Top News:
Kim Masters / Hollywood Reporter:
WarnerMedia's decision to debut 2021 films on HBO Max had blindsided creatives and their reps; sources: Warner Bros. COO Carolyn Blackwood came up with the plan — To many insiders, WarnerMedia's blindsiding of talent and their reps with a reveal that it's sending 17 films directly to HBO Max in 2021 felt like an insult.
Discussion:
Entertainment Tonight, New York Times, ScreenRant, CNN, New York Times, /Film, IndieWire, @edmundlee, Business Insider, Forbes, The Playlist, @aaroncouch, The Wrap, @joshuatopolsky, @uberkryptonian, Los Angeles Times, Light Reading, ComingSoon.net, @edmachina, Innovalab Weekly, @snoodit, Adweek, TechCrunch, The Guardian, @filmupdates, The Verge, The Streamable, @filmupdates, Collider, @filmbayona, @patrickcotnoir, Vanity Fair, The Week, @nytimesbusiness, Variety, @thr, @etnow, @sgoood, @tannertrue, @ryanlawler, @mikeyface, @williambibbiani, @davidlsims, @kimmasters, @geeksgamerscom, @eriqgardner, @lucas_shaw, @aaroncouch, @johnnysobczak, Axios, Cord Cutters News, Scroll.in, Context is King, Engadget, The A.V. Club, Mediaite, Heroic Hollywood, The Playlist, Variety, IndieWire, Collider and The Wrap
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Dade Hayes / Deadline:
AT&T CEO says HBO Max now has 12.6M subscribers in the US, up from 8.6M at the end of Q3; ~30% of HBO subscribers have exercised their right to access HBO Max — HBO Max, which closed the third quarter at 8.6 million activated subscribers in the U.S., has added another four million …
Discussion:
Hollywood Reporter, The Wrap, CNBC, The Streamable, @geeksgamerscom, @loudmouthjulia, @loudmouthjulia, @tvgrimreaper, MediaPost, nexttv.com and New York Post
Variety:
Sources: Legendary, which co-financed Dune, is considering suing Warner Bros. over its decision to release movies simultaneously on HBO Max and in cinemas
Discussion:
ScreenRant, /Film, The Playlist, Observer, Digital TV Europe, Business Insider, @variety, @benedictevans, @firstadopter, @steele131, Deadline, @davidlsims, @reckless, @mousterpiece, @omegagormaru, @marisabalkus, @successlon, @discussingfilm, @tinycamcorder, @pkafka, @johnnysobczak, The Week, The Wrap, Cord Cutters News, ComingSoon.net and IndieWire
Nilay Patel / The Verge:
Q&A with Substack CEO Chris Best on why it is not a media company, content moderation, making a reader app for users to easily read their newsletters, and more — On today's episode of Decoder, I'm talking to Chris Best, co-founder and CEO of Substack, the subscription newsletter startup that's taken …
Discussion:
@mathewi, @reckless, @studyhallxyz, @reckless, @mvzelenks, @joshsternberg, @loudmouthjulia and @reckless, more at Techmeme »
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Michael J. Socolow / Nieman Lab:
Substack isn't a new model for journalism, but it's better than the “tip jar” financing model and might help retrain readers to pay for good journalism — Since 2017, Substack has provided aspiring web pundits with a one-stop service for distributing their work and collecting fees from readers.
Discussion:
@robinsreport, @mathewi, @gbbranstetter, @niemanreports, @chris_journo, @kerrymflynn, @jeanlucr, @vwpickard and @michaelsocolow
Paul Farhi / Washington Post:
Sources: USAGM head Michael Pack has instructed associates not to discuss the agency's operations, budget, and personnel with Biden's transition team — A Trump appointee with a short but controversial record of overseeing Voice of America and other federally funded news agencies has declined …
Discussion:
Daily Herald, Tangle, @benlabolt, @vivian, Fox News, Snopes.com and Associated Press
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David Folkenflik / @davidfolkenflik:
[Thread] Sources: USAGM CEO Michael Pack has removed acting VOA Director Elez Biberaj and intends to name conservative writer Robert Reilly to replace him
Discussion:
NPR, @davidfolkenflik, @blackamazon, @jilliancyork, @davidakaye, @davidfolkenflik, @davidfolkenflik, @davidfolkenflik and @davidfolkenflik
Sam Kille / Report for America:
Report for America expands to 200+ newsrooms that will host 300+ journalists next year; 33%+ of beats cover communities of color, 50% of outlets are nonprofits — Report for America unveils more than sixty new newsroom partners—including a doubling of Black and Hispanic owned media—and opens the application window for new reporters
Discussion:
Report for America, The Jewish News, @marfaradio, @annaliznichols, @kenwardjr, @report4america, @tomlappas, @kellyannscott, @raju, @institute_trust, @report4america and @inn
Jason Lynch / Adweek:
Nielsen introduces Nielsen One, a video analytics tool that will measure total video consumption across linear and digital platforms, to debut in Q4 2022 — But the new solution, Nielsen One, won't be ready until late 2022 — Farewell, Total Audience Measurement. Hello, Nielsen One.
Discussion:
TechCrunch, Insights - Nielsen, MediaPost, Variety, Forbes, @mattnavarra, @bruceanderson, Radio & Television …, Engadget and The Desk
Sara Fischer / Axios:
STAT hit $10M+ in revenue this year, up 66% YoY, plans to grow staff ~40% in 2021, and has 6M MAUs, up from ~1.5M pre-pandemic; ad deal volume rose 33% YoY — STAT News is planning a big expansion next year, thanks in part to explosive growth during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sarah Scire / Nieman Lab:
Scroll, which offers ad-free browsing at 300+ sites, partners with McClatchy to bundle Scroll membership with McClatchy subscriptions at 8 McClatchy news sites — A little less than a year after launch, Scroll is partnering with McClatchy to experiment with bundling subscriptions to its ad-free network.
Elise Goldstein / Lenfest Institute for Journalism:
A look at TAPinto, a franchised network of 85 local news sites across the US that are free to read and supported by local advertising — Since 2004, more than one-fourth of newspapers in the United States have disappeared. Of the 2,100 papers that have shuttered, more than 2,000 …
Discussion:
@spj_tweets, @ylichterman and @jonathanalter
Brian Braiker / Brooklyn Magazine:
Brooklyn Magazine relaunches under EIC Brian Braiker, former Ad Age EIC; Braiker and a partner bought the outlet and The L Magazine from Northside Media Group — So you think New York is dead? We here in Brooklyn see things differently. — Today we are introducing a new Brooklyn Magazine …
Discussion:
@slarkpope, @brooklynmag, @mikerugnetta, @jarroddicker, @juliannthrax, @alexmleo, @merrillbro, @slarkpope, @bmorrissey, @alexmleo, @slarkpope and @pjsauer
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Challenger, Gray & Christmas: of the 30,000 media jobs lost in 2020 in the US, 16,000 were in digital, print, and broadcast newsrooms — Data: Challenger, Gray & Christmas; Chart: Andrew Witherspoon/Axios. Newsroom jobs include jobs in digital, print and broadcast.
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