With Twentieth Television being absorbed by Disney, Lionsgate-owned Debmar-Mercury is moving its national barter advertising sales operation to CBS Television Distribution, led by Scott Trupchak.
Under terms of a new multi-year deal, CTD will take the reins on selling national advertising in Debmar-Mercury’s syndicated series: talk strip Wendy Williams, court show Caught in Providence and game show Family Feud, starring Steve Harvey and produced by Fremantle.
Previously, Twentieth Television, under the leadership of Michael Teicher, handled Debmar-Mercury’s ad sales as well as its own.
“We look forward to having a long, productive relationship with Scott Trupchak and his great media sales team at CTD,” said Debmar-Mercury co-presidents Ira Bernstein and Mort Marcus in a statement. “We believe partnering with the top syndicator in the business positions our shows best to thrive. We will be eternally grateful to the teams at Twentieth and Fox Television Stations, which over our many years together put us well on our way to achieving the true value of our product in the national barter marketplace.”
Karen Bonck, senior VP of branded partnerships for Debmar-Mercury, will work closely with CTD on advertiser integrations involving these and new series produced and distributed by Debmar-Mercury. In addition to its existing series, Debmar-Mercury has two limited series coming out later this year: Jerry O, starring Jerry O’Connell and produced with Funny Or Die, in August; and Central Avenue, produced with Will Packer Media, this fall.
“We’re excited to grow our portfolio with another top 10 hit in Family Feud and a young-skewing topical talk show like WendyWilliams to offer more value and one-stop shopping to our advertising clients,” said Steve LoCascio, chief operating and financial officer of CBS Global Distribution Group, also in a statement.
