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, Press Gazette, Financial Times, The Guardian, Strange Attractor, The Guardian, @emilybell, @kathviner, @emilybell, @apradhan1968, @b_obermayer, @mathewi, @rasmus_kleis, @niemanlab, @dgisserious, @jimwaterson, @domphillips, @wblau, @spignal, @niemanlab, campaignlive.co.uk and Press Gazette
Peter High / Forbes:
Interview with Washington Post's CIO and CPO, Shailesh Prakash, on expanding its Arc publishing tool by selling it as a service, aiming for $100M in revenue — Shailesh Prakash was not sold on joining a media company. He had been at a number of tech-centric companies from Sun Microsystems to Netscape to Microsoft.
Discussion:
Washington Post, MediaPost, @washpostpr, @raju and Strange Attractor
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:
Nieman Lab, Vox, @samoltman, @michellemanafy, @media_evan, @clockwerks, @ow, @voxmediainc and @katienotopoulos
Kelsey Sutton / Adweek:
Vice to consolidate its 12+ digital brands under Vice.com with some, like Broadly, folded into the site and others, like Motherboard, with dedicated verticals — It's also rolling out its own audience measurement and new blacklist policy — As part of a larger redesign and streamlining …
Discussion:
Variety, TVNewser, @megancarpentier, @felixsalmon, @kelseymsutton, @readdanwrite, @kelseymsutton, @derektmead, @djrbtr and @xpangler
Max Willens / Digiday:
Slate's 30 podcasts had 180M listens in 2018, a 78% increase YoY; Slate's president says audio could represent “nearly half” of the company's revenue in 2019 — Last year, Slate bet big on audio as a way to drive advertising and membership revenue.
Discussion:
@bmorrissey
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, @marcbain_ and Talking Biz News
Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
Indian media group Times Internet reports 450M+ monthly users across its ~36 news, video, and music properties, says its biggest challenge is increasing revenue — Media group now claims 450M users across services including news, video and music — The aggressive push by Silicon Valley companies …
Discussion:
Times Internet, @sajithpai, @techcrunch, @miten, @pankajontech and exchange4media, more at Techmeme »
Joseph Bernstein / BuzzFeed News:
Source: Sophie Schmidt, Eric Schmidt's daughter, plans a nonprofit site about tech effects on the non-Western world and has hired media strategist Amy O'Leary — Sophie Schmidt, a tech industry veteran and the daughter of Eric Schmidt, the former Google and Alphabet executive chair …
Discussion:
@markamesexiled, @bernstein, CNET and Search Engine Land
Brent Lang / Variety:
Walt Disney Studios promotes Alan Bergman to co-chairman of the studio, serving alongside Alan Horn, who will also take on the title of chief content officer — - Disney Promotes Alan Bergman to Studio Co-Chairman as Alan Horn Adds Chief Creative Officer Role
Discussion:
The Wrap, TVWeek.com, Fortune and /Film
Jon Allsop / Columbia Journalism Review:
WaPo's Fact Checker says Trump has made 10K+ false or misleading claims since inauguration and the pace is accelerating, yet news orgs still avoid saying “lie” — On January 20, 2017, Donald Trump uttered his first falsehood as president of the United States. It came early in his inaugural address.
Discussion:
Washington Post, @dkiesow, Poynter, @sulliview, @dabeard, @froomkin, @sulliview and The Atlantic
David Uberti / VICE News:
False sexual assault allegation against Pete Buttigieg on Medium renews questions around exploitation of platforms that let users publish without verification — The publishing platform Medium has tried to position itself as a destination for high-quality writing, selling memberships and hiring journalists.
Discussion:
@daviduberti and @vicenews
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.
Discussion:
Deadline, MediaPost, TechCrunch, Variety, CNBC, Engadget, @xpangler, @natjarv, Exstreamist, Observer, Broadcasting & Cable, Forbes and Reuters, more at Techmeme »