When it comes to selling national advertising for one of the first new TV daytime soap operas to debut since 1999. CBS is asking for some help.
The Paramount Global-backed network will work with NuTime Media, a Black-owned sales rep to sell national ad opportunities in “The Gates,” a new soap opera aimed primarily at Black audiences. NuTime struck a partnership with CBS in March of 2021 to represent many of CBS Media Ventures shows to advertisers hoping to reach Black audiences.
““We are thrilled to add ‘The Gates’ to our portfolio of products,” said Morris McWilliams, the executive who runs NuTime Media. “A daytime drama of this kind has not been on broadcast television in over 35 years, and we are certain it will fill that void and have positive appeal with African American audiences.”
“Generations,” an NBC soap opera that was first to feature a cast of largely Black actors, launched in 1989, but was canceled in 1991.
“The Gates” centers on a wealthy Black family in a posh, gated community. Michele Val Jean, who has written more than 2,000 episodes of daytime dramas and worked on “The Bold & the Beautiful” and “General Hospital,” will serve as creator, writer and showrunner. Val Jean will also be an executive producer alongside Sheila Ducksworth, Leon Russell, Derrick Johnson and Kimberly Doebereiner.
THE GATES was developed from a content partnership between CBS Studios and the NAACP, led by Sheila Ducksworth, and produced in partnership with P&G Studios, a division of Procter & Gamble. Over its history, P&G has been involved in the production of soap operas including “As The World Turns” and “The Edge of Night.”
