Mediagazer: AOL ad sales rise, but Patch weighs on profit (Reuters)

10:45 AM ET, November 5, 2013

Top News:

Joan E. Solsman / CNET:

AOL's big Adap.tv buy ignites sales, but it whiffs on profit — If you ask AOL, the third quarter was all about revenue, revenue, revenue — never mind that big miss on profit. In the latest three-month period, the online media company grew advertising dollars at double the rate it did the quarter before …

Discussion: TechCrunch, FishbowlNY, Street Fight, Business Insider and @sai

Reuters:

AOL ad sales rise, but Patch weighs on profit — (Reuters) - AOL Inc reported higher-than-expected third-quarter revenue on increased advertising sales, but earnings fell sharply because of challenges at its network of community news websites known as Patch.

Discussion: Forbes, TechCrunch, Poynter, New York Times and USA Today

Paul Farhi / Washington Post:

NBC News, agreeing to pay for sky-diving footage, criticized for ‘checkbook journalism’ — In a second episode of apparent “checkbook journalism” in a week, NBC News has locked up exclusive interviews and amateur footage of an aerial accident with a six-figure fee to a group of sky divers …

Discussion: NBCNews, FishbowlNY, @chrishams, @imeldaflattery, Kirk LaPointe's …, Mediaite, TVNewser, @cwarzel and The Huffington Post

David Zax / Fast Company:

An Article Has A Lifespan Of 37 Days, And Other Findings From Pocket — Spend enough time talking to Nate Weiner, and you begin to realize he has a unique vantage point on web publishing. Whereas we might visit a given site like the New York Times and take a note of what's most popular or shared …

Discussion: @zimbalist and Beyond Search, Thanks:@steverubel

Johana Bhuiyan / Capital New York:

Business Insider brings in Aaron Gell to edit long-form features — Aaron Gell, former interim Editor at The New York Observer and editorial director at The Upswing, has been hired at Business Insider to lead an effort to bring magazine-style features to the site, Capital has learned. He starts Nov. 18.

Discussion: @felixsalmon, Talking Biz News and @aarongell

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

For WorldPost launch, Huffington Post hires foreign correspondents in Middle East, China — Over the past few years, The Huffington Post has been laying down cross-continental roots with its growing stable of international editions designed to scale the brand from London to Tokyo to Maghreb.

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

Twitter apologizes for blocking newspaper's URLs — Twitter's Andrew Fitzgerald apologized Monday to Philadelphia City Paper reporter Daniel Denvir for an episode last week when Twitter wasn't allowing users to access the paper's stories through tweeted URLs, Denvir told Poynter in a phone call.

Discussion: AppNewser and @kellymcb

Andrew Kirell / Mediaite:

HLN Preparing Significant Layoffs and Show Cancellations (UPDATED) — Mediaite has learned from reliable sources that CNN's sister network HLN is preparing for a significant amount of staff layoffs and show cancellations. — According to our sources, much of the network's dayside programming …

Discussion: TVNewser, FishbowlNY, Variety, Capital New York and Inside Cable News

Georg Szalai / Hollywood Reporter:

DirecTV Third-Quarter Earnings Rise, U.S. Sub Growth Accelerates — UPDATED: The CBS-Time Warner Cable carriage dispute “undoubtedly benefited” the satellite TV company, led by CEO Mike White, says one analyst. — DirecTV added 139,000 U.S. subscribers in the third quarter …

Discussion: Deadline.com, Wall Street Journal, Reuters and nasdaq.com

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

Denton and Blodget discussed potential ‘merger/partnership/collaboration’ at Balthazar (but don't 'hyperventilate') — Business Insider founder Henry Blodget's anti-Balthazar-bathroom-attendant screed escalated into a full-blown media spectacle Monday morning after it culminated in a decision …

Discussion: @hblodget, FirstWeFeast.com, Gawker and Gothamist

Steve Raabe / Denver Post:

Dean Singleton to retire from Denver Post owner MediaNews Group — MediaNews Group Inc., owner of The Denver Post, said Monday that founder and chairman, William Dean Singleton, 62, will retire ahead of the company's annual meeting in December. — Singleton will continue to serve as non-executive chairman of The Denver Post.

Discussion: New York Times, @markloundy and @jxpaton

Michael Depp / NetNewsCheck Latest:

Lee Enterprises Readies For Mobile Future — At newspaper publisher Lee Enterprises, the future is mobile, according to James Green, the company's VP of digital. Green sees the need for Lee to monetize mobile, where 40% of its readers are now consuming content.

Discussion: @niemanlab

Caroline O'Donovan / Nieman Journalism Lab:

Monday Q&A: Thomas Patterson on why journalists need to up their knowledge game — At the Harvard Kennedy School, Thomas Patterson, Bradlee Professor of Government and the Press, teaches two classes on policy, politics, institutions, and democracy. He's written many books on the subject …

Discussion: @averi_melcher and @beastoftraal