Sunday’s Super Bowl was terrific — the Kansas City Chiefs beat the Philadelphia Eagles, 38-35, in a game that had everything you could want: big plays, late-game drama and plenty of controversy.
And no surprise, television numbers were super, too.
Preliminary numbers released Monday night showed that Fox Sports drew 113 million viewers for the game, making it the most-watched Super Bowl in six years and, get this, the third most-watched TV show ever. (Super Bowl in 2015 and 2017 — both featuring Tom Brady’s New England Patriots — are the top two.) The 113 million viewers on Sunday were across television (Fox and Fox Deportes) and digital (Fox and NFL properties).
That almost assuredly will go down as the most-watched thing on TV this year — assuming actual aliens don’t come to Earth during prime time in 2023. And even then, it’ll be hard to beat those Super Bowl numbers.
With the near-death of Damar Hamlin and the scary concussions suffered by Tua Tagovailoa, we were again reminded of the violent nature of football. But that didn’t stop the sport from remaining as popular as ever and the Super Bowl from being the biggest television event in the country.
Recent data showed that of the top 100 TV programs in 2022, 82 were NFL games. That includes 19 of the top 20 shows with only President Joe Biden’s 2022 State of the Union address, just as the war in Ukraine had started, cracking the top 20.
Naturally, the Kansas City and Philadelphia markets dominated Sunday’s ratings. Kansas City led the way with a 52 rating and a remarkable 87 share. That means 52% of the households in Kansas City with TVs and 87% of TVs that were on were tuned into the game. Philadelphia had a 46.3 rating and a 77 share.
Viewing for the game peaked during Rihanna’s halftime performance at 118.7 million viewers.
So what about the actual broadcast? Here’s more …
Super broadcasters?
I say it all the time: Broadcasters are in the ear of the beholder. If there’s anything more polarizing than our politics these days, it’s how sports fans feel about broadcasters. For every person out there who loves, say, Joe Buck or Charles Barkley, there is another person who can’t stand them.
In the end, no one is right or wrong. It’s all about preference.
That brings me to Fox’s top NFL broadcasters who called Sunday’s Super Bowl, specifically analyst Greg Olsen. He has become the flavor of the month with media critics and fans alike raving about his performance this season, particularly during the playoffs. What makes it interesting is the just-retired Tom Brady is expected to join Fox as a broadcaster in 2024. Because Brady is the greatest quarterback in NFL history and Fox is going to pay him $37.5 million a year, the assumption is that Brady will move into the No. 1 booth and Olsen will move to the No. 2 team.
But now some are wondering if Olsen is too good to bounce to a No. 2 team. The momentum for Olsen grew even more on Sunday as several media critics praised his work in the Super Bowl.
The headline on the column by New York Post sports media columnist Andrew Marchand said, “Greg Olsen nailed Super Bowl’s crucial play — and now the pressure is on Tom Brady.”
Marchand is correct that Olsen was superb on the game’s crucial play — a holding call against the Eagles that allowed Kansas City to essentially run out the clock and kick a late field goal. Olsen said, “I don’t love that call.” And he was right. It was a lousy call and Olsen wasn’t afraid to call it out.
It was his best moment in what I otherwise thought was a good night for the Fox broadcast team. He and play-by-play announcer Kevin Burkhardt were fine. Certainly not bad. But fine.
Clearly using the less-can-be-better approach, there were some gaps in the broadcast that could have used some more analysis and, at least, some hype.
But my lukewarm critique appears to be in the minority.
Sports Illustrated’s Jimmy Traina wrote, “The Chiefs won the Super Bowl, but nobody had a better NFL postseason than Fox’s top broadcast team of Kevin Burkhardt and Greg Olsen.”
The headline on Richard Deitsch’s column for The Athletic: “In a great Super Bowl, Kevin Burkhardt, Greg Olsen and Fox rise to the moment.”
Marchand, Traina and Deitsch are all sharp media critics who give a lot of thought to their analysis and all of them enthusiastically praised Olsen and Burkhardt.
Like I said: ear of the beholders.
An interesting ad
There are plenty of places that ranked and analyzed the best and worst of the Super Bowl commercials. (Here’s a good one, for example, from NPR’s Eric Deggans.)
But two ads caused some discussion: the ones promoting Jesus Christ called “He Gets Us.” The first was 30 seconds and featured kids hugging each other. The second was a 60-second spot with still photos of people yelling at each other. It ended with the line: “Jesus loved the people we hate.”
Reportedly, those two ads cost a total of $20 million. The “He Gets Us” campaign is a subsidiary of The Servant Foundation, also known as the Signatry.
The New York Times’ Lora Kelley wrote, “The Servant Foundation has donated more than a billion dollars in recent years to religious, political and educational organizations, including some that align with anti-abortion and right-wing political causes.”
CNN’s AJ Willingham wrote, “Some of the campaign’s major donors, and its holding company, have ties to conservative political aims and far-right ideologies that appear at odds with the campaign’s inclusive messaging … According to research compiled by Jacobin, a left-leaning news outlet, The Servant Foundation has donated tens of millions to the Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative Christian legal group. The ADF has been involved in several legislative pushes to curtail LGBTQ rights and quash non-discrimination legislation in the Supreme Court.”
The campaign burst onto the national scene in 2022 and, as Willingham noted, “One of the campaign’s videos, titled ‘The Rebel,’ has netted 122 million views on YouTube in 11 months. Google searches for ‘He Gets Us’ have spiked since the beginning of the year.”
What about all the money spent, including the Super Bowl ads?
Kelley wrote in the Times, “Some evangelicals have criticized the ads, questioning whether the Jesus depicted in the ads is biblically accurate, and raising concerns about the volume of money being spent on the campaign. Erick Erickson, a conservative talk show host, said he was hesitant to criticize donors but added, ‘I honestly think the biggest issue is: You want to share Jesus with an unchurched crowd, that amount of money on TV ads is probably not the way to do it.’”
Be sure to check out Willingham’s story for more details on “He Gets Us.”
Interesting pairing
Did you notice who was sitting together in a suite at the Super Bowl? Twitter boss Elon Musk and Fox Corp. and News Corp. chief Rupert Murdoch. Also there was Murdoch’s daughter, Elisabeth.
As they were shown on screen, Fox Sports play-by-play announcer Kevin Burkhardt said, “Well, you’ve got some brilliant minds in that photo, Rupert Murdoch, Elisabeth Murdoch, Elon Musk.” Then Burkhardt added, “Rupert pays our checks too, so that’s always good.”
A few other recommended Super Bowl pieces …
Rihanna performing during the halftime show at the NFL Super Bowl LVII on Sunday. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
- New York Times deputy sports editor Mike Wilson with this fun one: “10 Things You Might Have Missed During the Super Bowl.”
- Also from The New York Times, Jon Caramanica with “At the Super Bowl, Rihanna Returns to Music, Briefly.”
- The Washington Post’s Karen Attiah with “Rihanna’s Super Bowl show was spectacular. And a huge sellout.” Attiah wrote, “Rihanna’s performance on Sunday is a reminder that almost no one achieves that kind of influence without selling out in some way. She could have used some of her stage time to acknowledge Kaepernick and the spirit of his protest. Or lamented Tyre Nichols’s death after his brutal beating by Memphis police. Or noted the NFL’s ongoing discrimination against Black coaches. Instead, she simply … put on a show, in service to the same forces that only three years ago she said she wanted nothing to do with.”
- The Ringer’s Jodi Walker with “The Pop Culture Winners and Losers of Super Bowl LVII.”
- A newsy item: Philadelphia Magazine’s Victor Fiorillo with “Philadelphia Police Insist No Tear Gas Was Used Amid Super Bowl Chaos, Contradicting Earlier Report.”
- Los Angeles Times sports columnist Bill Plaschke with “Patrick Mahomes, ‘MVPat,’ is chasing Tom Brady for GOAT after gutsy Super Bowl win.”
- CBS’s Nate Burleson went on the NFL Network and completely nailed his prediction. Meanwhile, everyone on the Fox Sports pregame show — Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long, Jimmy Johnson and Michael Strahan — wrongly picked the Eagles to win.
- Finally, just going to leave this here without comment because, honestly, I don’t know what to say. During ESPN’s Super Bowl postgame show, longtime ESPN personality Chris Berman said, “Also, of course, two African American quarterbacks starting against each other in the Super Bowl for the first time. Fittingly, Feb. 12 is Abe Lincoln’s birthday.” Huh?
Should Biden have talked to Fox?
I wrote in Monday’s newsletter about Joe Biden not doing a Super Bowl interview with Fox.
Longtime journalist Jeff Greenfield wrote a column for Politico saying Biden should follow the lead of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who regularly appears on Fox News.
Greenfield wrote, “It’s not that Buttigieg is likely to convince large numbers of Fox viewers to become a cheerleader for Biden. It’s rather that on a network where everything from its biggest stars to its graphics offer unremitting hostility to Biden, a calm voice politely but firmly pushing back on that view is the rhetorical equivalent of chicken soup: ‘couldn’t hurt.’ This approach is in sharp contrast to the idea that there is virtually no point in even attempting to persuade; that the way to win is simply to turn to more of your team than the other side.”
Greenfield went on to write, “Of course, meeting with the ‘other team’ runs the risk of angering the most fervent supporters on ‘your team.’ I’ve heard plenty on the left say that even appearing on Fox News gives undeserved respect and legitimacy to a force for evil. But Pete Buttigieg regularly refutes that view. And I think if Joe Biden had brought the energy and feistiness of his State of the Union address to that Fox interview, he would have given as good as he got, and might even have picked up a handful of new supporters. The way our elections have been going recently, that could make all the difference. And anyway… ‘couldn’t hurt.’”
Post update
On Jan. 24, The Washington Post laid off 20 newsroom employees. There was uncertainty about whether there would be more layoffs.
But those fears have been put to rest, at least for the moment.
New York Times media reporter Benjamin Mullin reports that Washington Post publisher Fred Ryan sent a memo to staff that said, “We do not anticipate further job eliminations at this time.”
Yamiche Alcindor news
Yamiche Alcindor, shown here in 2020. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
Yamiche Alcindor announced on Twitter Monday that she was stepping down as moderator of PBS’s “Washington Week” to focus on her job at NBC News and to complete her upcoming memoir. She said her last day at “Washington Week” would be Feb. 24.
Alcindor tweeted, “I won’t forget about the time, commitment, dedication & hard work that all of the Washington Week team & our amazing guests of reporters put into making the past two years so successful. Our ability to make the news digestible for the PBS audience has been remarkable. Serving in this capacity has also allowed me the extraordinary opportunity to honor the life & legacy of Gwen Ifill, an iconic journalist & the longtime Washington Week moderator who loved the program & personally mentored me & other women. I will be forever grateful.”
Alcindor was the White House correspondent for “PBS NewsHour” before joining NBC News in December 2021. However, she continued on as moderator of “Washington Week,” a job she took over in May 2021.
Media tidbits
- Big sports broadcasting announcement: Yankees legend Derek Jeter will join Fox Sports as part of its baseball studio coverage for 2023. He will join former teammate Alex Rodriguez and David Ortiz as analysts. Jeter is smart, obviously, and charismatic. But will he be critical enough to make a good analyst? Will he put in the homework to be knowledgeable about the ins and outs of every team? We shall see.
- Chris Jansing’s MSNBC show, “Chris Jansing Reports,” expanded to two hours starting Monday. Variety’s Brian Steinberg writes, “Chris Jansing Aims to Spotlight MSNBC’s Hard-News Roots.”
- NPR’s David Folkenflik with “Reporter’s dismissal exposes political pressures on West Virginia Public Broadcasting.”
- For the Committee to Protect Journalists, Beh Lih Yi with “‘Don’t give up’: After fleeing overseas, Hong Kong journalists fight on.”
- CNN’s Clare Duffy with “More than half of Twitter’s top 1,000 advertisers stopped spending on platform, data show.”
- From The Associated Press: “German ballet director suspended over feces attack on critic.”
Hot type
- The New Republic’s Lisa Riordan Seville with “A Cop Sexually Assaulted Their Son. Then Child Protective Services Retaliated.”
- The New York Times’ James Glanz and Ceylan Yeginsu with “They Were Told Their Building Was Earthquake Safe. It Collapsed Anyway.”
- The Atlantic’s Katherine J. Wu with “The Future of Long COVID.”
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