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Monday, February 13, 2023

Important reminder, for those who may have forgotten: Tuesday is Valentine's Day. Now, onto the news. Scroll down for the latest on Yamiche Alcindor, Rupert Murdoch, Joe Rogan, Chris Jansing, Fred Ryan, Marne Levine, John Hennessy, Leslie Grace, Tina Fey, and many more. But first, the A1.

THE A1

A Ratings Touchdown

CNN Photo Illustration/Mark J. Rebilas/USA Today Sports

The Super Bowl delivered super ratings for Fox.

The face off between the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs, a nail biter in which the latter team emerged victorious after a game defining play late in the fourth quarter, averaged 113 million viewers across Fox's television and digital properties, according to early data from Nielsen.

That makes Super Bowl LVII the third most-watched television program of all-time. And it represents the best audience for the big game in six years, topping 2022's showdown, which averaged 112.3 million viewers on NBC.

Fox Sports said that the Apple Music Halftime Show featuring Rihanna drew an average of 118.7 million viewers, making it the second most-watched performance in Super Bowl history.

As expected, the biggest viewing audiences for the game were in Kansas City and Philadelphia, followed by Cincinnati, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Milwaukee, Norfolk, Charlotte, Minneapolis, and St. Louis — all of which had ratings shares over 70.

The numbers underscore yet again that while linear television might be in decline, live sports still command extraordinary audiences.

That said, it is worth noting that the decline of linear is present in the viewership data. Fox said Super Bowl LVII was the most-streamed Super Bowl in history, with an average of 7 million people watching via internet-based services. That figure represents an 18% jump from last year.

And the transition from linear television offerings to programs streaming on platforms such as Netflix and HBO Max might also be evident in what happened after the Super Bowl. Fox said only 15.5 million people stuck around on the network to watch Gordon Ramsay's "Next Level Chef," which was heavily promoted during the game.

"That's the smallest audience for a post-SB hour in modern ratings history," Vulture's Josef Adalian pointed out.

ON THE SIDELINES 🏈

"As our release notes this afternoon's numbers are preliminary. We'll be able to dive deeper into pregame, demos, initial tune-in and more with tomorrow's finals," Fox Sports EVP of strategy and analytics Michael Mulvihill noted. "Not necessarily expecting big changes to the overall story but as they say at the track: Hold all tickets." (Twitter)
Halftime producer Bruce Rodgers spoke about Rihanna's floating stage. "It was all in the name of protecting the grass," Angela Watercutter reports. (WIRED)
Madeline Peltz reports on how anti-choice media personalities worked to "twist Rihanna's pregnancy and powerful Super Bowl performance into anti-choice propaganda." (MMFA)
There was, of course, some culture wars criticism this year. Megyn Kelly said it was "a woke Super Bowl and it was annoying." (Mediaite)
USA Today released its annual Ad Meter rankings of commercials. Snagging the top spot? The Farmer's Dog. (USA Today)
Elon Musk joked he was talking about Dogecoin while seated at the game next to Rupert Murdoch. (Twitter)
Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes joined Jake Tapper's program Monday and apologized to the Eagles superfan: "Sorry I made you have a little bit of a rough night." (Mediaite)

——— BELOW THE FOLD ———

CNN Photo Illustration/Gene J. Puskar/AP

Eyes on Ohio: Is the national press adequately covering the environmental disaster in Ohio after last week's explosive train derailment? Some critics are contending that it is not. Fast Company's Clint Rainey, for instance, wrote a piece that carried this headline: "A horrific environmental disaster is happening in Ohio, and you may not even have heard about it." Rainey noted the situation has "received surprisingly little national media coverage." Others also raised concerns. Former journalist turned PR pro Timothy Burke pointed out that the story was not featured on the homepages of prominent news organizations Monday. Even former T-Mobile CEO John Legere wondered: "Why isn't this a top story on the news right now?!"

THE BUSINESS

CNN Photo Illustration/William B. Plowman/NBC/Getty Images

Alcindor Out the Door: After "deep thought and some meaningful conversations," Yamiche Alcindor announced Monday that she has decided to turn in the keys as moderator of the esteemed "Washington Week." Alcindor explained that she will exit the role, which she has held for two years, to focus on her work at NBC News and finish her forthcoming memoir. Her last day will be Friday. In a note to staff, Sharon Rockefeller, chief executive of WETA, which produces the show, said the program "remains a vital part" of PBS. Rockefeller said that it will draw on "the strong roster of journalists at 'PBS NewsHour' and in the Washington press corps" as it looks for a permanent host. Deadline's Ted Johnson has more here.

IN THE INDUSTRY

The NYT is taking the European Commission to court as it continues to seek access to text messages between its president and Pfizer's chief executive. (POLITICO)
Playbill deleted a story about Broadway audience misbehavior after the magazine's chief executive dismissed it as "clickbait" that wasn't up to his standards, Lachlan Cartwright reports. (Daily Beast)
The WaPo publisher Fred Ryan tells staffers that he does not anticipate any additional layoffs. (Twitter)
Bloomberg Media is targeting 500,000 subscribers for the first half of 2023, CEO M. Scott Havens told employees. (TalkingBizNews)
Shares in IAC are up 2% after the company reported earnings and vowed to return to the "basics" in 2023. (MarketWatch)
Chris Jansing talks to Brian Steinberg about expanding her program to two hours following the departure of Hallie Jackson from MSNBC to NBC News Now. (Variety)
Matthew Belloni reviews "Unscripted: The Epic Battle for a Media Empire and the Redstone Family Legacy," the juicy book about the Redstone family by The NYT's James B. Stewart and Rachel Abrams out Tuesday. (WaPo)
More shakeup at Showtime: Co-presidents Gary Levine and Jana Winograde are exiting their current positions. Levine will shift to an advisory role while Winograde will exit altogether. (Variety)
Lesley Goldberg reports the MTV Studios team has been given oversight of the premium television channel. (THR)
Lucia Moses and Elaine Low look at Amazon Studios. Their conclusion: The company "is growing fast and spending big on shows like 'Citadel,' but insiders say unclear creative direction, leadership shifts, and tech bureaucracy threaten to drive away staff and talent." (Insider)

MEDIA MOVES

CNN hired Shani George as vice president of communications and Molly Gannon as senior director of communications. (Playbook)
The WSJ named Jamieson Lesko as its new executive producer of international. (Dow Jones)
Miramax TV tapped David R. Shraga as head of business and legal affairs. (Deadline)

THE INFO WARS

IN THE BATTLEFIELD

NY Mag's Andrew Rice notes that Project Veritas' social media channels have gone silent. "Heard from a source in contact with staff that the nonprofit is basically shut down as board considers what to do about James O'Keefe," Rice added. (Twitter)
CNN's Donie O'Sullivan has returned to Twitter after Elon Musk suspended him last year. To return, O'Sullivan was forced to delete a tweet Musk wrongly claimed doxxed him. O'Sullivan said he appealed the decision, but "did not hear back" from Twitter. "Ultimately, I want access to my account so I can ensure people who reach out to my account through private message can still reach me," O'Sullivan said. (Twitter)
Maxwell Tani reports on how there are questions whether Spotify will retain Joe Rogan when his deal ends. (Semafor)
"One plausible scenario I've heard floated: Joe Rogan doesn't sign with any podcasting company, goes fully independent again, but sells a minority stake in his company for $$$," Vox's Peter Kafka adds. (Twitter)
Speaking of Spotify and Rogan: The streamer has still not commented on the comments he recently made advancing an anti-semitic trope.
A real headline reflecting our current information environment: "Charlie Kirk baselessly suggests balloons over US are false flag operation to fake alien invasion and enforce lockdowns." (Mediaite)
Mia Gingerich reports on how right-wing media is growing divided between Ron DeSantis and Donald Trump. (MMFA)

THE VALLEY

CNN Photo Illustration/Jerod Harris/Getty Images

Moving On From Meta: After 13 years, prominent Meta executive Marne Levine will exit the company. Levine, who as chief business officer has overseen the tech giant's advertising sales, will depart as the industry navigates difficult challenges amid a weakened advertising market. "As we round out one of our more challenging years with results moving in the right direction, and as I look out at the excellent leaders and strategy we have in place, this moment feels right for me," Levine wrote in a blog post announcing her exit. Meta execs Nicola Mendelsohn and Justin Osofsky will broaden their roles to fill her shoes. The WSJ's Salvador Rodriguez has more here.

TOO MANY TABS

Speaking of which: "In a shaky advertising market in an uncertain economy, ads that few people want to see suddenly seem to be everywhere," Tiffany Hsu writes, noting that because "the softer market has led several digital platforms to lower their ad pricing ... opportunities have opened up for less exacting advertisers." (NYT)
Microsoft has started integrating its OpenAI tech to some of its products for select users. (9to5Mac)
Alphabet Chairman John Hennessy said Monday that Google "was hesitant to productize" its AI technology "because it didn't think it was really ready for a product yet." (CNBC)
"We need to talk about Microsoft and Google's underwhelming chatbot debuts," writes Mark Sullivan. (Fast Company)
Azeen Ghorayshi reports on how teenagers recovered from the "TikTok tics," which some developed during the pandemic. (NYT)

CURTAIN CALL

CNN Photo Illustration/Warner Bros.

'Batgirl' Actress Speaks Out: Months after Warner Bros. Discovery (CNN's parent company) canceled the release of "Batgirl," actress Leslie Grace is opening up. In a conversation with Variety's Marc Malkin, Grace said she learned the news by reading a New York Post story. "I found out like the rest of you," she said. "And then my phone just started blowing up." Asked what went through her mind, Grace responded, "It was like deflating a balloon." She added, "I tend to be a very optimistic and positive person in these types of circumstances, and I just really leaned on the beauty of the idea that I got to have this experience in my life. Even though I would've loved to share that with the rest of the world, nothing can take that experience away from us." Read the full interview here.

OFF STAGE

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences chief Janet Yang conceded Monday that the organization's initial response to the Will Smith slap was "inadequate." (Deadline)
Every season of "Arrested Development" will be removed from Netflix on March 15, including the seasons the streamer produced itself. (Variety)
A sequel to Gerald Butler's "Plane" is in the works. (THR)
Peacock has green lit "Pairs in Love" for a second season. (Deadline)
Tina Fey and Amy Poehler are embarking on a comedy tour. (THR)
Barney is getting a new look. (CNN)

Thank you for reading! This newsletter was edited by Jon Passantino. Have feedback? Send us an email here. We will see you back in your inbox about this time tomorrow.