Top News:
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Verizon Communications is exploring a sale of its media assets, including Yahoo and AOL, which could yield a price of $4B-$5B — Private-equity firms including Apollo are among possible bidders for Verizon media assets, sources say — Verizon Communications Inc. is exploring …
Discussion:
Awful Announcing, Talking Biz News, The Wrap, The Hill, @aripap, @raju, @harrymccracken, @samthielman, @timkarr, Bloomberg, Insider, @sarahintampa, @nichcarlson, @mims, @gorditamedia, @reckless, @karlbode, @kerrymflynn, @readdanwrite and @alex, Thanks:@thekenyeung
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Spotify says podcast listening hit an all-time high in Q1, crediting The Joe Rogan Experience; Spotify had 2.6M podcasts at end of Q1, up from 2.2M in Q4 2020 — Spotify reported results for the first quarter of 2021 in line with expectations, with total revenue up 16% — helped by 46% uptick in ad sales.
Discussion:
@alexpattyy, CNN, Media Matters for America, CNN, PolitiFact, Hollywood Reporter, Noahpinion, Variety, VICE, Vanity Fair, @aweiss, @ketanj0, @alantudyk, @ashleyrcarman, @donie, @dcseifert, RAIN News, @amy_siskind, @kerrymflynn, @pastemagazine, @ericboehlert, @nliddle16, @mercola, @kerrymflynn, @kerrymflynn, The Hill, The Week, Fast Company and New York Post
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Kerry Flynn / CNN:
Q&A with Máuhan “M” Zonoozy, hired as Spotify's first head of innovation earlier this year, about rise of live social audio, podcasting's inflection point, more
Discussion:
@ayachiitaki, @kerrymflynn, @peterwsinger, The Verge and The Daily Beast
Anne Steele / Wall Street Journal:
Spotify reports Q1 profit of €23M, up from €1M a year earlier, revenue of €2.15B, up 16% YoY, 356M MAUs, up 24% YoY, and 158M paid subscribers, up 21% YoY
Discussion:
Spotify, @kerrymflynn, The Wrap, @kerrymflynn, AppleInsider, @kerrymflynn, @kerrymflynn, @kerrymflynn, @kerrymflynn, @kerrymflynn, 9to5Mac, Financial Times, Axios, The Verge and Spotify, more at Techmeme »
Alex Sherman / CNBC:
WarnerMedia will charge $9.99/month for its ad-supported tier of HBO Max debuting in June; it now charges $14.99 for the ad-free tier, same as its pay-TV add-on — - HBO Max will charge $9.99 per month for its advertising-supported streaming service, which will launch in June, sources say.
Discussion:
Insider, The Streamable, The Wrap, Gizmodo, @stevekovach, Bloomberg, The Verge, Engadget and Cord Cutters News
Shoshana Wodinsky / Gizmodo:
An Oracle EVP, Ken Glueck, was suspended by Twitter for 12 hours after tweeting contact information for an Intercept reporter covering Oracle's ties to China — A tweet from Oracle Executive VP Ken Glueck goading his followers into harassing a female reporter was found to violate Twitter's policies …
Rick Edmonds / Poynter:
USA Today has quietly started putting some of its stories behind a paywall with a $4.99/month digital-only subscription — Gannett's flagship national paper quietly started to put some of its premium stories behind a paywall. A subscription costs $4.99 a month.
Discussion:
@poynter, @raju, @bradydale, @jbenton and @rickedmonds
Jennifer Elias / CNBC:
YouTube is on pace to book between $29B and $30B in revenue in 2021, equaling Netflix's expected revenue of $29.7B for the year — - YouTube is on pace to bring in annual revenue comparable to Netflix's. — The Google-owned video platform is seeing a rise in more traditional television advertisers.
Discussion:
@carlquintanilla, @carnage4life, @mediaevan, @sspencer_smb, @megancgraham, @adamsinger and The Bamboo Splinter, more at Techmeme »
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Laura Italiano / @italiano_laura:
[Thread] NY Post reporter resigns, saying she was ordered to write an incorrect story that claimed a book by Kamala Harris was included in migrant welcome kits — An announcement: Today I handed in my resignation to my editors at the New York Post.
Discussion:
@italiano_laura, New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, @zeynep, @ddale8, @ddale8, Washington Post, Forbes, MSNBC, @benyt, Media Matters for America, @wolfe321, The Daily Beast, @sahilkapur, @mollyjongfast, @ilvestoomas, Boing Boing, @tomwatson, @joncoopertweets, theslot.jezebel.com, @amy_siskind, @italiano_laura, @goangelo, @karaswisher, @daveweigel, NewsOne, @isaacdovere, @michaelharriot, @lynnv378, The Full Belmonte, Mediaite, @glennkesslerwp, @juliancastro, @steveschale, @ktumulty, @transscribe, @edlavacnn, @sarah_boxer, @peterjukes, @dangillmor, @jayrosen_nyu, @keitholbermann, @j0ncampbell, @bradmossesq, @markjacob16, @rizzotk, @keitholbermann, @richazzopardi, New York Post, @scarylawyerguy, The Guardian, @alkapdc, @jaredlholt, @daveweigel, @fpwellman, Insider and The Wrap
Shen Lu / Protocol:
Profile of Chinese AI-driven aggregator News Break, which says it has 45M MAUs and is finding success in the US through a sharp focus on local news — It's the most downloaded news app in the world — and the content it carries is entirely local. In the U.S., it drives more traffic than all but three apps.
Discussion:
@emilybell, @emilyrauhala, @zeyiyang, @justinhendrix, @shenlulushen and @kerrymflynn
Laura Spinney / Columbia Journalism Review:
Some publications are increasingly passing the legal risk of investigative work to freelancers with contracts requiring them to cover potential court costs — Two years before reporting on Harvey Weinstein's serial abuse spawned the global #MeToo movement, Michael Balter, a science journalist …
Discussion:
@thekimkavin, @lfspinney, @lfspinney, @gwill29 and @lfspinney
Alex Weprin / Hollywood Reporter:
Apple says it has 660M subscriptions for music, TV, and other services on its platform; Apple Q2 Services revenue hit a record $16.9B, up from $13.3B a year ago — The tech giant's overall revenue hit $89.6 billion, up 54 percent from a year prior. — Apple's services business is off to a hot start in 2021.
Discussion:
Variety, AppleInsider, @xpangler and iMore, more at Techmeme »
Mike Juang / Ad Age:
TV consortium OpenAP debuts OpenID, a new identifier to help brands target audiences across both linear and digital TV — OpenID is a step in moving TV advertising to ID-based targeting — TV consortium OpenAP is looking to do what it's done for standardizing audience segments …
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, @beet_tv, @alexbruell, FierceVideo, Radio & Television …, MediaPost, AdExchanger and Variety
Brian Steinberg / Variety:
Discovery reports Q1 revenue of $2.79B, up 4% YoY, with net income down 63% to $144M, and it now has 15M paying subscribers worldwide to its DTC services — Discovery revealed the big challenge behind getting involved in the media industry's streaming wars: A new broadband hub can bring …
Discussion:
Hollywood Reporter, @thestreamable, Ad Age, @bristei, MediaPost, Cord Cutters News, The Wrap and The Streamable
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