Top News:
Jim Waterson / The Guardian:
The Guardian posts £800K profit for FY 2018-2019, its first since 1998, with 655K monthly supporters and £223M in revenue, of which 55% comes from digital — Record online traffic and financial contributions from readers play key part in putting GNM on sustainable path
Discussion:
Nieman Lab, BBC, The Guardian, Financial Times, The Guardian, @kathviner, Press Gazette, campaignlive.co.uk, @emilybell, @jimwaterson and @spignal
Ezra Klein / Vox:
Recode officially joins Vox, which purchased it in 2015, with Samantha Oltman, formerly of BuzzFeed News, as editor in chief — A letter from the editors-at-large. — Over the past year, the two of us switched coasts. Kara took up part-time residence in Washington, DC. Ezra moved to Oakland, California.
Discussion:
Vox, @katienotopoulos, @voxmediainc, @ow, @media_evan and @michellemanafy
Sahil Patel / Digiday:
Sources: Quibi execs are seeking upfront ad commitments, prioritizing larger deals, and are planning a $5 ad-supported subscription and an $8 ad-free tier — Jeffrey Katzenberg's Quibi is spending big bucks on original content as the company hopes to build the next big thing in mobile streaming video.
Discussion:
@reckless and TechCrunch
Mathew Ingram / Columbia Journalism Review:
How the spreadsheet that classified job applicants, with rankings of social class, “justice seeking” traits, and more, illustrated the divide within The Markup — There are things about the recent implosion of The Markup that make it unique—in particular, that it raised $23 million …
Sara Jerde / Adweek:
Medium has hired four editors in chief to launch new publications focused on power, black women, personal development, and business — The site hired 4 new editors in chief to lead those new verticals — Medium is expanding the scope of its editorial efforts with the hiring of four …
Discussion:
@willoremus
Natalie Jarvey / Hollywood Reporter:
Hulu says it has 26.8M paying subscribers in the US, up from 23M at the end of 2018, not including the 1.3M users signed up through promotions like free trials — Of those members, 1.3 million people are signed up for Hulu through promotions like free trials.
Jonathan Shieber / TechCrunch:
In a letter to creators, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki says YouTube wants to have half of the videos in its trending tab come from YouTube creators — YouTube wants to have half of the featured videos in its trending tab come from streams originating on the company's own site going forward …
Discussion:
YouTube Creator Blog, TorrentFreak, Engadget, Tubefilter and The Verge, more at Techmeme »
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Creative Commons launches its search engine out of beta, with over 300M images indexed — Nonprofit organization Creative Commons is today publicly launching its search engine, after over two years of beta testing. The new service is designed to offer an easy way to search the commons' archive …
Discussion:
@mattmcgee
Christine Schmidt / Nieman Lab:
Product managers, long used at places like NYT, are emerging in key roles in building things such as newsletters at McClatchy, Gannett, and some nonprofits — When you're trying to pilot a newsletter/build out a membership program/tweak the calls to action on your news organization's website …
Discussion:
@schmalie, @schmalie and American Press Institute
Maxwell Tani / The Daily Beast:
Sources: top editorial staffers Susie Banikarim, Alex Dickinson, and Tim Marchman are out at G/O Media amid a restructuring that could affect 25+ staffers — As part of a major restructuring effort that could affect 25 staffers. — Several of the top editorial employees at the company formerly known …
Discussion:
@maxwelltani, @maxwelltani, @maxwelltani, @kashhill, @timmarchman, @nicka_martin, @thrillistunion, @lam_barrett, @nicka_martin, @timmarchman, @sophiekleeman, @banikarim, @banikarim, @chick_in_kiev, @kashhill, @toley88, @patrick_wyman, @_zeets, @ashleyfeinberg, @gabydvj, @theseantcollins, @bobbybigwheel, @lindseyadler, @heyveronica, @jeremymbarr, @jeremymbarr, @tomscocca, @katiedrumm, @ashleyfeinberg, @maxwelltani and Variety
Todd Spangler / Variety:
VideoAmp, which focuses on optimizing cross-platform advertising and whose clients include CBS, AMC, and A+E, raises $70M Series C led by Raine Group — Media exec Peter Liguori joins board of ad-optimization company — Condé Nast Creating Shows With Tan France, Joe Sugg Among Massive Pipeline of 175-Plus Digital Pilots
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, AdExchanger and Beet.TV
Jon Allsop / Columbia Journalism Review:
The WaPo Fact Checker says Trump has made 10K+ “false or misleading” claims since taking office, yet news orgs still resort to euphemisms, avoid the word “lie” — On January 20, 2017, Donald Trump uttered his first falsehood as president of the United States.