Nothing erases the memory of a horrific fall season like a huge midseason hit. And that’s exactly what Fox has on its hands with Empire, which is the number one new show this season in adults 18-49 and has grown its audience three weeks in a row, instead of slowly losing viewers as most new series do.

While the show has connected powerfully with African-American viewers, its success is in large part due to Fox’s elaborate, months-long marketing campaign. Those behind it, including Fox COO Joe Earley and Fox Television Group co-CEO Dana Walden, walked me through the marketing strategy for this Adweek deep dive. As I wrote, Walden quickly identified the show as her top priority for midseason :

As incoming co-CEOs of Fox Television Group, Dana Walden and Gary Newman, tried to piece the network back together late last summer, they decided that Empire would be the focus of its midseason efforts, just as they had centered on Gotham in the fall. “When they started, Dana and Gary immediately made it the No. 1 priority for midseason,” Earley said. “They authorized augmenting the marketing campaign because, honestly, it was under-budgeted. They said, ‘It’s too important; we have to do it right.’ That allowed the really creative marketing team to do execution they couldn’t have otherwise.”

Read on for much more information about the promotional key art, tie-ins, VOD push, social media strategy and how ad buys jumped with each ratings increase — and how Empire’s early renewal for Season 2 has set in motion even grander plans.

This was my first marketing campaign deep dive for Adweek, and it was a treat getting to focus on this side of the industry.

How Fox’s Marketing Fanned the Flames of Empire, One of the Biggest New Shows in Years

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TV & Not TV, back on TV! I returned to CNBC’s Squawk Alley this morning to discuss my latest Quartz story on The Interview’s big first four days online. Here’s a clip from the segment:

It was a pleasure as always chatting with Carl Quintanilla and the team.

Shaking up Hollywood’s VOD model

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Sony has released the VOD numbers for The Interview — and they are impressive. The movie earned more than $15 million during its first four days on the internet, and was rented or purchased more than 2 million times. Yet despite this seemingly terrific news, the long-term Interview forecast is still bleak for Sony, as I explained at Quartz:

By making those day-and-date internet video deals, Sony has also lost out on the additional VOD revenue that would have come 90 days or so after the film’s theatrical release—which means that its chances of making back The Interview’s estimated $75 million budget are exceedingly slim. The film’s online success might be a qualified moral victory for Sony, but it definitely won’t be a financial one—and that’s even before calculating the significant financial fallout from the hacking scandal, which could be as much as $100 million.

I also detail the other big Interview winners and losers from the past week, including Google, Apple and Netflix.

‘The Interview’ was a huge online success — but more for Google than for Sony

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I squeezed in one last story before Christmas, thanks to Sony, which announced that The Interview would begin streaming today to a variety of platforms, including Google Play and YouTube. I put together this Quartz story about how this unbelievable saga has suddenly given VOD the groundbreaking moment it’s waited years for. As I wrote:

For years, premium video on-demand (VOD) has been a white whale for studios, which have been unable to convince theater chain owners to grant any leeway in their traditional 90-day exclusive window after a film’s theatrical release. Those exhibitors have good reason to be worried: This year’s North American movie ticket sales fell 4%, to $10.5 billion, and one of the most reliable moviegoing demographics, kids and young adults ages 12 to 24, went to the movies 15% less often.

There is a massive audience for this film, and this premium VOD release is perfectly timed for that. After years of stagnation, we’re finally going to find out if premium VOD is worth fighting exhibitors for.

And with that, I hope you all have a happy holiday season!

‘The Interview’ will finally give internet video the big moment it’s been waiting for

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Hundreds of reporters have assembled at TCA summer press tour, but as far as I’m aware, I’m the only one who wrote a detailed story about the fascinating panel with CBS, FX, Fox and Showtime’s research gurus, who talked about how audiences actually watch TV now.

“We’re in a new era of television,” said David Poltrack, chief research officer for CBS, noting that weekly TV viewing has increased 2% over the last three years, from 35 hours and 36 minutes to 37 hours and 50 minutes. “This is a golden era of television content, and the public is embracing television and engaging with television in a way that they never did before, because it is so much good programming.”

While I usually try to summarize my stories a bit here, there’s so much terrific information throughout the piece about delayed viewing lifts and multi-platform audiences that I urge you to read the whole thing yourself.

Charts: How we watch TV now

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One of the reasons I love writing for Quartz is being able to do stories like today’s: an explanation why the broadcast networks are being more patient than ever with new shows, as they rely more heavily on Nielsen’s “live plus seven” ratings. As I wrote,

Delayed-viewing is “significantly higher” than last year, CBS research chief David Poltrack told USA Today, adding that even older viewers, historically late adopters of new technology, are jumping on board. “The world has definitely changed,” says Poltrack.

I’m happy that delayed-viewing ratings have boosted the fortunes of several of my favorite low-rated series, like Brooklyn Nine-Nine, The Bridge and The Americans.

TV shows on the brink of cancellation are being saved by delayed viewing

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