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If you would like advice for a long-term relationship, I offer this: Find someone who loves you a similar way news outlets love year-end content.

The New Yorker I wrote an article 11 years ago about why our brain loves lists, and it still holds up today. Among other things: It organizes information spatially and guarantees a finite story.

The NFL story will in fact proceed in 2025 and beyond, but in the next section we provide eight NFL media stories that piqued our interest in 2024.

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1. Tom Brady begins his NFL broadcasting profession

Fox has broadcast rights to the Super Bowl this yr, meaning Brady might be broadcasting the league's biggest game in his rookie season as a TV analyst. He is 15 games right into a 10-year, $375 million contract with Fox, a journey that has led to quite a few comments on his performance, including several posts by this creator.

Brady's broadcast work has improved over the course of the season – not a lot that he’s an elite TV analyst, however the progress is noticeable. Still, the long-term prognosis here is that Brady's juggling as owner and TV analyst for the Las Vegas Raiders, and the restrictions that include it, appears untenable for Fox and Brady.

2. Netflix is ​​getting an NFL games package

Netflix and the NFL announced a three-season deal for Christmas Day games through 2026 in May. This deal gets even larger as Netflix secures exclusive broadcast rights within the United States for the 2027 and 2031 editions of the Women's World Cup. These are vital signals to the market (together with its WWE rights deal given its live element) that Netflix has evolved from an interest in sports properties to a legitimate sports rights holder.

The streaming giant aired the Kansas City Chiefs-Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens-Houston Texans games on Christmas Day and largely avoided a glitch-filled repeat of its Jake Paul-Mike Tyson fight event.

3. Peacock broadcasts an everyday season game from São Paulo

The Philadelphia Eagles-Green Bay Packers game on September 6 was the primary NFL regular season game in South America and aired exclusively on Peacock, the streaming network's third exclusive NFL game following the Buffalo Bills-Los Angeles Chargers regular season game in December 2023 and the Miami Dolphins-Chiefs AFC wild card playoff game last January.

The result was a major increase in viewership for the league and the streamer. Peacock delivered 14.2 million viewers for the Eagles-Packers, significantly higher than the 7.3 million for the Bills-Chargers and Peacock's second-best NFL streaming audience of all time, behind only the Chiefs-Dolphins game (23 million viewers). . The figures include numbers from the over-the-air markets where the games ran.

The NFL will play eight international games in 2025, including in Madrid, as Spain will turn into the sixth country to host a regular-season NFL game. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and Chiefs owner Clark Hunt have spoken openly about it Play 16 games abroad yearly within the near future, in keeping with this report from SBJ's Ben Fischer. It is evident that we’ll soon see a window with a brand new international media rights package on Sunday morning.

4. Super Bowl LVIII sets TV rankings record

When it involves comparing today's sports viewership to yesterday's, we live in an apples-to-pomegranates world, as a consequence of aspects like latest out-of-home viewership data and cord-cutters and cord-cutters. Based on today's figures from Nielsen and Adobe Analytics, the Chiefs' 25-22 time beyond regulation victory over the San Francisco 49ers in February's Super Bowl averaged 123.7 million viewers across television and streaming platforms. That makes it the most-watched broadcast in history, surpassing the previous mark of 115.1 million for Kansas City's last-minute win over Philadelphia within the previous Super Bowl.

5. The rise of different programming

The alternative broadcasts of NFL games reached a brand new dimension in 2024 with an animated “Simpsons” alternate forged from “Monday Night Football” airs on ESPN+ and Disney+, and NBC Sports makes its NFL alternative broadcast debut on Peacock with the Texans-Chiefs game last week. This might be followed by alternative shows on Nickelodeon and ESPN's now long-running Manning Brothers show, in addition to a show featuring “Toy Story.”

6. The New Heights podcast is blowing up

The popular podcast — hosted by brothers Jason Kelce, the Eagles' center from 2011 to 2023, and current Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce — signed a take care of Amazon's Wondery podcast network in 2024 to turn into the show's latest home .

The show landed on the metrics lists of the largest podcasts within the US and has nearly 2.5 million subscribers on YouTube. One of the interesting points of the deal is Wondery's plan to translate the podcast into different languages ​​to expand its global audience, including in NFL-heavy markets just like the United Kingdom and Mexico. That's a blank spot for NFL fans.

7. New broadcast rules for higher access

It wasn't a coincidence that you simply saw more in-game interviews during NFL games this season. Last May, the NFL broadcasting department outlined access changes for the NFL's television partners following a review between the league and its media rights holders. The common goal? To improve the sport content we see as NFL viewers. The latest rules included in-game coach interviews for all games, pregame player interviews for all games, pregame network coverage within the locker room, preseason player interviews, and network cameras within the coaches' booths. Search for it to proceed.

8. The NFL was ordered to pay $4.7 billion within the Sunday Ticket antitrust lawsuit…only to have the lawsuit overturned

In August, the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles overturned a $4.7 billion judgment against the NFL for collusion in raising prices for its “NFL Sunday Ticket” television package. The judge disqualified the expert reports that the jury had used to find out damages. (The jury's verdict had threatened to upend the league's strategy of selling exclusive television packages to broadcasters.) Next up: The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Per Sportico's legal creator and sports law professor Michael McMannA call will likely take many months, if not longer.

NEW YORK – With global ticket sales totaling $270 million “Evil” And “Gladiator II” breathed recent life right into a box office that did that been having problems currentlyleading to one in every of the busiest movie weekends of the 12 months.

Jon M. Chu's lavish, big-budget musical “Wicked,” starring Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, opened Sunday with $114 million domestically and $164.2 million worldwide for Universal Pictures, in response to studio estimates. That made it the third-biggest opening weekend of the 12 months, trailing by only one “Deadpool and Wolverine” And “Inside Out 2.” It can also be a record for a Broadway musical adaptation.

Ridley Scott's “Gladiator II” a sequel to his 2000 award-winning original, which opened with $55.5 million in ticket sales. With a production price tag of around $250 million, “Gladiator II” was an enormous bet by Paramount Pictures to return to the Coliseum with a largely recent solid led by Denzel Washington and Paul Mescal. “Gladiator II” did well overseas, although domestic ticket sales fell just in need of the $60 million forecast. It grossed $50.5 million internationally.

The collision of the 2 movies led to some echoes of that “Barbenheimer” Effect of last 12 months, when “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” got here onto the market at the identical time. The nickname this time, “Slid” wasn't quite as catchy and the cultural influence was also significantly less. Only just a few people was in search of a double feature this time. Domestic grosses in 2023 — $162 million for “Barbie” and $82 million for “Oppenheimer” — were also higher.

“Glicked” lags behind “Barbenheimer”.

For Universal, which distributed “Oppenheimer” last 12 months, the weekend was more of a triumph for “Wicked” than “Glicked.”

“We saw an opportunity to dominate a weekend and start the Thanksgiving holiday with great success,” said Jim Orr, Universal distribution manager. “We are very confident that things will go incredibly well in the Christmas corridor and into the new year.”

But the counterprogramming effect was still strong in “Wicked” and “Gladiator II,” which were also largely gender segregated. And once more it was the female-driven release – “Wicked,” like “Barbie” before it — that easily won the weekend. About 72% of ticket buyers for “Wicked” were female, while 61% of those that saw “Gladiator II” were male.

“In isolation, each of these films may have done pretty much what they did, but it's hard to say,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore. “Raising awareness can actually lead to an increase in box office revenue. Let’s put it this way: They didn’t hurt each other at all.”

Massive marketing campaigns paved the way in which for the opening weekend

While “Barbenheimer” benefited enormously from word of mouth via memes, each “Wicked” and “Gladiator II” relied on extensive marketing campaigns.

The Gladiator II campaign included every little thing from a much-discussed Airbnb cross-promotion with the actual Colosseum in Rome to the simultaneous broadcast of a one-minute trailer on greater than 4,000 television networks, radio stations and digital platforms.

The “Wicked” rush went even further, with pink and green “Wickedly Delicious” Starbucks drinks, Stanley mugs and Mattel dolls (a few of which led to this). an unpleasant memory ). Its stars have appeared on the Met Gala and the Olympics.

“We had around 400 global brand partners on 'Wicked,' so the campaign was inevitable,” said Orr. “And our cast, led by Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, worked so hard on this. They were everywhere. They did everything we asked them to do.”

Heading into the weekend, box office revenue was down about 11% in comparison with last 12 months and down about 25% in comparison with pre-pandemic times. That meant this week's two major movies gave theaters a much-needed boost. With “Moana 2” With Wednesday's release, Hollywood could possibly be taking a look at historic sales over the Thanksgiving holiday.

The two movies increased the sluggish box office performance

“This weekend's two strong opening titles revive a box office that has collapsed after a good summer,” said David A. Gross, a movie consultant who publishes a franchise entertainment newsletter.

Although “Wicked” could have direct competition with “Moana 2,” it seems higher poised for an extended and lucrative theatrical run than “Gladiator II.” Although some have criticized “Wicked” for being “Wicked” due to its length of two hours and 40 minutes, the film received mostly excellent reviews. Audiences gave it an “A” grade on CinemaScore. The reception for “Wicked” was so great that Oscar prognosticators expect it to be considered for Best Picture on the Academy Awards, amongst other awards.

The producers, perhaps sensing a success, also took the step of splitting “Wicked” into two parts. The second part, which has already been shot, shall be released next November. Each “Wicked” installation cost around $150 million to supply.

“Gladiator II” also received good reviews, largely attributable to Washington's charismatic performance. However, audience rankings were weaker, with ticket buyers giving the film a grade of “B” on CinemaScore. However, the film will make up for a few of this with strong international sales. It launched in lots of foreign markets every week ago and has already grossed $165.5 million internationally.

In distant third place this weekend was “Red One,” the vacation film turned motion film by Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans. In its second week of release, the Amazon MGM Studios release grossed $13.3 million, bringing its two-week worldwide cume to $117 million. With a production cost of $250 million, “Red One” is the largest flop of the season, even though it could regain some value for Amazon if it becomes more popular once it starts streaming.

The final domestic figures shall be published on Monday. Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, in response to Comscore:

1. “Wicked,” $114 million.

2. “Gladiator II,” $55.5 million.

3. “Red One,” $13.3 million.

4. “Bonhoeffer: Pastor Spy Assassin,” $5.1 million.

5. “Venom: The Last Dance,” $4 million.

6. “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever,” $3.5 million.

7. “Heretic,” $2.2 million.

8. “The Wild Robot,” $2 million.

9. “Smile 2,” $1.1 million.

10. “A Real Pain,” $1.1 million.

Originally published: November 24, 2024 at 2:20 pm PST