Variety and CNN’s Actors on Actors Season 24 Breaks Emmys Lineup Record With 178 Million Social Video Views
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- "Actors on Actors" Season 24 amassed 178 million social video views across all platforms, adding 80 million views over the previous season and setting a franchise record for its biggest Emmys lineup
- Ramin Setoodeh, Variety's co-president and co-editor in chief, highlighted the series' viral appeal, pointing to pairings like Jennifer Aniston and Lisa Kudrow reminiscing about "Friends" and Kerry Washington and Tony Goldwyn speculating about "Scandal"
- 13 new episodes were released on the CNN app and Variety's YouTube channel, with conversations moderated by Kate Aurthur, Daniel D'Addario, Matt Donnelly, and Selome Hailu
- The social campaign was led by Variety's social media team Antonio Ferme and Harper Mays, with support from Online Managing Editor Zack Sharf
- Executive producers for the series include Setoodeh, Donna Pennestri, Amy Entelis, and Seth Marumoto, with supervising producers Nicholas Stango, Seth Marumoto, and Ryan Robinson
- Notable pairings spanned Jamie Lee Curtis and Mariska Hargitay, Bryan Cranston and Rhea Seehorn, Colman Domingo and Sarah Pidgeon, and Bowen Yang and Rachel Sennott
Why it matters: The 80-million-view jump over the previous season cements "Actors on Actors" as a flagship cross-platform franchise for Variety and CNN, proving that nostalgia-fueled actor pairings can outperform traditional awards coverage in social reach. The 178-million-view figure, spread across 13 episodes, gives the partnership a repeatable awards-season template that monetizes prestige TV audiences far beyond print or linear TV.
