Top News:
Gilad Edelman / Wired:
Mozilla's analysis says Facebook's justifications for cutting off access to researchers running NYU's Ad Observatory project “simply do not hold water” — The company says privacy concerns forced it to block access for a team of academics. Whose privacy, exactly?
Discussion:
The Mozilla Blog, Platformer, Bloomberg, The Verge, @arzugeybulla, ZDNet, @giladedelman, @rebekahktromble, @sachp, @tarletong, NPR, The Register and MediaPost, more at Techmeme »
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Bloomberg:
Facebook says it has disabled the accounts, apps, Pages, and access to its APIs for researchers running NYU's Ad Observatory Project, citing TOS violations — - Company says researchers of political ads were scraping data — NYU's Ad Observatory got cease-and-desist letter last October
Discussion:
@lauraedelson2, Wall Street Journal, About Facebook, Knight First Amendment …, The Markup, Protocol, @lauraedelson2, VICE, @ronwyden, @kurtwagner8, TechCrunch, @ryanpoon88, @alexgibneyfilm, @authorpmbarrett, Forbes, @aaschapiro, @jameeljaffer, @cyber4democracy, @alexanderabdo, @juliaangwin, @knightcolumbia, @cendemtech, @econliberties, @leah_nylen, @tonyromm, @defenddemocracy, @bostonjoan, Common Dreams, @johnbattelle, @jason_kint, @mathewi, @michellemanafy, @carolecadwalla, @pernillet, @joshrudes, @ct_bergstrom, @jameeljaffer, @clearing_fog, Metacurity, @lauraedelson2, @lauraedelson2, @snurb_dot_info, @jonkeegan, @jonathanmayer, @brooklynmarie, @hshaban, @daviduberti, @rmac18, @blackamazon, @caseynewton, @fboversight, @bgrueskin, @kurtwagner8 and The Verge, more at Techmeme »
Michael M. Grynbaum / New York Times:
Sources: CNN execs floated the idea of a temporary leave for Chris Cuomo in May if he wanted to formally advise his brother on reacting to sex harassment claims — Chris Cuomo, the top-rated host, left some colleagues confused after he did not acknowledge the calls for Gov. Andrew Cuomo's resignation during his Tuesday show.
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Nia Prater / New York Magazine:
NY AG report: Chris Cuomo of CNN sent an email that appeared to be a draft PR release for his brother, Andrew, when harassment claims against the governor arose
Discussion:
Vanity Fair, BuzzFeed News, New Republic, @davidklion, @ahmalcolm, @johncusack, New York Post, @spj_tweets, @nycsouthpaw, @arianapekary, Substack, Today in Tabs, Insider, Mediaite, @keitholbermann, The Hill, @variety, @loopemma, @jackmirkinson, @davidminpdx, @davidklion, @danarubinstein, @juliareinstein, @joparkerbear, @davidmackau, @iamntyrell, @janicedean, @cfidd, @kashfida, @nadineyousif_, @jessehawken, @bytomfrank, @nycsouthpaw, @juliareinstein, @joshsternberg, @jeffreyguterman, Hollywood Reporter, Variety, Associated Press, Deadline, Breitbart, Fox News, New York Times and New York Post
Ashley Carman / The Verge:
HBO Max plans to release a Batman podcast, Batman: The Audio Adventures, as an in-app exclusive, despite the app lacking standard audio player features — Batman: The Audio Adventures comes out this fall — The HBO Max team wants its app to not just be the place people find big movie premieres but podcasts, too.
Discussion:
Podcast Movement, @kerrymflynn, @ashleyrcarman, @efeng, @domcorriveau, @natjarv, @ashleyrcarman, @blast0rama, @dcseifert, @ashleyrcarman, @reckless and CNET
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Catie Keck / The Verge:
HBO Max is offering a selection of 13 free pilot episodes in-app to attract new subscribers
Discussion:
How-To Geek, Pressroom, FierceVideo and ResetEra
Edmund Lee / New York Times:
NYT beats Q2 expectations with $93M adjusted operating profit on $499M revenue; 8M subscribers, 142K new digital subscribers; online revenue up 41% YoY to $261M — The company expects to end the year with about 8.5 million. In its quarterly results, it reported holding nearly $1 billion in cash.
Discussion:
@sarafischer, @cliffordlevy, @kerrymflynn, @nytimespr, MediaPost, @nytimesbusiness, @davecoion, @natsfert, @billritter7, @duncanrobinson, @retheauditors, @retheauditors, @retheauditors, @hblodget, @wblau, insideradio.com, @craigsilverman, @mattietk, @pewresearch, @lanceulanoff, @mathewi, @kerrymflynn, @callmedhir, @robenfarzad, @kerrymflynn, @simonowens, @kerrymflynn, @kerrymflynn, @jimcramer, Nieman Lab, @marclacey, @sarafischer, Poynter, The Hill and The Wrap
Brian Steinberg / Variety:
ViacomCBS Q2: net income of $1.04B on $6.6B revenue; 6.5M new streaming subscribers for 42M total; new deal with Sky will bring Paramount+ to Europe in 2022 — ViacomCBS said second quarter profit rose as advertisers spent more robustly on its media assets and the company saw new revenue from a host of streaming initiatives.
Discussion:
The Streamable, The Wrap, Variety and Business Wire
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Subscription digital outlet Puck debuts its site puck.news, will formally launch in Sept., has hired Dylan Byers, Matt Belloni, and others as founding partners — Puck, a splashy new digital media company, is coming out of stealth mode, Axios has learned. The company debuted its landing page …
Discussion:
@ben_landy, @mattzeitlin, @harrymccracken, @scottnover, @mattbelloni, @rmc031, @kerrymflynn, @teddyschleifer, @seangriffey, @jaredbkeller, @teddyschleifer, @waywardwinifred, @jeffjarvis, @tina_nguyen, @jessicalessin, @brooke, @stphnfwlr, @tina_nguyen, @joepurzycki, @niemanlab, @pucknews, @teddyschleifer, @pucknews, @mattbelloni, @juliaioffe, @dylanbyers and @sarafischer
StreetInsider.com:
Penn National Gaming, which owns Barstool Sports, is buying betting and media company theScore for approximately $2B in cash and stock — Penn National Gaming, Inc. (Nasdaq: PENN) (and Score Media and Gaming, Inc. (Nasdaq: SCR) announced today that they have entered into a definitive agreement …
Discussion:
Bloomberg, @mkerns, @ericfishersbg, @pngaminginc, @richlightshed and @sarafischer
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Roku beats with Q2 total net revenue of $645M, up 81% YoY, reaching 55.1M active accounts, up 1.5M QoQ, and 17.4B streaming hours, down 1B QoQ; stock drops 8%+ — Roku easily beat Wall Street forecasts for second-quarter 2021 earnings — posting record 81% revenue growth …
Discussion:
@xpangler, The Wrap, @business, MediaPost, The Streamable, Bloomberg and Adweek, more at Techmeme »
Oskar Serrander / Acast:
Podcast network Acast says 14M Americans listen to its shows per month, it's home to 28K shows total, of which 25% are US-based, and it's paid $110M to creators — How Acast became the global independent power source of podcasting — Acast opened up for business in the US just over four years ago.
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Amazon's free, ad-supported streaming service IMDb TV arrives on iOS and Android, more than two years after launching — More than two and a half years after IMDb launched its free, ad-supported streaming service, IMDb TV is now available on iOS and Android mobile devices.
Discussion:
The Streamable, MacRumors and FierceVideo, more at Techmeme »
Kate Kaye / Digiday:
Examples from California's AG for Consumer Privacy Act enforcement seem to indicate companies can't rely solely on ad trade groups' blanket opt-out tools — For more than a year advertisers and publishers had few clues for detecting how California regulators would enforce the state's privacy law.
Discussion:
@chronotope, @profcarroll and @privacymatters
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