Top News:
Peter Kafka / Vox:
Spotify will buy The Ringer, the podcast-centric media company run and owned by Bill Simmons, and plans to hire Simmons and his approximately 90 employees — The Ringer CEO Bill Simmons in 2015 | Photo by Mike Windle/Getty Images for Vanity Fair — It's the fourth podcast deal Spotify has done in a year.
Discussion:
@billsimmons, Business Wire, Nieman Lab, CNN, USA Today, New York Times, Hollywood Reporter, Awful Announcing, Reuters, Axios, @kerrymflynn, @benmullin, Adweek, TechCrunch, @iamstevenhale, @lpolgreen, @sarthakgh, @pkafka, @fromedome, American Press Institute, @pkafka, @brettbivens, @laurawags, Hot Pod News, @pkafka, @sherman4949, AdExchanger, @pkafka, @natjarv, @pkafka, @jyarow, @neilcybart, @millertimepod, @darrenrovell, @kerrymflynn, @pkafka, Variety, 9to5Mac, @thecousinsal, Fortune, @bensmith94, Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, @pkafka, @frankpallotta and @annaknicolaou, more at Techmeme »
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Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Spotify reports Q4 revenue of $2B, up 24% YoY; 271M total MAUs, up 31% YoY, as paying users rise 29% YoY to 124M; 16% of its MAUs engage with podcast content — Streaming music now accounts for more than 80% of all music consumption in key markets like the US, and one of the big leaders in the field is reaping some of the rewards.
Discussion:
Ad Age, Business Wire, @ingridlunden, Variety, Business Insider, VentureBeat, Fast Company, @kerrymflynn and Music Business Worldwide, more at Techmeme »
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: DOJ reached out to more than a dozen publishers, ad agencies, and ad tech rivals of Google as its online ad tools become a focus of antitrust probe — Antitrust enforcers have reached out to more than a dozen publishers, ad tech rivals and ad agencies
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Tom Foremski / ZDNet:
Although Google disclosed many financial metrics for the first time in Q4, it removed cost-per-click, which has steadily declined, and the number of paid clicks — Google makes less money per click every quarter. Now, we won't know how much less. Is there trouble ahead in online advertising?
Mairav Zonszein / Columbia Journalism Review:
The Forward has trimmed staff and operating losses, ended its print edition, shifted from news toward opinion, and, progressives say, abandoned the Jewish left — How America's Jewish newspaper lost the left — Last year was not great for The Forward, the only national Jewish media outlet in the United States.
Knight Foundation:
Knight announces grants up to $20K for managing newsroom digital publishing systems of nonprofits and/or those serving people of color, underrepresented readers — Three-year initiative will give publishers subsidies to adopt and manage digital platforms — Contact: Roshni Neslage …
Discussion:
Poynter, @knightfdn, @pilhofer, @tylrfishr, @poynter and @poynter
Abner Li / 9to5Google:
Google says Chrome's ad blocker will expand to target disruptive video ads in August, including long pre-roll ads, mid-roll ads, and over-lays ads on video — Last year, Google made Chrome's standards-backed ad blocker fully available around the world. The Better Ads Standards today announced a …
Discussion:
Chromium Blog, Fast Company, Coalition for Better Ads, @glenngabe, ZDNet and @matthewkeyslive, more at Techmeme »
Hollywood Reporter:
Fox Corporation reports net income of $314M on revenue of $3.78B, up 5% YoY; fair values of investments in Roku and Canada's The Stars Group boosted income — Quarterly revenue rose 5 percent to $3.78 billion compared to a year-earlier $3.58 billion. — Fox Corp., led by CEO …
Discussion:
The Wrap, Variety, Multichannel News, Broadcasting & Cable, @alexweprin and Fox Corporation
Kayleigh Barber / Digiday:
Verizon Media launches a new, millennial-focused personal finance site called Cashay — Verizon Media is launching on Wednesday a new personal finance site for Generation Z and millennials called Cashay. — The site will feature a mixture of content, including original stories …
Discussion:
MediaPost, @derekflanz, @whatthebit and Talking Biz News
Reuters:
Researchers says hackers with ties to the Iranian government posed as journalists from WSJ, CNN, and Deutsche Well to target academics and researchers — WASHINGTON (Reuters) - When Iranian-born German academic Erfan Kasraie received an email from The Wall Street Journal requesting an interview, he sensed something was amiss.
Discussion:
@jessepesta, @maibortpetit and @jmalsin
Kevin Roose / New York Times:
Source says The Epoch Times has spent more than $1M on YouTube ads, with its spending increasing sharply in the months after Facebook's August ban on its ads — The paper, started by practitioners of Falun Gong, has turned to the video platform for an advertising blitz.
Discussion:
@steveray, @gabegottlieb, @kerrymflynn, @bubbaprog, @kevinroose, @mhbergen, @brandyzadrozny and @alexstamos
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Disney says Disney+ will roll out to Western Europe in March and India on March 29 through Hotstar; Disney plans to launch Hulu internationally as soon as 2021 — Hulu will finally expand outside of the U.S., likely as soon as next year. This tidbit of news was confirmed by Disney Chairman …
Discussion:
Multichannel News and NextTV, more at Techmeme »
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Emily McCormick / Yahoo Finance:
Disney beats analyst expectations for Q1, reporting $20.86B in Q1 revenue, up 36% YoY, 26.5M subscribers for Disney+, and 30.4M for Hulu, up 33% YoY
Discussion:
@jbflint, CNN, The Wrap, @awallenstein, Variety, The Daily Caller, @morningbrew, Hollywood Reporter, @nytmedia, CNBC, @pkafka, @elainelow, @jbflint, @jbflint, @natjarv, The Walt Disney Company, @natjarv, @natjarv, @danrayburn, @aagave, @pkafka, The Wrap, Awful Announcing, Vox, The Streamable, MarketWatch, Reuters, Hollywood Reporter, Hollywood Reporter and New York Times
Jakub Parusinski / TheFix:
Slovakia's Dennik N announces its profits have more than doubled to €831K in 2019 from €343K in 2018, says it is caught in a virtuous cycle of growth — Denník N, one of Slovakia's top digital media, is on a roll. After several years as a poster-child for paywalls …
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