Mediagazer: Tubi says MAUs hit 25M in December 2019, up from 20M in June, with total viewing time of 163M hours, up 160% YoY, says content spending to exceed $100M+ in 2020 (Todd Spangler/Variety)

12:10 PM ET, February 11, 2020

Top News:

Joshua Benton / Nieman Lab:

WaPo's digital subscriber growth doesn't seem to be making expected gains on NYT despite a mass-oriented strategy, and WaPo hasn't posted the numbers since 2018 — But will the Journal and The Washington Post be able to catch up to the market leader going forward? Or is the Times preparing to lap the field?

Discussion: Press Gazette, What's New in Publishing, @jbenton, @deardara, MediaPost, THEFUTURE and The Guardian

Jim Waterson / The Guardian:

Sources close to Elisabeth Murdoch say she has no interest in the job of BBC director and is focused on launching a production company — Sources say Rupert's daughter not interested in job, after press reports made her the favourite — Elisabeth Murdoch has made clear she has no interest …

Discussion: Press Gazette and Daily Mail

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

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

Liam Knox / NBC News:

Black News Channel, a 24/7 cable channel featuring black anchors and co-founded by former Republican congressman J.C. Watts, launches in select US markets — The Black News Channel, founded by a former Republican congressman, will try to win the growing Black cable news audience.

Discussion: American Press Institute, Fox Business, NPR, @nbcblk, @placebo90511492, @mayaaking, @eviefordham, @mvgal92691, @ronkelawal, @liamhknox, @spj_tweets, BBC, CNN, Mashable, The Hill and The Root

Joan E. Solsman / CNET:

Nielsen: streaming makes up 19% of US TV watching, with Netflix comprising 31% of streaming on TVs, followed by 21% on YouTube, 12% on Hulu, and 8% on Amazon — Netflix is big and it's getting bigger. And we're not just watching it on our phones and tablets: That dominance translates …

Discussion: Adweek, MediaPost, The Wrap, Variety, Reuters, VentureBeat and TechCrunch, more at Techmeme »

Janko Roettgers / Protocol:

Redbox has begun testing its ad-supported live TV online streaming service, powered in part by Xumo, with preprogrammed channels like USA Today and TMZ — Cord-cutting is driving a rush toward free video, but experts caution not to expect Netflix-size results.

Discussion: Media Play News, @richlightshed and Cord Cutters News

Tim Arango / New York Times:

Profile of Carl Butz, a 71-year-old retiree who stepped in at the beginning of the year to save The Mountain Messenger, California's oldest weekly newspaper — High in the Sierra, Downieville, Calif., was about to become the latest American community to lose its newspaper.

Discussion: @jswatz, @emilybell, @livmqhenry and The Rural Blog

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.

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

Discussion: @barackobama, The Wrap, 5ish from M.G. Siegler, Broadcasting & Cable, @stevepasquale, @scottfeinberg, @lawrence, @web, @jonerlichman, @sarahwhit10, Ad Age, Business Insider, The Wrap, /Film, Fox News, CNBC, The Streamable, Variety and Observer

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Tubi says MAUs hit 25M in December 2019, up from 20M in June, with total viewing time of 163M hours, up 160% YoY, says content spending to exceed $100M+ in 2020 — Tubi says it's continuing to gain momentum, drawing more viewers to its free-streaming service — and driving up more overall viewing time.

Discussion: The Streamable, TechCrunch and Broadcasting & Cable

Sara Fischer / Axios:

YouTube is funding TYT Academy, a Young Turks online course focused on the creation of digital-first local news; sources: investment is in the mid-six-figures — The Young Turks (TYT), one of the largest progressive digital publishers on YouTube, is receiving funding from Google-owned YouTube …

Discussion: National Review

Irene Wangui / International Journalists' Network:

A look at WanaData Africa, a pan-African network of around 100 women journalists and data experts, who have collectively published over 100 stories since 2017 — A growing network of African women journalists is leading data-driven projects that are elevating female voices and shedding light on under-reported stories.

Discussion: American Press Institute

Georg Szalai / Hollywood Reporter:

Sirius XM invests $75M in SoundCloud in exchange for a minority stake and two seats on the board — The audio entertainment giant puts money into the open audio platform. — Audio entertainment giant SiriusXM Holdings said Tuesday it has invested $75 million in open audio platform SoundCloud …

Discussion: Radio & Television …, TechCrunch, Variety, Music Business Worldwide, PR Newswire, Wall Street Journal, @pkafka, @ldignan and @pkafka, more at Techmeme »

NBC News:

Sources: Condé Nast is planning on suspending its Vanity Fair New Establishment Summit this year as the conference is losing money — Moving the Market: Deutsche Telekom chief Tim Höttges and T-Mobile chief John Legere are on the verge of winning their long-sought merger of T-Mobile and Sprint …

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Andy Greenberg / Wired:
Researchers detail a “nearest neighbor attack” by Russia's APT28, which remotely breached a target's Wi-Fi by hijacking a laptop in a building across the street

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