Mediagazer: Sources: Instagram is considering increased funding of up to seven figures for multiple shows on IGTV, as it tests an ad product and a revenue-sharing program (Sahil Patel/Wall Street Journal)

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Dade Hayes / Deadline:

Roku reports Q4 revenue of $411M, up 49% YoY, net loss of $15.7M down from a profit of $6.8M YoY; active accounts up 4.6M QoQ to 36.9M; stock up 5%+ after hours — Roku beat Wall Street estimates for the fourth quarter, hitting new highs in active accounts and revenue per user …

Discussion: Variety, Roku, Broadcasting & Cable, @xpangler, Engadget, @xpangler, @xpangler and Reuters, more at Techmeme »

Benjamin Mullin / Wall Street Journal:

Sources: Google is in talks with publishers about paying a licensing fee for content that would be in a premium news product — The search giant is in talks with some publishers about paying a fee for content that would be part of a premium news product — Alphabet Inc.'s Google is in talks …

more at Techmeme »

Vivian Wang / New York Times:

Chen Qiushi and Fang Bin, two prominent video bloggers chronicling the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, have disappeared — Two video bloggers whose dispatches from the heart of the outbreak showed fear, grief and dissatisfaction with the government have gone silent.

Discussion: @quicktake and The Desk

Coral N. Negrón Almodóvar / Committee to Protect …:

Puerto Rico's new Open Data Law and Transparency Law contain broad wording that gives government officials much leeway to refuse information requests — In July 2019, anti-government protesters gathered on the streets of Puerto Rico, motivated in part by the work of investigative journalists …

Discussion: @digiphile, @michaelcdeibert and @davidbegnaud

Corey Dickstein / Stars & Stripes:

Pentagon acknowledges that its budget proposal would completely cut its $15.6M subsidy to Stars and Stripes, making up about half the publication's annual funds — WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Mark Esper on Thursday defended the Pentagon's effort to strip Stars and Stripes …

Discussion: Columbia Journalism Review, @strychninelove, @starsandstripes and @patporter76

Michael Grothaus / Fast Company:

eMarketer: political ad spending for the 2020 election will reach $6.89B, up 63.3% compared to 2016, with the majority of spending going to TV and Facebook — What's interesting is the majority of spending goes to just two sources: television and Facebook. What do the two have in common?

Craig McCarthy / New York Post:

NYC police subpoenaed Twitter records of NY Post's Tina Moore while investigating leaks, then withdrew the subpoena after Post lawyers contacted the department — In an apparent effort to tamp down on leaks, the NYPD subpoenaed a New York Post reporter's Twitter data …

Discussion: Columbia Journalism Review, @chayesmatthew, @aaschapiro, The Desk, @adamgoldmannyt, @alfredwkng, @naveedajamali, @adamsteinbaugh, @awinston and Reclaim The Net

Maggie Haberman / New York Times:

Former WH Communications Director Hope Hicks is returning to the White House, leaving Fox to become “counselor to the president” and report to Jared Kushner — President Trump's former communications director will return as an aide to Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law and senior adviser.

Discussion: The Hill, CNN, @waltshaub, @sarahhuckabee, @kurtbardella, @ivankatrump, @dfriedman33, @nedprice, CNN, @mlcalderone, Slate, Deseret News, Washington Post, Vanity Fair, VICE, Talking Points Memo, National Review, Raw Story, The Stranger, The Wrap, Mediaite, Breitbart, ABC News, The Week and New York Post

Ted Johnson / Deadline:
Sean Spicer to host Spicer & Co., a daily news show on Newsmax TV, starting on March 3

Discussion: Mediaite, The Wrap, TVNewser, @garylegum and Broadcasting & Cable

Sahil Patel / Wall Street Journal:

Sources: Instagram is considering increased funding of up to seven figures for multiple shows on IGTV, as it tests an ad product and a revenue-sharing program — The Facebook-owned company looks to pay more for videos on its IGTV app, though no formal funding program is in place

Discussion: @thekenyeung, more at Techmeme »

Monojoy Bhattacharjee / What's New in Publishing:

Ad Age report: since 2007, internet media jobs have risen from 8.6% of all media jobs to 36.4%, while newspaper jobs have fallen from 38.8% to 17.1% — AdAge's Marketing Fact Pack 2020 projects that the US online ad spend will rise to about 60% of all advertising outlay by 2022.

Discussion: @ricmac

Neil MacFarquhar / New York Times:

Radio Sputnik, a propaganda arm of the Russian government, has started broadcasting on three Kansas City, MO, stations; it's been broadcasting in DC since 2017 — Radio Sputnik, a propaganda arm of the Russian government, began broadcasting on three Kansas City-area radio stations during prime drive time.

Discussion: @jrosenworcel, @tbreassealedhs, @brendannyhan, @dabeard and @nataliaantonova

Taylor Lorenz / New York Times:

The Bloomberg campaign is working with Meme 2020, whose lead strategist is the CEO of Jerry Media, to create sponsored posts on influential Instagram accounts — A campaign of sponsored content for the candidate flourished suddenly on Instagram. A new outfit, called Meme 2020, is behind it.

Juli Clover / MacRumors:

YouTube TV to end support for subscriptions through Apple in-app purchases on March 13 — YouTube today sent out emails to customers who are subscribed to its YouTube TV service through Apple's App Store, letting them know that ‌App Store‌ subscriptions are going to be discontinued in March.

Discussion: 9to5Mac, Engadget, CNET, The Verge, Cord Cutters News and iMore, more at Techmeme »