Mediagazer: AP says StoryShare will expand in the coming months from geographic to topical networks, letting newsrooms share around topics like storms and gun control (Sara Fischer/Axios)

5:30 PM ET, April 21, 2021

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, @caseynewton, @howardlindzon, @keleftheriou, @ericpaulgeorge, @dalmaer, @stratechery and Platformer, more at Techmeme »

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, PRX Official, @simonowens, @ashleyrcarman, Supporting Cast, Nathan Gathright, Castos, Complete Music Update, musically.com, @patreon, @kylekashuv, @kantrowitz, What's New in Publishing, @grovesprof, @jbenton, @nicktheandersen, One Man & His Blog, @gauravchoudhury, @aexm, @karaswisher, @caseynewton, @kevin_indig, @cheriehu42, TechCrunch, “Questioni d'o …, @chrismessina, @ashleyrcarman, @alexeheath, @prodanstatev, @theshortboxjax, @lanterncast, @achangeoftune, 9to5Mac, @chrismessina, @nprextra, @sidharthajha, @pkafka, @sims, @itstreverr, @ow, @godfree, @simonowens, @ashleyrcarman, @heyheyesj, @simonowens, @lucas_shaw, @lucas_shaw, Mumbrella, RAIN News, AppleInsider, ScreenRant, Gizmodo, CNET, Wall Street Journal, MacRumors and Reuters

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, Yahoo Finance, @tsimonite, @lanceulanoff, @ediggs and @adweek, 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 …

Discussion: Deadline, @frankpallotta, The Wrap, Hollywood Reporter, AIPT, @variety, @zaib_shaikh, @zeitchikwapo, @masasoncap, @loudmouthjulia, @entstrategyguy, @loudmouthjulia, @eternalsnews, @lucas_shaw and @richlightshed

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, TechCrunch, @sepinwall, Hollywood Reporter, @xpangler, @caro, @jeremarketer, The Verge, Adweek, The Streamable, WORLD SCREEN, Bloody Disgusting! and Cord Cutters News

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

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

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: Variety, Los Angeles Times and Hollywood Reporter

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

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

Sahil Patel / Wall Street Journal:

NBCUniversal hires Nielsen exec Kelly Abcarian as its first EVP of measurement and impact, and says it is spending $100M+ annually on data and tech initiatives — The media giant is spending more than $100 million annually on data and technology initiatives

Discussion: Variety, @beet_tv, @sizpatel and @lindayacc

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

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, Variety and New York Times

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

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Output Producer, CA — AP

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More News:

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

Discussion: @opinion_joe, @robertchannick and Talking Biz News

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
Editor of UK's Sunday Times apologizes after a front page story about Prince Philip's funeral claimed the public “secretly enjoyed” his racist gaffes

Discussion: @stopfundinghate, @pressgazette, Insider, @okwonga, The Independent and The Guardian

Alison Flood / The Guardian:
Simon & Schuster refuses to cancel a seven-figure book deal for Mike Pence's memoir, after staff open letter accused the publisher of “legitimising bigotry”

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Insider, @jasonleopold, The Week, @oliverdarcy, @bencjacobs, @markpaultimes and Bookseller News

Wall Street Journal:
Researchers: fraudsters spoofed an average of 650M online ad placements per day by infecting ~1M mobile devices with software that mimicked streaming apps

Discussion: @newley, @telecomsense, @profcarroll, @asharma, Company News, @acfou and @patiencehaggin, more at Techmeme »

Hollywood Reporter:
Verizon Media reports Q1 revenue of $1.9B, up 10.4% YoY, its first quarter of YoY growth since Yahoo acquisition in 2017; FiOS TV lost 82,000 subscribers

Discussion: MarketWatch, Barron's Online, Verizon, Variety, FierceVideo and ZDNet

Earlier Picks:

Rebecca Davis / Variety:
Reporters Without Borders ranks China fourth to last out of 180 countries on its 2021 World Press Freedom Index, citing “grave threat” to Hong Kong journalism

Discussion: TIME, @sophia_yan, Washington Post, @michaelsalamone, The Conversation, Editor and Publisher, @withmeaa, Associated Press and Reporters Without Borders

Aubrey Allegretti / The Guardian:
UK government drops plans for US-style TV briefings; press secretary Allegra Stratton will become Boris Johnson's spokeswoman on the climate change summit Cop26

Discussion: @thattimwalker, @theobuttphilip, Press Gazette, @tomstaniford and @thattimwalker

Manuel Roig-Franzia / Washington Post:
Profile of Dan Bongino, a Trump supporter who leads lists of shared Facebook posts, has a thriving YouTube channel, and will fill Limbaugh's radio spot in May

Discussion: @alice_crites, @cowbellguy19, @rogertansey, @paufder, @four4thefire, @roigfranzia, @derekahunter, @roigfranzia, @roigfranzia, @ztpetrizzo, Above the Law, Associated Press and Abernathy Road

Editor and Publisher:
Publishers of 125 US newspapers have filed or announced suits against Google and Facebook, claiming the tech giants illegally monopolized the digital ad market

Discussion: Editor and Publisher, American Press Institute, @dcnorg, @jason_kint, @jason_kint, @johnpgarrett, @raju, @wvgazettemail, @baekdal and Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

From Techmeme:

Wall Street Journal:
Gina Raimondo says holding back China in the chips race is a “fool's errand”, and investment, more than export controls, will keep US ahead of Beijing

Timothy B. Lee / Ars Technica:
Exploring the scaling challenges of transformer-based LLMs in efficiently processing large amounts of text, as well as potential solutions, such as RAG systems

Reuters:
Albania bans TikTok for a year from January 2025, part of a broader plan to make schools safer following the killing of a 14-year-old near a school in November

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