Mediagazer: Casey Newton reflects on two years of Platformer, which has ~75K subscribers, “thousands” of paid subscriptions, and a New York Times podcast debuting October 7 (Casey Newton/Platformer)

Top News:

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

YouTube unveils Creator Music, which lets creators browse a catalog and use songs by buying rights or sharing revenue, launching out of beta in the US this fall — In addition to the groundbreaking news that YouTube would begin to monetize Shorts videos and revamp its Partner Program …

Discussion: MediaPost, more at Techmeme »

Karissa Bell / Engadget:

YouTube plans to expand its Partner Program to give 45% of Shorts ad revenue to creators with 1,000+ subscribers and 10M views on Shorts within a 90-day period — YouTube just made a major change to its Partner Program that will allow its short-form video creators to make a lot more money from its platform.

Discussion: TechCrunch, Adweek, Ad Age, Tubefilter and 9to5Google, more at Techmeme »

J. Clara Chan / The Hollywood Reporter:

Spotify launches a US audiobook service with 300K titles from major and independent publishers; users purchase and download individual books to play in its app — The audio giant, which is offering 300,000 audiobooks for purchase at launch, is positioning its books service as separate …

Discussion: Spotify, CNET, TechCrunch, Variety, Android Police, Los Angeles Times, The Bookseller, Deadline, @mackcollier, Publishing Perspectives and @emmabostian, more at Techmeme »

Scott Feinberg / The Hollywood Reporter:

NBC plans to air the 80th Golden Globes awards on January 10, 2023, as part of a one-year agreement to let the HFPA “explore new opportunities” for distribution — The TV network announced on Tuesday that it is bringing the awards ceremony back to its airwaves on Tuesday …

Discussion: Variety, Deadline, SlashFilm, Breitbart, New York Times, Adweek, IndieWire, TVLine, Vanity Fair, Los Angeles Times, The Wrap, New York Daily News and GoldDerby

Jesse Whittock / Deadline:

Fox re-enters the international distribution business with sales unit Fox Entertainment Global; its international sales arm in 2019 was integrated into Disney's — Fox Entertainment is re-entering the international distribution business by launching a sales unit ahead of Mipcom Cannes next month.

Discussion: Axios, Next TV and C21Media

Sara Fischer / Axios:

The Atlantic's first film and first series are airing soon on Peacock, part of a wider licensing push; the outlet has 12 more projects optioned or in production — The Atlantic is pushing aggressively into film and TV projects as part of a wider licensing revenue push.

Discussion: @pressgazette, @bgrueskin, @sarafischer, @nxthompson, @joshsternberg and @simonowens

Nicole Gaudiano / Insider:

A new book says that under White House pressure, Fox News' Bret Baier emailed the network's president during the 2020 election to urge calling Arizona for Trump — - Fox News anchor Bret Baier “was ready to give into” pressure from Trump after the network said he lost Arizona, new book says.

Garett Sloane / Ad Age:

Walmart Connect partners with TikTok, Snap, and Roku to measure how social media and CTV ads affect sales and to help brands with targeting and attribution — Retailer has partnerships with platforms to help P&G, L'Oreal, Samsung and J&J with targeting and attribution

Discussion: Insider, Marketing Brew, AdExchanger, MediaPost, Next TV, @garettsloane and Adweek

Pew Research Center:

Survey of US adults: 31% get news on Facebook, 25% on YouTube, 14% on Twitter, 13% on Instagram, and 10% on TikTok; a third of TikTok users get news on the app — Digital news has become an important part of Americans' news media diets, with social media playing a crucial role in news consumption.

Discussion: TechCrunch, Adweek, @jeremybowers, @ali_lev, @themediaisdying, @johngramlich, @elanazak, @pewresearch and @brockm, more at Techmeme »

Georg Szalai / The Hollywood Reporter:

Q&A with SkyShowtime CEO Monty Sarhan on growth, content, and more; the service debuted in the Nordics and arrives in the Netherlands and Portugal on October 25 — “We are launching with really attractive price points” and offering “a minimum of 30 movies a year,” Monty Sarhan says in an interview …

Discussion: @thr, C21Media, Broadband TV News and Advanced Television

Cordilia James / Wall Street Journal:

Closed captions on videos are used widely by people under 40 years old, going beyond accessibility and translation to improve understanding and aid multitasking — As automatic captioning on TikTok and creative audio descriptions on Netflix go mainstream, so does accessibility — Closed captions are cool now.

Discussion: @joannastern, @mattnavarra, @chloealbanesius, @itstheannmarie and @sub8u

Sara Fischer / Axios:

Time launches CO2 by Time, a sustainability division featuring projects to help companies offset their carbon emissions and fund climate-friendly activities — Time is launching a sustainability division called “CO2 by Time” that will offer companies tools that go beyond just offsetting their carbon emissions.

Discussion: @keithgrossman