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Tuesday, April 25, 2023

Anyone have a hangover from that unprecedented 36-hour media storm? Well, news in the industry is still flowing. Scroll down for how "CNN This Morning" addressed Don Lemon's exit, what Nate Silver said about his future at ABC News, details from all the tech earnings reports, information on another legal setback for Devin Nunes, and why David Zaslav is such a big supporter of the theatrical business. But first, the A1.

THE A1

Thinking Outside the Fox

CNN Photo Illustration/Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Alarm bells must be going off inside Fox News.

The firing of the right-wing network's most popular host, the extremist Tucker Carlson, not only depressed the channel's own prime time ratings Monday, but breathed life into its smaller competitor, Newsmax.

When Brian Kilmeade filled in on Monday evening for Carlson, who spent years as the unquestionable ratings king at Fox News, the channel drew an average of 2.6 million viewers and 294,000 in the key advertiser-coveted 25-54 demo, according to Nielsen Media Research. That's very good by normal cable standards. It's even good by Fox News standards. But, in context of the numbers his predecessor regularly posted, it was a notable dip.

Compare Kilmeade's Monday ratings to the previous start of the weeks in which Carlson helmed the hour. When Carlson hosted on April 17, he averaged 3.2 million total viewers and 445,000 in the key demo. On April 10, Carlson averaged 3.1 million total viewers and 438,000 in the key demo. And on April 3, Carlson averaged 3.2 million total viewers and 435,000 in the key demo.

Now, to be fair, no one expected Kilmeade to be able to match Carlson in the ratings — especially after only one night. Carlson's ratings dominance was why he had that 8pm perch. Even longtime host Sean Hannity found himself placing second to Carlson. If it were easy to command an audience the size of Carlson's, then there would be no reason for Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch to have paid the now-fired host a reported $20 million annual salary.

What is most significant, however, about Monday's ratings data is its revealing of a dramatic audience swell at Newsmax, unlike anything the channel has seen in recent memory outside of its broadcasts of a Donald Trump rally. The smaller right-wing television network, with a prime time helmed by the election denier Greg Kelly and ex-Fox News host Eric Bolling, saw its numbers explode in the hours following Carlson's ouster.

Last Monday, for instance, Newsmax averaged just 146,000 total viewers at 8pm. Last night, the audience was more than triple that, with an average of 531,000 total viewers.

The numbers suggest that some of Carlson's audience migrated over to Newsmax to sample the competitor's showing. Whether they stay at the channel and continue grazing is an open question. But on Monday, a not-so-insignificant chunk of Carlson's fanbase appeared to wander outside the Murdoch-verse for their 8pm infotainment.

This precise viewer exodus is what alarmed the Murdochs and Fox News personnel in the wake of the 2020 election, putting them on "war footing" and ultimately giving way to the events that culminated in the company's historic $787.5 million settlement with Dominion Voting Systems last week. At that point in time, Fox News had angered its audience by having accurately called the election for then-candidate Joe Biden. This time, the channel has alienated its audience by firing its most-prized host.

For now, the anger doesn't appear to be quite as palpable. And it must be underscored again that this is only a single night's worth of data. But if it manages to become a trend, it will certainly be cause for distress over on Avenue of the Americas.

IN THE FOX HOLE

Carlson remained tightlipped Tuesday. When will he break his silence? Will it be in days, weeks, or months? And how exactly will he do it?
Ross Douthat smartly pointed out that Carlson "more than other cable-news hosts, found a younger audience to supplement the baby boomer foundation that (for now) keeps the Fox News enterprise in business, putting the very old in touch with the very online." (NYT)
Always read Charlie Sykes: "While the other Fox News hosts are hardly ornaments of American journalism, Tucker was a uniquely malign and toxic figure. He was worse because he was smarter. He was more dangerous because he knew what he was doing. He had an extraordinary aptitude for lying with malicious glee." (Bulwark)
"Night after night, millions tuned in to watch Carlson's furious, reddening face, under a neatly parted, country club hairstyle, as he fed viewers a daily dose of fury and victimhood and painted a dystopian picture of America," Adam Gabbatt writes. (Guardian)
"Where Fox once competed with CNN and MSNBC for viewers," Nicole Hemmer observes, "it increasingly found itself fighting for dominance with networks like Newsmax and web sites like Breitbart." (CNN)
Lachlan Murdoch "may have been under pressure from his family to do something about Carlson," Claire Atkinson reports. (Insider)
Margaret Sullivan says Carlson was "America's chief fomenter of populist resentments." (The Guardian)
Zachary B. Wolf hits on how Fox News has evolved with the GOP's politics: "From the flag-wrapped post-9/11 period to now, a rotating cast of nighttime anchors has represented different eras." (CNN)
Now-fired Fox News producer Abby Grossberg told Nicolle Wallace during an in-studio interview that she has 90 recordings from her time at the network. (Twitter)
Brian Stelter released the cover art for his Fox-focused forthcoming book, "Network of Lies." (Twitter)
In related news on Tuesday: It was revealed that Murdoch's newspapers paid a "very large sum" to settle Prince William's phone hacking allegations back in 2020. (CNN)
Coming Wednesday: "There's a hearing tomorrow in Smartmatic's case," Marshall Cohen reports. "Lawyers for the voting tech company want the judge to make sure Fox is complying with its legal obligations to turn over evidence — in the wake of the judge in Dominion's case sanctioning and rebuking Fox for withholding key materials and information. Smartmatic says it's missing records about the Murdochs."

——— BELOW THE FOLD ———

CNN Photo Illustration

The Show Must Go Don: Poppy Harlow and Kaitlan Collins addressed the ouster of Don Lemon at the start of "CNN This Morning" Tuesday. "We do begin ... with news about this show," Harlow said, informing the audience that Lemon and CNN had severed ties. Harlow read part of CNN CEO Chris Licht's statement. Then, the two anchors spent a few moments talking about the role Lemon had played in their careers during his 17 years at the network. Harlow and Collins wished Lemon well and quickly moved on to delivering the news. The WaPo's Elahe Izadi has more here.

THE SIDEBAR

"They were on very different networks and did very different things to draw very different ratings," Jim Rutenberg writes. "But the synchronous exits of Tucker Carlson and Don Lemon from the cable news landscape on Monday represented the end of an era for their industry." (NYT)
"Getting to the top echelons of the TV news business is difficult; staying there can be even harder. And when the fall comes, it can be hard and swift," Paul Farhi writes. (WaPo)
Shelby Talcott points out that Vivek Ramaswamy was "the best man at cable's Red Wedding." (Semafor)
Lemon "appeared to squander his capital at CNN through a series of public missteps," notes Greg Braxton. "Instead of covering the news, Lemon became the news." (LAT)
Rick Porter notes that after Lemon's firing, CNN "is back to the drawing board for its morning show." (THR)

THE BUSINESS

CNN Photo Illustration/Krista Kennell/Patrick McMullan/Getty Images

Nixing Nate: The layoffs at Disney are once again rocking ABC News. The latest on the chopping block? Staffers at Five Thirty Eight. Nate Silver disclosed the cuts on Twitter Tuesday, adding that he expects to depart "soon" when his contract expires. "Disney layoffs have substantially impacted FiveThirtyEight. I am sad and disappointed to a degree that's kind of hard to express right now," Silver wrote. "We've been at Disney almost 10 years. My contract is up soon and I expect that I'll be leaving at the end of it." Silver went on to say that he had been "worried about an outcome like this" for some time and that he is "so sorry to the people impacted."

In a statement, ABC News said, "ABC News remains dedicated to data journalism with a core focus on politics, the economy and enterprise reporting – this streamlined structure will allow us to be more closely aligned with our priorities for the 2024 election and beyond. We are grateful for the invaluable contributions of the team members who will be departing the organization and know they will continue to make an important impact on the future of journalism." ABC News also said it will keep the Five Thirty Eight brand name. THR's Alex Weprin has more here.

IN THE INDUSTRY

Drew Taylor reported Tuesday that the Disney layoffs also hit the Disney+ and Walt Disney Studios marketing teams. (The Wrap)
Hadley Gamble was back on air at CNBC on Tuesday after rocking the media world with her sexual harassment complaint against now-fired NBCU boss Jeff Shell.
Yashar Ali still owes $230,000 to a Getty heiress, Matt Hamilton reports, citing court documents. (LAT)
NewsNation celebrated its expansion to 24 hours of programming with a ribbon-cutting ceremony Tuesday at the network's new studios in Midtown Manhattan, Michael Malone reports. (NextTV)
A nonprofit led by longtime Maine journalist Bill Nemitz could acquire most of the state's newspapers as they go up for sale. (Boston Globe)
The Webby Awards announced the 2023 winners. (Webby Awards)
Endeavor will sell IMG Academy for $1.25 billion to the private equity firm BPEA EQT. (Variety)

MEDIA MOVES

NBC News tapped Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David Rohde from The New Yorker as senior executive editor. (The Wrap)
The Obamas' Higher Ground hired Vinnie Malhotra as president. (Deadline)
IFC Films promoted Harris Dew to general manager and SVP of IFC Center. (IndieWire)

THE VALLEY

CNN Photo Illustration/Jerod Harris/Getty Images

Go for Google: Shares in Alphabet jumped more than 4% in after-hours trading Tuesday after the Silicon Valley titan beat expectations in its Q1 earnings, exceeding analyst predictions on both earnings and revenue. That said, the company continued to see an ad revenue decline (YouTube fell to $6.7 billion) as it faces fierce competition from TikTok and navigates the weakened digital ad economy. Chief executive Sundar Pichai also addressed investor interest in how the company is grappling with A.I. Pichai said Google will "be rolling it out in an incremental way" so that it can "test, iterate, and innovate." The WSJ's Miles Kruppa has more here.

Microsoft Mania: Shares in Microsoft spiked 8% in after-hours trading after the company beat Wall Street expectations in its earnings report and teased what it has in store with A.I. "We will continue to invest in our cloud infrastructure, particularly A.I.-related spend, as we scale to the growing demand driven by customer transformation," Microsoft chief financial officer Amy Hood told analysts. "And we expect the resulting revenue to grow over time." CNBC's Jordan Novet has details.

TOO MANY TABS

Spotify shares ended Tuesday up more than 5% after the company reported earnings that showed signs of improvement. (Yahoo Finance)
Coming soon: Meta reports its earnings Wednesday after the bell.
Katie Paul, Krystal Hu, Stephen Nellis, and Anna Tong go "inside Meta's scramble to catch up on A.I." (Reuters)
Big Tech must soon comply with the E.U.'s Digital Services Act, which Sam Schechner and Kim Mackrael describe as the "West's toughest content law." (WSJ)
Vlad Savov reports that people who have grown frustrated with Twitter under Elon Musk's chaotic reign have started "exploring Jack Dorsey-backed app Bluesky as a possible alternative." (Bloomberg)
Elon Musk has another alt account, Zoë Schiffer reports. (Twitter)

THE INFO WARS

CNN Photo Illustration/Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

Devin Denied: Another legal loss for Devin Nunes, who talks a big game when it comes to filing defamation lawsuits but keeps losing in court. A federal judge on Tuesday threw out the former congressman's lawsuit against Hearst and POLITICO's Ryan Lizza over a story the now-Playbook author wrote in 2018 for Esquire. The judge issued a 101-page opinion shooting down Nunes' arguments, at times in scathing terms. Courthouse News Service's Dave Byrnes has more here.

IN THE BATTLEFIELD

The bitter feud between Steven Crowder and Candace Owens has escalated even more, with Crowder suggesting Owens extorted him and Owens respodning that she does "not take that lightly." (Mediaite)
Just another day in right-wing media: "Banning books is very American," Daily Wire host Michael Knowles claims. "Banning drag shows is obviously very American." (MMFA)
Under Elon Musk, Twitter's "Community Notes" feature apparently thinks that the racist Great Replacement Theory is "widely celebrated and acknowledged by elected officials and in media." That's according to a note slapped on a tweet from NBC News' Ben Collins. (Twitter)

CURTAIN CALL

CNN Photo Illustration/Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Zas' Movie Pizazz: Warner Bros. Discovery boss David Zaslav reiterated his support for the movie theater business, telling attendees at CinemaCon that the company does "not believe in streaming movies." Zaslav explained that it is the position of WBD (CNN's parent company, of course) that movies in theaters "perform substantially better when we bring them to HBO Max than any of the direct-to-streaming movies." Zaslav, however, stressed to the industry that it is not just up to content makers to help revive the theater business. "We need to innovate the experience," he said. "To focus on getting people into the theaters, in an environment that continues to be contemporary." Deadline has more here.

OFF STAGE

Just in: The WGA has sent its members strike rules as a walkout looms on the horizon. (Deadline)
Former Disney exec Dave Hollis' death has been ruled an accident. A toxic mix of "cocaine, ethanol, and fentanyl" was the cause. (USA Today)
"Some yardsticks are hard to break": Brian Steinberg writes about how Nielsen has seemed to "gain the edge" after networks worked to push it aside. (Variety)
"The Lion King" is now the king of the jungle on Broadway, after "Phantom" exited following its legendary run. (Deadline)
The trailer for "Dune: Part Two," due out November 3, played at CinemaCon. (THR)
Hulu set "Vacation Friends 2" for an August 25 debut. (Collider)
Netflix posted the trailer for "The Witcher" season three and said the first batch of episodes will premiere on June 29. (IGN)
DC Studios released another trailer for the highly anticipated "The Flash." (YouTube)
Sony Pictures dropped the trailer for "The Equalizer 3." (YouTube)

Thank you for reading! This newsletter was edited by Jon Passantino and produced with the assistance of Liam Reilly. Have feedback? Send us an email here. We will see you back in your inbox tomorrow.