TV Q&A: Are there sponsored segments on ‘Pittsburgh Today Live’?
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Q: How does KDKA-TV’s “Pittsburgh Today Live” decide where they do stories at? They seem to frequent a lot of the same places every few weeks/months, like Nemacolin or Uniontown’s Neubauer’s Market. “PTL’s” Celina Pompeani typically does these stories. Does she get to decide on the location, or are these locations sponsoring/paying KDKA for the “promotional-type” stories? I just find it odd that Pompeani did a story Nov. 4 from Neubauer’s Market, a place they have done reporting on before, and then Friday night Pompeani’s entire family can be seen on Instagram hanging out at what appears to be Neubauer’s Market. If these locations are indeed paying for such stories, should KDKA be obligated to tell viewers as such?
— Tyler, Penn Hills
Rob: They are and they do. At :35 in the Nov. 4 story from Neubauer’s, a lower-third ID comes on screen for nine seconds and says “Sponsored by Neubaer’s Market.” It is, admittedly, in pretty small type and easy to miss given the short duration. But it’s there!
“PTL” is not produced by the station’s news department, although that in itself is confusing because it is news department employees David Highfield and Heather Abraham who front the program. My understanding is Highfield and Abraham are not the ones doing the sponsored reports; those segments go to Pompeani and Mikey Hood.
“If someone just provides plants or flowers — there’s a credit at (the) end of (the) show,” explained KDKA general manager Chris Cotugno. “If someone pays for a segment, the sponsor box goes up during the segment.”
Q: The season premiere of “Yellowstone” on Nov. 13 wasn’t just on the Paramount Network. It was also on Pop, CMT, VH1 and even MTV! What is up with that?
— Joyce, Scott Township
Rob: Its called a road block, a programming stunt where the same show airs on multiple networks owned by the same conglomerate — in this case, Paramount Global — in an effort to capture more viewers, remind viewers the show is back and goose the show’s total viewership.
And it worked: The fifth-season premiere of “Yellowstone” drew 12.1 million same-day viewers, its largest audience yet. The show also grew 52% in the advertiser-coveted ages 18-34 demo.
Q: Why is NBC already skipping its Wednesday night “Chicago” shows some weeks?
— Dave, Pittsburgh
Rob: It’s been a while, so time to do updated TV math!
In the old days (10 years ago) most TV series produced 22 new episodes per season. Those 22 episodes had to be spread over a roughly 34-week TV season. Two new episodes usually air in September and typically four in October, November, February and May. That often accounts for 18 of the 22 episodes. That leaves just four new episodes to be spread out over December, January, March and April. Hence, reruns or pre-emotions over those 16 weeks.
(A new wrinkle is not all broadcast networks shows produce 22 episodes per season, which means even longer gaps between new episodes or more reruns and pre-emptions. Or sometimes they will air the eight episodes relatively straight through and then move on to put a different show in the time slot.)
But with the “Chicago” shows, the old TV math still applies. All three shows are making 22 episodes this season. Nine will have aired by the time the mid-season finales debut on Dec. 7, following a Nov. 23 pre-emption and a Nov. 30 rerun. This is all pretty typical in how TV programming has worked for the past 50 years.
One possible new wrinkle: NBC opted to use some of the weeks in November for pre-emptions/reruns, allowing the network to put more new episodes in another month. With nine episodes having aired from September through December, that leaves 13 to air over 19 weeks between January and the end of the TV season in May.
After the holiday break the “Chicago” shows return with new episodes on Jan. 4.