Pointing to the scoreboard
Though pushed nearly an hour into the presentation, Fox News received a nearly 10-minute segment of its own, with reporter Martha MacCallum highlighting the network’s performance, the rise of its late-night host Greg Gutfield, and the work of correspondents Trey Yingst, Bill Melugin, and Jacqui Heinrich.
She introduced anchor Bret Baier on location in Saudi Arabia, who noted that viewership for his show, Special Report, increased 60% year over year. While he acknowledged that there was still a gap between Special Report and the leading news show, CBS Evening News, he said it was closing the gap and credits the company’s investments in resources and interviews for the gains.
“Fox leadership has invested in news for decades, enabling us to break news around the world, like on a trip like this,” Baier said. “And viewers are coming and they are staying, which is awesome to see.”
Tubi CEO Anjali Sud broke out similarly strong metrics for the streamer’s presentation, reiterating the 97 million active user figure it released in January and noting Tubi’s role in bringing Fox 127.7 million total viewers for Super Bowl 59.
While it brought back The QB and Me stars Noah Beck and Siena Agudong from NewFronts, it also brought in new Stubios creators and Brendan Fraser, Josh Gad, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Elizabeth Hurley, and Annie Murphy from Tubi’s new animated series Breaking Bear. Sud told the audience that Tubi isn’t just making Wattpad novels into movies or making shoppable Super Bowl red carpet shows to experiment: It’s reacting to what a younger, spending streaming audience wants.
“For the folks in this room, this audience is no longer emerging,” Sud said. “They see advertising as a part of their daily lives, and they make real purchasing decisions based on the ads they watch.”
