Happy Monday! Here’s the latest from Anderson Cooper, Fox, Xbox, Choire Sicha, Disney, Taylor Swift, Versant, Dana Strong, and more…
A World Cup even bigger than anyone expected
From a ratings standpoint and a drama standpoint, this World Cup just keeps delivering.
In the US, Fox and Telemundo keep setting and breaking viewership records. Preliminary Nielsen #s for last week’s USA-Bosnia and Herzegovina match showed at least 24 million viewers watching via Fox, enough to make it “the most-watched soccer telecast in English-language U.S. history.” At least another 9 million watched Telemundo’s Spanish-language telecast. And the final total will be even higher.
“When the ‘big data’ numbers come out on Monday and we are able to combine final FOX + Telemundo numbers for this match, people are going to be floored,” Fox analytics chief Michael Mulvihill told me.
Those #s will land this afternoon, and then tonight’s US-Belgium match will raise the bar even higher. Deadline captured the industry POV in a headline: “World Cup Ratings Were Supposed To Be Big, But THIS Big?!”
Fox says more than 100 million Americans have watched at least some of the World Cup on its platforms. Telemundo says its viewership growth has exceeded expectations.
At their best, these games “give a multicultural invitation to a monocultural experience,” Jerry Brewer wrote in this incredible essay for The Athletic.
“The shared language requires no translation, no common background, no political agreement,” he wrote. “A goal is a goal. A comeback makes every heart in the building lurch. The electricity of 70,000 people rising and screaming in unison jolts everyone. In a fracturing nation, in a fracturing world, this is no small accomplishment. It is among the few remaining gateways to human connection.”
Charlie Warzel of The Atlantic has been feeling the same. He wrote on X ahead of the Mexico-England match last night, “I’ve never experienced a collective enthusiasm and fun like this month of the World Cup. Just consistently blown away how universal the enjoyment is and how deep people are plunging down the rabbit hole. Doesn’t matter who I’m with or where I am — everyone’s locked in and it rules.”
Trump’s FIFA intervention
As for the Folarin Balogun of it all, the WSJ’s top story in print this morning is “Trump’s FIFA Call Keeps Player in for U.S.”
“Top-notch reporting — first from The Athletic, and then from The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal — revealed that the unusual ruling came after President Donald Trump reached out to Gianni Infantino, the president of FIFA,” Poynter’s Tom Joneswrote.
It “doesn’t necessarily matter whether Trump’s muscling into the issue was decisive,” CNN’s Stephen Collinsonwrote. “Just the impression that it was risks souring global perceptions of an event that had generated remarkably positive headlines.”
Patriotic July 4 programming
It’s a shame that so many TV critic positions have been eliminated in recent years. There’s so much to assess about July 4 programming. The networks that planned ahead and produced well-rounded coverage should feel really proud about their patriotic contributions.
ABC, for example, hit an absolute home run with “Disney Celebrates America,” its 25-hour telecast celebrating America’s 250th. The endeavor really reminded me of Peter Jennings’ monumental broadcast ushering in the new millennium. Every minute, there was someone and something new, led by David Muir on the rooftop of Disney’s NYC building.
If you missed it, the entire special is conveniently streaming on Hulu. If I were ABC, with licenses being challenged by the FCC, I’d be tempted to send Brendan Carr a link to the special and say, “This is what serving the public interest looks like.”
CNN’s all-day coverage felt similarly grand, with live reports and events from every corner of the country, aided by anchor teams in four different cities. The multi-city approach was validated when storms rolled in: First, the Boston team had to seek shelter, then the DC team had to evacuate the National Mall. (Anderson Cooper in Boston wisely brought a change of clothes.)
In the control room, the entire evening was a juggling act, as the New York fireworks start time was pushed up, the Boston celebration was pushed back, and the DC extravaganza was delayed until almost midnight. The Washington Post says it’s “still TBD” whether the capital set a record.
The Fox-Trump 🔁 on full display
The heat and rain in DC posed big problems for the networks that based their coverage there. Fox News built an impressive set on the Mall, but all five co-hosts had to abandon it and head inside when bad weather delayed the festivities. Rachel Campos-Duffy, Charles Hurt and Griff Jenkins, who were sitting in a backup studio, seamlessly took over. “You guys are the designated survivors,” Peter Doocy joked.
After about 40 minutes, Bret Baier, Sean Hannity and the other intended hosts were able to go live from a trailer where World War II veterans and other dignitaries were waiting out the bad weather. “This Fox News ‘freedom bunker’ has turned into the best television we have put on in a long time,” Jenkins remarked.
The most surreal moment of the night came later, when Trump arrived, and a press pool camera caught Trump watching Fox’s coverage of the situation. Fox took the camera feed live, and Trump “waved to the Fox News crew as he watched their coverage,” Mediaite’s Sean James wrote, a hall-of-mirrors moment for a president and a network in a constant feedback loop.
CBS News thankfully had a backup plan too. Early on Saturday morning, its crew discovered that the Secret Service had apparently cut off power to its set on the Mall, so workers swiftly set up some folding chairs and a tent for morning anchors Adriana Diaz and Kelly O’Grady.
Tony Dokoupil and Nischelle Turner also opened CBS’s prime-time show from that backup spot, but soon had to leave due to the impending storms. O’Grady, who was at the DC bureau just in case, expertly led the network’s coverage for more than an hour.
4️⃣ more Fourth notes
>> While some viewers waited and waited for the capital fireworks, one of the best shows was on PBS, which decided to get out of DC and base its July 4 coverage from Colonial Williamsburg. It was a perfect companion piece to Ken Burns’ “American Revolution.”
>> NBC said its telecast of the Macy’s fireworks in NYC “amassed 11.2 million viewers across multiple telecasts and platforms,” way up from last year.
>> And ESPN came up with an innovative new way to cover the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest: A “hat cam” affixed to one of the participants. Brilliant and disgusting!
>> If you watch one thing from the America 250 coverage, make it this three minute long Anderson Cooper monologue about his enduring optimism about the country. We are, he says, “still very much in the middle of our story.” (CNN/X)
The Swift-Kelce spectacle’s secrecy
The Taylor Swift–Travis Kelce wedding was a massive media spectacle all right — at once a major live event, a gossip-page bonanza, a fashion show, and a referendum of sorts on celebrity and wealth.
“Everyone has bigTaylor Swiftwedding feelings, and we haven’t even seen the dress yet,” CNN’s Choire Sicha wrote after the tightly guarded festivities.
We haven’t seen a single official photo or video yet, either. “Further details will likely come from Swift and Kelce themselves, whenever — or if — they feel like sharing,” CNN’s Alli Rosenbloom and Zoe Sottile wrote.
“There were signs posted up at some of the entrances of MSG, notifying people inside that they would be filmed,” the pair noted, but “whether the result of that recording will ever be made public is another matter.” Hmmm…
Sky’s acquisition of ITV’s TV business is now official
The deal, announced this morning, “unites the UK’s two largest commercial broadcasters as they bulk up to fend off the existential threat posed by US streaming giants Netflix and YouTube,” Daniel Thomas reports for the FT. This means ITV will become a part of NBCUniversal ahead of Comcast’s spinoff, if/when regulators sign off…
A British TV giant takes shape
“News plurality is likely to be another flashpoint” as the Sky-ITV deal is reviewed, THR’s Lily Ford and Scott Roxboroughwrite. “The combined company would bring together Sky News and ITV News, raising questions about whether two major news operations — Britain’s second-largest after the BBC — can coexist under the same corporate roof over the long term.”
Sky CEO Dana Strong says “the editorial voices between Sky News and ITV News will remain distinct…”
Briefly…
>> New this morning:Microsoft is drastically downsizing its Xbox division, cutting about “one-fifth of its staff,” and spinning off four gaming studios. (CNBC)
>> Versant is acquiring golf simulator company Full Swing for $530 million. Brian Steinberg’s lead: “The New York Times Co. has games. Disney has theme parks. And Versant Media has golf.” (Variety)
>> Max Tani notes that since the FCC targeted “The View” over the “equal-time” rule, the show “hasn’t featured a single political candidate running in a competitive midterm race.” (Semafor)
>> Jeremy Barr reports that a “group of prominent conservative organizations” has filed petitions to deny ABC’s license renewal requests. (The Guardian)
ICYMI:
>> The Supreme Court “declined to intervene after a judge ordered an $800-a-day fine” for Catherine Herridge “if she refuses to reveal her confidential source for stories about a Chinese American scientist who was investigated by the FBI but never charged.” (AP)
>> The White House issued a report accusing Smithsonian leadership of “adopting a divisive, far-left ideological framework that erases American heritage.” (CNN)
>> Tiffany Hsu interviewed Wikimedia CEO Bernadette Meehan about the many threats to Wikipedia. (NYT)
>> Lucas Shaw reported that “Netflix is struggling to get viewers to stick with its shows for more than a season.” (Bloomberg)
>> Jessica Toonkel spoke with John Malone, Lorne Michaels and Andy Jassy for this feature about Brian Roberts “breaking up his family’s company.” (WSJ)
>> Speaking of the Comcast/NBCUniversal split, I spoke with Sonny Bunch about the “next big corporate media shuffle” for the latest episode of his podcast. (The Bulwark)
‘Are the Minions losing their star power?’
That’s what Variety’s Rebecca Rubinasks in her weekend box office recap.
“Minions & Monsters”opened “way behind projections” in North America and ranked as “the lowest start” in the franchise’s history. It was “a hit at the international box office,” however, and should have staying power. (I’m still looking forward to seeing it with my son!)
Meanwhile, “Toy Story 5”held up well in its third week. Rubin also noted that “Obsession” notched “another major box office milestone, clearing $400 million in global ticket sales.”