Mediagazer: Ars Technica Ads Get Ahead of the Story (Charlie Warzel/Adweek)

1:20 PM ET, February 4, 2013

Top News:

Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:

The Verge Hires Writer Who Quit CNET in Protest — Greg Sandoval, the CNET senior writer who resigned in protest when the site's parent company, CBS, interfered with its editorial coverage last month, has been hired by The Verge, the Web site that first revealed the full extent of CBS's involvement.

Discussion: New York Magazine, @brianstelter and @joshuatopolsky

Greg Sandoval:

My new home — I'm saved. Two weeks ago, I resigned from CNET after seven years at the technology news site. Today, I can report that I have accepted an offer from The Verge to become a senior reporter. I start in a couple of weeks. Greg Sandoval When I say “saved,” …

Discussion: Poynter, The Wrap, @sandonet and Talking Biz News

Jeff Bercovici / Forbes:

Super Bowl Gets Highest-Ever Ratings, Plus 24 Million Tweets — A historic sibling rivalry, an iconic player's retirement, a Destiny's Child reunion, a momentum-changing blackout and a dramatic finish: Add up all the storylines from Super Bowl XLVII and you get one of the most-watched championship games ever …

Discussion: Lost Remote, VentureBeat, Media Decoder, ESPN, Radio & Television …, Capital New York, Yahoo! News, AdAge, The Wrap, Twitter Blog, CNET, Broadcasting & Cable, AllThingsD, Reuters and Erik Wemple

Will Leitch / SportsonEarth:

Power Failure — As embarrassing as it was for the NFL and the city of New Orleans that the power went out for 34 minutes during Super Bowl XLVII, it's not even close to how humiliated CBS should feel. It's difficult to overstate how much the San Francisco 49ers saved CBS's bacon by constructing …

Discussion: TVNewser, NY Daily News, Adweek, TVSpy, Deadspin and WNYC

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

Circulation revenue up at Gannett, which credits paywalls — Gannett's fourth quarter earning report contains a sentence that will thrill paywall apostles: … That's attributed to CEO Gracia Martore, who also notes circulation revenue increased for the third quarter in a row.

Discussion: Thomson IR, Broadcasting & Cable, Wall Street Journal, NetNewsCheck Latest, Gannett Blog, Reuters and USA Today

Edmund Lee / Bloomberg:

Gannett Profit Tops Analysts' Estimates on Election Advertising — Gannett Co. (GCI), which publishes 82 U.S. daily newspapers and owns 23 television stations, reported fourth-quarter earnings that topped analysts' estimates, fueled by U.S. presidential election advertising.

Jeff Blagdon / The Verge:

Andrew Sullivan's grand experiment in reader-supported online journalism is now live — Prominent political blogger Andrew Sullivan's site The Dish is now up and running at its new user-funded home. So far, the ad-free experiment appears to be a success, with Sullivan pulling in $511,000 …

Discussion: The Dish and New York Magazine

Jeff Bercovici / Forbes:
Andrew Sullivan's New Site Has a Super Friendly Paywall

Discussion: NetNewsCheck Latest

Hamish McKenzie / PandoDaily: Andrew Sullivan and the new wisdom of the leaky meter

Frédéric Filloux / Monday Note:

The Google Fund for the French Press — At the last minute, ending three months of tense negotiations, Google and the French Press hammered a deal. More than yet another form of subsidy, this could mark the beginning of a genuine cooperation. — Thursday night, at 11:00pm Paris time …

Discussion: Guardian and Kirk LaPointe's …

Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:
Why Google's settlement with French publishers is bad for the web

Discussion: Top Digital Journal News

Bloomberg:

News Corp. Sells IGN Websites to J2 Global's Ziff Davis — News Corp. (NWSA) sold its IGN Entertainment websites to J2 Global Inc. (JCOM)'s Ziff Davis for an undisclosed amount. — The transaction will add to J2 Global's 2013 earnings, excluding transition costs, the company said today in a statement.

Discussion: VentureBeat, FishbowlNY, Ziff Davis, The Wrap, The Next Web and Joystiq

Alexander C. Kaufman / The Wrap:

Washington Post Names Kevin Merida Managing Editor — The Washington Post has named Kevin Merida its managing editor in charge of news and features, effective immediately. — He joins managing editor John Temple, who oversees digital and newsroom operations.

Discussion: Poynter, Politico and @davidfolkenflik

Darryl Fears / @bydarrylfears: Kevin Merida is now the Washington Post's managing editor, breaking a barrier as the first African American to hold the job. @meridak

Ian Burrell / The Independent:

London gets first dedicated digital terrestrial TV channel as ESTV launches London Live — London is to have its first dedicated digital terrestrial television channel, offering a service to 4 million homes, the broadcasting watchdog Ofcom announced today. — The new London Live channel …

Discussion: pressgazette.co.uk, standard.co.uk, Journalism.co.uk, Reuters, Telegraph, Londonist and Guardian

Kristen Schweizer / Bloomberg:
Billionaire Lebedev Wins License to Start New London TV Station

Discussion: Journalism.co.uk

Charlie Warzel / Adweek:

Ars Technica Ads Get Ahead of the Story — In an analytics-obsessed Web climate, everyone is chasing the big story. The problem is, more often than not, big breakout traffic scoops yield attention, eyeballs and notoriety, but very few dollars. Last month, Deadspin broke the story …

Katherine Rushton / Telegraph:

Rupert Murdoch to spend billions on video rights — Rupert Murdoch's newspaper and book publishing arm is to spend billions of dollars on video rights, as it seeks to turn the print business into a multi-media operation. — Rupert Murdoch's ‘new News Corp’ has set aside $1bn to fuel the spending spree

Margaret Sullivan / New York Times:

Decades of Leadership, Making an Exit — IT is considered a given, among many in management, that every employee is replaceable. When even the most valuable staff member walks out the door, someone else takes over and does the job. Life goes on and change is good. — I'm not so sure.

Discussion: @michaelroston and @omar_quraishi