
When The People Choice Awards moved to E! from CBS last year, the cable network's choice to produce the show was Den of Thieves.
Den of Thieves is known for producing live television events, including award shows like MTV's Video Music Awards for 13 consecutive years, concerts by artists including Taylor Swift for Netflix and comedy specials starring Mike Epps and Ken Jeong. This year, the Thieves are back producing the People's Choice Awards and E!'s red carpet show, which airs Sunday.
Den of Thieves co-founders Evan Prager and Jesse Ignjatovic
The are an extraordinarily creative group of talented people, said Jen Neal, General Manager, E! News, Live Events and Lifestyle Digital. They had really big ambitions to reimagine what the People's Choice Awards was for a younger audience that's connected to all things pop culture.
They impressed network execs with their pitch and then they were great to work with. It was like working with an extended team, Neal said. That made expanding the relationship to include the red carpet an easy choice. We liked their connection to culture and pop culture, she said.
Den of Thieves was formed in 2007 by co-founders executive producers Jesse Ignjatovic, who had been with MTV, and Evan Prager, who had been with Epic Records. They met in 1995 and worked together on an Oasis Rockumentary.
We both have our strengths, and at the end of the day we're pretty like-minded. And, we share the same vision for the company. But, most importantly we're best friends and like being around each other, said Prager. It's starts there and that's ultimately why it works.
Jesse Ignjatovic
They thought the name--Den of Thieves--just sounded intersting, Ignjatovic said. Believe it or not, the other options were worse.
Producing live events is an important skill that keeps them in demand.. We love live broadcasting. I think there's nothing like it, Ignjatovic said. It puts talent in places where something special can happen.
Last year, they redesigned the People's Choice award show for E!'s younger audience. The moved it from a theater environment to seating the celebrites at tables, to make it more of a party, Prager said.
We got great feedback in the [audience] numbers and also that it was a really good event for the talent, Ignjatovic said. I think that's something that gets overlooked is making sure that the people that are attending these shows have a good time so they want to come back year after year and tell their friends.
The 2018 People's Choice Award's reached 4.1 million total viewers, including 1.8 million adults in the 18 to 49 demographic, across E! and its sister NBCUniversal networks USA, Syfy, Bravo and Universo. On E!, it was the youngest-skewing People's Choice Awards, with four times the concentration of 18 to 34 year old viewers than the previous year's teelcast on CBS.
It produced 34 million engagments with digital and socal content produced by the network and was the most social cable telecast in the fall of 2018.
The People's Choice Awards generated $7.5 million in ad revenue, according to an estimate from iSpot.TV, nearly even with teh $8.1 million in ads sold by CBS in the award show in 2017.
The top advertisers last year were Subaru, eBay, L'Oreal Paris, Zales and Metro by T-mobile, iSpot.tv said.
This year, we want to build and make it better and I think that begins with talent outreach, said Ignjatovic.
The show will again be televised across multiple NBCU Networks, including USA, Syfy, Bravo and Oxygen. It will also go global, including on Sky, the European satellite broadcaster acquired by NBCU parent Comcast.
This year's show will get starpower from its Icon award winners, with Jennifer Aniston receiving the People's Icon Award, Gwen Stefani getting the Fashion Icon Award and Pink accepting the People's Champion Award.
There will also be live performances by Alessia Cara and Kelsea Ballerini.
Prager said the production will aim to keep the mix of fan-voted awards along with the tentpole award presentations.
Evan Prager
The format really works. It's a fast-paced show that super-serves the fans. The talent really want to be there to to thank the fans. It's really a special show in that respect because everyone turns out because it's a fan-voted award, Prager said.
The awards show won't have a host, something that's become a bit of a trend on award shows. Hosting is a tough gig and I think less people want to take that on. But I don't necessarily think it's a negative thing, Ignjatovic said.
And with the Den of Thieves producing the red carpet show, it should be more seamless. Now that we're producing both, we can make it feel like one experience, Prager said.
This year's show will have more interactive elements. Erin Lim, host of The Rundown, E!'s show on Snapchat, will be doing what fans on Twitter tell her to do, from taking a selfie to visiting a particular celebrity's table.
Sponsors will be intergrated into the telecast. Beauty brand Tresemme will have a moment recognizing the contribution of women to the year in pop cuture. Subaru is another returning sponsor and will be part of the Red Carpet show and have commercial innovations including picture-in-picture executions.
We take a lot of pride in working with the sponsors and the ad sales team at the network to make something that feels organic to the show but still gets across the messaging that the brand wants, Prager said.
Last month Den of Thieves was acquired by Wheelhouse Entertainment
Working with Wheelhouse helps Den of Thieves in a lot of ways, Ignjatovic said. First of all, we now have Brent Montgomery and his incredible team in our corner. Then there are the amazing relationships that
Most recent headlines
17/12/2025
Investigative journalists across the Western Balkans and T rkiye continue to con...
17/12/2025
Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame Inducts 10 Industry Icons During Unforgettable ...
17/12/2025
ESPN to Debut MNF Playbook with Next Gen Stats, a New AI-Driven NFL Data-AltCastThe series, powered by Adrenaline TruPlay AI, launches Dec. 22 and runs through ...
17/12/2025
Inaugural Optum Golf Channel Games Debut Under the Lights' in Primetime on ...
17/12/2025
The right playlist is essential on New Year's Eve, building the energy as you get ready and keeping it high as you count down to midnight. This year, Spotif...
17/12/2025
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({...
17/12/2025
Audiences Watched Over 103 Billion Minutes of TV on Thanksgiving Day
NFL Games ...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
KPop Demon Hunters Stars Visit Berklee for Weeklong Celebration Andrew Choi and EJAE, who voiced the film's main characters and contributed to its soundtr...
17/12/2025
December 17 2025, 17:00 (PST) Dolby and LG Unveil a New Era of Home Audio With ...
17/12/2025
Wednesday 17 December 2025
Heated Rivalry will be coming to Sky and streaming service NOW on 10 JanuaryTurn on cookies to view this content. Go to Privacy opti...
17/12/2025
Back to All News
Inside The Unseen World Of Indian Customs: Netflix Reveals The...
17/12/2025
Back to All News
Netflix announces PAPARAZZI KING: the docu series coming to Ne...
17/12/2025
Back to All News
Netflix Unveils First Look at Jo Nesbo's Detective Hole Pr...
17/12/2025
Back to All News
Netflix Welcomes Warner Bros. Discovery Board Recommendation
Business
17 December 2025
Global
Link copied to clipboard
After Careful Revi...
17/12/2025
RT has announced that Kathy Fox has been appointed Commissioning Editor with re...
17/12/2025
The Hao AI Lab research team at the University of California San Diego - at the forefront of pioneering AI model innovation - recently received an NVIDIA DGX B...
17/12/2025
Editor's note: This post is part of Into the Omniverse, a series focused on ...
17/12/2025
With the new season of Dancing with the Stars shimmering in the not-too-distant future this New Year, the celebrity and dancer pairings of the twelve couples ha...
16/12/2025
Hawkins has landed on Spotify, just in time for Stranger Things Season 5, Volume...
16/12/2025
Wherever you are, your favorite music and audio content should go seamlessly with you. That's why Spotify has partnered with NAVER Corp, Korea's leading...
16/12/2025
2025 Wrapped arrived bigger and bolder than ever. This year's experience is designed to be ultra personal and shareable, with new features like Wrapped Part...
16/12/2025
Three 12-kilowatt Advanced Electric Propulsion System thrusters, supplied by L3Harris Technologies, form the core of Gateway's propulsion system. Pictured i...
16/12/2025
The challenge facing America's defense industrial base is not just about speed - its about rebuilding the foundation that makes speed possible. Our nations ...
16/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
16/12/2025
SEVILLE, Spain Canal Sur, the public broadcasting service for Andalusia, Spain, has completed a total technology refresh based on Pebble's resilient, softwa...
16/12/2025
NEW YORK Teleprompting hardware provider Telescript International has acquired all software code and intellectual property previously owned by Telescript West. ...
16/12/2025
As cable operators face increased competition from 5G fixed wireless access providers, a new report from Ookla Research finds that T-Mobile is the FWA speed lea...
16/12/2025
Apple has announced a major upgrade to the Apple TV app for device owners outside the Apple ecosystem with news that the Apple TV app for Android now supports G...
16/12/2025
Space42 grows Direct-to-Device partner ecosystem through a Memorandum of Underst...
16/12/2025
16 Dec 2025
VEON Announces Release Date for Full Year and Fourth Quarter 2025 R...
16/12/2025
16 Dec 2025
VEON's Kyivstar Invests in Renewable Energy in Ukraine with Acq...
16/12/2025
Back to All News
Emma Appleton, Fares Fares, Frida Gustavsson and Jakob Oftebro...
16/12/2025
Back to All News
Docu-reality My Korean Boyfriend Gets a Trailer and Premiere D...
16/12/2025
Harmonic's XOS Advanced Media Processor Improves Streaming Video Quality and Boosts Viewer Engagement SAN JOSE, Calif. - Dec. 16, 2025 - Harmonic (NASDAQ: ...
16/12/2025
RT Sport Awards 2025 live on RT One and RT Player at 8:05pm on Saturday 20 December.
On Saturday 20 December live on RT One and RT Player at the earlier t...
16/12/2025
Singer -songwriter Brian Kennedy has been announced as the final celebrity dance...
15/12/2025
Harlem Globetrotters Celebrate 100th Anniversary With New Brand Campaign From Th...
15/12/2025
Top L-R: La Tierra Del Valor (The Home of the Brave), Mangittatuarjuk (The Gnawe...