General Motors Plans May 14 Upfront for Minority-Owned Media

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorFrylock, Meatwad and Master Shake are getting a new look from Hollywood.WarnerMedia’s Adult Swim plans to turn three of its most venerable properties into films that will debut first in a 90-day window via video-on-demand and Blu-ray and DVD before debuting on the streaming-video hub HBO Max and the outlet’s namesake cable outlet.  ‘Aqua Teen Hunger Force,” “Metalocalypse” and “The Venture Bros.” are three of the network’s best-known series.“Leveraging the power

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorTV usually belongs to the celebrities who play the nation’s favorite characters — people such as Ellen Pompeo, the star of ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy,” or Milo Ventimiglia from NBC’s “This Is Us.” During the industry’s upfront market, however, many eyes move instead to the network ad-sales chiefs.These execs will be out in full force over the next several weeks, eager to keep the tens of billions of advertising dollars flowing into their companies’ corporate coffers.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorAfter devoting constant chatter to the 2020 election and the coronavirus pandemic, Fox News wants to make sure to talk about other subjects, including sports and weather.During an upfront presentation to ad buyers and clients Tuesday, executives from Fox News Media told Madison Avenue they intended to expand programming beyond the news of the day.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorNielsen’s TV yardstick has been found wanting.A review of recent Nielsen efforts to map out TV audience activity determined the company likely undercounted TV audiences in February of this year, a development that is expected to intensify a growing rift between the measurement giant and the TV networks who depend on it to set discussions with advertisers that help undergird billions of dollars in advertising.The Media Rating Council, an industry organization that

Advertising giants GroupM and Interpublic Group have agreed to invest in Black-owned media companies following more than a year of campaigning by a group led by Byron Allen.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorBig advertisers like General Motors and Target say they intend to pay more attention to Black-owned media outlets.

Ethan Shanfeld BondIt Media Capital has increased its credit facility with Revere Capital by up to $70 million.Founded in 2013, BondIt has posited over $150 million of capital into over 325 film, TV and other media projects.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorWalter Cronkite held forth from New York and Washington for CBS News. His heirs at a new ViacomCBS unit will do the same, while also monitoring Sacramento, Minneapolis and Dallas.The two executives named to head a newly fashioned division that combines the CBS local stations with CBS News and the team that manages the CBSN live-streaming news service offered their early vision for how the operation will function.

EXCLUSIVE: Matt Hood, Deputy General Secretary of UK trade union Equity, is joining casting platform Talent Systems as Managing Director of Spotlight.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorOpen AP, the media consortium that hopes to broaden the practice known as “audience buying,” will unveil a new “identifier” aimed at facilitating the placement of commercials across linear TV and digital video — and a significant chunk of traditional TV and advertising companies are lining up to support the venture.AMC Networks, A+E Networks, Crown Media, Discovery, Disney, Fox Corporation, NBCUniversal, Univision, ViacomCBS, WarnerMedia and The Weather Channel

Hilary Duff is opening up about breastfeeding.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorIt won’t have the bowls of shrimp or free drinks, but TV’s annual week of upfront presentations will look a little more like its pre-pandemic norm.NBCU intends to kick off the industry’s usual week of presentations May 17 with a virtual event that will feature looks at  scripted and unscripted originals, sports, news, and live events, and include cameos from actors and senior executives from across the company.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorShaquille O’Neal says he turned to The General when he was in college and no one would give him a good price on car insurance. “When I was in college, The General was the only insurance I could afford,” he says in an interview.These days, he’s helping the company win new recruits.Once known primarily for sprinkling dozens of direct-response ads around cable, The General is changing tactics.

Diddy isn’t holding back on his criticism of General Motors in an open letter on Revolt.

Diddy, 51, made a powerful statement targeting large American corporations — including General Motors. The entrepreneur and rapper penned the lengthy letter — titled “If You Love Us, Pay Us: A letter from Sean Combs to Corporate America” — on the website of his company Revolt on Thursday, May 8. In the letter, he specifically addressed the advertising spend of GM to Black-owned businesses, compare with the revenue they earn from Black customers.

Music icon and entrepreneur Sean “Diddy” Combs blasted General Motors and big U.S. companies for scant dollars directed to Black-owned media, saying they “have exploited our culture, undermined our power, and excluded Black entrepreneurs from participating in the value created by Black consumers” by allocating a measly share of ad spending to Black-owned media.