Social Impact Review
2020 IN FOCUS
IN FOCUS
OUR RESPONSE
TO COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic continues to have devastating effects on the world and has directly impacted our employees, partners and viewers. Throughout the pandemic, we’ve sought ways to partner with our communities, support our audiences and empower our employees to lend a hand. Learn more about how we pivoted quickly to streamline support across our organization.
LEARNING
TO LIVE
#ALONETOGETHER
In March, we partnered with the Ad Council to launch the #AloneTogether campaign. The initiative drove awareness about the importance of social distancing, while reinforcing social solidarity.
During the first week of the #AloneTogether
campaign, we created more than 500 social posts.
The social amplification of #AloneTogether was
part of an ongoing conversation with our viewers.
Our brands adapted the campaign with their
talent and for their audiences:
ViacomCBS International Studios partnered with Fremantle on a short-form series, Balcony Stories, celebrating the humanity, strength, connectivity and positivity of people in lockdown.
Comedy Central launched My Beautiful Bunker, a series featuring comedian Hanna Dickinson, and developed original programming. This notably includes a spin-off of The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, The Daily Social Distancing Show, which launched on digital before moving to linear.
CBS launched #InThisTogether, a campaign featuring personal videos from CBS Entertainment, All Access, News and Sports stars comforting fans with messages that focus on social distancing, community and the power of entertainment.
Nickelodeon created #KidsTogether as a spinoff of the #AloneTogether campaign. Delivered in 14 languages for kids and families around the world featuring Nick stars and talent—like Spongebob Squarepants, Bubble Guppies and The Casagrandes—it provided tips on staying healthy and suggested activities to do at home.
AwesomenessTV developed the “ATV Guide to Being Stuck at Home,” which helped GenZers keep calm and quarantine on.
MTV SHUGA
ALONE TOGETHER
The MTV Staying Alive Foundation, in partnership with UNITAID and the UN’s ‘Every Woman, Every Child,’ created a 70-part daily web-series of MTV Shuga to raise awareness in the fight to flatten the COVID-19 curve.
#KIDSTOGETHER
NICKELODEON
TOWN HALL
Hosted by Kristen Bell, the special offered a kid’s-eye view of life amid COVID-19 and included tips and insights from medical experts like Dr. Vivek H. Murthy on ways to be healthy.
BET SAVING
OUR SELVES
BET stepped in to support Black communities disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, providing educational, financial and community support directly to the communities most impacted. The Saving Our Selves: BET COVID-19 Relief Effort aired April 22, 2020 and featured an array of talent from the best of Black Hollywood and music.
DONATING
INTENTIONALLY
We scoured our production sets for personal protective equipment (PPE) that could be donated to children’s hospitals. Productions like NCIS had countless unopened props that healthcare and frontline workers could use in the fight against COVID-19. In March 2020, Magum PI and Hawaii Five-0 donated all their PPE to Queens Hospital in Hawaii.
At the height of the pandemic, First 5 LA, a nonprofit child-advocacy organization, had an extra 50,000 diapers in their warehouse, but had no way to get them into the hands of needy families. Paramount Pictures called on our studio transportation team to deliver the diapers to local organizations serving families in need.
We made face masks with imagery from across our brand portfolio, including the Star Trek franchise and programs across MTV and CBS, available for purchase, with proceeds going to charities that aligned with each brand. For example, Nickelodeon donated its intellectual property (IP) for kids’ masks, which, combined with all of the ViacomCBS mask proceeds, resulted in $3.6M Save the Children.
Rather than have billboards from halted productions go unused, Paramount Pictures donated the prominent advertising space to nonprofit partners. The Community Coalition of South Los Angeles used this new space to promote South LA Power Fest, a virtual festival featuring key details on how to vote early, vote by mail, and be informed on important ballot initiatives in Los Angeles.
CELEBRATING
MILESTONES
IN A NEW WAY
On November 10, 2020, Pluto TV hosted the virtual NYC USMC Birthday Gala, a tribute to the 245th anniversary of the Marine Corps.
WANT TO READ
THE FULL 2020 SOCIAL
IMPACT REVIEW?
