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Axios Media Trends

Fox Corporation CEO Lachlan Murdoch isn't afraid to clap back at critics who say Fox News' programming has become too divisive.

"I think when you're in the news business, and you're number one ... you get a lot of heat and it just comes with the territory," he told Axios, referring to the company's longtime cable news ratings lead.

Why it matters: Cable news became even more ideologically split during the Trump administration and in the aftermath of the 2020 election.

Fox News primetime hosts have has been criticized for promoting conspiracies and falsehoods around the election results, COVID-19 and other issues.

"I think the world is more divided and on edge than it has been, you know, for a very long time," Murdoch said in an interview last week. "I think on the noise around it, so much of it is politicized ... And so, you've got to be tough about it."

Details: Last week, protesters lined up in front of Fox Corporation's New York City headquarters to protest Fox News primetime hosts in the wake of a Buffalo, New York, shooting.

A broad array of Democratic officials and progressive groups have criticized Fox News, saying its hosts have referenced the "great replacement theory," a racist conspiracy theory that reportedly inspired the Buffalo shooter.

Murdoch pushed back against those attacks, noting that the shooter's manifesto also targeted Fox Corp owner Rupert Murdoch for his support of Israel.

Flashback: Last Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer sent a letter to Rupert Murdoch and other Fox News executives asking them to "immediately cease the reckless amplification of the so-called 'Great Replacement theory' on your network’s broadcasts."

"Unfortunately, it comes with the territory," Murdoch said. "You've got to kind of realize what it is and how some of it is very organized kind of attacks — very coordinated — but it is what it is."

Go deeper ... Exclusive: Fox moving into lifestyle content

Lachlan Murdoch responds to criticism that Fox News is polarizing

When you're number one, he says, "you get a lot of heat and it just comes with the territory."

 Photo: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Fox News

Media

After a record economic expansion, the coronavirus pandemic sent the U.S. economy into a recession as unemployment soared to staggering heights. The country now faces urgent questions about how much stimulus is needed for reeling consumers and businesses, and what a recovery might look like.

Economy & Business

Fox Corp. is in the early stages of expanding into lifestyle verticals across categories like outdoors, home and books, CEO Lachlan Murdoch told Axios in an interview.

Why it matters: The hope is that new lifestyle verticals, in addition to streaming, sports betting and web3 projects, will "give us our growth going forward," Murdoch said. 

Details: The push into lifestyle content builds on the success of Fox News Media's subscription streaming service, Fox Nation, which launched in 2018 as Fox News' first big foray into softer content.

"It's seen as not just a news brand," Murdoch said at Fox Corp.'s headquarters in New York City.

"A lot of the content on Fox Nation is lifestyle content. It's outdoors content and documentaries."

Other verticals that could make sense for the brand as it expands include food and home, Murdoch said.

The company has already begun to seed a few lifestyle products across its news unit, but the success of Fox Nation has motivated the company to double down.

Fox News Books, the book publishing arm that the company launched in 2020 with HarperCollins, is "a profitable business" and "a huge opportunity," Murdoch said. So far, the company has sold over 1 million copies of books on behalf of Fox News personalities. "You'll see over time, we'll pick up third-party authors, too."

Credible, the personal finance recommendation engine that Fox acquired a majority stake in 2019, will be used to help expand Fox's personal finance vertical. Today, Credible exists as a section within Fox Business' website that helps users compare prices among lenders.

Fox Weather is the most ambitious expansion of the Fox News Media portfolio in recent months. The 24/7 digital, ad-supported streaming service is supported by dozens of local affiliates across the country. Murdoch calls the app, which has had over 1.5 million downloads since launch, "a big offering from an ad revenue point of view."

Between the lines: The expansion comes amid increased criticism that Fox News' programming has become too divisive. Asked about that, Murdoch noted:

Be smart: Fox will have competition, as more conservative news properties have pushed further into lifestyle content in recent months.

The Daily Wire, for example, has launched an entertainment arm that focuses on dramas that rebuke political correctness.

Fox Nation includes special faith-based and patriotic-themed programming, and offers a discount to veterans.

By the numbers: Murdoch describes Fox Corp.'s approach to streaming as "prudent," which has helped the company avoid much of Wall Street's recent discontent with big streaming spenders.

The company acquired Tubi, a free ad-supported streaming service that Murdoch calls "the future of broadcast," for $440 million in 2020. Murdoch said an analyst estimate that Tubi will bring in around $700 million in revenue this year "is about right."

Combined, Fox is investing around $200-$300 million per year collectively on  its streaming ventures — Tubi, Fox Weather and Fox Nation — and Murdoch expects Fox's streaming efforts to be profitable in "a few years."

While Murdoch wouldn't disclose subscriber figures for Fox Nation, he said the total addressable market for the service is much smaller than what CNN executives projected for the now-defunct CNN+ subscription streaming service. "It's in the higher single-digit millions," Murdoch said.

The big picture: In the wake of the spinout of Fox Corp.'s massive entertainment portfolio in 2019, Murdoch has been focused on finding ways to more deeply engage Fox's most loyal fans across news, sports and entertainment.

While lifestyle content will become the vehicle to develop new revenue streams around the Fox News media brand, betting and NFTs are being used to super-serve sports and entertainment fans.

The company has so far committed $100 million to blockchain projects, mostly for its own properties. In the future, Murdoch said, there could be a business worth "many millions" in helping other brands produce NFTs via Fox's blockchain studio — an effort it recently tried with the WWE.

Between the lines: Fox is the only major sports broadcaster in the U.S. to launch its own betting platform. Murdoch says there are over 6.5 million Fox Bet users to date.

Yes, but: Fox's multimillion-dollar foray into sports betting has hit a snag over a dispute with Flutter, the parent company of FanDuel Group, over the value of Fox's stake in FanDuel.

While Murdoch said arbitration around the dispute "should be resolved by the summer," the rollout thus far has been "disappointing."

What to watch: One of Fox's most intriguing projects so far this year has been the rebooted USFL spring football league that Fox launched with a historic simulcast with NBC in April. Ratings so far have been surprisingly good, considering previous efforts to build a spring football league have failed.

Murdoch said Fox plans to continue building up small local teams and then sell those franchises to local owners in five to seven years' time.

One area Murdoch has no current plans to move into is gaming. Murdoch said the company did take a look at gaming companies 10-15 years ago back when it owned a big studio operation.

1 fun thing: Asked if reports about Tom Brady's massive 10-year, $375 million deal with Fox Sports are correct, Murdoch said those figures are "directionally right."

Murdoch said the two parties began negotiating the deal months ago.

Go deeper: Lachlan Murdoch responds to criticism that Fox News is polarizing

Exclusive: Fox moving into lifestyle content

The company wants to build on the success of its Fox Nation subscription service.

Sara Fischer and Lachlan Murdoch at the Fox Corp. and News Corp. offices in New York City. Photo: Brian Nick

Candle Media to acquire Exile Content Studio

The deal gives Candle access to premium Spanish content.

Photographer: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images Photo of Exile's Isaac Lee

News media

From the Valley to D.C., Big Tech players like Facebook, Google and Amazon are under more scrutiny than ever as new technology develops and privacy and antitrust concerns grow in lockstep with companies’ ambitions.

Technology

Trust in democracies is rising in response to the war in Ukraine, according to an Edelman Trust Barometer released Monday morning as the Davos economic forum opens.

Driving the news: People in the U.S., U.K., Germany and France reported notably higher levels of confidence in their institutions in May compared to January, according to the survey of 14,000 people in in 14 countries over the past month.

Why it matters: Before Russia's invasion of Ukraine, trust in developed democracies was decreasing — and trust in authoritarian regimes was increasing among the people who live under them.

In the past five months, trust has decreased among the general population in China, the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

Details: Across Western democracies, trust in all institutions — business, government, nonprofits and media — has increased, according to the Edelman special report, "The Geopolitical Business."

In the U.S., business remains the most trusted institution by far. But strong gains across government and media suggest skepticism of major institutions is subsiding as geopolitical stress rises.

The Trust Barometer finds a huge rise in nationalism among developed democracies. Trust in domestic brands in the U.S. and U.K. has soared in the past five months. Trust in domestic brands has plummeted in China. 

Reality check: Trust gains in Western democracies were driven mostly by affluent respondents. The lowest economic quartile has remained stagnant. This suggests the income-based trust divide that was evident in January has continued to widen. 

What to watch: The war in Ukraine has brought geopolitics to the forefront for all institutions, but especially for business. 

A vast majority of 14,000 survey respondents across 14 countries (95%) say they expect businesses to act in response to an unprovoked invasion. 

New global poll: Trust in West's democracies rises

Before Russia's invasion of Ukraine, trust in developed democracies was decreasing.

Illustration of a globe with triangles and lines in the background. 

Russian invasion of Ukraine

China is becoming the most formidable rival America has faced, and the risk of confrontation with Russia, North Korea or Iran still looms. Authoritarians are rising, the chaotic Afghanistan exit revealed the limits of U.S. power, and the pandemic, climate change and other critical challenges continue to pose grave threats.

World

Axios Closer

Legendary actress Michelle Yeoh leads in the arthouse film "Everything Everywhere All at Once," which has overtaken “Uncut Gems" as the highest grossing A24 movie stateside.

Why it matters: A24, an indie studio which has produced Oscar winner "Moonlight" and the highly acclaimed "Lady Bird," likely has its next Oscar contender in “Everything, Everywhere.”

Yeoh, the character she plays in the film (an aging immigrant woman who owns a laundromat) and the film’s success have defied expectations about the kinds of movies that draw people to theaters. 

Catch up quick: "Everything Everywhere" has made $52.3 million domestically, according to Forbes.

When it surpasses "House of Gucci," it will have made more than any of last year’s Oscar-season awards releases except for “Dune,” according to GQ. 

State of play: Nearly half of pre-pandemic moviegoers are no longer returning.  "Everything Everywhere's" success is surprising because analysts had predicted people will only turn out to theaters for superhero epics.  

"Instead, a weird, small-budget film without any household names on the marquee took in an astonishing $50,130 per theater when it opened in 10 locations … better than Walt Disney Co.’s ‘The Avengers,’ which debuted in more than 4,300 cinemas in 2012," Bloomberg notes.

What she's saying: Yeoh, 59, has been a star for decades, having played roles in "James Bond," “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," and "Star Trek: Discovery," but says this titular role is one that really appealed to her.

"Science tells us women outlive men. But even with extra time, we have to get a lot more done," Yeoh said as she accepted Gold House's legend award at the inaugural Gold Gala, the largest gathering of top Asian and Pacific Islander cultural leaders in history.

"God forbid you are a woman of over 50 building something of your own," she added.

The big picture: “[U]nless your last name happens to be Streep or McDormand, chances are you’re not working much in film [if you're an aging actress]," Martha Lauzen, executive director of the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film at San Diego State University, told USA Today after her annual report was published last year. 

Michelle Yeoh and new film defy expectations

Aging women, diverse stories are regularly overlooked and underestimated.

actress Michelle Yeoh on stage accepting award in pink dress

Actress Michelle Yeoh in Los Angeles. Photo: Stefanie Keenan/Getty Images

Hollywood

Warner Bros. Discovery, CNN's new parent company, plans to announce during its upfront presentation to advertisers on Wednesday that Chris Wallace will host a Sunday evening show on CNN.

Why it matters: The longtime Fox News host had recently moved to CNN to launch a show on its now-defunct streaming service, CNN+.

Details: Wallace, who was hosting an interview show four days per week on the streaming service, will move to a weekly Sunday evening show on CNN's linear network, two sources tell Axios.

CNN struck a multimillion-dollar contract with Wallace last year. The move shocked the news industry, given Wallace's nearly two-decade career at Fox.

Later during the presentation, the network confirmed the move and noted that Wallace's same interview show from CNN+ will debut this fall on HBO Max and will be on CNN Sunday evenings.

The big picture: Warner Bros. Discovery executives haven't been shy about their intentions for CNN, saying repeatedly that they want to focus the network's future on nonpartisan reporting instead of personality programming at primetime.

Speaking at the upfront event, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav CNN, "At a time where most news networks are advocacy networks, we at CNN intend to advocate for journalism first."

CNN hires Chris Wallace away from Fox News

Editor's note: This article was updated with additional details from Warner Bros. Discovery's upfront.

Scoop: Chris Wallace to anchor new show on CNN

The longtime Fox News host recently moved over to CNN to launch a show on its now-defunct streaming service.

Photo: Olivier Douliery-Pool/Getty Images

Candle Media, the new media rollup company backed by Blackstone and led by former Disney executives Tom Staggs and Kevin Mayer, is acquiring ATTN:, the digital media company that focuses on social change content for millennials and Gen-Z.

Why it matters: The deal gives ATTN: capital and access to Candle's portfolio companies and creator relationships to help the firm scale. It gives Candle access to a brand that has expertise in reaching a younger, socially-active audience. 

Details: Sources close to the deal say Candle paid around $150 million for ATTN:. Candle paid $100 million in cash and stock and the deal could total $150 million with payouts. 

ATTN: is profitable and makes money from licensing original content, consulting and producing branded content. 

ATTN:’s existing senior management team, including co-founders Matthew Segal and Jarrett Moreno, will continue to oversee ATTN:’s day-to-day operations. Segal and Moreno both previously co-founded a voter non-profit called Our Time before launching ATTN:.

The Information reported in January that Candle and ATTN: were in talks.

Be smart: ATTN:'s focus on social change has become attractive for advertisers looking to message about their corporate social responsibility efforts via branded content. 

In the past few years, the advocacy advertising sector has grown significantly in response to brands wishing to speak out around issues like climate, health and the economy during the pandemic. 

Catch up quick: Founded in 2014, ATTN: has distinguished itself by focusing on videos about causes that go viral on social media. 

Those videos often feature prominent political voices, such as Michelle Obama, Joe Biden, and Valerie Jarrett, who serves on ATTN:'s board. 

It recently produced a viral video for former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger urging Putin to stop the war in Ukraine. The video has been viewed millions of times online and has been reposted by many news outlets. 

ATTN: benefited enormously from the wave of social good initiatives throughout the pandemic and the 2020 election. 

The company landed a 7-figure deal with TikTok to produce videos for a new initiative called "TikTok for Good" last year. It also created a TikTok Studio that brings brands and influencers together to create content for the platform. 

It partnered with Instagram in 2020 to produce a slate of memes, Reels, Stories and videos encouraging young people to vote.

ATTN: has worked with major TV networks like NBC and ABC to do live specials around topics like voting and COVID. 

By the numbers: ATTN: raised $37 million across three funding rounds, according to Crunchbase. Most of its funding comes from venture capital firms.

The company raised $15 million in 2018 in a round led by Evolution Media. It raised $18 million in 2016 in a round led by TPG via Evolution Media Partners.

What they're saying:  “ATTN: has a deep, digital-native understanding for how to cut through the noise and reach today’s audiences through engaging content on social media," said Mayer and Staggs in a statement. 

“Partnering with Candle and their growing, talented team of creators will allow us to further this mission in a whole new way, accelerating our growth and reaching even more people with what we create," Segal and Moreno said.

The big picture: It’s the latest in a string of recent acquisitions by Candle to invest in companies that produce original intellectual property. 

With the backing of Blackstone, Candle acquired film and digital production companies in the past year, including Faraway Road Productions, the content studio behind Fauda, Moonbug Entertainment, a UK-based digital content company that produced "Cocomelon," and Reese Witherspoon’s production company Hello Sunshine.

Earlier this year, Candle bought a minority stake in Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith’s entertainment company, Westbrook Inc.

What’s next: The transaction is expected to close within the next month. 

Scoop: Candle Media acquires digital publisher ATTN: for $150 million

The deal gives ATTN: capital and access to Candle's portfolio companies and creator relationships.

Media deals

NBC News is doubling down on the digital transformation of its flagship political show "Meet the Press" by rebranding its separate website for the franchise, overhauling its flagship political newsletter and adding a new blog.

Why it matters: The efforts come days after NBC News announced that Chuck Todd's daily "Meet the Press" show would move from MSNBC at 1 p.m. to the network's 24/7 news streaming service NBC News Now at 4 p.m.

"Really where we are putting a lot of our time, attention and investment is on these other platforms," said Carrie Budoff Brown, senior vice president of "Meet the Press" at NBC News. "This is where we see our growth."

Details: The new digital products will be rolled out in June in conjunction with the daily "Meet the Press" streaming show launch on NBC News Now and will be promoted via NBC News' digital channels.

Budoff Brown, who joined NBC News from Politico last year, said the changes will help make NBC News' political journalism, which is anchored by the "Meet the Press" franchise, "more accessible this election year."

NBC News plans to add more exclusive reporting from the campaign trail to its political coverage, which will live under the "Meet the Press" umbrella.

The new MeetThePress.com website will become a repository for all "Meet the Press" shows and coverage, as well as all of NBC News' coverage of the 2022 midterms and future elections.

The new "Meet the Press" blog will house breaking news from the "Meet the Press" team and NBC News' political unit, which Budoff Brown also oversees.

The franchise will add a new show podcast in June for the "Meet the Press" daily show that's moved over to streaming, in addition to its two existing podcasts, the weekly "Chuck ToddCast," and the show podcast for the "Meet the Press" on Sundays.

NBC News will overhaul its flagship political newsletter "First Read" with a new design, graphics and data visualizations that can better illustrate the latest polling and research from NBC News' political team.

The "Meet the Press" franchise also plans to add more election specials to its video coverage in the coming months leading up to the midterms as it experiments with different show formats on NBC News Now.

The first special will air Tuesday around the midterms and will be co-anchored by Todd and NBC News chief White House correspondent Kristen Welker.

By the numbers: About 50 people report to Budoff Brown across the "Meet the Press: franchise and NBC News' political unit.

Most of that staff touches digital products. For example, the team that produces the network's flagship Sunday show also produces "Meet the Press Reports," a weekly streaming show on Peacock that goes deep on a single topic.

Budoff Brown plans to add around a half dozen more positions to the "Meet the Press" franchise in the coming months, with most of the roles will focus on digital products.

NBC News Now had its best quarter on record from January through March with nearly 100 million hours streamed, a spokesperson told Axios.

In addition to a digital rebrand, the company will move its annual "Meet the Press" film festival from D.C. to New York in November and will be a part of Doc NYC, the country's largest documentary film festival.

The move, Budoff Brown said, will showcase the "Meet the Press" political documentaries alongside NBC News Studios' documentary unit and MSNBC films, a division of MSNBC that produces and acquires documentaries.

The Meet the Press Film Festival has aired over 100 political documentaries over five years. 

The big picture: The transition of Meet the Press' daily show to streaming has been the franchise's biggest step towards becoming a digital-first brand after decades of cementing an audience on television. 

"We're taking the entrepreneurial, experimental point of view that Chuck has shown for the past seven-eight years and turbo-charging that," Budoff Brown said, referring to Chuck Todd, who anchors all of the "Meet the Press" video shows and serves as the NBC News' political director.

Budoff Brown recently hired a new content strategy team, led by longtime "Meet the Press" vet Matt Rivera, to help expand the brand to other platforms, like TikTok, where NBC News already has a large presence.

Disclosure: NBC is an investor in Axios and Sat Brainch, chief commercial officer of NBCU News Group, is a member of the Axios board. Axios journalists appear on MSNBC.

Exclusive: "Meet the Press" plans digital rebrand

NBC News said the move will help make its political journalism "more accessible this election year."

NBC News

Percentage change in price of DWAC,<br> Twitter and Tesla

Data: Yahoo Finance; Chart: Axios Visuals

There’s no better proof of Twitter’s impact on public conversation and markets than one tweet moving billions of dollars in market cap across three different companies in a matter of minutes. 

Driving the news: Elon Musk’s tweet that his pending Twitter takeover deal was “temporarily on hold” sent Wall Street on a wild ride Friday. Investors were already beginning to grow skeptical of Musk’s bid, but the possibility that he could walk sent Twitter’s shares tumbling more than 20% before the market opened.

Musk's tweeted clarification two hours later that he was still “committed” to the acquisition gave the stock a pop, but shares still closed down nearly 10% at market close.

Be smart: Musk’s tweet set off a ripple effect across a slew of companies, including Tesla, which saw shares jump nearly 6% on the possibility that Musk wouldn’t become a part-time CEO.

Shares in DWAC, the blank check company that plans to take former President Trump’s social media company Truth Social, also gained on the possibility that Elon might bail on the deal.

How one Elon Musk tweet showed Twitter's impact on the stock market

Musk’s tweet set off a ripple effect across a slew of companies.

Elon Musk

Big Tech

Axios Pro Rata

Before dawn on Friday the 13th, Elon Musk may have murdered his Twitter takeover.

Driving the news: The mercurial Musk at 5:44am ET tweeted: "Twitter deal temporarily on hold pending details supporting calculation that spam/fake accounts do indeed represent less than 5% of users."

He also linked to a Reuters story about that spam estimate, which was from nearly two weeks ago.

At 7:50am, Musk added: "Still committed to acquisition."

If Musk really needs details supporting that calculation, then why not privately ask the management team with which he's barely had any contact? Or the board? And then, if the numbers don't check out, walk away. Maybe he'd even have been able to get out of his $1 billion breakup fee, arguing that Twitter misrepresented user metrics.

He also could have conducted due diligence before agreeing to buy the company, which sources say is something acquirers sometimes do.

Instead, this only intensifies speculation that Musk has buyer's remorse. Not only because he arguably overpaid, but also because of the amount of paper value he's lost on Tesla stock (and possibly crypto holdings) since the Twitter deal was first announced.

There's a reason Twitter was trading around $10 per share lower than Musk's purchase price, which is way wider than typical merger arbitrage. (FYI: Musk isn't limited under a standstill agreement, so theoretically could buy discounted Twitter shares on the open market, but the poison pill remains in effect).

What to know: Axios' Felix Salmon called this situation a "clown car" during a phone conversation yesterday, harkening back to an old Mark Zuckerberg comment, after Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal canned two senior product executives and announced a hiring freeze. Again, that was yesterday.

At the time, it felt like Agarwal was auditioning for Musk. Still does, but now he has much more credibility for the "I have a business to run and revenue targets to hit" line.

The bottom line: It's possible, perhaps even likely, that this is Musk's way of trying to renegotiate. But if so, it's creating a ton of short-term collateral damage. 

Not only to Twitter and Musk's reputations, but also to the psyches of thousands of employees whose financial futures are being put in unnecessary flux. Remember, lots of these people have options that accelerate if the deal closes. And others could be needing to find new jobs, right as the tech industry appears to be contracting.

Elon Musk's Twitter clown car

An illustration of Twitter's logo as a puzzle with a piece missing.

Mayim Bialik and Ken Jennings will split "Jeopardy!" hosting duties for the rest of the year, AP reports.

The big picture: The announcement by Sony Pictures Television on Thursday comes after the previously named host, Mike Richards, stepped down when a history of derogatory comments about women and Jewish people came to light.

Richards had been selected as Alex Trebek's successor after his passing. Trebek hosted the program for 37 seasons, Axios' Sara Fischer reports.

Driving the news: Bialik was selected as interim host and her episodes will air through Nov. 5, per AP. 

After Nov. 5, Jennings and Bialik will share hosting duties through the end of the calendar year. 

Jennings, the show's highest-earning winner, is a consulting producer for the show.

Mayim Bialik and Ken Jennings will host "Jeopardy!" for the year

Bialik was selected as interim host, and her episodes will air through Nov. 5.

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Mayim Bialik and Ken Jennings will host "Jeopardy!" for the year

Legacy media is booming

Facebook to lift political ad ban imposed after November election

Ben Shapiro is launching a new show

Streaming price hikes make it less of a cheap cable alternative

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