Top News:
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Bustle closes The Outline a year after acquiring it, amid broader layoffs of 24 people and pay cuts; Josh Topolsky to explore “alternative paths” for the site — YouTube Beauty Guru James Charles on Launching His ‘Instant Influencer’ Reality Show and Coping During COVID-19
Discussion:
Nieman Lab, Business Insider, Adweek, @rachelmillman, @joshuatopolsky, @leahfinnegan, @mathewi, @michaelbjordan, @benjaminnorton, @kerrymflynn, @vincemancini, @gaufre, @casseylottman, @blanketboat, @gbrotman, @jeremypgordon, @shujaxhaider, @max_read, MediaPost, TechCrunch and New York Post
RELATED:
Sara Jerde / Adweek:
G/O Media, parent of Gizmodo, Kotaku, Jalopnik, Deadspin, and Lifehacker, has laid off 14 people, or less than 5% of its staff — It's not the first media company to announce layoffs today — G/O Media laid off 14 people—less than 5% of its staff—today in what it characterized as a “small restructuring.”
Discussion:
Digiday, @gmgunion, @megreenwell, @bmorrissey, @timmarchman, @benmullin, @maxwelltani, @joshsternberg, The Wrap and @ericmgarcia
H.G. Watson / JSource:
Canadian fast-food chain Mary Brown's Chicken & Taters partners with Postmedia to drop newspaper paywalls in April, part of an effort to serve the public — Fried chicken chain partnership lets newspaper company drop paywall in April — We live in unprecedented times.
Discussion:
Nieman Lab, National Post, @perreaux, @hg_watson, @briandijkema, @mountroyalaudio, @laurahowellsnl, @benjaminmillar, @graemedmoffat, @michellemanafy and @jbenton
Jill Goldsmith / Deadline:
ViacomCBS closes its purchase of 49% of Miramax from beIN Media Group, which retains 51%; ViacomCBS paid $150M at closing, will invest $225M more over 5 years — ViacomCBS said Friday it's closed on the acquistion of a 49% stake in Miramax from owner beIN Media Group, whih will retain 51% in the company.
Discussion:
The Wrap, The Wrap and Broadcasting & Cable
Pew Research Center:
Pew: 92% of MSNBC viewers said the media covered COVID-19 at least somewhat well vs. 58% of Fox News viewers; the former were likelier to know the virus' origin — Coverage of COVID-19 has dominated the news and resulted in skyrocketing ratings for the nation's cable news networks.
Discussion:
The Daily Beast, @_cingraham, @pewresearch, @rezendi and @conradhackett
New Zealand Herald:
Bauer Media New Zealand, publisher of some of the country's most popular magazine titles, shuts down; about 300 people have lost their jobs — New Zealand's biggest newsstand magazines have folded, as Bauer Media NZ abruptly closed its doors permanently as a result of the Covid-19 crisis.
Discussion:
RNZ Business Headlines, @meljbunce, @judithcollinsmp, @helenclarknz, @theproject_nz, @rudemrlang and Newshub
Sara Guaglione / MediaPost:
Variety launches Variety Intelligence Platform, a subscription product offering analysis to high-level media professionals, for $399.99/year or $39.99/month — The entertainment trade Variety has launched a digital subscription offering. Aimed at media industry professionals …
Discussion:
@awallenstein, Variety, @awallenstein, @awallenstein, @awallenstein, @awallenstein and Variety
Manori Ravindran / Variety:
Ampere: unscripted projects in development across 160 streamers grew from 24% in December 2018 to 51% a year later — Against the backdrop of a global pandemic, during which millions of self-isolating individuals are tuning into home entertainment, the trends shaping global content have never been more evident.
Abhilash Kumar / Counterpoint Research:
Global online music streaming grew 32% YoY in 2019, reaching 358M total subs; Spotify led with 31% market share of paid subs, followed by Apple Music at 19% — - Spotify continues to be the market leader and recorded a 23% YoY growth in total revenue during CY 2019.
Sarah Scire / Nieman Lab:
Survey in Germany, UK, US, China, India, South Korea, and Germany: 16% of people pay for news, those under 34 are likelier to pay for news than people over 55 — The kids are all right, according to a new World Economic Forum report. Young people (ages 16 to 34) are twice as likely to pay …
Discussion:
American Press Institute, @niemanlab, @sarahscire, @lauraelizdavis, @spj_tweets, @niemanlab and World Economic Forum
CampaignUK:
Cannes Lion, a major awards festival and conference in the ad industry, has been canceled after initially being postponed to October — Neither festival nor awards will take place this year. — Cannes Lions has announced it is cancelling the annual Festival of Creativity …
Discussion:
Ad Age, @kitten_mouse, @tkawaja, Mumbrella, @arvindhickman, @creature_dan, @paulmarkbailey, @tobyrolla, Forbes, CNBC, Cannes Lions Festival 2020, MediaPost, The Drum and Ad Age
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Twitter says it will now allow ads mentioning COVID-19 under some conditions, such as ads about changes to business practices, a day after Google lifted its ban — Twitter will now allow advertising containing references to the coronavirus under certain use cases, according to a note …
Discussion:
Ad Age, Search Engine Journal, Mashable, Bloomberg and @scottmaustin