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:
@espnpr, ESPN Press Room U.S., CNN, Poynter, Columbia Journalism Review, TVNewser, @katierosman, @molllymack, @mrernestowens, @sportney_lyle, @bobbymarks42, Fox News, @bykimberleya, @nfl_dovkleiman, @travonne, @andrewmarchand, @andrewmarchand, @andrewmarchand, @phil_lewis_, The Comeback, Front Office Sports, The Sun, UPROXX, Ad Age, New York Times, NPR, Mediaite, Forbes, Awful Announcing, The Hill, Chicago Sun-Times, TVLine, Variety, Insider, Sports Illustrated and The Wrap
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:
Variety, @benmullin, Digiday, @emmarosenblum, @benmullin, @rajivpant, @kerrymflynn and axios.com
Martha Carr / New Orleans Times-Picayune:
Times-Picayune and The Advocate to receive $1M from the Ford Foundation to double the size of the papers' investigative team and expand its geographic reach — The Times-Picayune and The Advocate will receive a $1 million gift from the Ford Foundation, one of the nation's largest philanthropic funds …
Todd Spangler / Variety:
AT&T Q2: HBO Max and HBO have 67.5M subscribers, up 12M YoY; HBO Max subscription revenue grew 39% YoY to $2B; WarnerMedia income fell 11.3% YoY to $1.7B — For the second quarter of 2021, the company reported a net gain of 2.8 million total domestic HBO Max and HBO subscribers …
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.
Adi Robertson / The Verge:
The Biden administration's promise to “review” Section 230 in response to anti-vax posts on Facebook will fail since being wrong online is protected speech — ‘Reviewing’ Section 230 isn't the answer to anti-vax posts — Last week, the White House declared war …
Discussion:
The Daily Beast, Politico and Techdirt, more at Techmeme »
Reuters:
Filing: Teads, which provides automated buying and selling of online ad space, plans to raise up to $808.5M in its US IPO, at a valuation of about $5B — Advertising technology company Teads BV, owned by French telecom company Altice, said on Wednesday it aims to raise up to $808.5 million through …
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:
@dallasnews, @bycindiandrews, @ajcorchado, @mo_unique_, @markstenberg3, @charlesornstein, @marklamster, @nicole_carroll, @diannahunt, @nstockdale, @colinallredtx, @audreyhasnews, @sorayamcdonald, @sewellchan, @cassandrajar, @robcurley, @obedmanuel, @kmtorralva, @indystar, @zahiratorres, @ryanmartin, @nataliereporter, @carolynryan, @sjeanwrites, The Indianapolis Star and The Hill
RELATED:
Kayleigh Barber / Digiday:
A look at livestream shopping shows from BuzzFeed, which has put on 50+ livestreams on Amazon Live this year, including a 16-hour-long show on Prime Day — BuzzFeed is the latest media company to start experimenting with livestream shopping (aka the new, digital version of QVC) …
Discussion:
@peterhimler and @simonowens
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, @annkspencer, The Wrap, Variety and Ad Age
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.
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.
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