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Monday, October 2, 2023

Welcome to a new week! The studio bosses and actors are negotiating, CNN launches an ambitious gun project, the world remembers Jamal Khashoggi five years later, TikTok's valuation reportedly falls, Beyoncé and AMC announce concert film slated for December, and so much more. But first, the A1.

THE A1

Taylor's Touchdown

CNN Photo Illustration/Elsa/Getty Images

The ratings are out of a broadcaster's wildest dreams.

NBC said on Monday that the Chiefs-Jets thriller attended by Taylor Swift and a star-studded crew, as the pop star's relationship with tight end Travis Kelce blossoms in public view, averaged a staggering 27 million viewers, making it the most-watched Sunday show since the Super Bowl in February.

The broadcast, which saw a surge of more than 2 million female viewers, unquestionably owes its record numbers to Swift, whose attendance yet again generated a frenzy of buzz that effectively overshadowed the game itself.

At its peak, NBC said that a whopping 29.4 million viewers were watching the game across linear television and streaming platforms. The ratings were partly powered by a spike in female viewership, including a 53% surge among teenaged girls, according to Nielsen Fast National data. NBC, which leaned heavily into Swift's appearance and cut away to her with live shots throughout the game no less than 17 times, said it was its most-streamed regular-season NFL game ever.

By comparison, the 2022 World Series commanded less than half the audience, with 12.8 million viewers in the final Game 6 of the series. And the series-clinching game of the 2023 NBA Finals brought in an average of 13.1 million viewers. Big numbers, no doubt, but nowhere near the extraordinary viewership of Sunday's game in East Rutherford.

The ratings bonanza is yet another data point that underscores the tremendous entertainment force Swift has become in recent years, with the pop icon's fandom of Swifties having grown so mighty they are now able to upstage "Sunday Night Football."

The NFL, of course, is reveling in Swift's newfound love for the pigskin, which has also led to a dramatic increase in merchandise sales. On one of its social media accounts, the header image Monday was a series of photographs of an expressive Swift at the game. On that account, the NFL's bio read, "We had the best day with you today," a clear nod to Swift's song, "The Best Day."

Swift seems to have ascended into a league of her own, a peer to no one. Over the summer, she became the first female artist to amass 100 million listeners on Spotify. Her "Eras Tour" — which got Ticketmaster summoned before Congress — has boosted the economy (even the Federal Reserve has taken notice) and could ultimately generate $5 billion in consumer spending. And her forthcoming concert film is set to be a global blockbuster for movie theaters, with analysts even a bit weary to make firm projections given her ability to consistently outperform expectations.

There are celebrities, and then there is Swift, a modern day King Midas who makes other high-wattage stars look small by comparison.

And while Swift's ability to bring a massive — and young — audience is unmatched, it is also a reminder of the powerful draw of live sporting events as rare eight-figure audiences continue to tune in to collectively ride a rollercoaster of emotions with will-they-or-won't-they nail-biting moments.

That unparalleled draw is no mystery to the media giants paying massive sums for multi-year broadcast carriage rights. But as the pay-TV landscape continues to fracture, high-priced sports rights are an increasingly scarce way to assemble a huge audience. And as the landscape continues to rapidly shift from linear to streaming, rights holders are facing a major dilemma: pay up to air the games and collect the advertiser pot at the end of the rainbow, or watch competitors (and Swift) celebrate big nights like Sunday.

——— BELOW THE FOLD ———

CNN Photo Illustration/Mario Tama/Getty Images

Actors in the Spotlight: The major Hollywood studios and actors met on Monday to resume negotiations to (hopefully soon) bring the second and final front of the strikes to an end. Inside the room, I'm told, were the bosses of the big four studios — Bob Iger, David Zaslav, Ted Sarandos, and Donna Langley. The personal involvement of those four executives played a crucial role in getting a deal hammered out with the writers and the hope is that similar progress can now be made with SAG-AFTRA. But the talks will take some time, of course. The studios and actors put out a joint statement Monday after negotiations saying that the talks had concluded for the day and will resume Wednesday. Stay tuned.

HOLLYWOOD HELL

Nicole Sterling writes about how SAG-AFTRA negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland is stepping into the spotlight. (NYT)
"Dear SAG-AFTRA," don't feel pressure to make a deal," writes Mary McNamara. "This contract is too important." (LAT)
"Who can a showbiz reporter interview when Hollywood is on strike?" asks Elahe Izadi, noting the SAG-AFTRA strike has "forced entertainment journalists to get creative." (WaPo)
The late-night comedy shows, however, are finally back producing new episodes after the conclusion of the writers' strike. (CNBC)
John Oliver hit the studios in his first episode back: "While I'm happy they eventually got a fair deal and immensely proud of what our union accomplished ... I'm also furious that it took the studios 148 days to achieve a deal that they could have offered on day f—ing one." (CNN)

THE INDUSTRY

CNN Photo Illustration/Mohammed Al-Shaikh/AFP/Getty Images

Five Years Later: Monday marked five years since the journalist Jamal Khashoggi was brutally murdered and dismembered in a Saudi consulate. And yet, the country has paid little, if anything, for the savage killing that shocked the world. Vox's Jonathan Guyer went as far to say Monday that Saudi Arabia "has won." On CNN, Jake Tapper asked in a hard-hitting segment, "So, how did Saudi's crown prince and now prime minister get away with murder? I'll tell you how. Right in front of our eyes and with a lot of help."

► "Five years later, even if justice is not served, Jamal is alive more than ever," Khashoggi's fiancé, Hatice Cengiz, said in a statement. "They killed him, but they will never be able to kill the values he believed in."

► The WaPo's Karen Attiah, who was Khashoggi's editor at the newspaper, said Monday that her publisher had "inexplicably stopped the editing process" on her book about him. A spokesperson for HarperCollins told The Daily Beast's Alex Nguyen that it was no longer the publisher. More from Nguyen here.

Covering the Gun Carnage: CNN Digital on Monday launched an ambitious, month-long project aimed at showing the carnage America's gun violence epidemic is leaving behind, specifically on the country's youth. Each weekday, the outlet will publish a profile of a child who died this year because of a gun. Josh Freedom du Lac, CNN's national desk executive editor, explained that the project "aims to highlight the scope and scale of the issue by sharing their stories, by focusing on the people, not policy debates."

🔎 Zooming in: A CNN spokesperson told me the series was born out of a conversation earlier this year among CNN Digital staffers who were discussing coverage of gun violence and how to better convey to the audience the true cost of the gun epidemic. "Assistant Managing Editor Emily Smith suggested profiling a young gun-violence victim every day, as the CDC had just released data showing that guns were the new leading cause of death for children and teens here," the spokesperson explained. Work on the project started in May.

THE FOURTH ESTATE

Gideon Cody, the Marion County Police chief who OK'ed the raids on the Marion County Record, resigned Monday, Chance Swaim reported, citing comments made by the mayor. (Wichita Eagle)
Josh Kruger, a 39-year-old Philadelphia journalist, was fatally shot in his home early Monday morning. (Inquirer)
The Buffalo News' printing presses will run no more. The paper stopped printing on September 30, but will continue publishing via a printing house in Cleveland. (Buffalo News)
Mark Jacob, a former Chicago Tribune Metro editor, launched "Stop the Presses," a new "pro-democracy" media criticism newsletter with Courier Newsroom. (Stop the Presses)

IN THE MARKET

Jeff Zucker purchased a minority stake in Front Office Sports to help grow the publisher, which focuses on the business of sports. (Bloomberg)
Pushkin Industries, Malcolm Gladwell's podcast company, will lay off over 30% of its employees, Ashley Carman reports. (Bloomberg)
Miramax boss Bill Block will exit the company after a six-year run amid a "strategic shift." (The Wrap)

MEDIA MOVES

CNN named Abigail Crutchfield its vice president for Washington, D.C., programming and special events programming. The network also promoted Pallavi Reddy to vice president of new media.
The Guardian U.S. named Michael Hudson the head of its first-ever investigations division and appointed Kai Falkenberg as its first general counsel. (Guardian/Guardian)
The Hill hired Will Federman as vice president of audience and content strategy. (The Hill)
The WaPo promoted Scott Vance to managing editor; named Brianna Tucker deputy campaign editor; and added a new cohort of contributors to its Book World. (WaPo/WaPo/WaPo)
The NYT named Alan Blinder, David Chen, Juliet Macur, Shawna Richer, Kurt Streeter, and Billy Witz to its national desk. (NYT)
The LAT announced its 2023-2024 fellowship class. (LAT)

THE INFO WARS

CNN Photo Illustration/Seth Wenig/AP

Trump Fills the Void: The judge overseeing the New York civil fraud case against Donald Trump only permitted a brief photo spray in the courtroom ahead of opening arguments, leaving audiences in the dark visually as to what was taking place in the trial. Trump, however, was very keen on being seen, filling the visual void by repeatedly stepping before cameras to talk to the press to rant and rave. The dynamic, Deadline's Ted Johnson wrote, offered "a glimpse" of how Trump's criminal trials might be covered, given they're likely to also prohibit cameras. Read Johnson's full piece here.

IN THE BATTLEFIELD

In a fiery statement, John Kelly went on the record with Jake Tapper to confirm a number of key details from a 2020 story authored by The Atlantic Editor-In-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg. (CNN)
"Journalistically incompetent and irresponsible": Former federal judge Michael Luttig laced into The WaPo Editorial Board's piece arguing the 14th Amendment can't quite be used to disqualify Trump from the 2024 ballot. (The Hill)
"I have been watching ... as a citizen and also as his daughter": MSNBC host Alicia Menendez recused herself from reporting on a grand jury's indictment of her father, U.S. Senator Bob Menendez. (WaPo)
"The long-delayed and highly controversial deal to bring Truth Social and the Trump media empire to Wall Street has a new twist – the merger could get terminated by either party," Matt Egan reports. (CNN)
"Right-wing media are setting the stage for the next Republican president to commit mass atrocities against immigrant families," writes John Knefel. (MMFA)

THE VALLEY

CNN Photo Illustration/Frank May/picture-alliance/dpa/AP

TikTok Valuation Tanks: The value of TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, has steeply declined, according to a new report from The Info's Kaya Yurieff and Amir Efrati, who cited share buyback figures to report the value of the company at approximately $223.5 billion, down 26% from a year ago. "The company is offering to buy shares from current employees who have worked there less than two years for $160 per share, implying a $223.5 billion overall valuation," the duo reported, noting that at one point in 2021, ByteDance was valued at more than $300 billion. Read the full report here.

► Meanwhile, ByteDance's revenue "rose 34% to $24.5 billion in the first quarter of 2023, a slight slowdown from its 38% revenue growth in the 2022 calendar year," Efrati separately reported Monday.

► Is TikTok testing a paid, ad-free version of the app? The Verge's Mia Sato has more on that possibility here.

TOO MANY TABS

Instagram is planning to "hold multiple focus groups with creators in an effort to learn what would make [Threads] more appealing," Sylvia Varnham O'Regan reported. (The Info)
It's not just you: Google's search engine has gotten worse in recent years, possibly because its recommended search results aren't actually directly related to your query, contended Megan Gray. (Wired)
Microsoft boss Satya Nadella argued Monday in court that Google's deals with Apple allowed the tech giant's search engine to remain ubiquitous. (WaPo)
Apple identified the software issue behind the brand-new iPhone 15 Pro's overheating problem. (The Guardian)
X inked a live shopping deal with Paris Hilton. (FT)
Separately, X has been sued by Florida-based X Social Media, an ad agency that's claiming it trademarked "X" first. (TechCrunch)
Spotify is tinkering with A.I.-powered playlists — which would allow users to create bespoke playlists by writing specific prompts. (TechCrunch)

CURTAIN CALL

CNN Photo Illustration/Kevin Mazur/WireImage/Getty Images

Beyoncé at the Box Office: It's not just Taylor Swift's "Eras Tour" that AMC Theatres will be distributing this year. The movie theater chain announced Monday that it will release "Renaissance: A Film By Beyoncé" in December. AMC said the documentary concert film will take viewers from "its inception to the opening show in Stockholm, Sweden, to the grand finale in Kansas City, Missouri." The film, which will be distributed globally, is certain to be a blockbuster and boon for theaters, which continue to need all the help they can get in the post-Covid environment. News of the forthcoming Beyoncé film bumped shares in AMC, with the stock ultimately closing up by 2%. The AP's Jake Coyle has more here.

OFF STAGE

"Beyoncé and Taylor Swift could save movie theaters," Brian Lowry writes. "But for how long?" (CNN)
Disney said it will start cracking down on password sharing next month, warning users they are not permitted to share subscriptions outside their households. (Variety)
Were you one of the lucky ones who attended the opening U2 shows at Las Vegas' mind-blowing new Sphere venue? It not, Brandon Griggs has a review on what it was like inside the futuristic concert hall. (CNN)
Go Your Own Way: Stevie Nicks said in an interview she sees "no reason" to keep Fleetwood Mac following Christine McVie's death. (Vulture)
Paramount+ is planning a boy band documentary that will focus on the late 1990s and early 2000s favorites the likes of NSYNC, the Backstreet Boys, and New Kids on the Block. (The Wrap)
"I have nothing to do with it": Tom Hanks warned about an A.I.-generated ad that used his likeness to champion a dental plan. (NBC News)
Netflix released the official teaser for "Leave the World Behind," which stars Julia Roberts and Ethan Hawke. (YouTube)
The trailer for AppleTV+'s "Messi Meets America" is out. (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. You can follow us on Instagram and Threads. We will see you back in your inbox tomorrow.