DAILY DIGEST – 7.25.18

AMERICA’S GOT TALENT & WORLD OF DANCE lead NBC to easy ratings win; Viacom in talks to acquire AwesomenessTV; MAD Magazine coming to Snap

BROADCAST RATINGS:

Network Average:

TUESDAY, 7.24.18	NBC	FOX	CBS	ABC	CW
Adults 18-49 rating/share	1.7/8	0.6/3	0.5/2	0.5/2	0.2/1
Total Viewers (millions)	9.61	2.05	4.32	2.02	0.75

 

Broadcast Primetime Live + Same Day – Tuesday, July 24, 2018

Time	Show	Adults 18-49 rating/share	Viewers (millions)
8 p.m.	America’s Got Talent (NBC) (8-10 p.m.)	2.0/8	11.52
	Beat Shazam (FOX)	0.7/3	2.28
	NCIS (CBS) – R	0.5/2	5.31
	The Middle (ABC) – R	0.5/2	2.57
	The 100 (The CW)	0.3/1	0.86
8:30 p.m.	The Middle (ABC) – R	0.5/2	2.28
9 p.m.	Black-ish (ABC) – R	0.5/2	1.93
	Love Connection (FOX)	0.5/2	1.82
	SEAL Team (CBS) – R	0.4/2	3.5
	The Outpost (The CW)	0.1/1	0.64
9:30 p.m.	Black-ish (ABC) – R	0.5/2	1.69
10 p.m.	World of Dance (NBC)	1.2/5	5.8
	NCIS: New Orleans (CBS) – R	0.5/2	4.15
	The Last Defense (ABC)	0.4/2	1.63

Ratings Report:

• NBC secured an easy win over the other nets on Tuesday night, with its one-two punch of AMERICA’S GOT TALENT (2.0) and WORLD OF DANCE (1.2) each dropping a tenth in the 18-49 demo. Looking at audience this week is interesting: AGT grew its audience by 3% while WOD shrunk by the same percentage, while the network grew 1% in overall audience week-to-week.
• The rest of the field was mostly quiet:
  • Fox’s BEAT SHAZAAM (0.7) and LOVE CONNECTION (0.5) put up their usual numbers, even with their last episodes before the MLB All-Star game.
  • ABC’s docuseries THE LAST DEFENSE held steady at 0.4.
  • CW split its night: THE 100 bounced back up to its usual 0.3, while summer drama THE OUTPOST fell to 0.1, half of its usual 0.2 rating among 18-49s.

CABLE RATINGS:

Top 25 Original Programs on Cable – Monday, July 23, 2018

Show	Net	Time	Total viewers (000s)	18-49 rating
LOVE & HIP HOP HOLLYWOOD	VH1	8:00 PM	2,119	1.1
WWE ENTERTAINMENT	USA	9:00 PM	2,821	0.9
WWE ENTERTAINMENT	USA	10:00 PM	2,701	0.9
WWE ENTERTAINMENT	USA	8:00 PM	2,817	0.9
GREAT WHITE ABYSS	DISCOVERY	9:00 PM	1,987	0.8
CUBAS SECRET SHARK LAIR	DISCOVERY	10:01 PM	1,856	0.8
TEEN MOM II	MTV	9:01 PM	1,296	0.7
MONSTER TAG	DISCOVERY	8:00 PM	1,650	0.7
REAL HOUSEWIVES OF OC	BRAVO	9:00 PM	1,460	0.5
FLORIBAMA SHORE	MTV	10:02 PM	850	0.5
SHARK AFTER DARK LIVE	DISCOVERY	11:01 PM	836	0.4
TEEN MOM: BROKE INTERNET	MTV	8:00 PM	664	0.4
HOUSE HUNTERS	HOME	10:00 PM	1,554	0.3
AMERICAN PICKERS	HISTORY	9:00 PM	1,724	0.3
RACHEL MADDOW SHOW	MSNBC	9:00 PM	2,800	0.3
DAILY SHOW	COMEDY	11:00 PM	903	0.3
HOUSE HUNTERS INTL	HOME	10:30 PM	1,397	0.3
CHOPPED	FOOD	9:00 PM	870	0.3
HANNITY	FOX NEWS	9:00 PM	3,134	0.2
TUCKER CARLSON TONIGHT	FOX NEWS	8:00 PM	2,782	0.2
LAST WORD W/L. ODONNELL	MSNBC	10:00 PM	2,156	0.2
DOUBLE DARE NEW	NICKELODEON	8:00 PM	896	0.2
PARDON THE INTERRUPTION	ESPN	5:30 PM	680	0.2
INGRAHAM ANGLE, THE	FOX NEWS	10:00 PM	2,695	0.2
REAL STORY W/MARIA ELENA	INVEST	10:00 PM	987	0.2

Of Note:

• The season five premiere of LOVE & HIP HOP: HOLLYWOOD was the only show to break the 1.0 ratings barrier on Monday, although the 1.2 it earned was down a tenth from its season four premiere.
• Unsurprisingly, USA’s WWE MONDAY NIGHT RAW muscled into the other top spots, with a peak rating of 0.9 throughout the three-hour broadcast, also a tenth down.
• The 30^th anniversary of Shark Week on Discovery continues to take bites out of the cable list, with several shows scoring between 0.8-0.4; GREAT WHITE ABYSS gained the most traction, with a 0.8 rating and 1.86 million viewers.
• The second season of FLORIBAMA SHORE on MTV continues to perform well, earning a 0.5 this week around, up a tenth, while Nickelodeon’s reboot of DOUBLE DARE continues to put up solid 0.2s and just under 1 million viewers for another week in a row.

 

OTHER NEWS:

• Projects in development and/or greenlit:
  • National Georgraphic has tapped survivalist Bear Grylls to host its upcoming docuseries HOSTILE PLANET.
    • Log line: Draws attention to the most extraordinary – almost supernatural – accounts of animals that have conformed to the cruelest evolutionary curveballs. Each episode characterizes one the planet’s roughest environments – including jungles, mountains, deserts, oceans, the Poles and grasslands – and how each of its inhabitants acclimate to its turn of events.
    • Creative Team:
      • Director/Cinematographer: Guillermo Navarro (Pan’s Labyrinth)
      • Executive Producers: Martha Holmes (The Blue Planet), Tom Hugh-Jones (Planet Earth II)
      • Produced by: Plimsoll Productions
    • Reese Witherspoon’s production company HELLO SUNSHINE continues to be the darling of Development 2018. In its latest win, Amazon has made a preemptive bid to take DAISY JONES & THE SIX off the table, giving the project a 13-episode limited series order.
      • Log line: Centers on a fictional rock band in the 1970s, following their rise through the ranks of the LA music scene and beyond, eventually becoming one of the most legendary bands in the world.
        • Based on the upcoming novel by Taylor Jenkins Reid (Release date: March, 2019)
      • Hello Sunshine is co-producing with Amazon Studios
      • The story is in the same addictive female-driven drama vein as Big Little Lies (HBO) and Handmaid’s Tale (Hulu), a category that Amazon is currently lacking and Salke is actively seeking.
    • FX has ordered an 8-episode limited drama on the lives and love of choreographer Bob Fosse and dancer Gwen Verdon. This wouldn’t be such big news except for those involved: Oscar nominee Michelle Williams and Oscar winner Sam Rockwell are set in the lead roles, under the direction of Broadway theater darling Lin-Manuel Miranda. Fox 21 TV Studios and FX Productions are co-producers.
    • Snap and DC Entertainment are dusting off satire icon MAD Magazine for a new generation on Snapchat. The upcoming slate of content on the app will including commentary on contemporary politics and current events, as well as classic and nostalgic MAD material. I’m curious about what they have planned for the next installments of Spy vs. Spy, but not very interested beyond that.
      • Launches 7 days a week beginning 1 September
    • In business briefs:
      • Viacom is in talks to acquire digital platform AwesomenessTV at a steep discount from its $650 million USD valuation (2016). The deal is expected to go through with little problem, as the young-skewing brand fits in well with other Viacom brands Nickelodeon and MTV.