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Business was frantic at MIPTV 2013. Here are the stand-out deals, from the official post-show Quick Review.
Every part of the world was active, and there was clear evidence that digital and on-demand dealmaking is now a robust moneymaking business. A+E Networks was quick out of the blocks, announcing a slew of sales for its record-breaking factual entertainment series Duck Dynasty. The show, which recently attracted 8.6 million viewers for the US launch of season three, has sold to the likes of TV3 Denmark, Pro4 Hungary, VeronicaNetherlands, MediaCorp Singapore and OLN Canada. A+E also finished the MIPTV market strongly by unveiling a production, distribution and acquisitionpartnership with Canal+-owned Planete+.
From Game of Thrones to the new Arrested Development, television is better than ever. And it's not just a lucky accident. Turns out that networks and advertisers are using all-new metrics to design hit shows.
Last year was supposed to be the year of rebuilding. The landscape had two new chiefs in ABC’s Paul Lee and NBC’s Bob Greenblatt looking to put their stamp on their respective networks, and spend big they would need to do. But 12 months later, that desire to stock up on potential hits hasn’t slowed, with the pilot total nearing 100 -- when younger skewing CW’s eight orders are factored in -- after a lackluster broadcast season devoid of any true home runs. Even CBS, which stumbled some with this past season’s freshman efforts, ratcheted up its orders, with 23 pilots compared with last year’s 16. A review of the orders reveals a continued reliance on formats, adaptations and high-concept fare. Notes one source, “Anything that’s going to give them a leg up in promoting the show.”
Prime-time network reruns, once a reliable source of ratings and advertising revenue, are losing their appeal as the entertainment landscape becomes more crowded with options. A television viewership study released this week by RPA, a Santa Monica-based advertising agency, found that several long-term audience trends were reinforced during the most recent television season. Key among them: Major networks struggle to hold onto younger viewers, two blockbuster shows witnessed an exodus of viewers, and reruns were less potent.
A revolution in how we watch was just the start. Now comes the good stuff. As TV evolves, so does our way of watching—sometimes in two opposite directions at once. This spring has brought a good deal of pissing and moaning about how there’s too much good stuff to watch on Sunday nights—even though, in the DVR era, a one-night embarrassment of riches shouldn’t matter. But the rise of tweeting and recapping makes it matter (as the magazine’s TV critic explains, just to the right): In order to engage fully in the energized dialogue that’s taking place about TV, you pretty much have to watch shows the way your ancestors did—right when they air—or risk having your Monday ruined by a minefield of Internet spoilers. So given the luxury of personal convenience or the fun of instant web communality, which brave new world do you choose?
Back by popular demand: Deadline's Pilot Buzz lists. We’re earlier than normal this year while pilots have generally been late, with only a handful of them having cuts by now and the vast majority still in various stages of production. Therefore, everything on this list has to be taken with a gigantic grain of salt as a lot could change between a table read and a final cut. Take NBC’s comedy pilot SAVE ME for example. After some mixed and even negative chatter early on, mostly related to the tone of the show, originally developed for Showtime, the tide changed completely over the last two days when people saw the completed pilot, which is getting high marks.
Annnnnd... they're off! TV's annual Renew/Cancel Season formally kicked off on Wednesday with CBS renewing 15 shows for the 2012-13 TV season, including NCIS (as well as its offshoot NCIS: Los Angeles), the freshman shows Person of Interest and 2 Broke Girls, and the acclaimed The Good Wife.
It's pilot season in Hollywood! The entertainment industry is a buzz with the latest news on who's been cast in each network's newest television endeavor.
Which TV programme topped Barb's TV ratings in 2011 - and how do the figures compare with those 30 years ago, when the official audience measurement system began?
Anyone who's worked in the ad business recognizes the adage, often attributed to 19th century department store pioneer John Wanamaker: "I know that half of my advertising budget is wasted, but I'm not sure which half.". This dilemma has bedeviled marketers for more than a century. But now, with the emergence of better audience-measurement tools, it's finally becoming possible to streamline ad budgets. For TV advertising, this means taking advantage of new metrics gleaned via such diverse tools as set-top boxes, social-network websites and point-of-purchase consumer loyalty cards, and adding them to traditional audience-measuring information to determine values such as return on investment, program engagement, audience attentiveness and program "stickiness."
A few years ago, while audiences of reality TV programmes significantly dropped, fiction struck back and US scripted formats such as Lost and Desperate Housewives took Europe by storm, becoming international hits within a few months. Today, local fiction strikes back, and co-productions increasingly appear to be the best way to offer high-quality series destined to be broadcast in as many countries as possible.
AMC has announced the renewal of “Hell on Wheels” for a second season. The original series reigns as the second highest rated series on AMC, averaging 3.2 million viewers and 1.5 million Adults 25-54.
"Glee" has lost nearly a quarter of its audience this season -- more than any other show with such high ratings. Is it burning out, like so many series shows that become near-instant cultural phenomena? Or just finding its real audience after years of hype?
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"As international television market MIPTV kicks off in Cannes next week, network and cable reps from the U.S. and around the world descend on the Cote d'Azur on the hunt for the next big foreign show to adapt and retool for their local markets. These days that doesn't just mean the latest reality format or game show – genres long dominated by imported shows such asAmerican Idol (British) or The Voice (Dutch). There will be plenty of those on offer at MIP but now scripted drama and comedy formats, usually thought to be tricky to adapt, are in demand. The success of Showtime's Emmy-winning Homeland, adapted from an Israeli series, has opened the floodgates for international producers looking to export their ideas."
Why are there more pilots this year than last? Because CBS stepped up its number of pilots in a big way, from 15 to 24. And NBC has two more this year than last, bringing its total to 26. The network has more pilots than any other.
Wondering which broadcaster landed Robin Williams, Eddie Murphy and Mira Sorvino? Where the stars and writers of "Lost" are now? What two networks each have a show called "Reckless"?
The answers to these and other questions are in the pilot grids below. They'll also help you ponder the most pressing question: Which pilots will become full-fledged series?
What does research from Nielsen, Google, Deloitte, Thinkbox, BSkyB and others tell us? In 2012, a lot of people are using smartphones, tablets and/or laptops while watching TV. But how many, what are they doing, and what might it mean for the TV industry?
Via MIP Markets
Warner Bros. Television Group has struck a deal to purchase Alloy Entertainment, a content company that specializes in youth-oriented books aimed particularly at females. Alloy and Warner Bros. have collaborated on a number of TV shows and movies over the last several years. The Burbank TV studio produces several series based on Alloy book properties including "Gossip Girl" and "The Vampire Diaries" on the CW Network, "Pretty Little Liars" and "Lying Game" for cable channel ABC Family and the upcoming drama "666 Park Avenue," set to debut on ABC this fall.
Across the television landscape, viewing for all sorts of prime-time shows is down — chiefly among 18- to 49-year olds, the most important audience for the business. It is the police procedural that has network executives scratching their heads this season: The Case of the Disappearing Viewers. In the four television weeks starting March 19, NBC lost an average of 59,000 viewers (about 3 percent) in that 18-to-49 age category compared with the same period last year, CBS lost 239,000 (8 percent), ABC lost 681,000 (21 percent) and Fox lost 709,000 (20 percent).
Cover versions, dating and peer-to-peer recommendations are big this year. Sometimes they even intersect! There are also a lot of community fixes: neighbours or strangers helping others with problems, as well as shows that attempt to reconnect broken families and or improve communities overall. Here they all are!
The current crop of sitcoms are doing well, and those half-hour funnies make big bucks in syndication. TV networks working on next season's new shows still are prepping plenty of CIA and FBI agents, hospital staffs and supernatural doings. But what they really want is comedy: 46 of them, a recent record, are vying for slots on the four major networks, all of which hope to increase the number of half-hour sitcoms they air next season.
News Corp., owner of Fox Broadcasting, reported a 65 percent increase in second-quarter profit, driven by higher fees from pay TV operators. The company also said a hacking scandal has cost $195 million.
When a writer/producer gets the good/bad news that his pilot has been greenlighted the first thing he does is hire a casting director and together they prepare a list of possible worthy candidates for each part. They then meet with the network casting person. She responds to your list. “No, no, hate him, uch, no, no, no, uch, no.” If one of those “uchs” is you, you’re dead.
Lionsgate has sold Canadian crime drama Endgame to Hulu, which will begin streaming the show’s first season in the U.S. on Hulu and Hulu Plus today. The deal comes on the heels of two other Canadian series getting acquired by traditional U.S. TV networks, Saving Hope by NBC and The L.A. Complex by the CW.
From the Arab Spring to Charlie Sheen to GOP debates, the spotlight fueled the frenzy. As recipients of millions of new smartphones and tablets, our pockets and purses in 2011 bulged with media, if not money. As a result, the mediasphere grew ever denser and noisier this year — a din that only increased as people strove to break through it with deeds that were outrageous, audacious or just plain dumb.
While the overarching themes of this year’s conference sounded a lot like last year’s, there was one important difference: Big Media isn’t afraid of Netflix anymore.
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