Top News:
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Sources: Politico's Jake Sherman, Anna Palmer, and John Bresnahan are launching a daily newsletter in 2021 as a standalone company, competing against Playbook — Three of Politico's biggest reporting stars plan to launch a competitor to the company's Politico Playbook franchise, sources tell me.
Discussion:
The Wrap, @jimvandehei, @jasonshevrin, @yashar and Washingtonian
Jim Waterson / The Guardian:
Facebook to launch its dedicated News tab in the UK in Jan., says it will pay outlets for content selected by Facebook staff; most big UK outlets have signed up — Social network agrees deal with mainstream outlets in face of government crackdown on its dominance of advertising
Discussion:
About Facebook, @rasmus_kleis, Axios, BBC, @rasmus_kleis, @emmalbriant, @jimwaterson, @campbell_brown, @lizzie_oshea, Engadget, The Verge, @martinapennisi, @rasmus_kleis, @jbenton, @levipulk, @vontonks, MediaPost and Adweek, more at Techmeme »
Jem Aswad / Variety:
Joe Rogan is Spotify's most popular podcast globally and NPR News Now is in the US with The Daily, Call Her Daddy, and Michelle Obama's podcast in the top five — As they do at this time every year, Spotify has unveiled the top artists, albums, tracks, playlists and podcasts …
Discussion:
Ad Age, Fast Company, Spotify, The Wrap, The A.V. Club, @kerrymflynn, Hollywood Reporter and Engadget
The New York Times Company:
NYT says it has raised $4M for Headway, a three-year journalistic venture, which will aim to produce 10-12 deeply researched, data-rich projects per year — The New York Times has raised $4 million to launch Headway, a journalism initiative to investigate global and national challenges.
Discussion:
@kimmelman, @jswatz, @rockphilanth, @jayrosen_nyu, @jayrosen_nyu and @froomkin
Sean O'Neill / Skift:
Red Ventures, which owns CNET and travel advice site The Points Guy, has acquired travel media company Lonely Planet from NC2 Media — FIRST FREE STORY (1 OF 3) — More travel executives get their mission-critical industry news from Skift than any other source on the planet. — Already a member?
Discussion:
Publishers Weekly, Red Ventures, @thepointsguy, @celbrash, @chyan, @sean_oneill and @rafat
Kayleigh Barber / Digiday:
Some publishers are experimenting to keep events engaging during the pandemic: Atlas Obscura is planning US road trips, PopSugar hosted a drive-in LA premiere — This article is part of the Future of Work briefing, a weekly email with stories, interviews, trends and links about how work, workplaces and workforces are changing.
Sahil Patel / Wall Street Journal:
Reddit says it averaged 52M DAUs in October, up 44% YoY, disclosing the metric for the first time; ad revenue hit $100M+ in 2019, on track to rise 70%+ in 2020 — The disclosure comes as the tech company pursues new advertisers — Reddit Inc. said it averaged 52 million daily active users in October …
Discussion:
Adweek, The Wrap, The Verge and Engadget, more at Techmeme »
Amanda Carpenter / The Bulwark:
Fox News primetime lineup and its fringy lower-tier knockoffs have become the actual leaders of the GOP, setting the party agenda and acting as its “war room” — Media parasites have taken control of the host. — Cymothoa exigua is a terrifying creature.
Sara Fischer / Axios:
TCG, the Chernin Group's venture subsidiary, is investing $30M in Surfline, a mostly subscription-based media company that focuses on surfing coverage — TCG, a venture affiliate of The Chernin Group that invests in media, entertainment and tech businesses, is investing $30 million in Surfline …
Discussion:
PR Newswire and @sarafischer
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Showtime debuts a Pluto channel, Showtime Selects, which will air a selection of its programming for free, with ads, to attract new subscribers — Showtime is unlocking a selection of original programming — for free, with ads — in a new channel on Pluto TV.
Discussion:
The Streamable and /Film
Newmark J-School:
CUNY's Black Media Initiative launches a new map and directory tracking nearly 300 Black media outlets, including newspapers and digital outlets, across the US — With a national map that includes publications of multiple formats and topics, we are filling a long-existing void.
Discussion:
@ccmnewmarkj, @blackdigitalhum, @aaronkfoley and bookforum.com
Jim Waterson / The Guardian:
After Facebook blocked his anti-vaccine posts, a conspiracy theorist in UK launched a newspaper, using Facebook to build a volunteer print distribution network — Self-published newspaper uses Facebook and Twitter to recruit volunteers and increase reach — hen the factcheckers tried …
Discussion:
@niemanlab, @tom___scott, @charlesarthur, @radiocatherine and @jimwaterson