Top News:
Anna Nicolaou / Financial Times:
Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings steps down as co-CEO but plans to stay on as executive chair; the company promotes COO Greg Peters to co-CEO with Ted Sarandos — Streaming company names new leadership as it looks to reset after ‘tough year’ in 2022 — Reed Hastings is stepping …
Discussion:
About Netflix, @reedhastings, The A.V. Club, @raydalio, New York Times, The Playlist, Reuters, @gerberkawasaki, Insider, Quartz, GameSpot, @carnage4life, CNBC, @tvgrimreaper, @film_girl, @samro, @pythianism, @mattbelloni, @wholemarsblog, The Indian Express, Forbes, Broadband TV News, Music Ally, AdExchanger, Free Press Journal, Rappler, The Information, Breitbart, Media Play News, Deadline, Engadget, Adweek, Fast Company, SlashFilm, CNN, The Guardian, The Streamable, The Desk, The Hill, Vanity Fair, Variety, The Wrap, IndieWire, Los Angeles Times, Bloomberg, Observer, TechCrunch, Cord Cutters News, Ad Age, New York Daily News, CBS News, WORLD SCREEN, The Verge, Axios, Radio & Television … and Wall Street Journal, more at Techmeme »
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Dade Hayes / Deadline:
Netflix's ad-supported tier is off to a “solid” start, says new co-CEO Greg Peters; CFO Spence Neumann estimates the ad tier will be about 10% of future revenue
Discussion:
Insider, The Drum, The Hollywood Reporter, The Streamable, GameSpot, Variety, CBR and Forbes
Sarah Whitten / CNBC:
Netflix Q4: revenue up 1.9% YoY to $7.85B, $55M net income, down from $607M YoY, and 231M paid memberships, adding 7.66M vs. 4.57M est.; stock closed up 8.46%
Emma Roth / The Verge:
Netflix plans to roll out paid password sharing “more broadly” in Q1 2023 and expects some “cancel reaction” before an improvement in overall company revenue
Discussion:
Wired, GameSpot, IndieWire, CBR, The Hollywood Reporter, TV Insider, The Hollywood Reporter, The Streamable, @sherman4949, MacRumors, The A.V. Club, Gizmodo, CNET and Media Play News
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Memo: Vox Media is laying off 7% of its staff, or ~133 people, across editorial, revenue, operations, and core services, after cutting 39 positions in July 2022 — Vox Media is laying off 7% of its staff, according to a memo sent internally from CEO Jim Bankoff, obtained by Axios.
Discussion:
@vox_union, @sarafischer, New York Times, @molly_knight, The Information, @oliverdarcy, @sarafischer, @jason, @daviddoel, @jeffrueter, @megmccarron, @henereyg, @sokane1, @saramorrison, @blazindw, @davidsirota, @gmgunion, @atrupar, @the_bonnfire, @jayasax, @paulzeise, @nowthisunion, @starsstripesfc, @matchstickscgy, @mbolotnikova, @wusijiex, @levirstev, @jasoncolavito, @michaelnagrant, @benjones_5, @hearstunion, @qualityrye, @dada_drummer, @jasonschreier, @kerrymflynn, @walsha, @natalieweiner, @muizz_akhtar, The Hollywood Reporter, @jorcru, @emilyvdw, @jimlaporta, @alex_kirshner, The Hill, Deadline, The Wrap, CNN, The Wrap, Bloomberg and Variety
Emily Baker-White / Forbes:
According to six employees and an internal doc, TikTok and ByteDance staff engage in “heating”, or inflating video view counts, to court influencers and brands — TikTok and ByteDance employees regularly engage in “heating,” a manual push that ensures specific videos …
Discussion:
@ebakerwhite, @stokel, @itsjoekent, Digital Music News, @michaelsobolik, The Verge, @daveleeft, @chinmayiarun, @mattnavarra, @matthewfoldi, @forbes, @forbes, @aginnt, @ebakerwhite, @trungtphan, Watch Me Write, @davemcclure, @jeffjarvis, @forbes, @dellcam, @katienotopoulos, @lollardfish, @sowmyak, @paulszoldra, @morgan_sung, @ebakerwhite, Gizmodo, @nikbroduff, @iblametom, @egavactip, Adweek, @ebakerwhite, @_shamgod, The Information, Insider, The Wrap and Ad Age, more at Techmeme »
Mia Sato / The Verge:
In a staff call, CNET and Red Ventures executives said they were pausing AI-generated content on CNET and other websites and detailed their proprietary AI tool — The call, which lasted under an hour, was held a week after CNET came under fire for its use of AI tools on stories …
Discussion:
The Desk, @smsicard, @riptari, Engadget, @juwanthewriter, @imavip, @colinnorthpole, @jaredbkeller, @miarsato, @josourcing, @miarsato, @blackamazon, Second Guess and Talking Biz News, more at Techmeme »
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The Verge:
Source: CNET owner Red Ventures has used AI tools like Wordsmith to write stories for at least a year and a half, causing unease amid layoffs and restructuring — Fake bylines. Content farming. Affiliate fees. What happens when private equity takes over a storied news site and milks it for clicks?
Discussion:
@velocciraptor, Futurism, @eulken, @eulken, @kevin_indig, @gamingonlinux, @chafkin, @eulken, @bowtiedtetra, @shashj, @shashj, @pkedrosky, @smashdawg, @peterkirn, @itsdancrowd, @jjvincent, @jjvincent, @vahn16, @paleofuture, @alexeheath, @matthewkeyslive, @ehananoki, @matthewkeyslive, @plognark, @emilymbender, @davekarpf, @janusrose, Talking Biz News, @taylormooresays, Futurism, @firstadopter, @tristanacooper, @danielleri, @morewillie, @misscp, @jake_k, The Drum, Gizmodo, @alng@journa.host, Talking Biz News and The Register
Ronan Shields / Digiday:
Sources: Google is directing advertisers to work with third-party resellers directly to reduce its ad services overhead and position itself as a SaaS outfit — Alphabet today has confirmed that it plans to cut 12,000 jobs, reportedly the largest round of layoffs in its history …
Discussion:
The Keyword, Seeking Alpha and 901am, more at Techmeme »
Benjamin Mullin / New York Times:
An interview with Vice Media CEO Nancy Dubuc on her and investors' plans to sell the company; source: Vice had ~$600M revenue in 2022, below its $700M target — Vice, which has struggled to achieve profitability in recent years, has formed a special committee to find suitors.
Discussion:
@benmullin, @tvgrimreaper, @chrisbrogan and @benmullin
Nieman Lab:
In interviews with 16 US whistleblowers who contacted journalists between the 1970s and 2010s, about half say the media is antagonistic and not a good partner — There is perhaps no more studied — or worried-about — dimension of news over the past five to ten years than the decline of media trust.
Bron Maher / Press Gazette:
Twitter is testing a feature for verified journalists that adds their publication's logo, linked to the outlet's main Twitter account, next to blue checkmarks — Twitter reached out to the Mirror offering it the chance to take part in the beta test. — Twitter is testing a new feature …
Discussion:
@jason_kint, @pressgazette, @leguape, @theodalisque, @pressgazette, The Present Age and The Spain Report
Kantar:
Study: in Q4 2022, the number of US video streaming households rose 2.5M to 115.6M and sports events drove a record 9% of new streaming service subscriptions — Netflix with Ads has a slow start to its launch — Kantar's Entertainment on Demand study in the US uncovers the following behaviours within …
Discussion:
@a_g_haubner, TechCrunch and The Streamable
Andy Maxwell / TorrentFreak:
The Delhi High Court issues an interim order requiring local ISPs to block 18 stream ripping websites that let users download copyrighted music from YouTube — In a September 2022 blog post, YouTube's Global Head of Music revealed that in the 12 months between July 2021 and June 2022 …
Discussion:
Billboard, Complete Music Update, Music Ally and Music Business Worldwide
Horowitz Research:
Horowitz Research: 71% of password sharers would pay full price for Netflix, 51% for HBO Max, 49% for Amazon Prime Video, 47% for Disney+, and 46% for Hulu — As Netflix cracks down on password sharing, a new study by Horowitz Research suggests that the decision may not spell doom and gloom for the service.
Discussion:
Observer, The Streamable and CNET
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