Hot List: The Blowout
“I predict one of these two teams will win the Super Bowl.” - Gilbert Gottfried
It was, of course, a blowout.
The Eagles dominated the game from the opening kickoff on out. Mahomes kept getting sacked. Taylor Swift got booed. And the Eagles rookie Cooper DeJean, who looks like he should be playing on his high school’s freshman squad, became an unlikely hero by scoring his first Super Bowl touchdown.
That was the game.
There was another blowout on TV, this one delivered by Tubi, which won accolades and many new fans for its just about flawless 4K broadcast of the game.
The commercials, usually the main draw, were a mixed bag.
There was genius—the Duracell spot with Tom Brady for instance, But there was way too much reliance on B-list celebrities who, in our post-monoculture world, are not the easily identifiable icons that a 1990s Cindy Crawford or even a 2025 Ben Affleck might be.
Speaking of icons, our own Tim Hanlon has created something of a stir with his paean to public media this week. Be sure to check it out.
Elsewhere, Alan Wolk explains how the vibe shift likely influenced Fox’s decision to finally get into the streaming game and why regularly trading players is ultimately bad for the RSN business.
Brandon Katz explores the battle for movie libraries currently playing out between Netflix and Amazon.
And be sure to check out our new video series “What Happens On CTV” sponsored by LG Ad Solutions and featuring Terry Kawaja, Tony Marlow, Stu Schwartzapfel, Mike Brooks, Evan Shapiro and Alan Wolk.
Plus all this weeks news from yet another icon, Jon Lafayette.
Finally, if you want to know more about all those Super Bowl commercials, be sure to dive into all of the Super Bowl Insights at The Measure, featuring exclusive data and details from iSpot, Tubular Labs, Wunderkind and more.
