Report: Sinclair bids for NBC Sports Network – Sinclair Broadcasting Group, already the nation’s dominant owner of regional sports networks, has made an offer to acquire NBCUniversal’s seven regional sports networks, The New York Post has learned. [NY Post]
HBO Sports And NFL Films’ HARD KNOCKS: THE DALLAS COWBOYS Debuts August 10 On HBO – HBO Sports and NFL Films are partnering with “America’s Team”, the Dallas Cowboys, for an unfiltered all-access look at what it takes to make it in the National Football League in HARD KNOCKS: THE DALLAS COWBOYS. This season’s five-episode series highlights the five-time Super Bowl champion NFC East franchise and debuts Tuesday, August 10 (10:00-11:00 p.m. ET). Other hour-long episodes of the first sports-based reality series – and one of the fastest-turnaround programs on TV – debut subsequent Tuesdays at the same time, culminating in the September 7 season finale. [WarnerMedia]
How media companies are switching up summer Fridays after the pandemic – Forbes, the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times and The Washington Post do not have summer Fridays, which is when an employer allows staff to take a paid half-day or full-day off on the Fridays usually between Memorial Day and Labor Day.
Condé Nast, Leaf Group, Meredith and Vice Media Group have had summer Fridays policies in place for prior years, and they will continue this year. [Digiday]
Video Streaming To Pass 1B Users Globally in 2021; Revenue to Reach $100B in 2024 – Subscription-based Video-on-demand (SVoD) services like Netflix have almost become ubiquitous in households in many of the world’s most developed markets. 2020 was a particularly strong year for the segment as the coronavirus pandemic kept people indoors with most businesses shut due to lockdowns, causing engagement to surge.
Revenue from the SVoD segment amounted to $59B in 2020, after experiencing a 31.6% increase from 2019’s almost $45B revenue. Revenue is expected to grow a further 20.4%, reaching $71B in 2021. [Trading Platforms]
Americans remain divided in attitudes about the office, and returning to it – Those who are currently working from home want flexibility (73%), expect their employers to honor that desire (72%) and feel that they are more productive with a flexible work schedule (71%). And the number who agree that they want to return to the office full-time has fallen since Ipsos last asked in March. That month, the number who agree or disagree that they want to return full-time was was 40%/41%. Now, nearly 50% disagree compared to only 32% who agree. [Ipsos]
Chicago Tribune announces leadership changes for editorial page, Chicago magazine in wake of staff buyouts – The Chicago Tribune has named its longtime theater critic, Chris Jones, as editorial page editor.
Jones, 57, who has been the newspaper’s chief theater critic and a leading voice for Chicago’s cultural scene for nearly two decades, will take the helm of a downsized editorial board July 12, seeking to write a new chapter for himself and the city’s most influential opinion platform.
The decision, announced Wednesday, comes amid the disruption of a massive voluntary buyout that has seen more than 40 Chicago Tribune newsroom employees depart in the wake of hedge fund Alden Global Capital’s $633 million acquisition of Tribune Publishing in late May. [Chicago Tribune]
“You Can’t Actually Blow Up the White House”: An Oral History of ‘Independence Day’ – As the beloved film turns 25, director Roland Emmerich, writer Dean Devlin and stars Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman, Vivica A. Fox, Randy Quaid and more look back at the battle to cast Will Smith, concerns over that famous Super Bowl ad, and a last-minute reshoot to save the ending. [The Hollywood Reporter]
Pluto TV Adds Julia Child, ‘Wanted: Dead or Alive’ Channels –
Google is teaming up with entertainers, artists and cultural icons on a new Watch With Me series on Google TV to share their top picks and give behind-the-scenes looks at the TV and movies that inspired them – Laverne Cox is up first with a Watchlist.
With New Travel Guide, L.A. Times Invites Readers to Rediscover Catalina Island – Ahead of the Fourth of July holiday, the Los Angeles Times debuted a travel guide focused on what is new on Catalina Island. The guide features 21 best things to do while visiting the popular Southern California getaway.
“Catalina, like most other travel destinations, was completely shut down by the pandemic,” said Assistant Travel Editor Anne Harnagel. During that period, many of the destination’s restaurants, hotels and other tourist spots went through major upgrades. As a result, “The whole island has a fresh, welcoming look and feel now, and we thought that was worth telling readers about,” she said. [LA Times]
‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’: First Look At Brand-New Spidey Funkos, Figures, and More – Ahead of the release of Spider-Man: No Way Home, a bevy of brand new Spidey products — ranging from Funkos, to Marvel Legends, and even Nerf toys — will soon be on shelves. But, if you can’t wait that long, Marvel has a peek at some of the new items! [Marvel]
USA TODAY Announces Hosts and Presenters for First Ever National High School Sports Awards Show – USA TODAY’s High School Sports Awards, presented by the U.S. Polo Assn., announced a new national show airing on August 5 hosted by Michael Strahan, co-host of “Good Morning America,” and Pro Football Hall of Famer, Rob Gronkowski, tight end for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The awards show, one of the largest high school sports recognition programs in the country, will honor the nation’s best student athletes and feature some of the biggest names in professional sports.
The national awards show will debut on-demand at 8 p.m. EDT on August 5 on USA TODAY News and USA TODAY Sports Wire Channels, available on Roku, Samsung and on most smart televisions, as well as the Sports Awards website.
FOX Business Network (FBN) ended the second quarter of 2021 with signature programs Varney & Co. (weekdays, 9 AM – 12 PM/ET) and Kudlow (weekdays, 4 PM/ET) earning placements among the top 10 business news programs with total viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research. – Rounding out the second quarter of 2021, FBN’s Business Day programming (9:30 AM-5 PM/ET) drew in 169,000 viewers, while the network’s Market Hours programming (9 AM-4 PM/ET) netted 172,000 viewers. [Fox Business]
2021 Restaurant Ad Spending Insights from Media Radar– On the consumer side, restaurants and bars are spending 16% more in 2021 (Jan-June) than they did in 2020. Spend is up to $2bn this year from $1.73bn in 2020.
But it’s not too surprising when you consider who makes up most of this spending increase.
The top five spending brands include Domino’s, McDonald’s, Taco Bell, Wendy’s, and Subway.
Together, they spent $771mm in the first 6 months of 2021. This accounts for 38% of all advertising spend from the 5.5k brands in the space.
National fast and casual chains typically dominate the spending in the consumer-facing restaurant category. But they are especially positioned to advertise more than other brands right now. They are paying top dollar to resist extreme disruption in their own supply chains, while smaller chains are in a more vulnerable position. [Media Radar]
While the top reasons for cryptocurrency ownership in the US are investing and transactions, more than 50% of US adults who own cryptos also buy digital currencies like Bitcoin because they don’t want to feel that they’re missing out. [eMarketer]
