TV News May Face Resistance From Advertisers in Upfront Market

Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Anthony Bass was booed at Rogers Centre on Wednesday night after the player shared an anti-LGBTQ+ post ahead of Pride Month. Bass shared a video to his Instagram story on Monday which called for people to boycott both Target and Bud Light due to their recent backing of LGBTQ+ Pride campaigns. Bass later apologised for his comments after the Blue Jays came out and stressed that the organisation don't share the same feelings as their pitcher.

Manchester United icon Eric Cantona has admitted he is only a fan of Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola in today's football climate.

Joe Swash, has announced she’s pregnant with her first baby. The actress played the role of Demi Miller in the BBC One soap, who gave birth when she was 13 years old in a controversial storyline in the early 2000s.

Christine McGuiness surprised fans when she unveiled a 'new look' on Instagram today as she takes part in a popular Channel 4 show. Her 711k followers were in disbelief as she took to the social media platform following an 'extreme makeover'.

sad indie fangirls, the patron saints of cry-yourself-to-sleep pop have had another bestie moment — and now we can share it. Well, sort of. Taylor Swift’s most recent round of concerts at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium marked the end of Phoebe Bridgers as an Eras Tour opening act; they also marked the very last time Phoebe would be performing her second album, Punisher.

Amanda Holden fans were left in awe as she almost bared all and appeared 'topless' in a new TikTok video. Showing plenty of skin, the ITV Britain's Got Talent judge sung along to The Little Mermaid's Part Of Your World in the clip.

A firm has been fined £200,000 after a warehouse worker was crushed by a 700kg crate. The 29-year suffered two broken ribs, a punctured lung and a fractured vertebra in the accident at PSV Glass and Glazing Limited in Middleton.

For fans of: Ava Max, Eurovision, all the fake-sounding RuPaul songs Related: Kylie Minogue ‘bursting with joy’ as new single Padam Padam soars up charts Padam Padam, the first single from Kylie Minogue’s forthcoming 16th album Tension, has proven as inescapable (and about as subtle) as an airborne virus. The track has been subject to hundreds of memes and thousands of text messages from mums to their gay sons: “What’s ‘padam’?”The memes, combined with the overt ridiculousness of the whole affair – a dead-serious Eurodance track built around the onomatopoeic sound of a heartbeart – have pushed Padam Padam to Kylie’s highest singles chart placement in over a decade.

Sydney Sweeney is still "navigating" fame. The 25-year-old actress has enjoyed a meteoric rise over recent years, but Sydney has revealed that she still doesn't feel famous. The blonde beauty told ES Magazine: "I think I’m still navigating it on a daily basis because I want to be as authentic and genuinely open to the public and my fans as possible.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Andrew Ross Sorkin is the co-creator of the Showtime series “Billions,” but he isn’t really known for drama in his professional life, just financial reporting. So it came as something of a surprise on Monday, when the CNBC and New York Times journalist got up on stage at New York City’s Radio City Music Hall to tout some of the dramatic fare that NBCUniversal was able to cobble together for the advertisers and media buyers assembled in the audience. It was all part of the industry’s annual “upfront,” when U.S. media companies try to sell the bulk of their advertising inventory before the release of their next cycle of programming.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor When Lester Holt visits Florida next week, it won’t be for a vacation. But he will take the regular format of “NBC Nightly News” on a short trip. The veteran anchor will visit Fort Myers Beach and Miami early next week, and on each of two nights will spend a significant amount of time delving into news and issues pertinent to those locations. “There are a lot of stories to be told in Florida, not just from a political standpoint, but environmental and tourism and recovery from storm disaster,” Holt says in an interview. He’s traveled to Fort Myers before, when a hurricane was making its way through the city, but “the idea is to visit places when they are not necessarily going through their worst day,”

believes they did a public good. Many of CNN’s on-air talent have expressed the same sentiment, including primetime mainstay Anderson Cooper, who the day after the show insisted the town hall informed viewers of things they might not know about Trump — and even, essentially, said critics were being closed-minded.Amanpour didn’t mention Cooper by name, but in her remarks she seemed to respond directly to him. “The fact the American people voted 3 times against Trump and Trumpism — 2018, 2020, 2022 — also speaks volumes,” she said.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor The upfront presentation that looks most like traditional TV came from a company that likes to tell investors, advertisers and consumers how it’s leapfrogging that entire business. Netflix on Wednesday showed dozens of scripted series and movies that could support advertising — if only Madison Avenue would take a chance and bet on its nascent efforts to sell commercials. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Chris Hemsworth and Julia Roberts were only some of the actors whose efforts could be tied to advertising. Counterparts like NBCUniversal and Fox Corp. were hard-pressed to do the same earlier this week. “We are just getting started,” said Peter Naylor, vice president of global advertising sales at Netflix.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor CBS is out; Netflix is in. Nothing encapsulates the tumult in television these days more than the fact that CBS, one of the pillars of network television, has decided not to attend the industry’s traditional upfront week — when media giants make glitzy programming presentations to prospective advertisers — while Netflix will make its debut. A year ago, when Netflix announced it would launch a subscriber tier supported by advertising, it was a seismic event in the history of the industry’s leading streamer. But so far, there’s been no quaking on Madison Avenue.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Fox News Channel is considering “multiple scenarios” for its primetime lineup after the ouster of Tucker Carlson, with the network declining to comment on a recent report that veteran Sean Hannity might move into its 8 p.m. lead-off hour. “No decision has been made on a new primetime line-up and there are multiple scenarios under consideration,” Fox News said in a statement Wednesday. Fox News issued the comment in the wake of The Drudge Report posting the notion that Hannity would move to 8, while Jesse Watters, who has fared well at 7 p.m., would move into the primetime schedule, along with Greg Gutfeld, who hosts a late-night-styled 11 p.m. program. Such a move would have significant ramifications that would not dovetail with recent Fox News strategy. Gutfeld’s 11 p.m. program has been a break-out success with the network’s viewers, and part of a move that has extended the outlet’s opinion block from 7 p.m. to midnight. Watters’ show at 7 has also been considered successful, and he might seem like a natural successor to Carlson. Watters is also more right-leaning than others on the roster and he got his start making appearances at 8 p.m. on Bill O’Reilly’s show. But people familiar with Fox News say executives have suggested that Watters was doing well in the 7 p.m. hour he began anchoring in 2022 and may not be Carlson’s successor.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor On his Fox News program, Tucker Carlson would often declare himself “the sworn enemy of lying, pomposity, smugness and group think.” So now he wants to launch a show on Twitter? The social-media platform has given millions of people the ability to express themselves and communicate in ways they never could before, but it has also become a haven for bullying, tribalism and disinformation. Carlson may become part of the venue’s latest effort to keep traffic flowing even as many advertisers keep more than an arm’s length away. Figuring out how to handle Carlson could be one of the first challenges for Linda Yaccarino, who has been named Twitter’s new CEO. The former NBCUniversal ad-sales chief knows what it takes to line up blue-chip sponsorships at scale. But doing that on behalf of Carlson may be a mission impossible. HisFox News show suffered from a dearth of mainstream national advertisers, despite the show’s high ratings. After recent revelations about the host’s use of racist and misogynist language, disclosed in documents tied to Dominion Voting Systems’ defamation litigation against Fox News, Twitter’s new bosswould have to hunt far and wide for any traditional sponsors willing to associate Carlson with their brands.

Fox News Media waved its banner during the Fox upfront Monday afternoon in New York, plugging a wide array of platforms but notably gliding past its main profit center in prime time.

sexual abuse and defamation against E. Jean Carroll. “The problem for them is that no matter how hard they try to spin themselves as the party of family values to create fake controversies, that’s hard to do with a straight face given the de facto leader of their party has now been branded a sexual abuser,” Psaki said on Sunday’s “Inside” on MSNBC.She specifically sniped prominent Republican figures like senators Lindsey Graham and Marco Rubio for hypocritical statements made in their former president’s defense.

Donald Trump’s town hall was the hot topic across Sunday political talk shows, including on ABC’s “This Week,” where former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said the audience of Trump supporters looked awfully similar to the ones he saw when he was running for president in 2016.“I don’t care how they introduced them. I know a lot of those people in that audience.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Plenty of money will be spent on TV ads during this year’s “upfront” — but probably not enough to fuel the economics of all the nation’s big media conglomerates. TV executives and media buyers usually can’t agree on much at this time of year, when U.S. TV networks try to sell the bulk of their advertising inventory in advance of their next cycle of programming. Buyers and CMOs insist TV advertising prices are too high, while TV sales honchos demand a premium for ads that are seen by more people all at once than commercials accompanying a random binge-watch or a YouTube influencer’s streamcast. In 2023, however, both types of hagglers are in agreement: Madison Avenue will greet the industry’s annual ad-sales session not with open wallets, but with tighter purse-strings.

that he hated Donald Trump “passionately.” But less than 2 months earlier he was singing a dramatically different tune, newly leaked texts reveal. In an exchange with his senior producer, obtained by the Daily Beast — yes, it’s yet more leaked evidence that emerged during discovery in the Dominion defamation lawsuit against Fox News — the recently fired host was so upset about the unusually negative coverage Fox was giving Trump that he said he was “happy to start threating people” to make it stop.The text exchange happened Nov. 19, 2020, as Fox News was suffering a severe drop in ratings caused by the exodus of viewers angry that it had (accurately) called the election for Joe Biden and then — temporarily — refused to support Trump’s constant lying about the loss.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor 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.

CNN’s town hall with Donald Trump beat the cable news competition, as expected, with an average of 3.12 million viewers, according to early Nielsen numbers.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor ABC News is betting on a new duo to keep shining daylight at “GMA3.” Eva Pilgrim and DeMarco Morgan will officially take over as co-anchors of the program, a news-and-lifestyle hour in the early afternoon that is seen as an extension of the Disney network’s flagship “Good Morning America.” They will join Dr. Jen Ashton. Meanwhile, Gio Benitez has been assigned to the team at the weekend version of “GMA.” Staffers at ABC News were informed of the decision Thursday morning by Kim Godwin, president of the division. “I know these programs – and our viewers at home – will be well-served by all of their collective talents,” said Godwin in a memo.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Netflix is backing away from the live-in-New-York showcase it planned to hold for advertisers during the industry’s annual week of “upfront” presentations for advertisers, a move that threatens to put a damper on the company’s first big public attempt to woo advertisers to its service. The streaming giant is scrapping the event it planned to hold at its own Paris Theater in New York, slated for May 17, and informed advertisers of the switch Wednesday evening. The decision was previously reported by Adweek. Netflix’ decision takes place amid a massive writers strike that is likely to keep many of the actors, comedians and showrunners who might regularly attend away from the glitzy affairs held by most of the networks each year as part of the upfront, the annual attempt by U.S. media companies to sell the bulk of their commercial inventory attached to their next cycle of programming.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor The 50th season of “Saturday Night Live” isn’t slated to kick off until the fall of 2024. But that doesn’t mean NBC has to wait until then to start lining up sponsors. NBCUniversal intends to start talking to advertisers about the possibilities in the industry’s annual “upfront” sales session, says Mark Marshall, the company’s president of advertising sales and partnerships, in a recent interview. NBC could start calling attention to the landmark season during its telecasts of the 2024 Summer Olympics from Paris, he says, which means the media company is eager to start discussing ideas soon. TV’s “upfront,” when U.S. networks try to sell the bulk of their commercial inventory, is expected to kick into gear next week, when NBCU and its competitors hold a series of glitzy presentations for Madison Avenue. “Saturday Night Live” generated approximately $74,7 million dollars in ad sales in 2022, according to Vivvix, a tracker of ad spending. That figure represents a 12% dip from the nearly $85.3 million “SNL” generated in 2021.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor In an era when gargantuan media conglomerates hope to tempt advertisers into buying tons of commercials across many networks, streaming outlets and digital sites, Marianne Gambelli has come to appreciate the art of staying small. The executive, president of ad sales for Fox Corp., says in an interview that she believes the company will stand apart in the TV industry’s looming “upfront” sales session by not pressing potential sponsors to snap up commercial inventory in multiple venues. Want to buy an ad in a Fox Sunday NFL broadcast without having to load up on commercial avails at Tubi? Gambelli says staffers are willing to accomodate.

Mick Mulvaney, the former Trump administration official, has signed with NewsNation as a political and economic contributor.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Mick Mulvaney, the former Director of the Office of Management and Budget acting White House Chief of Staff during the Trump administration, has been named a contributor to NewsNation, the upstart cable-news service operated by Nexstar Media. Mulvaney, who has left a contributor role at CBS News, is expected to take up his new duties immediately, appearing on the new politics-roundtable program “The Hill” at 5 p.m. Tuesday. “Mick’s enormous experience in the political sector will make him an incredible resource to viewers,” said Michael Corn, president of news at NewsNation, in a statement. “We are excited to welcome him to our growing powerhouse team of political analysts, especially as we enter another important election season.”

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Tucker Carlson is out at 8 p.m. on Fox News Channel, and the network hopes that a host of blue-chip advertisers that for years avoided his controversial hour will soon come back in. Since Carlson’s stunning exit last month, a timeslot that has been shunned by many Madison Avenue stalwarts seems as if it is being embraced. Procter & Gamble, one of the nation’s largest and most influential advertisers, has been running ads in “Fox News Tonight,” the network’s new 8 p.m. program, for female-skewing products like Venus razor blades by Gillette and Secret underarm deodorant. Also showing up in commercial breaks: Novo Nordisk’s trendy medication Ozempic, and Scotts Miracle-Gro.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Getting to Carnegie Hall requires, as the old joke goes, practice, practice practice. Walking away, it would seem, is significantly easier. Paramount Global, a media company that has over the past decades come to emblematize the entertainment industry’s annual “upfront” sales session in no small part because of its presentations at the New York landmark, this year surprised many by walking away from holding one. Chances are the company won’t be returning in the near future. “We are not going to go back to the old way of doing things,” says John Halley, Paramount’s president of advertising, in an interview.

EXCLUSIVE: I Can’t Keep Quiet, a documentary about singer-songwriter and women’s right activist Milck, will make its world premiere on May 11 at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, Deadline can reveal.

McEnany tweeted, “I am honored to share that I will be hosting Fox News Tonight on @FoxNews at 8pm ET all next week (5/8-5/12)! Set your DVR. Please join me next week as we dig into the state of politics, media, culture, and faith in America!”McEnany is the third Fox News personality to fill in as a temporary replacement for Carlson, who was fired on April 24. First it was Brian Kilmeade, who stepped in the day Carlson got the axe.

The on-air auditions to be Tucker Carlson’s replacement now are drawing from Donald Trump’s White House.

Their audience,” King went on, alluding to Fox News. A Fox News spokesperson, responding to King’s comments, pointed out to TheWrap that the network took AG Merrick Garland’s news conference on the Proud Boys convictions live to air at 4 p.m. ET.The convictions came more than two years after the riots in Washington D.C.

spread former President Donald Trump’s lies about the 2020 election and participated in his illegitimate effort to stay in power after he lost to President Joe Biden. The group promotes false Christian nationalist history.FRC is intensely opposed to legal abortion and legal equality for LGBTQ people and portrays LGBTQ equality as a dire threat to religious liberty.At its 2021 Pray Vote Stand conference, George Barna told religious-right activists that it is parents’ responsibility to shape their children’s worldview.