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
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, @michellemanafy, @media_evan, @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, @djrbtr and @kelseymsutton
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:
@bernstein and Search Engine Land
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:
Talking Biz News and @willoremus
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 and exchange4media, more at Techmeme »
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
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, Observer, Exstreamist, Broadcasting & Cable, Forbes, Reuters, Engadget, @xpangler and @natjarv, more at Techmeme »
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, Adweek, Variety, TorrentFreak and Engadget, 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
Tony Wan / EdSurge:
McGraw-Hill Education and Cengage plan to merge, creating a textbook publisher with an estimated value of $5B, second biggest in US behind Pearson at $8.5B — Cengage and McGraw-Hill Education plan to join forces in an all-stock merger. The news, first reported by The Wall Street Journal …
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, Cincinnati Business Journal and @ericstoller
Carl O'Donnell / Reuters:
Sources: Meredith is exploring a sale of its 17 local TV stations and has received interest from Apollo Global Management; deal could value the stations at $2B+ — (Reuters) - Meredith Corp, best known for its lifestyle magazines such as “Better Homes and Gardens”, is preparing to explore …
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.