the company has shared, “projected unique viewers,” is expected to be higher than the number of subscribers for the advertising-supported Netflix plan, since more than one person in a subscribing household will likely be able to watch the service.

Stress Keeping Americans Awake At Night

A new national survey commissioned by The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center finds all of the changes and turmoil over the past few years isn’t just stressing Americans out, it’s keeping them up at night. After a global pandemic, political division and two years of turbulent events, nearly one in five Americans say they struggle to fall asleep due to stress and worry over the state of the world.

“Everybody’s stressed and there’s lots of news. So I think the increase in stress may be one of those things that’s causing more people to lose sleep. Here at Ohio State, there was a 29 percent increase in referrals for insomnia from 2018 to 2021,” said Dr. Aneesa Das, professor of internal medicine at Ohio State Wexner Medical Center. “Stress can increase your heart rate, increase your blood pressure, make you have an upset stomach and cause muscle tension. All of those things increase our alertness, making it harder to fall asleep.”

The survey also found that many Americans try to mitigate sleep issues by using bad habits, especially when it comes to screen time. Nearly half of Americans say they use their phones right before bed and 37% fall asleep with the TV on.

R Kelly Convicted On Child Pornography Charges

 

A federal jury in Chicago on Wednesday convicted disgraced R&B singer R. Kelly on child pornography charges for making videotapes of himself sexually abusing his then-14-year-old goddaughter decades ago, but according to The Chicago Tribune, acquitted him on charges that he conspired to obstruct justice in his 2002 Cook County case.

After about 11 hours of deliberation, the jury found Kelly, 55, guilty of three of the first four counts of the indictment, which charged the singer with the sexual exploitation of “Jane” for the purpose of producing child pornography. Those charges carry a minimum of 10 years in prison.

Kelly was acquitted, however, of the count alleging he videotaped himself having sexual contact with “Jane” and prosecution witness Lisa Van Allen. While Van Allen and Jane testified that the threesome occurred and was videotaped, jurors did not view footage from that encounter. Prosecutors said that’s because Kelly’s enablers successfully concealed it.

Lawyer: Alex Jones Knew Hoax Would Attract Revenue

A lawyer who works for Alex Jones' Infowars testified from the witness stand on Wednesday that the conspiracy theorist who claimed the 2012 Sandy Hook mass shooting was a hoax knew that his words could drive followers to his empire, according to Reuters.

Jones "knows that what he talks about translates to sales" of his conspiracy-oriented products, Brittany Paz told jurors at the second day of a civil trial to determine how much Jones owes relatives of the shooting's victims.

Jurors will decide how much Jones and Infowars' parent Free Speech Systems LLC must pay 13 relatives and an FBI agent who responded to the Dec. 14, 2012 massacre at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.

Twenty students and six staff members were killed after Adam Lanza opened fire, before later killing himself.

“The History of Rock ‘N’ Roll” Explores Careers Of ABBA, ONJ

ABBA

The legendary and award-winning History of Rock ‘N’ Roll will present a very special episode the weekend of September 17 and 18. Host Wink Martindale will present the stories of two major feminine hitmakers of the ‘70s and ‘80s: Olivia Newton-John and ABBA. 

 In addition to the top career hits of each, Wink – along with the artists themselves – will illuminate their rises to multiple Grammy-winning fame step by step. “The Olivia Newton-John Story” will take up the first hour, “The ABBA Story” the second. The History of Rock ‘N’ Roll is syndicated in North America by G Networks.

ONJ

Earlier this year, The History of Rock ‘N’ Roll was named “Best Regularly-Scheduled Music Series” in the New York Festivals’ International Broadcast competition. “Ours is a two-hour weekly look back at the songs and the stars who made the music magic,” said Martindale. “Each themed episode spotlights yet another aspect of rock and pop history – from ‘Leading Ladies of the 80s’ to ‘The 60s Greatest Dance Hits,’ ‘Singer-Songwriters of the 70s to ‘The Best of Folk-Rock,’ ‘The Magic of Motown’ to ‘The Number One Hits of 1980,’ ‘The Beach Boys Story’ to ‘Inside Beatlemania’.”

The History of Rock ‘N’ Roll features the stories behind all the hits – often via insightful interviews with the hitmakers themselves. The weekly series is written by Gary Theroux, who wrote and produced the 1978 Billboard award-winning 52-hour marathon version. The Martindale-hosted weekly series is an entirely new and expanded production – with more than 260 hours of programming written so far – and painstakingly assembled by co-producer and master engineer Peter Gould.

September 15 Radio History

➦In 1907...John Wesley "Jack" Bailey Jr. born in Hampton, Iowa (Died from cancer at age 72 in Santa Monica, CA– February 1, 1980).  He was an actor and daytime game show host.

Jack Bailey

Bailey is best remembered as the host of Queen for a Day, a daytime game show which first aired on the Mutual Broadcasting System in 1945 and later moved to television, where it ran locally in the Los Angeles area from 1948 through 1955, on the NBC Television network from January 3, 1956 to September 2, 1960, and on the ABC network from September 5, 1960 to October 2, 1964. Each episode started with a different introduction (some of which were parodies of other popular shows of the time period), but inevitably the opening would resolve when Bailey pointed to the camera (and the audience) and loudly asked, "Would you like to be Queen for a Day?" as the live audience, mostly women, cheered.

He was an announcer for several radio programs, including The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, Duffy's Tavern, and Meet the Missus.

His other work in television included appearances in episodes of The Ford Show, Starring Tennessee Ernie Ford, Mister Ed, Green Acres, I Dream of Jeannie, Gunsmoke, and Ironside, plus narration for the Walt Disney organization. He had a small part in the Frank Capra film It's a Wonderful Life and he also toured the country in musical stage productions, such as Hello Dolly, The Sound of Music, and The Music Man.

Bailey was awarded two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame—one for his radio career, at 1708 Vine Street, and one for his work in television, at 6411 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California.

➦In 1907...Announcer Jimmy Wallington was born in Rochester NY (Died at age 65 – December 22, 1972). After playing small roles in a few Hollywood films, he was the announcer for several popular radio shows in the 1940s and 1950s.

Jimmy Wallington

For his work on radio, Wallington has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6660 Hollywood Blvd.

He was the announcer for several popular radio shows in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, including Texaco Star Theatre with Fred Allen (1941–44) and Texaco Town with Eddie Cantor. As with most announcers, Wallington would announce the program's star, then read the sponsor's commercials. In addition, he was often given comedy lines. When radio shows moved to television, he continued as a television announcer in the 1950s.

After years as a radio announcer, he became a TV star in California doing Life Insurance and other commercials. He ended his professional radio career as a Voice of America radio announcer in the Worldwide English service.

Blondie, Dagwood

➦In 1908...Penny Singleton born Mariana Dorothy McNulty (Died at age 95 – November 12, 2003). During her 60-year career, she appeared as the comic-strip heroine Blondie Bumstead in a series of 28 motion pictures from 1938 until 1950 and the popular Blondie radio program from 1939 until 1950. Singleton also provided the voice of Jane Jetson in the animated series The Jetsons from 1962–1963 and 1985–1987.

She was cast opposite Arthur Lake (as Dagwood) in the feature film Blondie in 1938. They repeated their roles on a radio comedy beginning in 1939 and in guest appearances on other radio shows. As Dagwood and Blondie Bumstead, they proved so popular that a succession of 27 sequels was made from 1938 until 1950, with the radio show ending the same year. Singleton's husband Robert Sparks produced 12 of these sequels. Also in 1950, she had her own program, The Penny Singleton Show, on NBC radio

➦In 1915...John Conte  born (Died at age 90 – September 4, 2006).  Conte entered broadcasting with a job at KFAC in Los Angeles. Two years later, he had become a network announcer. One of his first regular roles was on The Grape Nuts Program (1937-1938) with George Burns and Gracie Allen. Conte was host for Screen Test and Master of ceremonies for the Maxwell House program that featured Fanny Brice and Frank Morgan He was also the announcer for Silver Theater. It Happened in Hollywood and The Screen Guild Show.  Conte, who ended up a CA TV station owner.

➦In 1934...the Mutual Broadcast System was formed.