Top News:
Andrew Marchand / New York Post:
Maria Taylor leaves ESPN, weeks after the Rachel Nichols controversy; sources: Taylor is headed to NBC and is expected to be part of its Olympics coverage — Maria Taylor and ESPN are divorcing - and she is expected to end up with NBC and at the Olympics, The Post has learned.
Discussion:
ESPN Press Room U.S., @espnpr, CNN, TVNewser, Fox News, New York Times, NPR, @andrewmarchand, UPROXX, Mediaite, @bobbymarks42, @nfl_dovkleiman, @andrewmarchand, Ad Age, Variety, Insider, Forbes, The Wrap, @mrernestowens, @bykimberleya, TVLine, The Comeback, @katierosman, @travonne, @andrewmarchand, @phil_lewis_, The Sun, @sportney_lyle, @molllymack, Sports Illustrated, Awful Announcing, The Hill and Chicago Sun-Times
Benjamin Mullin / Wall Street Journal:
Bustle owner BDG Media is buying Some Spider Studios, which owns parent sites Scary Mommy, Fatherly, and the Dad, in an all-stock deal valuing Spider at ~$150M — All-stock deal values owner of parenting websites Scary Mommy and Fatherly at about $150 million
Discussion:
@benmullin, Variety, @emmarosenblum, @benmullin, @rajivpant, @kerrymflynn and axios.com
Ashley Carman / The Verge:
Clubhouse is no longer invite-only as it exits beta and says the 10M people on its waitlist will be added to the app over time — The app goes wide — Clubhouse is going wide. Co-founders Paul Davison and Rohan Seth announced today that the app is no longer invite-only.
Maria Halkias / Dallas Morning News:
The Dallas Morning News names Katrice Hardy of The Indianapolis Star as executive editor; she's the first woman and Black journalist to lead the newsroom — Fresh off a Pulitzer Prize winning project in Indianapolis, Katrice Hardy will take over the Dallas newsroom Aug. 12.
Discussion:
@charlesornstein, @dallasnews, The Indianapolis Star, The Hill, @bycindiandrews, @ajcorchado, @mo_unique_, @markstenberg3, @marklamster, @nicole_carroll, @diannahunt, @nstockdale, @colinallredtx, @audreyhasnews, @sorayamcdonald, @sewellchan, @cassandrajar, @robcurley, @obedmanuel, @kmtorralva, @indystar, @zahiratorres, @ryanmartin, @nataliereporter, @carolynryan and @sjeanwrites
RELATED:
Kat Stoeffel / Bustle:
Profile of Call her Daddy podcast host Alex Cooper, who left Barstool Sports for an exclusive Spotify deal that reportedly pays $60M over three years — In the third episode of what would become the fifth most popular podcas t in the United States, Alex Cooper announced that she had scored the big invite.
Geoff Mayfield / Variety:
TikTok touts two studies that show around 75% of its users discover artists on the service and around 67% seek out songs from TikTok on music streaming services — Unless you've been sleeping as long as Rip Van Winkle, you know TikTok has become the new big man on music's campus and a catalyst for pop culture.
Discussion:
Ad Age, TikTok, @ttayl0r, @mrochabrun, @mattnavarra and Music Business Worldwide, more at Techmeme »
Philip Bump / Washington Post:
Sean Hannity drew praise after urging people to “please take COVID seriously”, but Fox News' broader messaging on vaccines remains contradictory and sows doubt — That effort to sow doubt was on full display Monday night — It was a sentiment that has been heard only rarely …
Abram Brown / Forbes:
Profile of Rhett and Link, creators of YouTube daily series Good Mythical Morning who earned $20M in 2020, as they launch a $5M fund to invest in other creators — YouTube fame tends to be counted in hours, days, weeks or, possibly, months if all goes really right.
Discussion:
@rhettmc, @linkneal and Tubefilter
Katie Deighton / Wall Street Journal:
Tumblr starts testing Post+, which allows users to charge their followers a monthly fee in exchange for access to exclusive content, with Tumblr taking a 5% cut — Social platform is the latest to let users earn money from posting — Microblogging stalwart Tumblr on Wednesday began …
Discussion:
@nichcarlson, @mattzeitlin, TechCrunch, @anthony, @thestefansmith, @dollydeighton, @sub8u, Gizmodo, @arilevine, @anthony, @martinsfp and Adweek, more at Techmeme »
Kelsey Sutton / Adweek:
The Video Advertising Bureau, including Fox, ViacomCBS, and others, demands that the Media Rating Council suspend accreditation of Nielsen's ratings service — Companies have battled for months over ratings accuracy
Discussion:
MediaPost, The Wrap, @annkspencer, Ad Age and Variety
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
YouTube says it will test a new feature that will allow viewers to shop for products directly from livestream videos, starting with a few creators and brands — YouTube will begin pilot testing a new feature that will allow viewers to shop for products directly from livestream videos.
Discussion:
The Keyword, @glenngabe, MediaPost, @lanceulanoff and @dottotech, more at Techmeme »
RELATED:
Jim Waterson / The Guardian:
Ofcom launches a formal investigation into BBC's plan to bring back BBC Three to broadcast TV over concerns that it might damage commercial rivals — Corporation aims to attract younger viewers by bringing back channel, but plan has been challenged — The BBC's plan to bring back BBC Three …
South China Morning Post:
Hong Kong police arrest executive EIC of now-defunct Apple Daily, the eighth senior newspaper figure to be arrested, and detain two senior employees — Lam Man-chung is the eighth senior executive from the now-defunct newspaper to have been arrested since sweeping operation …