Mediagazer: Document: Twitter plans to exempt its top 500 advertisers and 10K most-followed, previously verified organizations from paying $1,000 per month for a checkmark (New York Times)

10:25 AM ET, March 31, 2023

Top News:

The NYT, LAT, and WaPo won't buy Twitter Blue; NYT, LAT, BuzzFeed, and Politico won't reimburse reporters for it, but Semafor and some other small outlets will — BuzzFeed isn't ponying up, but for other outlets, paying might make sense. — Pranav Dixit

Discussion: @oliverdarcy, @jbenton, Vox, @maxwelltani, @oliverdarcy, @jessespector, @rmac18, @roslyntalusan, @bdherzinger, @thekidskoob, @ryangrim, @claire_goforth, @thomaschattwill, @timfullerton, @skooks, @paleofuture, @boydhilton, @davidclinchnews, @williamshatner, @stevelackmeyer, @ndrew_lawrence, @stevanzetti, @dancow, @moorehn, @andrewmarchand, Boing Boing, @mattnavarra, @roslyntalusan, The Wrap, @katebevan, @studentactivism, @bobmoorenews, @johniadarola, @mikeisaac, @tinu, @helenkennedy, @kt_so_it_goes, @cfidd, @pkafka, @charles_gaba, @dellcam, @hammancheez@c.im, @scottnover, @benjysarlin, @wfkars, @chrismessina, @kimmasters, @bruce_arthur, @scottnover, @scalzi, @ewong, @jacobrubashkin, @nicosgonzalez, @andybcampbell, @joshtpm, @themaxburns, @moorehn, @adrianweckler, @wtfis2bdone, @ryanhanrahan, @lxeagle17, Awful Announcing, Social Media Today and CNN, more at Techmeme »

New York Times:

Document: Twitter plans to exempt its top 500 advertisers and 10K most-followed, previously verified organizations from paying $1,000 per month for a checkmark — Mr. Musk requested a meeting with Lina Khan, the chair of the F.T.C., which has been investigating Twitter's privacy and data practices.

Discussion: Variety, Insider, @brynstole, The Information, @jeffjarvis, @catrambo, @melaynalokosky, @matthewkeyslive, @cagoldberglaw, The Hill, Search Engine Land, CNN and @oliverdarcy, more at Techmeme »

Alyssa Boyle / AdExchanger:

A new bipartisan Senate bill, almost identical to a 2022 bill, would force companies with $20B+ in annual digital ad revenue to sell part of their business — Say hello to the US government's latest attempt to force antitrust regulations on the digital advertising industry. — It might sound familiar.

Discussion: AdExchanger, @senmikelee, Reuters, @swodinsky, Mike Lee US Senator for Utah, Marketing Brew, Digiday, NetChoice, @dcnorg, @jason_kint, @jason_kint, @digiphile and @berinszoka

Futurism:

BuzzFeed quietly started publishing fully AI-generated SEO-driven travel posts by non-editorial staff on March 14; a spokesperson calls the posts an experiment — Earlier this year, when BuzzFeed announced plans to start publishing AI-assisted content, its CEO Jonah Peretti promised the tech would be held to a high standard.

Aisha Malik / TechCrunch:

YouTube adds Shorts data to its Total Reach metric for artists and says fan-created Shorts increased the average artist's unique viewers by 80%+ in January 2023 — YouTube announced today that it is expanding its Analytics for Artists tool by adding YouTube Shorts related data to the ‘Total Reach’ metric …

Discussion: YouTube Official Blog, Complete Music Update, @nealmohan, Communicate Online, @mattnavarra, Tubefilter, Music Ally, Billboard and Forbes

Rebekah Valentine / IGN:

ESA cancels E3 2023, after Microsoft, Nintendo, Sony, and Ubisoft announced they would not attend the event originally scheduled for June 13 to June 16 — The show “did not garner the sustained interest necessary” — Almost a year after announcing its return, the Entertainment Software …

Sara Fischer / Axios:

Sources: crypto outlet The Block has laid off roughly one-third of staff, including interim CEO Bobby Moran, and promoted head of research Larry Cermak to CEO — The Block, a crypto media company that got caught up in a funding scandal related to disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried …

Jeremy Fuster / The Wrap:

UCLA's Hollywood Diversity Report finds that among 2022's top 100 original streaming films, 64% had casts with at least 30% POC vs. 57% for theatrical films — The share of women and people of color in key positions on theatrical releases slide back to 2019 levels in latest annual report

Discussion: @indiewire, @dranachristina, @beingjanine, AllYourScreens.com, New York Daily News and @thewrap

Bloomberg:

Russia's Federal Security Service detains Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich on suspicion of “espionage in the interests of the American government” — Russia's Federal Security Service said it detained Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich in Yekaterinburg …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, New York Times, The Desk, Associated Press, Wall Street Journal, Reuters, The Moscow Times, @polinaivanovva, Fox News, CNN, Axios, @repmcgovern, @sulliview, @congressmanraja, @nytimes, @francescaebel, @dylanbyers, @govmurphy, @billbrowder, The Daily Beast, @pressfreedom, @dylanbyers, @presssec, @christopherjm, CNBC, @dwnews, @maxseddon, @pressfreedom, @maxseddon, @pressfreedom, @michaeldweiss, @sarahrainsford, @annanemtsova, @shustry, @asluhn, @lindakinstler, @jazzedloon, @georebekah, @jimsciutto, @jfberke, @kevinrothrock, @r__politik, @neilphauer, @kevinrothrock, @neilphauer, @felix_light, @leonidragozin, @neilphauer, @lolgop, @brendancarrfcc, @freedomofpress, @timobrien, @tpcarney, @rohded, @newsguild, @mgongadze, @clancyreports, @natashabertrand, @jeffsonnenfeld, @followtheh, @billpascrell, @akurmanaev, @mattmcbradley, @oliverdarcy, @domenpresern, @kaitlancollins, SABEW, @billbrowder, @domenpresern, @moorehn, Financial Times, The Guardian, European Federation …, MediaPost, The Hill, New York Post, New York Magazine, New York Daily News, Committee to Protect …, The Guardian, Washington Post and Reuters

Ben Cohen / Wall Street Journal:

How Apple's standalone classical music app fixes the genre's biggest problem of search and discovery with better metadata created by Dutch company Primephonic — Forget the metaverse. The future is metadata. It's how the world's most valuable company built a better way of listening to Mozart and Beethoven.

Discussion: AppleInsider and @whet, more at Techmeme »

BBC:

BBC appoints ex-ITN CEO John Hardie to lead an independent review of its social media guidelines for freelance, non-news presenters after the Gary Lineker furor — Former ITN chief executive John Hardie is to lead an independent review of BBC social media guidelines in the wake of the furore over Gary Lineker's tweets.

Discussion: Reuters, Variety, Yahoo News, Sky News, Deadline and The Irish News

Bloomberg:

Pathmatics: the top 10 advertisers on Twitter spent just $7.6M on ads in the past two months, down 89% from the $71M spent from September to October 2022 — In the weeks after Elon Musk acquired Twitter Inc., hundreds of advertisers paused spending on the platform, wary of the changes …

Issac J. Bailey / Nieman Reports:

The Dominion lawsuit exposes Fox News as an entertainment network masquerading as a news outlet, as executives approve hosts spreading lies to keep ratings high — The Dominion lawsuit has exposed the network as an entertainment channel — Despite all the complaints about Fox News throughout the years …

Discussion: @niemanreports and The Hill

Washington Post:
Rupert Murdoch has a history of settling cases, having paid out ~$750M in the past 13 years, but sources say talks with Dominion in late 2022 broke down quickly

Discussion: NBC News, CNN, @owillis, @nichcarlson, @sarahellison, Poynter, @aaronblake, @brianstelter, @jadedcreative, @greta and @edmundlee

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More News:

Twitter:
Twitter launches its Verified Organizations program, which allows companies to get a verified checkmark for $1,000/month and their affiliates for $50/month each

Discussion: @elonmusk, Mashable and @ethicalsid, more at Techmeme »

Jeremy Fuster / The Wrap:
Hollywood producers and unions say COVID-19 safety protocols will end after May 11, the same day the Biden administration lifts the national pandemic emergency

Discussion: @lidsville, Variety, Deadline, Los Angeles Times and The Hollywood Reporter

Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:
Netflix restructures to make fewer, but better, movies, and will combine its small and midsize film units; executives Lisa Nishimura and Ian Bricke are leaving

Discussion: Variety, @lucas_shaw, Engadget, @bqprime, @susanlitv, @variety_pats, @lucas_shaw, @lucas_shaw, @jenny8lee, @masasoncap, @stanphylcap, The Wrap, The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline, Media Play News and Collider

Faisal Mahmud / Al Jazeera:
Bangladeshi police arrest Prothom Alo correspondent Shamsuzzaman Shams under the Digital Security Act after he wrote about rising food prices in the country

Discussion: @maarafat71, @bjimbd, @mg2411, @profhuq, @nomhossain, @masalabai and Committee to Protect …

Anna Nicolaou / Financial Times:
Succession's last season may mark the end of “peak TV” as big media groups slow spending growth; Ampere: US TV show orders fell 23% YoY in January and February

Discussion: @ashkan, @germanotes, @internetalena and @annaknicolaou

Karissa Bell / Engadget:
Invite-only Twitter alternative T2 plans to let Twitter users who are about to lose their checkmark on April 1 to carry over the verification to its service

Discussion: @martinsfp, @gabor, @gabor, Daily Mail and TechCrunch, more at Techmeme »

Earlier Picks:

Karissa Bell / Engadget:
Twitter details new API access tiers: Free with 1.5K tweets/month at app level, Basic for $100/month, and Enterprise; old APIs will stop working within 30 days

Brian Steinberg / Variety:
Disney shrinks ABC News' executive team, cutting the jobs of multiple senior staff; source: Disney is expected to cut the news unit by 50 positions in total

Discussion: @williamsjon, Reuters, Cord Cutters News, CNN, Los Angeles Times, Fox News, TVNewser, Deadline, The Wrap and The Hollywood Reporter

Alyssa Meyers / Marketing Brew:
Audible is “conducting limited testing” of ads in audiobooks; non-members may hear up to eight ads in 24 hours for “access to a limited set of Audible titles”

Discussion: Engadget, BGR, @patrickmcgee_, @baekdal, @chronotope and TechCrunch

Naman Ramachandran / Variety:
In its 2023/24 plan, the BBC projects a £5.53B income, a £352M deficit, and an annual reduction of 1,000 hours of content to meet its £400M savings requirement

Discussion: Broadband TV News, TVEUROPE and BBC

Paul Sandle / Reuters:
UK draft legislation says on-demand services from the BBC, ITV, and other public service broadcasters must remain easy to find on smart TVs and set-top boxes

Discussion: TVEUROPE, BizAsiaLive, Advanced Television, KFTV, Screen, RXTV info, Proactiveinvestors UK and TVBEurope

Jay Peters / The Verge:
Microsoft is exploring expanding ads in Bing Chat and sharing the ad revenue with partners whose content contributed to the chat response

Discussion: @shiraovide, MediaPost, @btabke, @fieldproducer, @mark_riedl, @jesselehrich, @tomwarren, The Register, The Drum, Social Media Today, @etienneshrdlu, Engadget, Mashable and Gizmodo, more at Techmeme »

From Techmeme:

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple has renewed discussions with OpenAI about using its technology to power some features in iOS 18; talks with Google on using Gemini remain ongoing

Ryan Vlastelica / Bloomberg:
Alphabet closes above a $2T market cap for the first time, reaching a valuation of $2.15T after rising 10% on April 26, its biggest one-day jump since July 2015

Dustin Volz / Wall Street Journal:
Sam Altman, Satya Nadella, Sundar Pichai, Jensen Huang, and others join a board for advising the DHS on deploying AI safely within US critical infrastructure

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