Top News:
Hamish Morrison / The National:
Report: BBC chairman Richard Sharp helped Boris Johnson secure a loan of £800,000 just weeks before the former prime minister recommended him for the job — BBC chairman Richard Sharp reportedly helped Boris Johnson secure a loan of £800,000 just weeks before he was recommended for the role by the then-prime minister.
Discussion:
The Sunday Times, @gabriel_pogrund, The Guardian, @samcoatessky, @snellarthur, The Sun, @pippacrerar, @arusbridger, @annettedittert, @dianecoyle1859, @simonmccoytv, @brucemcd23, @maitlis, @gabriel_pogrund, @pickardje, @martinsfp, @campbellclaret, @mrjamesob, @sangitamyska, @peterjukes, @evansthecrime, @gabriel_pogrund, @mikegalsworthy, @anna_soubry, @peterjukes, @harryyorke1, @shonamurray_ and @greenrupertread
Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:
Q&A with Netflix co-CEOs Greg Peters and Ted Sarandos about shared leadership, what role Reed Hastings may play, adding FAST channels, the ad tier, and more — So that's what an orderly transfer of power looks like. — While Disney chief Bob Iger ousted every potential threat …
Discussion:
Insider, @laceyvrose, @lucas_shaw, @kirstenacuna, Reuters, CBR, Broadband TV News, Free Press Journal, Media Play News, Engadget, Fast Company, CNN, The Guardian, The Streamable, The Desk, The Hill, Vanity Fair, IndieWire, Variety, Deadline, TechCrunch, The Information, Ad Age, WORLD SCREEN, Axios and CBS News, 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:
The Streamable, The Drum, Screen Rant, GameSpot, The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, Insider, CBR, The A.V. Club 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%
Discussion:
Variety, Netflix, @richlightshed, Wired, Tubefilter, Next TV, GameSpot, Front Office Sports, @richlightshed, The Hollywood Reporter, @matthewkeyslive, @felixsalmon, The Register, Thurrott, Light Reading, Insider, Axios, GeekWire and The Verge
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
Discussion:
About Netflix, @reedhastings, @loudmouthjulia, The A.V. Club, @raydalio, New York Times, @gerberkawasaki, The Playlist, @carnage4life, Insider, @tvgrimreaper, @film_girl, @samro, @pythianism, @mattbelloni, @wholemarsblog, Quartz, GameSpot, The Indian Express, Forbes, Music Ally, CNBC, AdExchanger, Rappler, The Information, Breitbart, Deadline, Adweek, SlashFilm, Bloomberg, The Wrap, Los Angeles Times, Observer, Cord Cutters News, Media Play News, CBS News, New York Daily News, The Verge, Radio & Television … and Wall Street Journal
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:
@molly_knight, @vox_union, @sarafischer, New York Times, The Information, @jason, @davidsirota, @natalieweiner, @terriciccone, @sarafischer, @gmgunion, @jasoncolavito, @muizz_akhtar, @megmccarron, @walsha, @atrupar, @dada_drummer, @saramorrison, @jeffrueter, @the_bonnfire, @jimlaporta, @henereyg, @sokane1, @paulzeise, @levirstev, @benjones_5, @jasonschreier, @hearstunion, @emilyvdw, @qualityrye, @starsstripesfc, @wusijiex, @nowthisunion, @daviddoel, @mbolotnikova, @jorcru, @michaelnagrant, @alex_kirshner, @blazindw, @matchstickscgy, @kerrymflynn, @jayasax, @oliverdarcy, The Hollywood Reporter, 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, The Prism, The Guardian, @trungtphan, @kevincollier, @hootsuite, Digital Music News, @sowmyak, @doctorow, @itsjoekent, @nikbroduff, @kathmschmidt, @_shamgod, @egavactip, @forbes, @aginnt, @ebakerwhite, @ebakerwhite, @matthewfoldi, @michaelsobolik, @daveleeft, @ebakerwhite, @lollardfish, @paulszoldra, @morgan_sung, @davemcclure, @dellcam, @katienotopoulos, @iblametom, @chinmayiarun, @forbes, @mattnavarra, @forbes, @jeffjarvis, The Verge, Watch Me Write, Adweek, Gizmodo, The Information, Insider and The Wrap
Kayleigh Barber / Digiday:
A year in, Axios Pro has 3,000+ paid subscribers who generated ~$2M in revenue; Axios publisher Nick Johnston says total 2022 revenue was in the $50M-$60M range — Axios launched its subscription business, Axios Pro, in January 2022 and within that first calendar year …
Discussion:
@rafat
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, GeekWire, Seeking Alpha and 901am, 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 …
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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
Discussion:
@velocciraptor, Jefferson Graham's …, Futurism, @gamingonlinux, @eulken, @eulken, @bowtiedtetra, @eulken, @kevin_indig, @chafkin, @shashj, @shashj, @pkedrosky, @smashdawg, @peterkirn, @itsdancrowd, @jjvincent, @jjvincent, @vahn16, @paleofuture, @alexeheath, @matthewkeyslive, @ehananoki, @matthewkeyslive, @plognark, @emilymbender, @davekarpf, @janusrose, @taylormooresays, @firstadopter, @tristanacooper, @danielleri, Talking Biz News, @morewillie, Futurism, @misscp, @jake_k, The Drum, Gizmodo, @alng@journa.host and Talking Biz News
Ariel Shapiro / The Verge:
Listen Notes: ~219K podcasts were created in 2022, down nearly 80% from a peak of ~1M in 2020 and lower than the pre-pandemic high of ~337K in 2019 — Hope you all had a great weekend! We've got some big Hot Pod Summit updates for you all, as well as the latest in audio news.
Discussion:
Listen Notes, Blubrry Podcasting and Podstack
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.
Discussion:
@markcoddington, @sethclewis, @mayerjoy and @janebsinger
Ashutosh Joshi / Bloomberg:
Indian government asks Twitter and YouTube to take down videos and tweets about a BBC documentary on 2002 religious riots in Modi's home state of Gujarat — The Indian government has asked social media giants Twitter Inc. and Alphabet Inc.'s YouTube to take down videos and tweets …
Discussion:
The Indian Express, UPI, @kanishka183, Free Press Journal, Scroll.in, @narundarm, Al Jazeera, Reclaim The Net, @awryaditi, TechCrunch, Variety and MediaNama
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:
@rafat, @chrisbrogan, @tvgrimreaper, @benmullin and @benmullin
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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