Top News:
Sydney Ember / New York Times:
New York Times overall subscription revenue, which now accounts for 60% of total revenue, rose to more than $1B for 2017; Q4 revenue rose 10% YoY to $484M — In a tough environment for journalism, The New York Times Company continued to post significant subscriber growth, propelling the company to a healthy 2017.
Discussion:
Business Wire, The New York Observer, Ad Age, Recode, Poynter, @ceciliakang, @mattblaze, The New York Times Company, @bruceanderson, @adrianmorrow, @ryanchittum, @journalistslike, @christophclarey, @nickconfessore, Jim Dwyer, @dangoodin001, @bernardchickey, AdExchanger, @mathewi, @bcappelbaum and @cliffordlevy
Megan Farokhmanesh / The Verge:
Twitch tightens community guidelines for hateful behavior, harassment, and sexually suggestive conduct, effective Feb. 19 — New rules go into effect this month — Twitch is enacting stricter policies in the interest of curbing harassment and sexually suggestive behavior.
Discussion:
Twitch Blog, Twitch.tv, TechCrunch, VentureBeat, Kotaku, Fast Company, Gamasutra, CinemaBlend, Engadget and Polygon
Selina Wang / Bloomberg:
Twitter Q4: profit of $91.1M, its first ever, revenue of $731.6M, up 2% YoY, vs. $686.4M est.; MAUs up 4% YoY but flat QoQ at 330M vs. 333M est.; stock up 10%+ — Revenue rises to $732 million, topping analysts' estimates — Efforts to fight spam, bots limited gains in user numbers
Discussion:
Recode, Recode, Fortune, Wall Street Journal, VentureBeat, The Verge, TechCrunch, The Daily Caller, BloombergQuint, Forbes, VentureBeat, TechCrunch, AdExchanger, The Verge, Android Police, NPR, New York Magazine, Fast Company, @leliosimi, @theoptionoracle, The Week, 9to5Google, @richbtig, @twitterir and @espnmichele, more at Techmeme »
Steven Waldman / Report for America:
Report for America names 9 more news outlets that will host journalists, starting in June, including The Dallas Morning News, Chicago Sun-Times, and The Incline — The crisis in local journalism - a.k.a. the crisis in local democracy, a.k.a. why you can't find out if your water is polluted …
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Filing: Hulu lost $920M in 2017, compared to $531M in 2016, as owners invested $1B, vs. $733M in 2016; analyst estimates losses will climb 80% in 2018 to ~$1.7B — Hulu dropped deeper into the red last year as it boosted spending on originals and launched its live TV service — and the losses are expected to mount in 2018.
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Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Hulu announces it is rolling out higher-quality 60 FPS video on select channels and devices
Hulu announces it is rolling out higher-quality 60 FPS video on select channels and devices
Discussion:
Variety, Variety, Cord Cutters News and Engadget
Associated Press:
Knight Foundation grants $1.9M to Arizona State University's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism over three years to support innovation in TV news — https://apnews.com/515391b73ece4c83beaa d5f943edcdf0 — PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona State University's journalism school on Thursday …
Discussion:
Nieman Lab, TVSpy, ASU Now and Broadcasting & Cable
Reuters:
Viacom quarterly revenue drops 7.6% YoY to $3.07B due to a drop in cable TV fees, though net profit increased from $386M to $535M, or $1.33 per share — (Reuters) - Viacom Inc (VIAB.O), the owner of MTV, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon, reported a 7.6 percent fall in quarterly revenue on Thursday …
Discussion:
Multichannel News, Variety, Broadcasting & Cable, @jank0, Gamasutra, Bloomberg and Hollywood Reporter
John Koblin / New York Times:
HBO signs deal with hosts of Pod Save America for series of TV specials ahead of midterm elections, a week after launching four shows by hosts of 2 Dope Queens — HBO is getting into podcasts. — The premium cable network has signed a deal with the hosts of the popular “Pod Save America” …
Discussion:
Variety, Deadline, The Wrap, Washington Free Beacon and The Ringer
Andrew Liptak / The Verge:
Scribd, now with 700K subscribers, brings back unlimited subscriptions for $8.99/month and ends Scribd Select, but will throttle voracious readers — But there's a small catch for voracious readers — Two years after shifting away from its unlimited subscription model in favor of monthly credits …
Discussion:
TechCrunch, Scribd Help Center, Fast Company and Publishers Weekly
Matthew Cooper / Politico:
A look inside the changes at Newsweek: changing owners, leaner budgets, and uneven standards in the last year as editors focused on traffic over accuracy — Newsweek is in shambles. Time moved to Des Moines. Is it my fault? — It was 3 a.m. on Saturday, and I was seething.
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Dave McNary / Variety:
Lionsgate beats with $1.14B Q3 revenue, up 52% YoY, net income of $193M due to income tax benefit of $165M; motion picture unit sees 14% revenue increase — Lionsgate has reported higher earnings of $193 million, or 87 cents a share, for its third quarter ended Dec. 31, compared with a $30.6 million loss in the same quarter last year.
Discussion:
The Wrap, Broadcasting & Cable and Investors
Dawn C. Chmielewski / Deadline:
News Corp beats Q2 targets with $2.18B in revenue vs. $2.13B expected, net loss of $66M; CEO Robert Thomson says “debased digital environment” affects revenue — News Corp. reported a loss in its second fiscal quarter, and blamed Facebook and Google for failing to do enough to combat a “dysfunctional” news environment.
Discussion:
Yahoo! Finance, Reuters and News Corp