Mediagazer: Q&A with ad expert Eric Seufert on Meta's Q4 earnings, rising ad load, ATT, Reels, the Google-Meta duopoly, Amazon, EU regulations, Google's DOJ case, and more (Ben Thompson/Stratechery)

7:50 PM ET, February 2, 2023

Top News:

Twitter plans to discontinue free access to its API starting on February 9, ending support for both v1.1 and v2, and launch a “paid basic tier” instead — Twitter will discontinue offering free access to the Twitter API starting February 9 and will launch a paid version …

Mia Sato / The Verge:

Some former CNET employees describe Red Ventures breaking down traditional barriers between editorial and advertising and pressuring them to change stories — CNET built a trusted brand for tech reporting over two decades. After being acquired by Red Ventures, staff say editorial firewalls have been repeatedly breached.

Annie Palmer / CNBC:

Amazon reports Q4 advertising services revenue grew 19% YoY to $11.56B, vs. $11.38B est., and subscription services revenue grew 13% YoY to $9.19B — Follow your favorite stocksCREATE FREE ACCOUNT — Amazon reported earnings after the bell. Here are the results. — Earnings: $1.39 per share

Discussion: Fast Company, CNET, Variety, Amazon, Barron's Online, Deadline, Reuters, The Hollywood Reporter and Wall Street Journal, more at Techmeme »

Todd Spangler / Variety:

YouTube's ad revenue dropped 7.8% YoY from $8.63B to $7.96B in Q4, below analyst estimates of $8.2B — Alphabet, parent company of Google and YouTube, turned in fourth-quarter 2022 earnings that missed analyst estimates, as YouTube's ad revenue again notched a year-over-year decline.

Discussion: CNBC, The Verge and The Hollywood Reporter, more at Techmeme »

Ted Johnson / Deadline:

The White House Correspondents' Association announces The Daily Show's Roy Wood Jr. will host its annual dinner on April 29, saying he has “a journalistic eye” — Roy Wood Jr. will be this year's featured entertainer at the White House Correspondents' Association's annual dinner on April 29.

Discussion: Vanity Fair, White House Correspondents …, The Hollywood Reporter, @randallwoodfin, @bevysmith, The Wrap, @tamarakeithnpr, The Hill, @warondumb, @tiareports, Politico, CNN and New York Daily News

Jon Swartz / MarketWatch:

Alphabet reports Google advertising revenue down 4% YoY from $61.2B to $59B, below analyst estimates of $60.4B, and Google Search revenue down 2% YoY to $42.6B — Alphabet Inc.'s stock initially slipped in extended trading Thursday after it missed slightly on revenue and earnings in a ho-hum quarterly result.

Discussion: Alphabet, Fast Company, The Wrap, New York Times, Reuters, Skift, TVNewsCheck, SiliconANGLE and 9to5Google, more at Techmeme »

Karissa Bell / Engadget:

TikTok revamps its account enforcement system, including a new strike system meant to address “repeat offenders”, bringing its policy in line with its peers' — TikTok is trying to make it easier for creators and others to navigate its rules, and understand what's happening to their accounts.

Discussion: TikTok, Gizmodo, Social Media Today and TechCrunch, more at Techmeme »

Aisha Majid / Press Gazette:

An analysis of 68 news domains: 45 ranked worse in UK Google search results in January 2023 vs. January 2022; those with non-news content saw the biggest gains — Data from SEO experts Sistrix reveals big losses for news domains in organic search in 2022. — News websites saw a significant drop …

Discussion: @chippy and @pressgazette

Ben Thompson / Stratechery:

Q&A with ad expert Eric Seufert on Meta's Q4 earnings, rising ad load, ATT, Reels, the Google-Meta duopoly, Amazon, EU regulations, Google's DOJ case, and more — An interview with Eric Seufert about Meta's earnings, the ATT recession, new European regulations, and the DOJ-Google antitrust case.

Discussion: @roe__men, @eric_seufert and Mobile Dev Memo

Jim Friedlich / Nieman Reports:

About two dozen current and prospective journalism funders and practitioners met to work on a roadmap for US local news, encouraging more funding collaborations — A gathering of current and prospective journalism funders and practitioners seeks to reinvent local news as civic information in service of communities

Discussion: Nieman Lab, @ckrewson, @jimfriedlich, @nancygibbs and Free Press

Matthew Keys / The Desk:

The owners of 160+ local CBS affiliates pull their signals from FuboTV after its parent company Paramount excluded them from retransmission fee negotiations — Several independent owners of broadcast television stations affiliated with CBS pulled their signals from streaming service Fubo TV …

Thanks:@thedeskdotnet

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Apple reports Q1 revenue for its Services segment, which includes Apple TV+ and Apple Music, grew 6.4% YoY to $20.8B, a quarterly record but with slower growth — Apple revenue declined 5% in the year-end 2022 quarter amid iPhone manufacturing disruptions, falling short of Wall Street's sales estimates …

Discussion: @loudmouthjulia, The Wrap, Apple Inc., @loudmouthjulia, @loudmouthjulia, 9to5Mac, Deadline and The Hollywood Reporter, more at Techmeme »

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More News:

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McClatchy names Miami Herald and el Nuevo Herald Executive Editor Monica Richardson as VP of News for Large Markets; Alex Mena will replace her in the interim

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Mizanur Rahman / Houston Landing:
Houston Landing, a free, independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit, digital-only news outlet, which raised a $20M seed in 2022, announces a spring website launch

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Sarah Scire / Nieman Lab:
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Discussion: Columbia Journalism Review, @niemanlab, @johnycassidy and Ad Age

Samantha Cole / VICE:
Netflix Japan used AI art in its The Dog & The Boy short, citing a “labor shortage” in the anime industry, which has long faced labor abuses and poor wages

Discussion: Engadget, @grady_booch, Fortune, @joshanimator, @janusrose, Mashable, Ars Technica and Polygon, more at Techmeme »

Nancy Tartaglione / Deadline:
Sony Pictures reports Q3 operating income down 86% YoY to ~$179M and leaves its full-year forecast unchanged at ~$894M; Music revenue rose 23% YoY to ~$2.83B

Discussion: Bloomberg, The Wrap, Financial Times, The Verge, Variety and The Hollywood Reporter, more at Techmeme »

Bryan Curtis / The Ringer:
A profile of James McNicholas, who covers Arsenal for The Athletic and has an acting career that includes starring in the BBC's Horrible Histories and Ted Lasso

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Earlier Picks:

Emily Bary / MarketWatch:
SEC filing: Comcast sold 5,726,385 BuzzFeed shares from January 30 to February 1 as BuzzFeed's stock surged, leaving the company with 19.97% of BuzzFeed's stock

Discussion: The Wrap, The Hollywood Reporter and @matthewkeyslive

Lizzie Johnson / @lizziejohnsonnn:
[Thread] After the murder of Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter Jeff German, The Washington Post picked up and finished his work on an alleged $500M Ponzi scheme

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Reeves Wiedeman / Vulture:
As documentaries boom, filmmakers, their subjects, and the bill-paying streamers wrestle with questions of ethics, money, and control, amid shrinking budgets

Max Tani / Semafor:
The US DOJ charges former ABC News foreign correspondent James Gordon Meek over the alleged transportation of CSAM; the FBI raided Meek's home in April 2022

Sara Fischer / Axios:
Memo: BDG Media suspends Gawker operations and CEO Bryan Goldberg says the company will cut 8% of its full-time staff after “a surprisingly difficult” Q1 2023

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From Techmeme:

Kent Walker / The Keyword:
Google says the DOJ's “wildly overbroad proposal goes miles beyond the Court's decision”, would hurt US consumers, and jeopardize the US' global tech leadership

Jay Peters / The Verge:
Adam Mosseri says Threads is rebalancing ranking to prioritize content from people that users follow, warns that creators' “unconnected” reach may go down

Paige Smith / Bloomberg:
The CFPB will supervise tech companies with digital wallets, like Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Venmo, with 50M+ annual transactions, treating them more like banks

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