Mediagazer: News Corp says WSJ passed 2M digital subscribers in Q4 2019, up 13% YoY, while Dow Jones digital subscriptions grew 17% and overall subscriptions passed 3.5M (News Corp)

4:00 PM ET, February 10, 2020

Top News:

Tony Maglio / The Wrap:

The 2020 Oscars drew 23.6M viewers, an all-time low and down 20% YoY; the 2018 Oscars held the previous all-time low of 26.5M viewers — Audience for 92nd Academy Awards declines 20% — The 2020 Oscars drew 23.6 million viewers on ABC, down a whopping 6 million viewers — or -20% from last year.

Discussion: Variety, Deadline, Hollywood Reporter, Broadcasting & Cable, New York Post, Observer, Mediaite, @thrmattbelloni, @hertzbarry, @lucas_shaw, @brooksbarnesnyt and @markharrisnyc

Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:

Netflix won only two Oscars despite 24 nominations: Best Supporting Actress for Laura Dern and Best Documentary Feature for American Factory from Obamas' studio — Although Netflix received 24 nominations (the most of any studio) at this year's Oscars, its films only ended up winning two awards.

Discussion: The Wrap, CNBC, @barackobama, /Film, Variety, Business Insider, Fox News, @scottfeinberg, @lawrence, @sarahwhit10, Observer, The Streamable, @stevepasquale, @web and @jonerlichman

Wall Street Journal:
Inside Netflix's aggressive Oscars campaign, spending an estimated $100M+ mainly to promote two films, while other studios usually spend $5M-$20M per film

Discussion: The Wrap, /Film, Variety, Business Insider, Daily Herald, @filloux, @pkafka and @pkafka, more at Techmeme »

Emily Bell / The Guardian:

NYT's success in hitting a target of $800M annual digital revenue, while young startups struggle, lays bare media's disastrous winner takes all state of affairs — A handful of legacy institutions thrive as digital startups face increasing pressures — The financial health of journalism …

Discussion: THEFUTURE, @ndhapple, @chriselliott57, @wblau, @nicnewman, @garyfoskett and @baekdal

Ian Burrell / The Drum:
Inside NYT's London newsroom, which has around 50 journalists and is bringing in five more to handle breaking news for the paper's UK version of Express Desk

Discussion: @jane__bradley, @mattandersonnyt and @lizziepaton

Adam Sherwin / inews:

Sources: the BBC is almost certain to appoint its first female Director-General, with Elisabeth Murdoch and ITV CEO Carolyn McCall as two top contenders — Prospect of Rupert Murdoch's daughter running the BBC will unnerve staff - but she has the right credentials for Downing Street

Discussion: careerssearch.bbc.co.uk, Press Gazette, @jbenton, @markdistef, @emilybell, @arusbridger, @tcmbigcheese, @janinegibson, @adamsherwin10, @jimwaterson, Digital TV Europe, @jamesrbuk, @peterjukes, @rmcunliffe, @taraconlan, @markdistef and @adamsherwin10

Ren LaForme / Poynter:

Muck Rack launches Trends, a Google Trends-like tool that shows which journalists and news organizations wrote about topics the most — What are journalists writing about? It seems like a question with an easy answer. Just go to a news outlet's homepage and take a peek, or do a quick internet search.

Discussion: @poynter, @itsren and @michellemanafy

Elaine Low / Variety:

Sony Pictures Television Chairman Mike Hopkins will exit this month to oversee Amazon's video entertainment operations, including Amazon Studios and Prime Video — Sony Pictures Television Chairman Mike Hopkins is departing his post at the industry's largest independent TV studio later …

Discussion: Deadline, The Wrap, The Streamable and Hollywood Reporter

Margaret Sullivan / Washington Post:

Journalists should avoid framing politics as a horserace and stop making political predictions in part because there's so little accountability if they're wrong — Of all the lessons the mainstream media should have learned over the past four years, one of them is inexcusably obvious: We're bad at predictions.

Discussion: @sulliview, Raw Story, @jason_pontin, Columbia Journalism Review, @anandwrites, @danvock, @dangillmor, The Week, @jayrosen_nyu, @nprscottsimon and Politico

Jim Waterson / The Guardian:

Sources: George Osborne is expected to leave the Evening Standard, as the publication changes direction under CEO Mike Soutar amid widening losses — Exclusive: former chancellor expected to leave role amid shakeup by new chief executive, sources say — George Osborne's future …

Discussion: @suzanne_moore and @markhorsleyuk

Jason Gutierrez / New York Times:

Philippines moves to end the franchise of the country's leading broadcast network ABS-CBN, the latest push by Duterte's admin against critical media outlets — It's the latest push by the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte against media outlets he views as critical of his government.

Discussion: Agence France-Presse, @nytimes, @heyitsmemistera, @alders_ledge and @alfonslopeztena

Stephen Battaglio / Los Angeles Times:

A look at New Hampshire's WMUR, a Hearst-owned station watched by 56% of the state's households weekly and which took in ~$40M in political advertising in 2016 — The unsuccessful 1996 and 2000 presidential campaigns of publishing scion Steve Forbes may have faded from memory.

Discussion: Nieman Lab, American Press Institute, @nytimesbusiness, @meg_heckman, @nytimesbusiness, @tonyjarnold, @jaxalemany, @marcatracy, @stevebattaglio, @latimes, @mattdpearce, @mlcalderone, @stevebattaglio, @latimes and @stevebattaglio

News Corp:

News Corp says WSJ passed 2M digital subscribers in Q4 2019, up 13% YoY, while Dow Jones digital subscriptions grew 17% and overall subscriptions passed 3.5M — Dow Jones Surpasses 3.5 Million Subscriptions for First Time — The Wall Street Journal Crosses 2 Million Digital Subscriptions Mark

Discussion: Nieman Lab, MediaPost, Fox Business, @michaelmillerau, @gerryfsmith and News Corp

David Streitfeld / New York Times:

After Amazon removes Nazi and neo-Nazi books, some third-party booksellers say it seems to operate under vague or nonexistent rules regarding prohibited books — The retailer once said it would sell “the good, the bad and the ugly.” Now it has banished objectionable volumes …

Discussion: @jgreenblattadl, @nytimesbooks, @kirstinestewart, @brendannyhan, WIRED UK, @redlianak, @henrywfowler and @puiwingtam

@CTGuild / Chicago Tribune Guild:

[Thread] Tribune Publishing's Chicago-area newsrooms are losing more than a dozen staffers who chose to take buyouts in the most recent round of cuts — Today we mark the departures of more than a dozen colleagues, both in and out of the Guild, across all Chicago-area Tribune Publishing newsrooms, who have chosen to take the most recent round of buyouts. We wish them the best in this new era for their careers and their lives.

Discussion: @vabvox, @dmedin11, New York Post, @elviamalagon, @grahambrose, @rexhuppke, @thewordsmithm, @smmills1960, @marywizchicago, @ctguild, @ctguild, @ctguild, @ctguild, @robertloerzel, @hannahmeisel, @mariecdillon, @aliciak2010 and @davidfolkenflik

Keith J. Kelly / New York Post:
Sources: new Tribune Publishing CEO Terry Jimenez cut at least six positions ranked VP or higher, including that of Grant Whitmore, former Daily News publisher

Discussion: @chrisjonestrib, @rhodes_dawn, @brockvergakis, @jayhancock1 and Vanity Fair

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Bloomberg:
Profile of YouTube's top kids channel Cocomelon, which has about 2.5B monthly views and an estimated $11.3M in ad revenue, as it expands into merchandise

Discussion: @bw, @koreasociety, @bloombergasia, @mhbergen, @gerryfsmith and @newsynick, more at Techmeme »

Piya Sinha-Roy / Hollywood Reporter:
A series of wins and performances helped redefine the 2020 Oscars after a nominees list that was the least diverse since the 2015 #OscarsSoWhite backlash

Discussion: The Stranger, BuzzFeed News, Quartz, BuzzFeed News and BBC

Shirley Halperin / Variety:
Splice, the popular platform for rights-cleared sounds and beats, says it has paid out more than $25M to musicians in its artist-to-artist marketplace

Discussion: Music Business Worldwide

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
The Sun admits its reporter attended an attack on the home of Manchester United boss, after the club complained that the paper had advance notice of the attack

Discussion: @hackinginquiry, @skysportsnews and @danroan

Earlier Picks:

Freddy Mayhew / Press Gazette:
Eight of the UK's 22 audited papers, excluding those in Scotland, are now edited by women, as are four of the ten daily national titles

Discussion: @pressgazette, @jessbrammar and @hillyjanes

David Bauder / Associated Press:
CBS News president called threats against Gayle King “reprehensible” after King was criticized for asking about Kobe Bryant's rape charge in an interview

Discussion: The Hill, E! Online, @ap, The Wrap, Fox News, Variety, @tonydokoupil, Newser, NBC News, @slpng_giants, @margbrennan, Variety, The Daily Beast, Fox News, Plain Dealer, Deadline, Newser, Slate, The Hill, The Guardian, USA Today and @nrarmour

ESPN:
ESPN's Jessica Mendoza, who was criticized for working as both ESPN analyst and NY Mets adviser, resigns from the Mets, gets pulled from Sunday Night Baseball

From Techmeme:

Raffaele Huang / Wall Street Journal:
Apple removes WhatsApp, Threads, Signal, and Telegram from its App Store in China, after orders from the country's regulators citing national security concerns

Ryan Morrison / Tom's Guide:
Microsoft researchers introduce VASA-1, an AI model that can create a realistic talking face video from a portrait photo and an audio file, in research preview

Foo Yun Chee / Reuters:
Sources: EU may accept Apple's proposal to open its NFC payments tech to rivals, and may close its antitrust probe in May, letting Apple avoid hefty fines

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