By David Bauder, Media Writer
NEW YORK (AP) --The Senate’s vote confirming Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh sent viewers flocking to Fox News Channel, which recorded its biggest Saturday audience in more than a decade.
Fox’s daytime audience was bigger than any for the network since Hurricane Katrina in 2005, while its Saturday primetime lineup eclipsed anything since the Iraq War in 2003, the Nielsen company said.
Kavanaugh’s victory after a lengthy confirmation battle benefited the network that’s a favorite of people friendly to his cause.
Fox reached 4.34 million viewers for the Senate vote. Rivals CNN and MSNBC combined had less than half of that audience, as many of Kavanaugh’s opponents clearly couldn’t stomach watching the vote.
It was closer on Friday for what proved the decisive moment — when Maine Sen. Susan Collins announced her choice, insuring that Kavanaugh’s nomination would succeed. At that hour, Fox had 3.27 million viewers, CNN had 1.37 million and MSNBC had 1.36 million, Nielsen said.
Kavanaugh’s nomination received more coverage on the broadcast evening news programs than any other Supreme Court nominee over the past 30 years, topping the proceedings involving Clarence Thomas, according to news consultant Andrew Tyndall.
Those numbers don’t even take into account cable news and its endless coverage; Fox and MSNBC didn’t exist at the time of Thomas’ nomination.
Meanwhile, NBC scored a primetime victory over CBS for the second week of the television season.
Sunday night NFL football on NBC provided the margin, but the network is also showing strength with its entertainment offerings.
The new drama “Manifest” appears to be a hit. Its debut episode was watched some eight million times within a week on a time-shifted basis, second only to “Roseanne” for the biggest such “lift” for a show ever recorded.
For the week, NBC averaged 7.5 million viewers in primetime. CBS was second with 6.9 million, Fox had 6 million, ABC had 4.7 million, Univision had 1.3 million, Telemundo and the ION Network tied with 1.19 million and the CW had 700,000.
Fox News was the most popular cable network, averaging 3.38 million viewers in primetime. ESPN was second with 3.21 million, TBS had 2.98 million, MSNBC had 1.72 million and USA had 1.12 million.
ABC’s “World News Tonight” topped the evening newscasts with an average of 8.1 million viewers. NBC’s “Nightly News” was second with 7.6 million and the “CBS Evening News” had 5.7 million.
Below are primetime viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen for Oct. 1-7. Listings include the week’s ranking and viewership.
1. NFL Football: Dallas at Houston, NBC, 18.59 million.
2. NFL Football: Kansas City at Denver, ESPN, 13.54 million.
3. NFL Football: Indianapolis at New England, Fox, 13.27 million.
4. “Sunday Night NFL Pre-Kick,” NBC, 12.82 million.
5. “The Big Bang Theory,” CBS, 12.3 million.
6. “NCIS,” CBS, 12.13 million.
7. “The OT,” Fox, 10.75 million.
8. “Young Sheldon,” CBS, 10.69 million.
9. “The Voice” (Monday), NBC, 10.06 million.
10. “The Voice” (Tuesday, NBC, 9.4 million.
11. “FBI,” CBS, 9.3 million.
12. “Football Night in America,” NBC, 8.97 million.
13. “This is Us,” NBC, 8.87 million.
14. “Chicago Med,” NBC, 8.84 million.
15. “Blue Bloods,” CBS, 8.57 million.
16. “Manifest,” NBC, 8.45 million.
17. “God Friended Me,” CBS, 8.37 million.
18. “60 Minutes,” CBS, 8.36 million.
19. “NFL Pre-Kick,” Fox, 8.15 million.
20. “The Neighborhood,” CBS, 8.11 million.
ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Co.; CBS is a division of CBS Corp.; Fox is owned by 21st Century Fox; NBC is owned by NBC Universal.
SCHROM x Yacht Club and Be Electric Studios Launch Electric XR for Virtual Production
SCHROM x Yacht Club, a full-service live-action, tabletop, and postproduction company, has teamed with Be Electric Studios, a soundstage, equipment rental, and virtual production company, to launch Electric XR, a virtual production collective.
Industry veteran Thomas Rossano will lead the new venture, which provides advanced virtual production solutions across multiple facilities. He brings over 25 years of experience in live-action, tabletop, postproduction and talent curation to enhance Electric XR’s offerings as a resource for brands and agencies, as well as other production companies in need of virtual production solutions. Additionally Rossano continues to serve as EP at XR New York (XR-NY), a role he’s held since December 2022. SCHROM x Yacht Club originally established XR-NY to help provide XR services for third-party rentals. While XR-NY will continue to function independently for SCHROM X Yacht Club, it now operates under the Electric XR umbrella.
Rossano’s expertise spans producing live-action commercials, branded content, interactive and experiential content. In addition to leading Electric XR, he holds responsibilities at SCHROM x Yacht Club which include driving business development, collaborating with sales reps and expanding the company’s creative talent network. Rossano’s career includes serving as an exec producer at Hungry Man for about 11 years, right from that company’s inception. He then went on to become a partner at Station Film where he also had a lengthy tenure. Later he was a partner at PRISM. Then after the pandemic hit, he became a freelance EP for nearly two years, looking into opportunities in virtual production, which led him to XR NY and now Electric XR. Over the years, he has produced high-profile... Read More