Mediagazer: Real-time TV ad measurement service iSpot.tv raises $325M from Goldman Sachs and says it had $75M in 2021 revenue, up from $51M in 2020 (Megan Graham/Wall Street Journal)

7:10 PM ET, April 27, 2022

Top News:

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Discussion: Variety, Comcast, New York Times, Ad Age, TechCrunch, MediaPost, Deadline, @davidlaz, The Streamable, @comcast, @alexweprin, Light Reading, CNET, @ajitpai, The Verge, Media Play News, @benmullin, Engadget, Cord Cutters News and Next TV

Ashley Carman / Bloomberg:

Spotify Q1: revenue rose 24% YoY to €2.66B, including €282M from ads, up 31% YoY; paid subs rose 15% YoY to 182M, despite losing 1.5M in Russia; stock down 12%+ — Spotify Technology SA has spent more than a billion dollars in an effort to become the No. 1 name in podcasting …

Kim Masters / Hollywood Reporter:

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Discussion: @kimmasters, @de_kosnik, @hedgeyecomm, The Hot Button, @great_katzby, @lindaholmes, @thefienprint, @alexweprin, @masasoncap, @aysrick, @richlightshed, @realityblurred, @loudmouthjulia and @dianalunareja

Dell Cameron / Gizmodo:

Twitter confirms banning the promotion of HBO documentary Q: Into the Storm in 2021 via its ad platform, alongside QAnon account removal and content limiting — Twitter told the director of “Q: Into the Storm” it had “made the decision not to allow promotion of this documentary” when he tried to advertise the film.

Discussion: @dellcam, @joeuscinski, @stphnmaher, Newslit Daily, @blakersdozen, @justinhendrix, @rothschildmd, @bmarchetich, @jeremymbarr, @mattmillsphoto, @cullenhoback and @anthony, more at Techmeme »

Megan Graham / Wall Street Journal:

Real-time TV ad measurement service iSpot.tv raises $325M from Goldman Sachs and says it had $75M in 2021 revenue, up from $51M in 2020 — The firm helps marketers track whether their ads spurred a visit to their website or a purchase. The new funding is the latest in a flurry of deals around TV ad metrics

Discussion: iSpot.tv, Insider, Beet.TV, @megancgraham, @loupas, @zachservideo, @ispottv, Bloomberg, Deadline, @airgups23, @nickcicero, @stahura, Barrett Media, Ad Age, Next TV, GeekWire, The Hollywood Reporter and MediaPost, more at Techmeme »

Washington Post:

The WHCA turned down an offer to install UV devices to fight transmission of the coronavirus at its dinner on Saturday, for which it has sold 2,600 tickets — White House correspondents rebuff proposal to install special lights to stop viral spread — More than 2,000 journalists …

Jim Waterson / The Guardian:

BBC DG says it will cut the number of programs it makes and consider turning more stations into archive services, as it looks for £285M in annual savings — Tim Davie suggests more stations could become archive services, as he prepares to announce deep cuts

Discussion: @jimwaterson

Manish Singh / TechCrunch:

Viacom 18, which runs several TV channels and streaming services in India, raises $1.78B led by Bodhi Tree, a partnership between James Murdoch and Uday Shankar — The Indian conglomerate Reliance and Viacom18 have inked a strategic partnership with Bodhi Tree, an “investment platform” …

Discussion: Variety, @refsrc and Business Today

Mark Bergen / Bloomberg:

YouTube starts testing ads on Shorts, including app-install ads and other promotions; Google says that Shorts now has 30B daily views — YouTube is testing advertisements on Shorts, its short-form video feature that competes with TikTok and Instagram, Google's chief business officer told investors on Tuesday.

Discussion: 9to5Google, Tubefilter, The Verge, PhoneArena, MediaPost, @stevekovach, Engadget and Variety, more at Techmeme »

Jennifer Rankin / The Guardian:

The European Commission proposes measures to protect journalists and campaigners working to expose corruption and wrongdoing from “manifestly unfounded” SLAPPs — Anti-Slapp directive would also enable EU states to refuse to recognise judgments passed in UK

Discussion: @mafevema, @jennifermerode, @uk_domain_names and Reporters Without Borders

Nicholas Diakopoulos / Columbia Journalism Review:

A deep dive into predictive journalism, the value of computational methods in news media, developing a responsible journalistic practice of prediction, and more — EXECUTIVE SUMMARY — Whether it's who is going to win an upcoming election, how a pandemic will unfold next month …

Discussion: @janebsinger, @ndiakopoulos and @micahcohen

Jennifer Maas / Variety:

GeekWire co-founder Jonathan Sposato launches JoySauce Network, an ad-supported, “American Asian”-focused multimedia platform — GeekWire co-founder Jonathan Sposato has launched JoySauce Network, a new ad-supported multimedia platform aimed at the “American Asian” audience and its allies, Variety has learned exclusively.

Discussion: GeekWire

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Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:
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Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
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Cecilia D'Anastasio / Bloomberg:
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Sara Fischer / Axios:
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Tom Ambrose / The Guardian:
The Mail on Sunday editor rejects a meeting with the House of Commons speaker about a story saying Labour's Angela Rayner distracted Boris Johnson with her legs

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Twitter has aggressively defended users' privacy and free speech rights, pushing back on unmasking subpoenas; it's unclear if this will continue under Musk

From Techmeme:

Dan Mangan / CNBC:
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David DiMolfetta / Nextgov/FCW:
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The US Senate confirms former SEC Commissioner Paul Atkins as SEC chair, succeeding Gary Gensler; Atkins is widely expected to support crypto-friendly policies

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