HO-HO-HOPE YOU’RE READY FOR CHRISTMAS!
In our last issue, we addressed Back to School marketing efforts. Here we are, two weeks later, and it’s time to discuss [checks notes] … Christmas? Believe it or not, retailers have already set the stage for holiday shopping both in stores and online. In 2021, Target and Walmart started their holiday marketing in October due to concerns about COVID’s impact on demand; this year, the yuletide cheer is bumping up against Labor Day, and “every retailer is in a battle to grab as large a share as they can.” (CBS Miami: August 21, 2023)
GUILD STRIKES—A BOON TO RERUNS?
With networks sure to run out of in-the-can new episodes of scripted series early in the fall, reruns will give shows another chance to find and build an audience. A study by Civic Science shows that 58 percent of network TV viewers will watch reruns, with a quarter of respondents identifying themselves as “very likely” to do so. Noteworthy: Gen Z leads the pack with 65% saying they are at least “somewhat likely” to watch. (IndieWire: August 8, 2023)
NBCU & ROKU EXPAND FAST PARTNERSHIP
As of August 15, Roku Channel offers free, ad-supported channels devoted to Murder, She Wrote, Saved by the Bell, and Little House on the Prairie. Also added to the Roku Channel from NBCU: The Universal Crime channel (Columbo, The Rockford Files, Kojak) and TNBC, built around NBC’s teen-popular programs like Hang Time and Punky Brewster. Later this year: Universal Action (Magnum, P.I., Knight Rider) and a channel that only airs Alfred Hitchcock Presents. (Hollywood Reporter: August 15, 2023)
THIS WEEK IN (VIDEO) HISTORY: Aug 30, 1993
Late Show with David Letterman premieres on CBS. His first guests were Bill Murray and Billy Joel—with a cameo from Paul Newman, who asked: “Where the hell are the singing cats?”
It’s the culmination of the first Late Night War; fighting would resume in 2010 when Conan O’Brien lost his seat at the Tonight Show desk and Jay Leno resumed hosting duties.