This Week in TV News: Ad Fraud, Award Show Season and ‘Friends’

This week, we’re looking at ad fraud during the holidays, “Friends,” upcoming award show hosts and the origin story of Gritty, the mascot that broke the internet.  

Ad fraudsters don’t take holiday breaks. According to Fraudlogix, the average percentage of fraudulent global programmatic ad traffic grew from 11.6% in October to 14.2% in November for all device types. The company’s data showed an increase in fraudulent ad traffic leading up to Thanksgiving and holiday shopping. (MediaPost)

The one with the Netflix deal. Netflix will continue licensing “Friends” from WarnerMedia through next year. The show hasn’t been on the air for fourteen years, but it still draws significant viewership. Syndicated reruns of the show draw 16 million viewers per week. (NYT)

Awards shows pick their hosts. Sandra Oh and Andy Samberg have been tapped to host the Golden Globes after presenting an award this year at the Primetime Emmy Awards. On Wednesday, Kevin Hart was announced as a show host for this year’s Oscars, but he stepped down from the role after an outcry over past controversial tweets came to light. (Variety)

The origins of Gritty. This isn’t a TV trend, per say, but the story of how and why the Philadelphia Flyers created their giant muppet mascot is a fascinating one, as told by Adweek. The Flyers spokesperson said the first month of Gritty coverage reached 70 million people on TV, with a local audience of more than 16 million people. The mascot garnered nearly 5 billion impressions online.

Read last week’s TV trends.