Music
All I Want for Christmas: A Billboard Hot 100 Chart Record
Every holiday season, Mariah Carey’s classic holiday staple “All I Want for Christmas Is You” climbs the Billboard charts—but this year, it made history. First released on Merry Christmas, the artist’s 1994 holiday album, the song continues to grow in popularity every year, taking the Hot 100 number one spot for the third year in a row. While Christmas music always tops the chart during this time of year, Carey’s classic is the first song in Hot 100 history to lead in three distinct chart runs. The Billboard Hot 100 chart covers all genres across U.S. streaming platforms, radio plays, and sales. The current Top 10 contains six different holiday-themed tunes, including “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” “Jingle Bell Rock,” “A Holly Jolly Christmas,” “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year,” and “Last Christmas.” While non-holiday music tends to struggle in the Hot 10 at this time, it often does better in the Billboard Hot 200 albums chart, which currently lists just three top 10 holiday albums. The album chart uses multi-metric consumption to determine the most listened to albums in the U.S. (based on equivalent album units). The units compiled in this data chart include album sales, streams, and individual tracks sold.
Streaming
A New Norm for News: Breaking Out of Linear Newsrooms for Streaming
Recently, Fox News viewers were stunned by the resignation of long-time anchor Chris Wallace. He wasn’t just leaving the network; he had decided to move away from linear news all together. As a top-tier news anchor, Wallace’s shift into streaming news foreshadows a movement away from traditional news. Linear news programs still attract millions of viewers daily, making cable news channels among the most watched, but every TV news network has begun investing in streaming while also balancing existing content. One anchor who has worked on both linear and streaming platforms believes this to be the true direction of the industry. The freedom that streaming provides is attracting a lot of upcoming news talent as well. Industry consultant Brad Adgate believes that we “will see people continue to do both, to have a TV show and have a foot in the streaming platform.” Networks like CNN, who hired Chris Wallace for their CNN+ offshoot, view streaming as the future. Fox and Disney are the latest corporations looking to bring the news to their streaming services. For now, the strategy is centered on hiring talent to push the adoption of streaming news.
Awards
A Cascade of Cancelled Events: Omicron Surge Postpones Awards Shows
Out of an abundance of caution, Hollywood has begun canceling and postponing a host of early 2022 industry events due to the emergence of the Omicron variant. The Critics Choice Association, for example, pushed its annual awards show from its planned January 9 date, explaining in a statement that, “after thoughtful consideration and candid conversations with our partners at The CW and TBS, we have collectively come to the conclusion that the prudent and responsible decision at this point is to postpone the 27th Annual Critics Choice Awards, originally slated for January 9, 2022. We are in constant communication with LA County Health Officials, and we are currently working diligently to find a new date during the upcoming awards season in which to host our annual gala in-person with everyone’s safety and health remaining our top priority. We will be sharing additional details with our friends and colleagues throughout the entertainment industry as soon as we can.” Other events to have pushed or postponed include the Cinema Eye Honors ceremony (previously January 13 in Queens), the Governors Awards (January 15 at Hollywood and Highland), and the New York Film Critics Circle’s awards event (January 10 in Manhattan).
Television
Measurement Mix-Ups: TV Ratings Undercounted Due to Software Issue
Neilsen, the television metrics and media measurement giant, is still battling for its spot in the future of the TV industry. The company recently shared with its customers that audiences had been mistakenly undercounted since September 2020. “Out-of-home" audiences—those who view content from public locations like offices or bars—are the main subjects of this mix-up. Citing a software issue, Neilsen addressed the error and explained that the company is fixing the issue and hopes to release new estimates by mid-January 2022 at the earliest. In a statement, they said, “While there is no impact to most telecasts, and no impact to local television, we did find some variances for events that tend to yield larger out-of-home audiences, such as live sporting events.” Neilsen had previously been under scrutiny due to the Media Rating Council removing its accreditation. Several network giants have released plans to discontinue their use of the service in pursuit of measurement alternatives. The news comes shortly after the reveal of their NielsenOne measurement services, which is supposed to launch late next year. More than 10 media services have already signed on to begin testing.
Broadway
Omicron Shutdowns: How Can Broadway Fight Back?
Several live theater stages in New York had to close their doors again shortly after a September re-opening due to the city’s recent surge of Omicron cases. Of the closures, only one show, Jagged Little Pill, has closed permanently. Other shuttered productions are understandably quite disheartened, though theatergoers remain optimistic about New York’s covid battle. Both the Broadway League and Mayor Bill de Blasio have confirmed that another industry-wide shutdown is not on the table, though the current Covid defenses the city has in place are being reconsidered. Currently, Broadway is combatting the virus with testing, vaccinations, masks, and filtration. The combination of these methods seems like a strong approach, but new shutdowns put the frequency of cast testing into question. There is no across-the-board standard for these defenses, which often vary depending on show and theater. According to the CDC, “The recent emergence of Omicron further emphasizes the importance of vaccination and boosters,” yet there is no booster requirement for cast or audience members. In their conversation with Deadline, Dr. Jon LaPook and Dr. Joseph G. Allen describe what Broadway should do to ensure that live theaters can open safely. Both Allen and LaPook recommend the redefinition of “fully vaccinated” to include the booster and creating a standard for how often cast should be getting tested to reduce exposure and spread of the virus.
High five! Another Friday Five is going live next week—same time, same place. We know what caught our eyes, but we’re all ears. Tell us what you’d like to learn more about in our upcoming editions by following us on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Be sure to tag #FridayFive in your comments.
See you next Friday at 10 a.m. (PT).
