☀️ PAR's Good/Bad News: Mass Layoffs Start Amid Super Bowl Ratings Record
NETFLIX goes big on Tyler Perry / what's being left out of the 'Sports HULU' conversation / SONY finds new Karate Kid
Mornin'! This is Sean McNulty (connect with me on LINKED-IN here if ya like), and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on TUESDAY Feb. 13, 2024.
Where if you were streaming the Super Bowl on Sunday, hopefully you’re done watching it by now. According to research company PHENIX, streaming lag time for the big game was even worse than last year… which led to some folks getting push notifications on their phones about the result, well before the game had finished for them.
Again, my basic $25 over-the-air HD digital antenna delivered the game live (or as close as that ever is on TV) and for free just fine.
YES: The Super Bowl had the largest TV audience ever… but maybe don’t keep 123.4 Million in your head too long — that’s the prelim number that’ll be updated later today (last year’s game got a +2 Million bump in the final numbers).
OH: If you’re also here for all of the Affleck DUNKIN’ video you can get — here’s the four-minute cut of Ben’s quest (gotta love that neon ‘Benti’ light 🤌).
THEN: GOOGLE search data during the big game revealed that Ice Spice and Aubrey Plaza may not have the highest Q scores, as “who is in the STARRY commercial” and “who is in the MOUNTAIN DEW commercial” were two of the most popular questions queried (plus uh, who was paying for the Jesus ads).
AND: CBS is gonna air a special for Billy Joel’s 100th concert at MSG on April 14 (the show happens March 28), which is also the final round of The Masters.
PLUS: Tiger Woods signed a big sponsorship deal with TAYLOR MADE, replacing his 27-year NIKE deal. He’ll also be launching a ‘lifestyle brand’ called Sun Day Red in May with them (he chose it because he always wore red on Sunday matches 🤷♂️). Tiger has used TAYLOR equipment since 2017.
FUNDAMENTALS: Kate McKinnon is doing (what’s hopefully) a series of YA/middle schooler books called The Millicent Quibb School of Etiquette for Young Ladies of Mad Science, dropping this October.
HMM: NETFLIX is holding a “first-look presentation” for advertisers on May 15 in NYC this year (don’t call it an Upfront), followed by “The Netflix Experience” over at Pier59.
ALSO: Happy Fat Tuesday 🥳 — you can make your own Ozempic joke here.
TODAY IN JOB CUTS
SIRIUSXM followed through on its promises on its earnings call a couple of weeks ago to be more ‘efficient’… and is laying off 160 folks, or about 3% of the workforce. The company shed roughly 8% of its staff about a year ago.
But today in growth! VOX MEDIA’s The Cut is actually hiring four editorial staff this year and expanding overall, due to growth in advertiser interest in the product, and giving more credence to the theory that there’s a future in niche, and being a product that really means something to an audience.
WAKEUP BOX OFFICE POLL
PAR’s One Love: Bob Marley is tracking well ahead of SONY’s Madame Web in this weird uh, six-day weekend… a movie that’s looking like a new MARVEL low, opening somewhere in the low $20 Millions for the six-day over Presidents’ Day weekend with a Valentine’s Day assist. Madame has the IMAX screens, One Love has a lot of PLFs.
But let’s go with Mr. Marley, which to note fwiw, I was told PAR did run a spot for somewhere in the pre-show/lead up to Super Bowl kickoff on Sunday. It’s looking broadly at $30 Mil to $35 Mil for the six-day period (Wed.-Mon.), so whaddaya got?
IN TODAY’S EDITION:
Get some Super Bowl audience comps to keep in mind here in 2024, and a look at how audiences are returning to good ‘ol live TV in 2023.
Plus project & deal news at NETFLIX, WB, SONY and more.
OH: For those few folks who were not watching COMEDY CENTRAL last night at 11 p.m. where PAR makes real money, here is Jon Stewart’s return to the chair on YT, where PAR’s 💰 take is… less:
AND: For any JS completists out there… here’s his first interview in the new term, with Zanny Minton Beddoes, who as we all know is editor in chief at The Economist.
💻 THE MEDIA BIZ
