Mediagazer: Nielsen: since 2021, the number of streaming titles in the US, Canada, the UK, Mexico, and Germany grew 39% to 2.35M and streaming services grew from 118 to 167 (Christopher Palmeri/Bloomberg)

Leo Schwartz / Fortune:

In a first, the SEC charges Impact Theory with offering unregistered securities by selling NFTs; the LA-based entertainment company agreed to pay a $6.1M fine — Gary Gensler, chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission — In an enforcement action announced on Monday …

Elizabeth Wellington / The Philadelphia Inquirer:

Condé Nast names Jamila Robinson, the assistant managing editor for food and culture at The Philadelphia Inquirer, as the EIC of Bon Appétit and Epicurious — Jamila Robinson, assistant managing editor for food and culture at The Inquirer, is leaving to become the editor …

Discussion: Daily Front Row, New York Times, Eater Detroit, @craiglaban, @condenast, @rufiojones, @avqueenbenet, @pkerkstra, @maurajudkis, @kelleylcarter, @kaelanisays, @serenamaria36, @justinbaragona and MediaPost

Joe Pompeo / Vanity Fair:

An interview with Columbia Journalism School Dean Jelani Cobb about tuition reform, including his goal of paying the full cost for low-income students, and more — The celebrated New Yorker staff writer sat for a wide-ranging interview to kick off his second year as Columbia Journalism School's first Black dean.

Discussion: @mlcalderone, @michaelkruse, @j_fassler, @annaivey, @jeffjohnroberts and @joepompeo

Sara Fischer / Axios:

TechCrunch acquires Connie Loizos' media startup StrictlyVC, which has 60K newsletter subscribers, and appoints Loizos as editor-in-chief and general manager — TechCrunch, the digital tech and business publication owned by Yahoo, has acquired StrictlyVC, a media startup, from longtime Silicon Valley journalist Connie Lozois.

Discussion: TechCrunch, Talking Biz News, Business Wire and TechCrunch

Alex Heath / The Verge:

Snap begins rolling out Dreams, a take on the generative AI selfies that Lensa and others have popularized, for $1 per eight-photo pack, after a first free pack — After releasing its My AI chatbot earlier this year, Snapchat is now jumping on the AI selfie bandwagon with a new feature called Dreams.

Discussion: Adweek and TechCrunch, more at Techmeme »

Charlotte Klein / Vanity Fair:

MSNBC is drawing in major ratings, having emerged as the go-to network for coverage of Donald Trump's criminal charges just as Fox News and CNN face instability — The network's mix of weighty reflection, analysis, and schadenfreude is drawing in major ratings, surpassing Fox News and CNN …

Discussion: @dannygroner, @wajahatali, @charlottetklein, @jayrosen_nyu and The Wrap

Pamela McClintock / The Hollywood Reporter:

US National Cinema Day on August 27, when tickets cost $4 at 3,000+ theaters, resulted in 8.5M tickets sold and $34M in sales, up 16% from August 20 — Thousands of theater owners across the U.S. and Canada slashed their ticket prices to $4 on Aug. 27 in honor of the second annual National Cinema Day.

Discussion: Variety, Media Play News, The Wrap and CNN

Christopher Palmeri / Bloomberg:

Nielsen: since 2021, the number of streaming titles in the US, Canada, the UK, Mexico, and Germany grew 39% to 2.35M and streaming services grew from 118 to 167 — - Average time to find something to watch is now over 10 minutes — Overwhelmed by the choices of movies and TV shows to watch online?

Discussion: IndieWire, Music Ally, The Streamable, @akstanwyck, MediaPost, WORLD SCREEN and Media Play News, more at Techmeme »

Gerrit De Vynck / Washington Post:

Google unveils SynthID, which embeds an invisible digital “watermark” directly into AI-generated images, available now to Cloud customers for Imagen-made images — The tech giant is among companies pushing out AI tools while promising to build more tools to protect against their misuse

Discussion: BBC, Axios, MIT Technology Review and The Verge, more at Techmeme »

Reuters:

A look at Disney's shifting India strategy, after the unit reported a $41.5M loss on $390M revenue in the year to March 2022, including free cricket on mobile — Walt Disney (DIS.N) is attempting to revive the fortunes of its streaming business in India by offering free cricket on smartphones …

Discussion: Deadline, more at Techmeme »

Olivia Balsamo / NBC News:

A look at Kick, a Twitch rival launched in 2022 that is gaining traction among creators for its looser moderation policies and a 95/5 revenue split — Kick has quickly become a major threat to Amazon's Twitch streaming platform. — Amazon's Twitch has helped build the careers …

more at Techmeme »

Scott Roxborough / The Hollywood Reporter:

Q&A with Thomas Rabe, the CEO of pan-European broadcast giant RTL Group, on investing in Fremantle and targeting a €3B turnover by 2025, content types, and more — Thomas Rabe, CEO of parent RTL Group, has provided the capital that helped turn Fremantle into THR's 2023 International Producer of the Year.

Discussion: @rtlgroup