Top News:
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Spotify beats with Q1 revenue of €1.8B and net income of €1M, with MAUs up 31% YoY to 286M, premium users up 31% to 130M, and ad-supported MAUs up 32% to 163M — The coronavirus may be decimating some corners of the economy, but the impact on the digital music …
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Spotify, Variety, The Wrap, Fast Company, VentureBeat, @philipmorton, @thr and @ingridlunden, more at Techmeme »
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Kerry Flynn / CNN:
Spotify says TV and game console usage is up by 50% due to the pandemic, with increased consumption of wellness podcasts and searches for terms like “chill” — New York (CNN Business)The coronavirus pandemic has upended consumers' lives and behavior, including the way they stream music.
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@brianstelter
Scott Feinberg / Hollywood Reporter:
Motion picture academy eases qualifications for 2021 Oscars; eligible films won't have to screen for at least a week in a Los Angeles-area theater — The Academy's board of governors convened via a secure Zoom session on Tuesday morning. — The 93rd Academy Awards ceremony is still slated …
Discussion:
Oscars.org, Variety, @theacademy, @nicsperling, The Wrap, @perezhilton, @mgsiegler, @enricomagrelli, @variety, Numlock News, @iwriteallday_, @gracerandolph, @billkuchman, @heatherfink, @benfritz, @kylebuchanan, @thatrebecca, Variety, Rolling Stone, Gizmodo, The Week, Mashable and The Verge
Jim VandeHei / Axios:
Axios, which had qualified for a $4.8M PPP loan, will return the money after nearing a deal for other capital and after the program prompted divisive debate — Axios, which qualified for a federal Paycheck Protection Program loan to avoid layoffs, will return the money, after nearing a deal for an alternative source of capital.
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Columbia Journalism Review, @jbarro, New York Post, @derricktperkins, @carlquintanilla, @danprimack, @thegrnadvocate, @bendreyfuss, @ryanmaue, @harrysiegel, @emilydreyfuss, @bendreyfuss, @film_girl, @bendreyfuss, @bmorrissey, @danprimack, @lanceulanoff, @bendreyfuss, @dylanbyers, @bendreyfuss, @danprimack, @media_evan and The Hill
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Brian Steinberg / Variety:
Nielsen: CNN saw an increase of 179% in viewers between the ages of 25 and 54 in April, while Fox News grew 83% and MSNBC grew 54% — Viewership for all three of the nation's main cable-news outlets soared in April as viewers tuned in at all hours for information on the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.
Discussion:
New York Times, The Wrap, TVNewser, Mediaite and Raw Story
Tim Baysinger / The Wrap:
Amazon renews its NFL deal for 3 more seasons, with Amazon and Twitch getting exclusive global rights to one late-season Saturday game each season — Amazon will stream “Thursday Night Football” for three more seasons and get an additional game all to itself in a new deal with the NFL.
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Variety, The Streamable, Hollywood Reporter, @pkafka, @carlquintanilla, @darrenrovell and @pkafka
Matthew Moore / The Times:
Facebook poaches Tony Close, director of content standards at Ofcom, as director of content regulation; Ofcom is preparing to regulate social media companies — A senior official at the watchdog preparing to regulate social media companies has been poached by Facebook to help it respond to the curbs.
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@jbenton, @tim2040, @thetimes, @thejamesmax, @mrharrycole, @janinegibson, @damiancollins, @elliotttimes, @mattkmoore, @mattkmoore and @harry_horton
Elizabeth Williamson / New York Times:
Profile of Kayleigh McEnany, whose role as Trump's White House press secretary has become indistinguishable from her role as Trump campaign's spokeswoman — Kayleigh McEnany saw Donald J. Trump as her ticket to stardom. She has been fighting for him for much of her adult life, now as the president's fourth press secretary.
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@nytpolitics, @tomscocca, @tomscocca, @tomscocca, New Republic, @dangillmor, @ericboehlert, @billkristol, PRESS RUN, @mattgertz, @brianstelter and CNN
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Alphabet reports YouTube Q1 ad revenue of $4.04B, up 33% YoY, but says ad sales fell significantly in March — YouTube generated $4.04 billion in ad revenue for the first quarter of 2020, up 33% from the year prior. Alphabet, the parent company of Google and YouTube …
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MediaPost, Digiday, MarketWatch and @xpangler, more at Techmeme »
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Spotify-owned Anchor introduces a feature that will allow creators to turn their video chats and virtual hangouts into podcast-ready audio — Spotify is tapping into the increased usage of video conferencing during the coronavirus quarantine to grow its own podcast business.
Discussion:
Mobile Marketer, Nieman Lab, Anchor, @leimer, Engadget, Engadget, Los Angeles Times, The Verge, Marketing Land and Hot Pod News, more at Techmeme »
The New York Times Company:
Kara Swisher is leaving her Recode Decode podcast on July 1 to produce a new twice-weekly podcast for NYT's Opinion section — Kara, who became a Times contributor in 2018, will start producing a twice-weekly show that will make its debut in the fall. Read more in this note from James Bennet …
Josh Kosman / New York Post:
Sources: Dish is pushing for refunds from Disney, invoking force majeure, due to the lack of live sports on ESPN, but Disney has rebuffed the request so far — Charlie Ergen's satellite TV company is calling foul on Disney for making it pay for ESPN at a time when there is no live sports programming, The Post has learned.