Top News:
Catie Keck / The Verge:
HBO Max is offering a selection of 13 free pilot episodes in-app to attract new subscribers — Lovecraft Country, Harley Quinn, and Game of Thrones included — HBO Max is offering free episodes to potential new subscribers in-app and free of charge so they can take its more popular series …
Discussion:
How-To Geek, FierceVideo, Pressroom and ResetEra
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Ben Bowman / The Streamable:
HBO Max is no longer available on Amazon Prime Video as WarnerMedia seeks a direct relationship with users — HBO Max continues to assert its independence from its old streaming partners. If you look for the service on Amazon Prime Video, you won't find it anymore. — We knew this was coming.
Discussion:
Variety, Ad Age, @richlightshed, Adweek, /Film, MediaPost and Too Much TV Newsletter
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:
@natjarv, CNET, @kerrymflynn, @ashleyrcarman, @efeng, @domcorriveau, @ashleyrcarman, @blast0rama, @dcseifert, @ashleyrcarman and @reckless
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.
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@sarafischer, @cliffordlevy, MediaPost, @nytimespr, @kerrymflynn, insideradio.com, Nieman Lab, Poynter, @davecoion, @retheauditors, @kerrymflynn, @mathewi, @kerrymflynn, @natsfert, @jimcramer, @hblodget, @callmedhir, @marclacey, @lanceulanoff, @craigsilverman, @robenfarzad, @kerrymflynn, @sarafischer, @retheauditors, The Hill, @retheauditors, @mattietk, @kerrymflynn, @duncanrobinson, @wblau, @simonowens, @pewresearch and The Wrap
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 …
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
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Wall Street Journal, @lauraedelson2, About Facebook, Knight First Amendment …, The Markup, VICE, Protocol, @lauraedelson2, Forbes, @kurtwagner8, NPR, Common Dreams, @ronwyden, @johnbattelle, @authorpmbarrett, @aaschapiro, @alexanderabdo, @jason_kint, @carolecadwalla, @juliaangwin, @knightcolumbia, @michellemanafy, @cendemtech, @econliberties, @leah_nylen, @mathewi, Metacurity, @pernillet, @joshrudes, @ct_bergstrom, @jameeljaffer, @clearing_fog, The Verge, @lauraedelson2, @lauraedelson2, @snurb_dot_info, @jonkeegan, @jonathanmayer, @brooklynmarie, @hshaban, @daviduberti, @rmac18, @blackamazon, @caseynewton, @fboversight, @bgrueskin and @kurtwagner8, more at Techmeme »
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 …
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.
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Sources: Politico employees are mounting an effort to unionize with NewsGuild — Members of Politico's newsroom are actively mounting an effort to unionize with the NewsGuild, sources tell Axios. — Why it matters: Politico's newsroom is one of the largest newsrooms to have resisted organizing efforts in the past.
Discussion:
@niemanlab, @ckrewson, @mollyhc, @mattdpearce, @joshtpm, @greenhousenyt, @sarafischer, @sarahkaplan48, @mikeallen, @hcjewell, @brfreed, @oliverdarcy, @willricci and @abeaujon
Christine Mungai / Nieman Lab:
A look at nine-person pan-African outlet The Continent, which sends out a free weekly PDF to 11,000 subscribers on WhatsApp and Signal — In Africa and much of the global South, the spread of rumors, hoaxes, and calculated “fake news” primarily happens on WhatsApp, whose closed network …
Discussion:
@chris_mungai, @simonallison, @baraaruglibrary, @thatboykhalifax, @risj_oxford, @siphokings, @janelytv and @chris_mungai
The Daily Beast:
Jezebel EIC Julianne Escobedo Shepherd is resigning later this month to write a book; her departure follows several other recent exits by top staff at G/O Media — The women-focused site is losing its top editor—yet another exit in a months-long series of departures.
Discussion:
@megreenwell, @hexpositive, @timmarchman, @offbeatorbit, @bubbaprog, @mehpatrol, @ballaban, @jawnita, @annamerlan, @ellieshechet, @stephentotilo and @lea
Tim Baysinger / The Wrap:
Fox Corp. reports Q4 revenue of $2.89B, with affiliate revenue up 10%, ad revenue in its TV segment up 51%, and cable ad revenue up 17% in the quarter — Fox reported surpassed revenue and earnings expectations from Wall Street on Thursday. — For the quarter ending June 30, 2021 …
Discussion:
Deadline, Variety, PR Newswire, Broadcasting Cable, @robpegoraro, @jbflint and @jbflint
Emma Graham-Harrison / The Guardian:
Open letter signed by British newspapers and broadcasters asks UK to include Afghans who have worked for UK media in its refugee visa program for Afghans — Newspapers and broadcasters send open letter to Boris Johnson raising safety fears about locals who did vital work for the west
Discussion:
Press Gazette, Human Rights Watch and @_emmagh
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