Mediagazer: A record 44% of the NYT's 301K new digital subscribers in Q1 were to non-news products like cooking, games, and audio (Sara Fischer/Axios)

10:50 PM ET, May 6, 2021

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Esther Crawford / Twitter:

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Victoria Lewis / WPTV:

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Benjamin Mullin / Wall Street Journal:

Sources: the Athletic is no longer in merger talks with Axios, sees the NYT as the leading merger contender, and had ~$80M in revenue in 2020 with 600 staff — Publisher's talks with Axios are no longer active; New York Times Co. seen as leading contender for tie-up

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Keith J. Kelly / New York Post:

Tribune Publishing Q1: net income of $6.1M on revenue of $173.6M; ad revenue fell 26.4% YoY, compensation expenses fell 35.8% YoY, and cash balance was $250.7M — Tribune Publishing posted a first-quarter profit but canceled its earnings call, citing the imminent completion of a deal to take the newspaper giant private.

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Makena Kelly / The Verge:

NY AG's office says fake comments, including 8.5M funded by largest US ISPs, accounted for ~18M of the 22M+ net neutrality comments received by the FCC in 2017 — The New York attorney general's office released a new report detailing the effort — The New York attorney general's office issued …

Sara Fischer / Axios:

A record 44% of the NYT's 301K new digital subscribers in Q1 were to non-news products like cooking, games, and audio — The New York Times on Wednesday said it added 301,000 new digital-only subscribers last quarter, its slowest quarter for digital subscriber growth in over a year.

Discussion: @alexthomp, @caitlinpacific, @jayrosen_nyu, American Press Institute, @kerrymflynn, @rmantri, @carlquintanilla, @nytmedia, @anthony, @kbandersen and @mattgrossmann

Melissa Guerrero / New York Times:
NYT hires its first editorial director of Games, Everdeen Mason, responsible for growing the audience and ensuring puzzles reflect and cultivate diverse voices

Discussion: @adrienneshih, @nytimeswordplay and @jennaescribe

Issie Lapowsky / Protocol:

Q&A: Facebook Oversight Board director Thomas Hughes on upholding Trump's ban, why the Board isn't a PR stunt, Facebook refusing to answer its questions, more — Following months of speculation, Facebook's Oversight Board issued a quasi-decision Wednesday in the case of former President Donald Trump's account.

Discussion: New York Times, Daily Herald, @nicoleperlroth, @therecount, @issielapowsky, @ennisnyt and New Yorker, more at Techmeme »

Oversight Board:
Facebook Oversight Board upholds Trump's suspension, but asks Facebook to review the decision within six months to determine a penalty consistent with its rules

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Margaret Sullivan / Washington Post:
The Oversight Board's decision on Trump's Facebook ban failed to send a clear message that a powerful public official can't use Facebook to endanger the public

Olivia Messer / Study Hall:

The trauma of covering the pandemic has battered journalists, and the industry is losing a generation of reporters and editors to despair and moral injury — When I told my editors at The Daily Beast that I needed to quit my job as the newsroom's lead COVID reporter, I couldn't even say the word “quit.”

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Todd Spangler / Variety:

Roku beats estimates, with a Q1 net income of $76.3M on revenue of $574.2M, up 79% YoY; new active accounts grew 2.4M, reaching 53.6M, up 35% YoY; stock up ~7% — Roku gained 2.4 million new active accounts for the first quarter of 2021, showing that the pandemic-driven streaming momentum …

Discussion: Roku, Ad Age, The Wrap and FierceVideo, more at Techmeme »

Georg Szalai / The Hollywood Reporter:

ViacomCBS Q1: 36M streaming subscribers, up 6M since Q4; streaming revenue grew 65% YoY to $816M; net earnings up 79% YoY to $899M, affiliate revenue of $2.08B — The entertainment giant, led by CEO Bob Bakish, reported higher first-quarter advertising revenue as its latest financials exceeded Wall Street expectations.

Discussion: Variety, The Streamable, Hollywood Reporter, @alexweprin, @bradmiska, @brenbrenchie, Collider, @thr, @loudmouthjulia, @tvgrimreaper, Variety, The Streamable, Light Reading, TV Technology, The Wrap and Deadline

Protocol:

Netflix is surveying users about their interest in features such as podcasts and user-generated playlists of shows and music, for a project called N-Plus — In a survey, Netflix is asking users how they would feel about a “future online space” called N-Plus. — Custom TV show playlists?

Discussion: Engadget, @lanceulanoff, @andrewmartonik, @pierce, @bizcarson and @bizcarson, more at Techmeme »

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