Top News:
Ben Thompson / Stratechery:
Apple's Podcast Subscriptions is costly but offers a great Apple-controlled customer experience that could reduce subscriber churn and boost conversion rates — There was a bit of a brouhaha a couple of weeks ago when Senators Amy Klobuchar and Mike Lee sent a letter to Apple accusing …
Discussion:
Nieman Lab, The Verge, MediaPost, Digiday, @timjeby, @howardlindzon, @keleftheriou, @ericpaulgeorge, @dalmaer, @stratechery, @caseynewton and Platformer, more at Techmeme »
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Ashley Carman / The Verge:
Apple unveils in-app subscriptions for Apple Podcasts; Apple will take 30% of revenue in the first year, and 15% in following years
Discussion:
Vox, @mattmedeiros, Apple, @ashleyrcarman, Matt on Audio, @kantrowitz, Podnews podcasting news, @jakeshapiro, @nwquah, @simonowens, PRX Official, @ashleyrcarman, Nathan Gathright, Castos, @patreon, What's New in Publishing, @grovesprof, @jbenton, @nicktheandersen, One Man & His Blog, @gauravchoudhury, Supporting Cast, Complete Music Update, musically.com, @kylekashuv, @kantrowitz, @aexm, @karaswisher, @caseynewton, @kevin_indig, @cheriehu42, “Questioni d'o …, @chrismessina, @ashleyrcarman, @alexeheath, @prodanstatev, @theshortboxjax, @lanterncast, @achangeoftune, TechCrunch, @chrismessina, @nprextra, @sidharthajha, @pkafka, @sims, @itstreverr, @ow, @godfree, @simonowens, @ashleyrcarman, @heyheyesj, @simonowens, @lucas_shaw, @lucas_shaw, 9to5Mac, Mumbrella, RAIN News, AppleInsider, ScreenRant, Gizmodo, CNET, MacRumors, Reuters and Wall Street Journal, more at Techmeme »
Cynthia Littleton / Variety:
Disney and Sony Pictures to bring Marvel films and other properties to Disney Plus starting with Sony's 2022 slate; titles go to Netflix, then Disney — Disney has set a massive movie licensing pact with Sony Pictures for the U.S. that promises to bring Spider-Man and other Marvel properties …
Ronan Shields / Adweek:
Outbrain confidentially files for an IPO, seeking a $2B valuation, after the abandonment of its earlier attempted merger with rival Taboola — Ad-tech company seeks $2 billion valuation in planned IPO
Discussion:
Insider, @rafat, @tsimonite, @lanceulanoff, Yahoo Finance, @ediggs and @adweek, more at Techmeme »
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Roku rebrands Quibi content as Roku Originals and says those 75+ shows will be available to watch for free on the ad-supported Roku Channel later this year — Roku is officially dropping the Quibi name. … The 75-plus original shows from Quibi will be available to watch for free …
Discussion:
/Film, Gizmodo, FierceVideo, Light Reading, IGN India, @sepinwall, Hollywood Reporter, @xpangler, TechCrunch, @caro, @jeremarketer, The Verge, Adweek, The Streamable, WORLD SCREEN, Bloody Disgusting! and Cord Cutters News
Elizabeth Williamson / New York Times:
A look at Knowledge Fight, a podcast started in 2017 to mock Alex Jones that grew into a profitable enterprise and is now chronicling Jones' downward spiral — Dan Friesen and Jordan Holmes turned their Infowars-skewering podcast into a business. In the post-Trump era, they're documenting Mr. Jones's reckoning.
Discussion:
@egavactip, @jaredlholt, @martyderosa, @jrosenbaum, @freedlander, @jonathanweisman, @lrozen and @michaelshermer
Sara Fischer / Axios:
AP says StoryShare will expand in the coming months from geographic to topical networks, letting newsrooms share around topics like storms and gun control — “This is about giving customers the capability to launch networks and improve coverage.”
Discussion:
@norgillespie and @sarafischer
Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:
Creator+, which wants to build a film studio to produce feature-length movies by top creators and distribute them through a streaming service, raises $12M — In the words of co-founder and CEO Jonathan Shambroom, Creator+ is a new startup that will “finance, produce and distribute feature-length films …
Discussion:
Los Angeles Times, Hollywood Reporter and Variety
Fern Siegel / The Streamable:
Byron Allen launches Local Now, a free ad-supported streamer that aggregates 300+ hyperlocal channels across 225 markets in the US — Local Now, the free ad-supported streamer, has kicked off on most major platforms. Local Now aggregates and streams local news, weather, sports, traffic and entertainment in real time.
Discussion:
contextisking.com, @michellemanafy and The Wrap
Megan Graham / CNBC:
DoubleVerify, which builds software for digital media advertisers, closed up 33% on its first day of trading after its IPO, giving it a market cap of $5.3B+ — - DoubleVerify, a company that builds software for digital media, began trading Wednesday. — It attempts to help advertisers …
Discussion:
@megancgraham
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Bloomberg Media says its revenue grew ~30% YoY in Q1, as it hit more than 300,000 active subscribers, up from 250,000 in Q4 2020 — One to watch at this year's Upfront and Newfront advertising presentations (held virtually again in 2021): Bloomberg Media. — What to watch …
Discussion:
Talking Biz News, @alecmacgillis and @rafat
Robert Channick / Chicago Tribune:
Tribune Publishing sets May 21 date for shareholders to vote on a deal to sell the Chicago-based newspaper chain to hedge fund Alden Global Capital for $633M — Tribune Publishing set a May 21 date for shareholders to vote on its deal to sell the Chicago-based newspaper chain to hedge fund Alden Global Capital for $633 million.
Discussion:
@opinion_joe, @robertchannick and Talking Biz News
Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
UK's Reach says referrals to its websites from Instagram grew by more than 500% YoY in 2020 and followers across its 50 Instagram accounts grew by 40% YoY — The number of readers driven to Reach regional websites from Instagram grew by more than 500% in 2020.
Discussion:
@ed_walker86
Edmund Lee / New York Times:
Competitors like Disney+, HBO Max, and Amazon Prime Video have cut into Netflix's share of viewer attention, but the company is in its best financial shape ever — The streaming service reported the addition of four million new customers for the first quarter, below the six million it had forecast.
Discussion:
CNN, @edmundlee, Axios, @xpangler, @shakeelhashim, Collider, CNBC and Variety
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Netflix:
Netflix reports Q1 revenue of $7.16B, up 24% YoY, and 208M paid memberships, up 14% YoY but below its forecast of 210M; stock down 10%+ after hours
Discussion:
Variety, @lucas_shaw, Digiday, Quartz, Financial Times, FierceVideo, The Playlist, CNBC, @lucas_shaw, Variety, @charliebilello, MediaNama, @variety, musically.com, @lucas_shaw, @tvmojoe, @tvmojoe, @tvmojoe, @pkafka, @thestalwart, @mylesudland, Forbes, Hollywood Reporter, Junghoon's Direct Media …, The Verge, Ad Age, ZDNet, IndieWire, Light Reading, MediaPost, Protocol, TechCrunch, The Wrap, Yahoo Finance and Wall Street Journal
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