NFL's Christmas Day double-header games were the most-streamed NFL games in U.S. history, according to preliminary Nielsen figures that don't include international viewership.
Why it matters: Once international figures and additional U.S. data is calculated, the league expects both games will have averaged around 30 million viewers each, a source told Axios, representing a massive win for Netflix's live sports ambitions.
A MAGA-world civil war erupted over Christmas when a social media post on American culture turned into a pitched battle over race, immigration and billionaires versus the working class.
Why it matters: The fight exposes one of the MAGA movement's deepest contradictions: It came to prominence chiefly via the white, less-educated, working class but is now under the full control of billionaire technologists and industrialists, many of them immigrants.
Elon Musk showed off a trimmer figure in a holiday social media post on Wednesday while revealing that he has been taking an anti-obesity drug to shed pounds.
Why it matters: Musk's post highlighted just how mainstream weight-loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy have become in recent years as public figures openly admit to using them, helping transform perceptions and conversations around weight loss.
About two-thirds of Americans have recently felt the need to limit their political news consumption, according to a recent poll.
Why it matters: The reluctance to consume political news is reflected in TV ratings. Americans of all parties, and Democrats in particular, are tuning out politics.
Medicare's $2,000 prescription drug cap will take effect at the start of the new year.
Why it matters: The yearly limit on out-of-pocket payments, under the Inflation Reduction Act, is expected to lower millions of seniors' medical costs. It will have a particularly significant impact for patients taking expensive drugs to treat cancer and other serious conditions.
Apple is closing in on a $4 trillion stock market valuation, powered by investors cheering progress in the company's long-awaited AI enhancements to rejuvenate sluggish iPhone sales.
Why it matters: The company has pulled ahead of Nvidia and Microsoft in the race to the monumental milestone, thanks to an about 16% jump in shares since early November that has added about $500 billion to its market capitalization.
Beyoncé performed a medley of hits from her record-breaking "Cowboy Carter" album during Netflix's first-ever NFL Christmas Gameday halftime show on Wednesday.
The big picture: Guests at the show in Houston, Texas, during the break at the Houston Texans-Baltimore Ravens game included Post Malone, Shaboozey, Reyna Roberts, Tanner Adell, Brittney Spencer and Tiera Kennedy, and Beyoncé's elder daughter, Blue Ivy Carter.
