Top News:
Andrew Marchand / New York Post:
Sources: MLB and Barstool Sports are in talks about a deal to create a new type of broadcast of national midweek games with a focus on in-game gambling — Major League Baseball and Barstool Sports have had significant negotiations about having national midweek games on the site's platforms, The Post has learned.
Discussion:
@prof_gabriele, @markjburns88, @jay_jaffe and @natalieweiner
George Gene Gustines / New York Times:
A number of popular comic book creators, including DC Comics' James Tynion IV and Marvel's Nick Spencer, join Substack — A group of creators will publish new comic book stories, essays and how-to guides on the platform as a way to connect directly with fans.
Lizzie Widdicombe / Vogue:
Profile of Jen Psaki, who some White House reporters credit with “lower[ing] the temperature” even as her briefings are not “exceptionally informative” — It's a summer Friday. President Biden is at his Delaware beach house, where he delivered a brief speech about that morning's encouraging jobs numbers.
Discussion:
@noahshachtman, @brianstelter, @sabrinasingh46, @jacoblongstl, @emilylgoodin and @kmunoz46
Samuel Danzon-Chambaud / Columbia Journalism Review:
How nine news outlets used automation for reporting on the pandemic, from continuously updated charts to automated stories sent to Slack for journalists' review — For all the news organizations that have adopted automated journalism over the last decade or so, the COVID-19 pandemic …
Discussion:
datajournalism.com, American Press Institute, @gijn and @danzonchambaud
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Roku adds 23 more Quibi shows to The Roku Channel and says Nielsen estimates it ranked as the No. 6 streaming channel by household reach in the US in June — On Aug. 13, the company will premiere 23 new Roku Originals (each of them from Quibi's library) exclusively on the Roku Channel to stream for free with ads.
Discussion:
Ad Age, Awful Announcing, Adweek, The Streamable, The Wrap, @xpangler, Light Reading, CNBC, @gerryfsmith, @claireatki and deadline.com
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Instagram says it is testing ads in its Shop tab, starting with select US-based advertisers — Instagram is further investing in its e-commerce business, Instagram Shops, with the launch of a new advertising product, Ads in Instagram Shop. The company says it's currently testing the new format …
Discussion:
Ad Age and The Guardian, more at Techmeme »
Scaachi Koul / BuzzFeed News:
Profile of Trisha Paytas, one of the internet's most prolific trolls with over 5M subscribers on YouTube, who claims to have an income of $800,000 per month — For nearly 15 years, Trisha Paytas has been one of YouTube's most prolific and complicated creators. Now they say they're done trolling — or are they?
Discussion:
@fraying, @buzzfeednews, @scaachi, @anoushasakoui, @wsteaks, @isaacfitzgerald, @scaachi, @believekarolina, @kattenbarge, @scaachi, @taylorlorenz, @mathewi and @taylorlorenz
Azi Paybarah / New York Times:
How Gov. Cuomo's hometown paper The Albany Times Union's anti-off-the-record stance put it on a collision course with the notoriously press-controlling governor — The Times Union's strait-laced, minimal-schmooze, no off-the-record principles put it on a collision course with the notoriously press-controlling governor of New York.
Scott Deveau / Bloomberg:
Activist investor Dan Loeb says his optimism of Disney+ has borne out, calls for Disney theatrical content to stream on Disney+ for no extra fee on release day — Activist investor Dan Loeb is calling on the Walt Disney Co. to do more to leverage its leadership position in sports …
Discussion:
The Streamable, @brasstackscap, ValueWalk and @business
Nathanael Cooper / Sydney Morning Herald:
Universal Music and Sony Music are conducting separate investigations into workplace culture at their Sydney offices — Normal text sizeLarger text sizeVery large text size — Universal Music has become the second record label to launch an investigation into inappropriate behaviour at its Australian office.
Discussion:
Variety, @nathanaelcooper, @nathanaelcooper and Complete Music Update
Georg Szalai / Hollywood Reporter:
Dish Network reports Q2 revenue of $4.49B, up from $3.19B YoY; pay TV subs dropped by 67K, compared to a 96K drop in Q2 2020, as Sling TV added 65K subs — The company, led by chairman Charlie Ergen and CEO Erik Carlson, gained Sling TV users, but lost Dish TV customers.
Discussion:
The Streamable, The Streamable, MediaPost, Light Reading and PR Newswire
Julia Fioretti / Bloomberg:
Sources: Cloud Village, the music streaming arm of Chinese gaming giant NetEase, is postponing the launch of its $1B Hong Kong IPO — - Cloud Village tested investor demand for the IPO last week — Tech shares have been hit by Chinese regulatory clampdown
Discussion:
Reuters, more at Techmeme »