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:
Nieman Lab, CNN, Business Wire, New York Times, Awful Announcing, Axios, Adweek, Hollywood Reporter, Hot Pod News, Reuters, AdExchanger, Fast Company, The Wrap, @iamstevenhale, @millertimepod, @pkafka, @pkafka, @kerrymflynn, American Press Institute, TechCrunch, @benmullin, Fortune, @lpolgreen, @frankpallotta, @sarthakgh, @fromedome, @pkafka, @brettbivens, @sherman4949, @pkafka, @natjarv, @pkafka, @jyarow, @kerrymflynn, @pkafka, Variety, 9to5Mac, @bensmith94, Wall Street Journal, @pkafka 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:
Business Wire, Business Insider, Fast Company, Variety, @ingridlunden, VentureBeat and @kerrymflynn, 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
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, Variety, @awallenstein, CNBC, The Daily Caller, The Walt Disney Company, Hollywood Reporter, @pkafka, @nytmedia, @morningbrew, @elainelow, @jbflint, @jbflint, @natjarv, @natjarv, @natjarv, @danrayburn, @aagave, @pkafka, The Wrap, Awful Announcing, Vox, The Streamable, MarketWatch, Reuters, Hollywood Reporter, Hollywood Reporter and New York Times, more at Techmeme »
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:
Talking Biz News, @derekflanz and @whatthebit
Kaitlan Collins / CNN:
President Trump awarded Rush Limbaugh with the Medal of Freedom during Tuesday's State of the Union — Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump awarded the Medal of Freedom to conservative radio personality Rush Limbaugh on Tuesday in an unprecedented move during the State of the Union address.
Discussion:
Associated Press, @jaketapper, The Daily Beast, Variety, Washington Post, @existentialfish, @kaitlancollins, @mattgertz, Politico, Press Watch, @noahshachtman, Columbia Journalism Review, Breitbart, New York Times, @craigcalcaterra, @mattgertz, @slavamalamud, @swin24, The Week, @gabbyorr_, @johnfugelsang, @farhip, @pbump, @briankarem, @rabiasquared, @jdawsey1, @dandrezner, @brianstelter, INSIDER, Raw Story, The Hill, Mediaite and The Daily Caller
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, VentureBeat, @glenngabe and @matthewkeyslive, more at Techmeme »
Knight Foundation:
Knight Foundation launches a three-year, $2M initiative to give grants of up to $20K to help 25 underserved newsrooms adopt and manage digital platforms — Three-year initiative will give publishers subsidies to adopt and manage digital platforms — Contact: Roshni Neslage …
Discussion:
Poynter, @knightfdn, @tylrfishr and @poynter
Esther Kezia Thorpe / What's New in Publishing:
Bauer tests bundled app subscriptions with Bikes Unlimited, an app that includes all six of Bauer UK's motorcycle titles, for £7.99 a month or £89.99 per year — Digital magazine apps have had a hard time over the past decade. Promises of rich multimedia iPad editions fell flat …
Discussion:
@estherkeziat
Bloomberg:
Sources: Instagram generated ~$20B in advertising revenue in 2019, making up more than a quarter of Facebook's revenue — - Unit brought in about $20 billion in 2019, people familiar say — Photo-sharing app has gained in importance since 2012 purchase
Steve Matthews / Bloomberg:
Lawyers for Bloomberg News, AP, Dow Jones, Market News, and Reuters ask Department of Labor to end plans to restrict journalists' early access to econ reports — - Attorneys for Bloomberg News, Reuters, others send letter — News organizations say changes violate law, freedom of press
Discussion:
Talking Biz News, @bchappatta, @jordanfabian and The Hill
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.
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