Mediagazer: Google says it removed 2.3B bad ads in 2018, down 28% from 2017 and terminated ~1M bad advertiser accounts, including ~734K publishers and app developers (Emil Protalinski/VentureBeat)

7:15 PM ET, March 14, 2019

Top News:

Minute Media, which bought Mental Floss in 2018, buys sports and pop culture site The Big Lead from Gannett; The Big Lead co-founder Jason McIntyre will leave — Minute Media said Thursday that it has purchased sports, media and pop culture website The Big Lead from USA Today parent company Gannett Co. …

Discussion: Adweek, Awful Announcing and New York Post

Christine Schmidt / Nieman Lab:

With $150K in funding, the Charlotte Journalism Collaborative, a partnership among nine media orgs in NC, will cover the housing crisis in its first year — In its first official local expansion, the Solutions Journalism Network is partnering with the Knight Foundation to launch …

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Ashley Feinberg / HuffPost:

Axios and NBC confirm they have hired an editor to suggest changes to their Wikipedia entries; the editor has also worked for a Facebook PR firm and Nextdoor — Executives at the news company Axios were outwardly unperturbed when Jonathan Swan, one of the Politico-for-kids site's star reporters …

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Lynette Rice / EW.com:

People magazine's editor in chief, Jess Cagle, is stepping down after five years at its helm and 32 years at Time Inc. — “I've decided it's time to do some other things while I'm still young — or at least alive," he wrote in a staff memo. “It's also time for me to live in Los Angeles full …

Discussion: Poynter, WWD, @markharrisnyc and Adweek

Jaclyn Peiser / New York Times:
People magazine names Dan Wakeford, currently a deputy editor, as its new editor in chief starting April 1

Discussion: Adweek, MediaPost, CNN and @media_ink

Eli Rosenberg / Washington Post:

A look at Media Matters, which monitors conservative media, and its researcher Madeline Peltz, who dug up Tucker Carlson's chats on Bubba the Love Sponge's show — Madeline Peltz works the night shift at the liberal media watchdog group Media Matters for America.

Discussion: CNN, Media Matters for America, The Daily Caller, Contemptor, @saysdana, @emrosenberg, @aaschapiro, @mattdpearce, @libbycwatson, @hshaban, @owillis, Rolling Stone, The Wrap, @barthsnotes, @msmacb and Business Insider

Paresh Rajwat / Facebook:

Facebook is rolling out Watch Party support for live TV, testing first in Groups with live sports events, adds music features including in India and Thailand — Today at SXSW, we're sharing updates on how we're bringing people together around video and music on Facebook …

Discussion: Billboard, Music Business Worldwide, RAIN News, Engadget and 9to5Mac, more at Techmeme »

Emil Protalinski / VentureBeat:

Google says it removed 2.3B bad ads in 2018, down 28% from 2017 and terminated ~1M bad advertiser accounts, including ~734K publishers and app developers — Around this time of year, Google shares how many “bad ads” it killed the year before. And every year, the number grows. But not this time.

Discussion: Adweek, support.google.com, TechCrunch, @epro and The Keyword, more at Techmeme »

Julia Thomas / Nieman Lab:

A look at how outlets like 263Chat, Kukurigo, and Magamba are distributing news via WhatsApp, which accounts for almost half of all internet usage in Zimbabwe — A look at how outlets like 263Chat, Kukurigo, Center for Innovation and Technology, and Magamba Network are distributing news via the app.

Discussion: @juliathomas317, @ramanewdelhi and @niemanlab

Lynn Elber / Associated Press:

The Hallmark Channel cuts ties with star Lori Loughlin after her arrest in a college admissions scam — LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Hallmark Channel cut ties Thursday with favored star Lori Loughlin, a day after her arrest in a college admissions scam put the family-friendly network …

Discussion: Hollywood Reporter, Business Insider, Fast Company, NBC News, TVWeek.com, Fortune, BuzzFeed News, Vanity Fair, TMZ.com, ABC13, The Daily Caller and Jezebel

Margaret Sullivan / Washington Post:

The public will suffer and dodgy politicians will thrive as the number of reporters from regional outlets covering Congress and federal issues dwindles in DC — When Jerry Zremski started reporting in 2017 on the questionable financial activities of Chris Collins, a Buffalo-area member of Congress …

Discussion: @sambrodey, @tatecurtis, @janebsinger, @ericschultz, @katzonearth, @sambrodey and MinnPost

Orla McCaffrey / Ad Age:

Report: US esports ad revenue to reach $178M in 2019, up 25%, and $213M in 2020; 30.3M people in US will watch esports at least once a month in 2019, up 18% YoY — Brands are drawn to the younger audiences — As esports keeps creeping towards the mainstream, more brands are jumping in.

Sahil Patel / Digiday:

Email: Amazon to cut royalty rates in the US for Prime Video Direct creators from 6-15 cents/hour viewed to 4-10 cents/hour viewed, beginning April — Amazon is making new changes to a royalty program for content owners that upload videos directly into Prime Video.

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Maxwell Tani / The Daily Beast:
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Spotify files an anti-trust complaint against Apple with the European Commission, claiming App Store rules limit choice and stifle competition

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