Sports Media
Dogs win the super bowl ad lineup, surveys show
Ads with canine co-stars pulled a disproportionate degree of emotional weight in a Super Bowl filled with famous faces, alcohol brands and entreaties to explore Christianity, according to the first consumer surveys about the commercials, reports The Wall Street Journal’s Patrick Coffee.
The winner of USA Today’s annual Super Bowl Ad Meter was a commercial for dog-food delivery company Farmer’s Dog Inc. that tracked one chocolate Lab’s relationship with its owner from puppyhood to old age.
Two more ads in the top six featured man’s best friend, said USA Today video journalist Ralphie Aversa, at least if you include a Bud Light ad that depicted the married actors Miles Teller and Keleigh Sperry dancing through a customer-service call with their dog Bugsy. The Bud Light ad took sixth place in USA Today’s popularity contest, for which more than 150,000 people registered to participate, according to USA Today parent company Gannett Co.
Amazon.com Inc. took No. 3 with a story about Sawyer, a dog whose loneliness is resolved by a puppy who arrives in a crate ordered online. Dunkin’s ad starring superfan Ben Affleck with a cameo by his wife, Jennifer Lopez, took No. 4 on the Ad Meter.
Super Bowl LVII draws 113 million viewers in the US, making it the third most-watched TV show ever
Some 113 million viewers watched the Kansas City Chiefs beat the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LVII, according to preliminary data from Nielsen and Adobe Analytics, which they said made it the third most-watched television show of all time, reports The Wall Street Journal’s Joe Flint.
The numbers are a slight improvement over the 112.3 million that watched the Los Angeles Rams defeat the Cincinnati Bengals in last year’s game on NBC, its streaming platforms and its Telemundo Spanish service.
The record for Super Bowl viewership remains the 2015 Super Bowl XLIX on NBC, which averaged an audience of 114.4 million viewers. Like Sunday’s game, Super Bowl XLIX—in which the New England Patriots edged the Seattle Seahawks—also went down to the wire.
The Super Bowl’s ratings performance comes as viewership for traditional television has declined as more viewers flock to streaming and video-on-demand platforms. Other live events such as awards shows have seen rating drops in recent years, making top sporting events such as the Super Bowl ever more important to advertisers.
Prices for some commercials in Sunday’s game topped $7 million, a record.
See Also: TV Ratings February 13, 2023: How many tuned in to the Chiefs’ Super Bowl victory?
Business of Media
Disney toasts a century as business and political challenges mount
Walt Disney has been dead for nearly 57 years. In the coming weeks, however, he will begin greeting museum visitors on two continents, reports The New York Times’ Brooks Barnes.
As part of its 100th anniversary marketing-palooza, the Walt Disney Company used archival video and artificial intelligence tools to create a lifelike hologram of its founder — a full-size digital avatar that speaks in Walt’s voice and appears as part of interactive exhibitions of Disney artwork, props and costumes that will tour the globe until at least 2028.
“I get goose bumps every time I see it,” said Becky Cline, director of the Disney Archives.
Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to buy tickets — and Disney, more than any time in recent memory, needs them to leave with a similar emotion: Ah, yes, the magical entertainment brand that marries nostalgia with how-did-they-do-that technical wizardry. Let’s go see a Disney movie, buy some Disney bedsheets and book a vacation at a Disney theme park.
For decades, the public has been saying exactly that. But in a twist that would have seemed far-fetched just a couple of years ago, Disney’s centenary celebration arrives at a moment when the company’s formidable standing in the culture has started to show a few cracks.
News Brands
‘Systems and processes failed’: ABC boss acknowledges mistake in Alice Springs report
ABC managing director David Anderson has admitted its systems and processes failed during the production of a radio report that claimed there were elements of white supremacy at an Alice Springs community forum on social unrest in the town, report Nine Publishing’s Lisa Visentin and Karl Quinn.
The failure was also identified by the newly created ABC Ombudsman’s Office, which on Tuesday found the report on the broadcaster’s radio current affairs program, AM, on January 31 breached standards of impartiality and accuracy.
Appearing at a Senate estimates hearing on Tuesday, Anderson said the item did not contain all the perspectives necessary for a balanced report of the meeting or sufficient context and he had asked director of news Justin Stevens to investigate how it occurred.
“I do think that the systems and processes we have in place failed in that those checks and measures did not pick up the issue with that story before it was included in the AM package,” Anderson said.
“Certainly, when I heard it, I knew that we had a problem with that particular story and I think it’s now been corrected and reposted. So the story has now been reproduced by that reporter and then put back online.”
“We are now at a relative disadvantage”: SBS still without Facebook deal
SBS is still without a revenue deal with Meta, parent company of Facebook, despite commercial deals in place with ABC, Seven, Nine, and News Corp, reports TV Tonight.
Speaking at a Senate Estimates hearing, James Taylor SBS Managing Director said, “I think we sincerely attempted on many occasions, from about February 2021, right through till November 21…. many, many opportunities to seek feedback as to ‘Was there concern about our content offer? Was there something about the metrics that we should understand, to try and understand why there was no negotiation?’
“I think my characterisation is that, despite many efforts, absolutely no substance or information or data or facts were provided to underpin the decision that the Meta communicated to us about a desire not to enter into negotiations.”
SBS maintains it is not being fairly compensated for the content it produces that is consumed on Meta platforms.
“Secondly, as a result of every other major media organisation in the country having secured a deal, we are now at a relative disadvantage, because of course, those organisations now have more money to produce journalism for those platforms, and we do not have more money.”
BBC offices in India raided by tax officials amid Modi documentary fallout
BBC offices in India have been raided by tax department officials, just weeks after the release of a documentary critical of the prime minister, Narendra Modi, which was later blocked by the government, report The Guardian’s Hannah Ellis-Petersen and Jim Waterson.
According to those working at the broadcaster, more than a dozen officials from the country’s income tax department turned up at the BBC offices in Delhi and Mumbai, where hundreds of employees are based, to conduct a “survey”. Documents and phones of several journalists were taken and the offices sealed.
Officers told local media the searches on Tuesday morning were part of a tax evasion investigation into the business operations of the BBC in India and several accounts and financial files were seized.
The BBC said it was fully cooperating with the raids, with some employees still in the offices on Tuesday evening. “Many staff have now left the building but some have been asked to remain and are continuing to cooperate with the ongoing inquiries,” it said. “We are supporting our staff during this time and continue to hope to have this situation resolved as soon as possible. Our output and journalism continues as normal and we are committed to serving our audiences in India.”
The UK government has so far declined to comment on the raids, although a Foreign Office official said they had spoken to the BBC. The BBC has previously been reluctant to seek formal political support when it comes to such incidents in an attempt to make clear it is separate from the British state.
Television
‘I thought about a total career change’: Why Leigh Sales is back on the ABC
For more than a decade, Leigh Sales spent five nights a week asking people questions. As host of ABC’s flagship current affairs program, 7.30, she regularly grilled world leaders, celebrities, actors and sportspeople, reports Nine Publishing’s Thomas Mitchell.
So perhaps it makes sense that when it comes to promoting her new job as host of Australian Story, Sales is all interviewed out.
When this masthead requested an interview with Sales, rather than agreeing to a face-to-face, she asked for an email interview to discuss her return to the small screen, the liberation of semi-retirement and why her comeback may be short-lived.
Dylan and Jenny’s The Block home sells four months after auction
The last of the houses built during the latest season of The Block has finally sold almost four months after the heartbreaking final episode, reports News Corp’s Madeleine Achenza.
The 18th season of the Australian reality television series titled “Tree Change” was filmed in the Macedon Ranges, Victoria – the first time the series had been filmed in a regional location.
Contestants Dylan Adams and Jenny Heath were devastated when their home failed to make reserve and was passed in at the highly anticipated November auction.
TCC Real Estate agent Kirrilly Evans said it was a “positive outcome” for the couple after the house sold for an undisclosed amount on Monday.
The five-hectare Gisborne property sold under private treaty to a “lovely family” who were new to the area and reportedly “fell in love” with the house.