| | | | Wow. Did that really just happen? My Philly-born, Eagles-loving, Patriots-hating wife just keeps saying "Holy cow" and "I can't believe it." We have to be up in a few hours... So I'll keep this short... But this Super Bowl was a huge win for NBC and the NFL as well as the Eagles. The game was captivating, it was close, it was a nail-biter in the fourth quarter...
>> Last year, the Super Bowl averaged 111 million viewers. What will the Nielsen # be for this game? We'll find out midday Monday... | | Who capitalized on this super showcase? Here's a by-no-means-comprehensive breakdown by Brian Lowry:
The NFL: After a difficult, controversial year, the NFL capped its season with a terrific, high-scoring, wildly entertaining game that reminds people why they love football, while sidestepping any peripheral dust-ups. Moreover, the league topped that off with one of the day's best ads in its "Dirty Dancing" spoof...
The Winter Olympics/NBC: Not all the spots were terrific -- although one featuring music from "The Greatest Showman" was -- and in broad terms, mission accomplished...
Tide and Australia tourism: Both of their commercials playfully spoofed the excesses associated with Super Bowl advertising -- the former featuring David Harbour, aping other ads; the latter, by initially disguising itself as a movie spot -- in a way that cleverly cut through the clutter...
Movie studios: This year's aspiring blockbusters were out in force, with Disney wielding the biggest stick by promoting its twin titans "Avengers: Infinity War" and "Solo: A Star Wars Story," stoking already heated anticipation for those titles... | | ...And here's who fumbled | | More from Brian Lowry's column:
Ram Trucks: Whatever the good intentions of its ad using a Martin Luther King Jr. speech -- an image-enhancing exercise, tied to its "Built to serve" campaign -- the net effect raised the specter of trivializing the civil-rights icon's legacy in order to help sell trucks... Ahiza Garcia has more on the ad here...
Budweiser: Yes, the beer marketer aired a moving spot for its emergency-relief efforts, along with more annoying ones for Bud Light. But the bottom line is whenever you come away from the Super Bowl without Bud ads being near the top of the list, they've fallen short of their rich history as the game's highest-profile sponsor...
Read Lowry's full column here! | | | I was impressed by the promo for "Rise," a drama that's coming in March... And like Lowry, I was impressed by the Olympics ads... | | Some of the movie trailers | | Frank Pallotta loved the preview of "SOLO: A Star Wars Story." Disney says a teaser trailer will debut on ABC's "GMA" Monday morning... Details here...
I also loved the "Jurassic World" and "Skyscraper" and "A Quiet Place" teasers... | | Netflix used the game to launch "The Cloverfield Paradox" | | | Early in the game, Netflix ran an ad for "The Cloverfield Paradox" and said it was coming "very soon." Then the company blasted out a press release saying it would start streaming immediately after the game. Chloe Melas has the full story here... | | | >> Two Netflix executives told me that the company has never tried a surprise launch on this scale before. "We quietly took delivery and localized in a couple of dozen languages to be able to release in all of our markets," one of the execs said. "It was a fantastic challenge and great fun to pull it off..." | | HBO's first Super Bowl ad in 20 years! | | | HBO's ad for "Westworld" revealed that the second season will debut on April 22. I asked HBO PR: When's the last time the network had an ad on the Super Bowl? Turns out it was this ad way back in 1997... | | | Yeah, there were a lot of haters on social media. But I agree with Chloe: | | | Chloe Melas emails: Justin Timberlake did not disappoint as the Super Bowl halftime performer. Timberlake sang some of his classic hits, including "Cry Me A River," "Suit & Tie," "SexyBack," "Senorita," "Mirrors," and "My Love." But when he covered Prince's "I Would Die 4 U," along with a video of Prince's original performance of the song, he faced immediate backlash on social media. Some fans were upset because they accused Timberlake of using a hologram of Prince – although technically it wasn't. The broadcast then turned Minneapolis purple in tribute. Read Chloe's full story here... | | | Nikki Haley, who detested the "Fire and Fury" gag on the Grammys this time LAST week, loved the halftime show. "Awesome!" she wrote on Twitter... | | Check out these reviews of the ads 👇 | | "Most of the advertisers in Super Bowl LII veered away from the politically-minded or socially-conscious commercials for which the event has been known in recent years," Variety's Brian Steinberg wrote. Read his recap here...
Some of the ads were downright "somber," others were "lame," according to Sapna Maheshwari's live-blog for the NYT...
--> Bleacher Report also reviewed the best/worst ads... | | NBC blames 'equipment failure' for brief blackout during Super Bowl | | | Was it a power outage? A computer glitch? A clever ad? No... the blackout during a commercial break was none of the above... NBC said "we had a brief equipment failure that we quickly resolved." So did the network miss a chance to run a $5 million ad? No, the network claimed that "no game action or commercial time were missed." I'm still seeking more details... In the meantime, here's my story for CNNMoney... | | Hulu live-streaming trouble | | Jackie Wattles emails: Super Bowl LII didn't end well for some cord-cutters. Just minutes before the game ended, Hulu Live's feed cut out. Angry tweets flooded in. And it wasn't until about 10:17pm ET, just as the Eagles regained the lead for the win, that Hulu's support handle issued this message: "We are aware of a technical issue that is impacting some of our NBC feeds. At this time we recommend users to close and relaunch their Hulu App as a workaround."
Some users reported the "workaround" didn't work. Several promised to cancel their subscriptions. It was the first Super Bowl to be streamed on Hulu Live, which costs $39.99 per month and was launched in May last year. Important caveat: We don't yet know the cause of the problem yet... | | But seriously. Did the Eagles really win? | | | What a night. We are giving our eight month old Sunny all the credit. Her first year on Earth, the Eagles' first year winning the Super Bowl, she's obviously lucky! | | Stay tuned for "This Is Us" | | | We're not watching til later this week... But Chloe Melas and Brian Lowry both watched the special post-game episode of "This Is Us..." And they'll have stories about the episode up overnight on CNN.com... | | "Apple Music on Track to Overtake Spotify in U.S. Subs" | | | That's the headline in Monday's WSJ... "Apple Music is on the verge of overtaking Spotify in U.S. paid subscribers..." Details here... | | "Welcome BACK to the big show?" Dan Patrick held talks with ESPN | | | "ESPN has explored a very big reunion with prodigal son Dan Patrick," Sporting News reporter Michael McCarthy revealed Sunday. "A spokesperson for the company confirmed to Sporting News Sunday that it has talked with Patrick, whose dual contracts with NBC Sports and AT&T SportsNet expire this month. But ESPN sources said a reunion with Patrick is unlikely to happen barring a miracle Hail Mary pass at the last second..." | | -- The NYT's followup on the "media men" list: "How a Crowdsourced List Set Off Months of #MeToo Debate" (NYT)
-- Dr. Isadore Rosenfeld, a physician who was a longtime contributor to Fox News, has died. He was 91. Fox paid tribute to him on Sunday... (Fox)
-- Recommended reading: "How Twitter Bots and Trump Fans Made #ReleaseTheMemo Go Viral" (Politico) | | | "RELIABLE SOURCES" HIGHLIGHTS | | Chris Ruddy says Trump is "riding a high" | | Newsmax CEO/Trump confidant Chris Ruddy joined me for an exclusive interview on Sunday's "Reliable Sources." A few of the highlights:
-- He had a "brief chat" with Trump on Saturday night. He argued that Trump "had an incredible home run with the bases loaded this week with that SOTU address."
-- On all things Russia: "I think he's very frustrated, because you know, this... whole case has been a false, fake, phony allegation of a crime."
-- Ruddy's main argument: "Show me the evidence" of collusion. My response: "I would love for Robert Mueller's report to come out tomorrow."
-- Notable comment from Ruddy: "I don't think he should fire Mueller or Rosenstein." He said "the president should stay away" from the investigation, noting that "he can always exercise a pardon..." | | Hannity won, America lost | | My essay from the top of the show: This week, Sean Hannity won. And the rest of America lost. The pro-Trump media, led by Hannity, has circled the wagons around President Trump. They've distracted people about the truth involving Trump's Russia ties. And they've done everything possible to destroy faith in Robert Mueller's probe...
>> The point: This campaign of confusion is good for Hannity. His ratings are way up. It's good for Trump. But it's bad for the country... | | One country, two narratives | | Via Jackie Wattles' story for CNNMoney: Hadas Gold said on "Reliable" that the memo coverage "has reminded me of sometimes when you go to museums in other countries, and they portray a war that we learned about from the other side, and you just see these two alternate realities."
Later in the hour, Julia Ioffe of The Atlantic echoed Gold's point about media consumption: "People feel like they're tuning in, in the middle, and they've missed the first three episodes of the season. People are just getting, I think, the overarching narratives from their side, from the media that they watch, that they believe..." | | | The Baltimore Sun's David Zurawik said on "Reliable" that pro-Trump media types are floating conspiracy theories that are becoming talking points for politicians. "I think we are in an incredibly dangerous place right now," he said, adding he was "shocked at the traction this Hannity narrative has gotten." Here's the full segment... | | Here's how to catch up on the show | | Media week ahead calendar | | -- Tuesday after the bell: Disney and Snap earnings...
-- Wednesday after the bell: IAC and 21st Century Fox earnings...
-- Thursday: U.K. House of Commons holds a hearing in DC about fake news and misinformation...
-- Thursday after the bell: Viacom and News Corp earnings...
-- Friday: The opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics! | | -- Richard Roeper is returning to work at the Chicago Sun-Times after a brief Twitter-related halt... (Sun-Times)
-- Jemele Hill criticized Trump's "racial pornography" in an interview on Al Sharpton's MSNBC show... (Mediaite) | | | Uma Thurman shared her story about Harvey Weinstein through a series of interviews with Maureen Dowd. The resulting column came online on Saturday and appeared in Sunday's print edition. Thurman was praised for channeling her anger and detailing the alleged assaults by Weinstein. (He denied getting physical with her.) But at the same time, some observers criticized Dowd's approach... "Uma deserves better," Anne Helen Petersen wrote in this piece... | | Amazon hires new PR boss for original series | | | "Amazon Studios has recruited Warner Bros. TV alum Tammy Golihew to head all publicity for Amazon original series," Variety's Cynthia Littleton reported Sunday. "The appointment of Golihew, a highly regarded industry veteran, is a signal to the creative community that the entertainment arm of the digital giant is beefing up its programming, development and marketing infrastructure. It comes as Amazon Studios is closing in on hiring a new leader for the division..." | | How Baldwin's Trump starts the day | | | Frank Pallotta writes: Alec Baldwin returned to late-night TV but never got out of bed. On "SNL," Baldwin's Trump called into Fox News' morning show, "Fox & Friends," while lying in bed, tweeting and eating McDonald's Egg McMuffins. "I'm saving the economy, destroying ISIS and right now I'm getting my daily intelligence briefing," Baldwin's Trump said. "Oh, from who?" asked Alex Moffat's Steve Doocy. "From you guys," Baldwin quickly responded... | | Kylie Jenner's 11-minute-long pregnancy video already has more than 15 million views. Here's the YouTube link if you haven't seen it yet.
Jenner announced the birth of her daughter via Twitter, Instagram and YouTube on Sunday afternoon. The baby was born on Thursday. Jenner wrote: "I'm sorry for keeping you in the dark through all the assumptions. I understand you're used to me bringing you along on all my journeys. My pregnancy was one I chose not to do in front of the world."
People mag has details here... | | | --> Ronan Farrow tweeted: "Congratulations on the birth of a happy, healthy series of monetizable social media posts..." | | That's how the NYT characterizes this weekend's box office. "In their Super Bowl tradition, the major Hollywood studios sat on the sidelines over the weekend. Only one new low-cost movie, the horror-themed 'Winchester,' arrived in wide release, an effort by a small film company to counterprogram the big game by going after female ticket buyers," Brooks Barnes wrote.
"Jumanji" reclaimed #1, "Maze Runner: The Death Cure" was #2, and "Winchester" debuted at #3 with "roughly $9.3 million, a bit more than analysts were expecting before release..." | | Cardi B won't perform at a Super Bowl until "they hire Colin Kaepernick back" | | | The story via CNN's Deena Zaru: Cardi B told TMZ Saturday night that if the NFL asks her to perform at a Super Bowl in the future, she would only do so "when they hire Colin Kaepernick back." Read more... | | | It's a beautiful viral video. The perfect kicker for tonight's newsletter. Via CNN's Philip J. Victor: "These kids are seeing 'Black Panther' and their reaction is Marvel-ous..." | | | Email brian.stelter@turner.com... I love the feedback, corrections, suggestions, and tips. Thank you... | | | Get Reliable Sources, a comprehensive summary of the most important media news, delivered to your inbox every afternoon. | | | | | |
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