Top News:
Ben Smith / New York Times:
Sources: Ozy Media co-founder Samir Rao impersonated a YouTube exec on a Goldman Sachs call ahead of a $40M deal; Rao is back at Ozy after time off — The digital media company has raised eyebrows for its claims about its audience size for years. Then came the strange voice on the phone.
Discussion:
@carloswatson, @banikarim, @mattzeitlin, @chsommers, @paultassi, @jasonschreier, @pkedrosky, @esaagar, Today in Tabs, Gawker, @moorehn, @nickconfessore, @matt_levine, @katie_robertson, @hamiltonnolan, @melissajourno, @hshaban, @dgisserious, @hayesbrown, @lachlan, @bubbaprog, @hilella, @bendwalsh, @rafat, @felixsalmon, The Wrap, @davidmackau, @seanspicer, @annehelen, @caseyjohnston, @owillis, @sonnybunch, @brianstelter, @davidfolkenflik, @timodc, @s_m_i, @rmac18, @oliviasolon, @jbarro, @craigsilverman, @jodyavirgan, @edmundlee, @foxcahn, @cliffordlevy, @nickbilton, @lwoodhouse, @sonnybunch, @dandrezner, @maxseddon, Mediaite, @trungtphan, @banikarim, @grahamstarr, @vincemancini, @moorehn, @nickconfessore, @caseynewton, @netw3rk, @joshuatopolsky, @digitalshields, @danprimack, @justinsink, @tonyromm, @davidfolkenflik, @jimwaterson, @bydanielvictor, @genepark, @banikarim, @pkafka, New York Post, @lea, @kevinmdraper, The Wrap and Boing Boing
Todd Spangler / Variety:
YouTube says it will cut YouTube TV's fee by $10/month and drop NBCUniversal channels if it can't reach a deal with NBCU by September 30 — Another carriage fight has burst into public view: NBCUniversal on Sunday said it was notifying customers with YouTube TV that more than 14 of its networks …
Discussion:
YouTube Official Blog, The Streamable, The Verge, 9to5Google, @lukebk, @pkafka, Hollywood Reporter, TechCrunch, @nbcphiladelphia, Pocketnow, @dsilverman, Gizmodo, Too Much TV Newsletter, Android Police, @xpangler, The Streamable, Cord Cutters News, Fast Company, @chrisbarnestech, Light Reading, 9to5Google, MediaPost, Cord Cutters News and Awful Announcing
Todd Spangler / Variety:
TikTok says it now has 1B MAUs — TikTok says it has crossed a key milestone: The social video app claims it now counts more than 1 billion monthly active users. — TikTok is the successor to Musical.ly, the short-form video app that was acquired by Chinese internet giant ByteDance in 2017 …
Sara Guaglione / Digiday:
Axios Local plans to expand into 11 new markets by Q3 2022, for a total of 23, and says its 14 newsletters have about 400K subscribers — Axios is popping up local news-focused newsletters across the country, with ambitious plans to be in 23 markets in 2022.
Discussion:
@raju, @michelemclellan, @djtweets and @ted_williams
The New York Times Company:
NYT launches The New York Times Corps, a talent pipeline program where journalists give early college students career guidance over a multi-year period — The New York Times is launching a first-of-its-kind talent pipeline program for early-college students to receive career guidance from Times journalists over a multiyear period.
Discussion:
Nieman Lab, @marclacey, @theotypes, @theotypes, @migold, @pr_johnson, @rar, @alexlaughs, @jessicalessin, @cliffordlevy, @mickimaynard and @wudanyan
Tatiana Cirisano / Billboard:
NMPA drops its $200M copyright lawsuit against Roblox and strikes a partnership with the company to let NMPA members reach individual music licensing deals — A week after signing a long-awaited agreement with Twitch, the National Music Publishers' Association (NMPA) has struck a deal with Roblox …
Discussion:
PC Gamer, Engadget, Forbes, musically.com, The Verge, @billboard, Variety and Music Business Worldwide, more at Techmeme »
RELATED:
Igor Bonifacic / Engadget:
Warner Music signs a deal to use Twitch's new content reporting system and launch dedicated Twitch channels for its artists — terms with the National Music Publishers' Association (NMPA), Twitch has — signed a deal with Warner Music Group. In partnering with the record label …
Discussion:
Billboard and Music Business Worldwide, more at Techmeme »
Wall Street Journal:
Spotify begins a campaign to win more advertisers, rebranding its ad business as Spotify Advertising, focusing on SMBs, and expanding its podcast marketplace — The audiostreaming company wants to appeal to new advertisers and publishers in a new campaign titled “All Ears on You”
Discussion:
insideradio.com, @sjgoldstein and TechCrunch
James Hercher / AdExchanger:
Google says it will no longer use last-click attribution as the default conversion model in Google Ads, and will default to “data-driven attribution” instead — “Because of how we've been improving and training our data-driven attribution models, we've eliminated [that] previously existing requirement,” she said.
Discussion:
The Keyword, MediaPost, @adsliaison, The Drum, @zachcoelius, @scottcowley, MarTech, @zambros_it and @jameshercher, more at Techmeme »
Todd Bishop / GeekWire:
A look at episodic story services like Amazon's Kindle Vella; Apptopia says combined IAP revenue of top 7 services grew 50% YoY to $12M/month in May and July — - Amazon's Kindle Vella spotlights the growing market for episodic stories, designed for mobile devices, unfolding as larger narratives over time.
Travis Bernard / TechCrunch:
TechCrunch renames its membership product to TechCrunch+ and says it plans to expand it to most major startup ecosystems in the world next quarter — Extra Crunch has a new name — We're changing the name of our membership product to TechCrunch+. We're doing so for a few reasons …
Discussion:
@dasjoshua, @yoda, @travisbernard, @alex, @michellemanafy and @ron_miller
Alexandra Steigrad / New York Post:
Sources: MSNBC staff are worried over its direction under Rashida Jones, fearing that she's gearing up for a costly and potentially disastrous battle with CNN — MSNBC staffers are panicking over the direction of the left-leaning news network under newly minted President Rashida Jones …
Discussion:
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