Mediagazer: Libro.fm, an audiobook retailer and listening app for local bookshops, launches internationally; the company has partnered with over 2,200 independent bookshops (Lauren Forristal/TechCrunch)

2:30 AM ET, July 27, 2023

Top News:

Despite not being in SAG-AFTRA, many influencers are passing up deals to promote movies and TV shows to avoid online criticism and being barred from the guild — Despite not being in the actors' union, many content creators are passing up deals to promote films or TV shows …

Discussion: Ad Age, more at Techmeme »

The Hollywood Reporter:
With striking actors not doing press, sources say multiple streaming services are discussing potentially moving certain undated fully shot series to early 2024

Discussion: Screen Rant

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:

UK-listed online retailer THG agrees to acquire London business newspaper City AM, which was put up for sale this month; all City AM employees will join THG — THG owns online retail brands including Cult Beauty and Myprotein. — Online beauty and nutrition group THG …

Discussion: Bloomberg, Sky News, City A.M., The Guardian, The Guardian, @pressgazette and London Evening Standard

Wall Street Journal:

Sources: Netflix is reworking its tech deal with Microsoft for its ad tier to reduce the revenue guarantee and has discussed selling ads through other partners — Streamer asks for patience as it tries to jump-start $6.99 a month ad tier — Netflix is restructuring its advertising partnership …

more at Techmeme »

New York Times:

A group of booksellers, publishers, and authors sue to stop a new Texas law that is taking effect in September and requires stores to rate books' sexual content — With a book-rating law set to take effect in September, a group of booksellers, along with publishers and authors, filed suit to argue that it is unconstitutional.

Discussion: New York Daily News, @JaneRLaForge@mstdn.social, Publishing Perspectives, @lailalalami.bsky.social, The Hill, Publishers Weekly and The San Diego Union-Tribune

Ken Klippenstein / The Intercept:

Netflix lists a $300K to $900K-a-year ML product manager job that points to its plans to use AI to “create great content”, as actors strike for AI protections — Rob Delaney said, “My melodious voice? My broad shoulders and dancer's undulating buttocks? I decide how those are used!"

Lauren Forristal / TechCrunch:

Libro.fm, an audiobook retailer and listening app for local bookshops, launches internationally; the company has partnered with over 2,200 independent bookshops — Libro.fm, the audiobook retailer and listening app for local bookshops, launched internationally on Wednesday to give …

Discussion: @librofm, Publishing Perspectives, @librofm and @bookishcrick

Paige Williams / New Yorker:

How Oklahoma's McCurtain Gazette investigated the local sheriff and obtained a recording of officials talking about killing reporters and lynching Black people — In Southeast Oklahoma, a father-son reporting duo's series on the county sheriff led to an explosive revelation.

Srishti Jaswal / Rest of World:

Political parties in India court big and small social media influencers ahead of 2024 elections, offering to pay for political messages that have no disclosures — As the campaign for the 2024 elections in India goes digital, social media influencers have become a powerful tool to try and shape voter behavior.

Discussion: The Drum, The Hollywood Reporter and Sydney Morning Herald

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Verizon partners with YouTube to offer some new and upgrading wireless and home internet customers free access to the NFL Sunday Ticket — Verizon and YouTube are calling a new customer-acquisition play aimed a gridiron fans. … Terms of the agreement between Verizon and YouTube …

Discussion: Verizon, The Desk, TechCrunch, Light Reading, Front Office Sports, Tubefilter, Awful Announcing, Media Play News, The Streamable, 9to5Google, CNET, The Verge, Deadline and Cord Cutters News

Financial Times:

Sources: Linda Yaccarino pitched her vision for Twitter/X to talent agencies in LA and met with Disney, in a bid to bring stars and influencers to the platform — Social media app's new chief meets with agents at leading talent agencies amid controversy over rebranding to ‘X’

Discussion: @apocalypticanow.bsky.social, The Wrap and Fortune, more at Techmeme »

Reuters:

Sources: music rights company BMI is again exploring options including a sale; BMI switched to a for-profit model in 2022 after failing to sell itself in 2021 — Broadcast Music Inc (BMI), the music rights company representing top songwriters such as Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift and Rihanna …

Discussion: Inside Radio, @iatalkspace, Music Business Worldwide, Billboard and Digital Music News

Aisyah Llewellyn / Al Jazeera:

Indonesia restricts X.com, which now redirects to twitter.com after Twitter rebranding to X, as the domain had been previously used by porn and gambling sites — Medan, Indonesia - Elon Musk's aspirations for X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter, have hit a stumbling block …

Discussion: The Daily Beast, NBC News, @ryanschultz@mastodon.social, @Rasta@mstdn.ca, Insider, Engadget, Newslit Daily, Insider, Gizmodo, UPROXX and Financial Times, more at Techmeme »

Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:

Google says 2B+ logged-in monthly users are watching YouTube Shorts, up from 1.5B+ in June 2022, and YouTube is reaching 150M people on their TVs in the US — Google said today that more than 2 billion logged-in monthly users are watching YouTube Shorts, giving it an edge over competitors like TikTok and Instagram Reels.

Discussion: @efeng, CNBC and The Verge

Todd Spangler / Variety:
YouTube's ad revenue increased 4.4% YoY to $7.67B in Q2, above expectations of $7.43B and a reversal after three consecutive quarters of declines

Archived Page Info:

This is a snapshot of Mediagazer at 2:30 AM ET, July 27, 2023.

View the current page or another snapshot:

Who's Hiring in Media?

Accounting Specialist Editor, Remote US — Reuters

Senior Correspondent - Wealth, NY — WSJ

Asia Credit Reporter, Seoul — Bloomberg

Senior Editor, DC — National Geographic

Sr. Social Media Specialist, NC — espnW

Associate Editor - Aviation, TN — Firecrown

Assistant Editor - Digital, NC — SBJ

Video Producer - YouTube, NY — Morning Brew

Senior Managing Ed. - Daily Desk — The Athletic

Content Managing Editor — Freedom Forum

Editor, MA — Nieman Reports

Team Editor - Breaking News, ON — Toronto Star

Senior Reporter & Event Host, NY/CA — Newcomer

Associate Editor, Remote — Tech Policy Press

Retail Reporter, MN — Star Tribune

Senior Data Editor, DC — U.S. News

Managing Ed. - Berks County, PA — Spotlight PA

News Editor - UK, Remote — The Verge

Staff Writer, TX — Dallas Observer

Multimedia Journalist, PA — Observer-Reporter

Service Journalism Editor, CA — Sacramento Bee

Content Director, Remote — Campaigns & Elections

Sports Reporter, ME — Bangor Daily News

Los Angeles Issues Reporter, CA — CalMatters

Reporter - Middle East — Rest of World

Executive Editor, OR — Lookout Local

California Playbook Writer, CA — Politico

Senior Media Editor — Digiday

National Investigative Reporter, NY — HuffPost

Lexington County Reporter, SC — The State

Reporter - Offshore Wind — Canary Media

General Assignment Reporter, FL — County Record

Staff Reporter, CA — Daily Kos

Data Editor, NY — ProPublica

Add your company here

See Also:

Mediagazer: site main

Mediagazer River: reverse chronological Mediagazer

Mediagazer Mobile: for phones

Mediagazer Leaderboard: Mediagazer's top sources

Subscribe:

Mediagazer RSS feed

Mediagazer on X

Mediagazer on Mastodon

More News:

Emine Sinmaz / The Guardian:
A UK jury finds Kevin Spacey not guilty of nine charges of sexual assault alleged to have been committed between 2004 and 2013

Naman Ramachandran / Variety:
The BBC invested £128.5M into TV and radio content under its Creative Diversity Commitment, hitting its £100M three-year goal with one year to spare

Discussion: @blackamazon, The Desk, WORLD SCREEN, BBC and Deadline

Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:
Documents detail the struggles of Amazon's Clubhouse rival Amp, launched in March 2022 with a year-end target of 1M+ MAUs; a source says MAUs sit at 700K today

Discussion: The Information

Matthew Keys / The Desk:
Documents show that authorities sought evidence of alleged criminal unauthorized computer access when searching journalist Timothy Burke's home on May 8, 2023

Discussion: @bubbaprog, @matthewkeyslive and @matthewkeyslive

Newley Purnell / Wall Street Journal:
Meta hasn't labeled propaganda accounts of state-backed media from Russia and other authoritarian governments on Threads, unlike on Facebook and Instagram

Discussion: Variety and @newley, more at Techmeme »

Earlier Picks:

The Hollywood Reporter:
A majority of around 5,000 TV commercial production workers, organized by a group called Stand With Production, signs cards seeking to join the IATSE union

Discussion: @moreperfectus, @moreperfectus, Deadline and The Wrap

Jon Lafayette / Next TV:
Marquee Sports Network, a Chicago Cubs and Sinclair joint venture, launches a streaming app with live Cubs games and more in the Chicago area, for $19.99/month

Discussion: Front Office Sports, The Desk, The Streamable, Awful Announcing, The Streamable, Marquee Sports Network, Barrett Media and Cord Cutters News

Aisha Malik / TechCrunch:
Spotify CEO Daniel Ek teases ways the company could integrate additional AI into its products, including summarizing podcasts and generating audio ads

Discussion: RAIN News and Music Ally

Matias Grez / CNN:
The BBC apologizes for a reporter's “inappropriate” question at the Women's World Cup opener; the reporter asked Morocco's captain if the team had gay players

Discussion: @_shireenahmed_, @georgegalloway, @qatarifc, @daniellewarby, @_shireenahmed_, @_shireenahmed_, @_shireenahmed_, Sydney Morning Herald, PinkNews, The Messenger, NBC News, @Beeks@mstdn.party, The Guardian, New York Post, Fox News, Awful Announcing and Newser

Wall Street Journal:
Emails: Twitter/X offers discounts on new video ads in the US and UK and warns advertisers they will lose verified status unless they reach spending thresholds

Discussion: Engadget, The Overspill, The Wrap, Observer, The Register, Slate, Insider, The Verge, @hypervisible.bsky.social, Fortune, @martinsfp, Insider Intelligence, WFLA-TV, @joelmathis.bsky.social, @GossiTheDog@cyberplace.social, New York Post and The Drum, more at Techmeme »

From Techmeme:

Richard Lawler / The Verge:
Okta fixes a flaw present since July 23, 2024, that let users log in under specific circumstances with any password if the account's username had 52+ characters

Jeffrey Dastin / Reuters:
Intel's CEO scraps forecast of selling $500M+ worth of Gaudi AI chips in 2024, blaming slower uptake on Gaudi 2 to Gaudi 3 transition and software ease of use

Bloomberg:
Nvidia will replace Intel in the Dow Jones Industrial Average on November 8, after Amazon replaced Walgreens in February; Intel joined the index in 1999

Sister Sites:

Techmeme
Top news and commentary for technology's leaders, from all around the web

memeorandum
What US political commentators are discussing online right now

WeSmirch
The top celebrity news from all around the web on a single page