Top News:
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:
Adweek, @ebakerwhite, Insider, The Wrap, @stokel, Gizmodo, The Information, @aginnt, @michaelsobolik, @daveleeft, @ebakerwhite, @lollardfish, @chinmayiarun, @mattnavarra, @forbes, @forbes, @davemcclure, @jeffjarvis, @dellcam, @katienotopoulos, @paulszoldra, @morgan_sung, @iblametom 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:
Engadget, @josourcing, @blackamazon, @imavip, @miarsato, @smsicard, @juwanthewriter, @jaredbkeller, @miarsato, 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, Talking Biz News, Futurism, Futurism, @eulken, @eulken, @kevin_indig, @vahn16, @shashj, @chafkin, @eulken, @itsdancrowd, @jjvincent, @bowtiedtetra, @smashdawg, @jjvincent, @shashj, @pkedrosky, @peterkirn, @paleofuture, @alexeheath, @matthewkeyslive, @ehananoki, @matthewkeyslive, @plognark, @emilymbender, @davekarpf, @janusrose, @taylormooresays, The Drum, @firstadopter, @tristanacooper, @danielleri, @morewillie, @misscp, @jake_k, @alng@journa.host, Talking Biz News, Gizmodo and The Register, more at Techmeme »
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 — Netflix's landmark entry into ad-supported streaming, which began last November, is off to a “solid” …
Discussion:
Insider, The Streamable, Screen Rant, The Hollywood Reporter, The Drum, Variety, GameSpot, CBR and Forbes
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Sarah Whitten / CNBC:
Netflix reports Q4 revenue up 1.9% YoY to $7.85B, $55M net income, down from $607M YoY, 231M paid memberships, adding 7.66M subscribers vs. 4.57M expected
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
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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, The Hollywood Reporter, The Streamable, GameSpot, IndieWire, TV Insider, CBR, @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.
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@vox_union, New York Times, @oliverdarcy, @molly_knight, The Information, The Hill, @jasoncolavito, @muizz_akhtar, @megmccarron, @walsha, @sarafischer, @atrupar, @dada_drummer, Deadline, @daviddoel, @jeffrueter, @blazindw, @the_bonnfire, @jayasax, @nowthisunion, CNN, @starsstripesfc, @matchstickscgy, @mbolotnikova, @wusijiex, The Wrap, @michaelnagrant, The Wrap, @hearstunion, @qualityrye, @kerrymflynn, @jorcru, @emilyvdw, @jimlaporta, @alex_kirshner, Bloomberg and Variety
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, Reuters, Quartz and 901am, more at Techmeme »
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:
@pressgazette, @theodalisque, @pressgazette, The Spain Report and The Present Age
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:
@tvgrimreaper, @benmullin and @benmullin
Jagmeet Singh / TechCrunch:
India releases rules on social media influencers and virtual avatars promoting products without disclosing payment, adding an up to ~$12.3K fine for violations — As the market of social media influencers is getting bigger in India, the South Asian nation has introduced endorsement guidelines …
Discussion:
YouTube, Hindustan Times, MediaNama, The Indian Express, Free Press Journal and The Guardian, more at Techmeme »
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:
Complete Music Update, Billboard, 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
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:
TechCrunch and The Streamable
The Hollywood Reporter:
Penske Media and Japan's Hersey Shiga Global launch The Hollywood Reporter Japan, which will offer translated entertainment industry news and original reporting — The Tokyo-based entertainment publication will include significant industry news translated from THR's flagship website …
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