TD Ameritrade

Our creative services division was engaged by the TD Ameritrade Network to launch a New York-based program for their financial OTT network. BMG’s creative team got to work on The Watch List – a mid-day program based around tracking daily market activity, biggest movers of the day, trending trades, expert panels, and CEO interviews. The one-hour live program features 8-10 guests throughout a typical 6-segment show. Guests of the program provide both short-term trading ideas and stock picks for the long-term investor, including a focus on ETFs and sectors to watch.

The show has drawn big-name guests such as Steve Forbes, Tim Hockey and Shark Tank’s Barbara Corcoran. TD Ameritrade’s Chief Market Strategist – JJ Kinahan – regularly joins the show, including a monthly appearance to break down TD’s IMX data. TD Ameritrade Network experts George Tsilis and Sarah Robak keep an eye on the biggest moving stocks halfway through the trading day and preview what is to come after the closing bell.

The Watch List is the first live daily show on the TD Ameritrade Network from the Nasdaq studio in New York. After hiring veteran news anchor Nicole Petallides in late 2018, our creative team developed a show that would build on Nicole’s experience and brand to bring a New York perspective to the network.

Once we received word from the Nasdaq that we had access to their studio for an afternoon program, our creative and technical teams conducted a site survey to determine how we could maximize the studio and what production elements could be incorporated into the new program. We began to format the show around different looks in the studio and mapped out how we could deliver the best content. Once we had the segments locked in, we spent time tweaking the program in order to create a better flow and began to iron out how we would technically execute the program.

The Watch List is produced from the Nasdaq studio in New York and the TD Ameritrade Network control room in Chicago. The producing team is based in Chicago with the primary show booker based in New York. Broadcast Management Group’s on-site technical team in New York includes just 4 people: a jib operator, robotics operator, A2 and Stage Manager. All five cameras and audio for The Watch List are fed from the Nasdaq to Chicago, where cameras are cut, graphics, prompter, charts and video are added live as the show airs in Chicago. All monitors in the New York studio are controlled and fed from Chicago. The Chicago producer runs TD Ameritrade’s thinkorswim platform and does quality control, giving final approval before anything is taken live on air.

The Watch List is one of several programs that our creative services team has developed for the TD Ameritrade Network, but is the first show the be anchored outside of their Chicago control room.