TV Networks Ask Nielsen to Pull Back New Data

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorChris Miller will take the reins of NBC’s venerable “Tonight Show,” taking over as showrunner as the current one, Jamie Granet-Bederman, takes a step back.Miller joins the program from “The Drew Barrymore Show,” where he served as one of the executive producers. He has ties to Fallon, having worked for Flower Films, the production company launched by Barrymore and her partner, Nancy Juvonen.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorThe TV industry is getting ready for its annual “upfront” market, when billions of dollars in advertising trade hands. And almost everything is in place — except a firm backing of the economics that guide all the deals.Both Nielsen and its rival, Comscore, are unlikely to win accreditation of their national TV ratings services in time for the upfront, which typically kicks off in May and lasts through much of the summer.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorVeteran sportscaster Mike Tirico will join NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” next fall, pairing up with analyst Cris Collinsworth in the latest shake up among the announcers who call the plays of TV’s most-watched sport.Tirico fills a spot left vacant by the departure of Al Michaels, who is expected to join Amazon to call “Thursday Night Football.”“When Mike joined NBC Sports in 2016, it was our plan for him to become our primetime Olympics host and the play-by-play voice of Sunday Night Football,” said Pete Bevacqua, chairman of NBC Sports, in a statement. “We are excited to have Mike join Cris Collinsworth full-time in the booth this season.”NBC confirms speculation about the future of its “Sunday Night Football” booth with an NFL meeting slated to take place later this week.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorA new NBCUniversal advertising executive is taking on the task of tackling advertisers to link themselves to such sports properties as “Sunday Night Football” and the soon-to-launch USFL.Peter Lazarus will take the lead on selling ads behind the bulk of NBCUniversal’s sports programming, part of a gradual overhaul of the company’s work behind connecting Madison Avenue with some of TV’s biggest and most-watched properties.Lazarus has been named executive vice president of sports ad-sales, taking up responsibilities previously held by Dan Lovinger, a longtime NBCU ad-sales exec who has been assigned to focus more intently on the company’s efforts behind Olympics advertising. Lovinger was elevated to president in January and will lead Olympics ad-sales efforts as NBCU works harder to fulfill a commitment it has made along the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, pledging to offer long-term deals to partners for TV, digital, and live event advertising, as well as brand activations and associations with Team USA.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorCAA has signed Peter Alexander, the co-chief White House correspondent for NBC News, and will represent him in his dealings with media and other potential employers.Alexander is also co-anchor of the weekend broadcast of “Today,” which he joined in October of 2018. He and Kristen Welker, who is also NBC News’ co-chief White House correspondent, have led “Today” on weekends since January of 2020, anchoring the program from Washington, D.C.Alexander has been with NBC News since 2004 and has covered events around the world as well as in the nation’s capital.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorChris Cuomo wants CNN parent WarnerMedia to keep paying him even though he no longer works there.The former CNN primetime anchor alleged in an arbitration filing Wednesday that his career has suffered damages in excess of $125 million, and suggested CNN had allowed several of his one-time colleagues to violate standards and practices in a bid to keep viewership. The anchor also said his firing by CNN late last year cost him nearly $15 million in salary that he would have earned if he had served out his last contract.In the filing, Cuomo’s attorneys argued that CNN favorites like Don Lemon and Jake Tapper, as well as analyst Jeffrey Toobin, had potentially violated the news outlet’s practices, but were not punished for doing so.  “As long as CNN’s ratings would not be hurt, [former CNN Worldwide President Jeff] Zucker and [former CNN Chief Marketing Officer Allison] Gollust were more than willing to overlook major transgressions by CNN personalities,” Cuomo’s filing alleges, “or even engage in blatant misconduct themselves.” CNN declined to comment.Cuomo and CNN parted ways last year after the anchor was caught up in the sexual-harassment scandal that engulfed his brother, former New York governor Andrew Cuomo.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorESPN spent last year building up Peyton and Eli Manning as the curators of a loose, bar-talk like show meant as an alternative to its traditional “Monday Night Football.” Now the Disney-backed sports giant is focusing on the main event.ESPN has signed the two main figures behind Fox Sports’ football presentations, Troy Aikman and Joe Buck, in a bid to strengthen the main “MNF” booth. The deal, which has been anticipated for several days, will put one of sports’ most-watched game-day figures at the helm of ESPN’s signature offering.“When you have the opportunity to bring in the iconic, longest-running NFL broadcasting duo, you take it, especially at a time when we are on the cusp of a new era in our expanding relationship with the NFL,” said Jimmy Pitaro, chairman, ESPN and sports content for Disney, in a statement.  “The NFL continues to ascend, and we now have more games than ever before, providing additional opportunities for Joe, Troy and our deep roster of commentators.” Signing the pair, who have worked together for two decades and called  called six Super Bowls — only the legendary team of Pat Summerall and John Madden has called more — illustrates the new pressures facing some of the most traditional broadcasters of sports.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorBenjamin Hall, the Fox News Channel correspondent who was injured while covering Russia’s invasion of Ukraine for the Fox Corp.-owned network, has managed to get out of the country, according to a memo from Suzanne Scott, Fox News Media’s CEO, issued Wednesday.“Ben is alert and in good spirits. He is being treated with the best possible care in the world and we are in close contact with his wife and family,” Scott said in the note to staffers.Fox News has deployed a handful of correspondents around the country, including Trey Yingst and Steve Harrigan.Hall had been reporting in Horenka, outside of Kyiv, Ukraine, with cameraman Pierre Zakrzewski and journalist Oleksandra “Sasha” Kuvshynova when their vehicle came under fire.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorShares of media-measurement kingpin Nielsen Holdings PLC surged more than 40% Monday after The Wall Street Journal reported the company had started talks with a group of private-equity firms, including Elliott Management Corp., for a sale that could be valued at approximately $15 billion, including debt.Elliott Management has a reputation for pressing for big changes at the companies in which it invests, and has in the past called for different management of companies including Barnes & Noble. Interpublic Group and AT&T.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorPaul Wilson never ran a 10,000 meter race at the Olympics, but he sure must feel like it.Wilson has supervised much of the work that NBCUniversal’s ad-sales team has had to do over the past two decade to make the company’s investment in the Olympics pay off. He is stepping down from his role as senior vice president of Olympics ad sales at NBCU, ending a streak of selling commercial inventory for the past ten editions of the Games, eight as the leader — making him directly responsible for $10 billion in ad revenue.

Willie Nelson's sister and bandmate, Bobbie Nelson, has died. She was 91. Bobbie, who was a pianist, singer and a member of the band Willie Nelson and Family, passed away Thursday morning, "peacefully and surrounded by family." "Her elegance, grace, beauty and talent made this world a better place.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorAndrew Ross Sorkin, the New York Times journalist and CNBC morning host, will take on a new assignment for NBC News: gaining an edge in the TV-news industry’s expanding streaming wars.Sorkin will host and produce a limited-run original series for NBC News Now, the NBC News streaming service that its parent has promoted aggressively in recent weeks as rival CNN prepares to launch a new streaming venture called CNN Plus. Sorkin’s streaming debut is expected to examine “the people, trends, institutions and forces shaping our world,” according to an NBC News statement.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorTop executives from some of the nation’s biggest media conglomerates haven’t in recent months been shy about blasting Nielsen, the industry’s de facto measurement of success or failure. At Walt Disney Co., however, they’re humming a song that bears some resemblance to the farewell tune from “Mickey Mouse Club”: “See you real soon.”Many media companies are casting about for new alliances with measurement upstarts and Nielsen rivals.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorA+E Networks has long been in the business of selling advertising time for its linear cable networks. But as it moves into a new era of haggling over audiences who watch TV in decidedly non-traditional fashion, it has started to push advertisers to find new ways to spend their money.“As our industry continues to evolve, we remain focused on premium, popular and relevant stories and storytellers and are expanding the ways our viewers can find our content,’ says Paul Buccieri,” president and chairman of A+E Networks Group, in a prepared statement, adding: “In an ever-changing landscape, we are providing our advertisers more —  more programming featuring the world’s most beloved talent, more best-in-class opportunities to reach their targets, and more custom solutions to exceed their goals and deeply engage their audiences.” A+E Networks is holding a virtual upfront presentation Wednesday for advertisers.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorThe media industry’s measurement wars are expanding beyond counting traditional video audiences.iSpot, the measurement company that figures prominently in plans by NBCUniversal and WarnerMedia to offer alternatives to Nielsen in the sector’s looming “upfront” marketplace, will acquire Tunity, an analytics company that analyzes consumer viewing habits in public locations nationwide, including restaurants, offices, bars and hotels.“We want to account for all viewing across all screens,” says Sean Muller, iSpot’s founder and CEO, in an interview. The Tunity acquisition, he says, could be “powerful, both for our advertising clients who invest heavily in tentpole events and programs that are consumed outside the home and for our media partners.” The companies did not disclose financial terms.Keeping track of so-called “out of home” audiences has become more critical to TV networks, who understand that significant chunks of viewership for news, sports and other live programming is often found outside a consumer’s main habitat.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorDon’t count Nielsen out of TV’s measurement wars just yet.Many TV companies are reaching out for new yardsticks to measure audiences rushing to watch TV in digital fashion. Disney is, too — but it’s not abandoning one of the industry’s oldest measurement purveyors as it does so.Disney said Tuesday that it had entered into an agreement with Publicis Media to test work on Nielsen’s new NielsenOne system, a measurement product that aims to count unduplicated video audiences across linear and digital screens and that Nielsen expects to introduce formally later this year.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorAs NBCUniversal’s ad-sales division starts to take on tasks beyond its core business, it is expanding the range of communications executives it has as well.Neil Ripley, who previously was head of corporate communications for media-measurement firm Comscore, has been named a vice president of communications for NBCU’s ad-sales unit. He is charged with promoting the division’s efforts around advertising technology, data and cross-platform media measurement.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorIf it wasn’t for Chris Licht, you might not see Gayle King on TV every weekday morning.King wasn’t the typical host of a national morning-news show. She had worked for nearly two decades at a Hartford TV station before trying her hand at daytime TV.