Top News:
Peter Biskind / The Hollywood Reporter:
An excerpt from “Pandora's Box: How Guts, Guile, and Greed Upended TV” details how Netflix changed the entertainment industry with Originals and binge-watching — The inside story of how the streamer muscled its way to the top by defying the industry's conventions — and eventually paid the price.
RELATED:
Brent Lang / Variety:
An interview with Chairman of Netflix Film Scott Stuber on scaling back annual film releases to focus on quality, being more selective in bidding wars, and more — In 2018, “Saturday Night Live” captured the public perception of Netflix as a ceaseless river of content.
Discussion:
@brentalang, @variety, The Hollywood Reporter and @lanceulanoff
Reuters:
IAC reports Q3 revenue down 15% YoY to $1.11B and a $390.5M net loss, up from a $63.8M loss in Q3 2022; Dotdash Meredith revenue fell 11% to $417.5M — Internet holding company IAC (IAC.O) beat Wall Street third-quarter revenue estimates on Tuesday, as the owner of publisher Dotdash Meredith saw traffic growth return for core brands.
Caitlin Huston / Hollywood Reporter:
Spotify now offers US paid subscribers access to 15 hours of free audiobooks per month, after launching the service in the UK and Australia on October 3 — The podcast and music platform will offer U.S. paid subscribers 15 hours of free listening to audiobooks as it continues its rollout of the new offering.
Discussion:
Variety, TechCrunch, Billboard, The Bookseller, The Verge, @spotifynews, @yogscastlewis, @engineering_bae, 9to5Mac, Spotify and @richontech, more at Techmeme »
The Guardian:
UK publisher Reach plans to cut 450 jobs as part of proposals to trim operating costs by 5% to 6% in 2024; in January, Reach laid off 200 staff to save £30M — Reach says job losses part of plans to reduce costs by 5% to 6% in 2024 and accelerate digital-first strategy
Reuters:
OCCRP co-founder Drew Sullivan says analysis shows government-tied hackers tried to plant NSO spyware on Indian journalist Anand Mangnale's iPhone on August 23 — Government-backed hackers tried to plant spyware made by NSO Group on the iPhone of an Indian journalist working for the Organized Crime …
Kenneth Chang / New York Times:
Nature retracts a high-profile paper on the discovery of a superconductor, the second paper by Ranga P. Dias retracted by the journal in just over a year — It was the second paper led by Ranga P. Dias, a researcher at the University of Rochester, that the journal Nature has retracted.
Discussion:
Nature, @dangaristo, @ionerrea, Las Vegas Review-Journal and TechCrunch
Matt Growcoot / PetaPixel:
Adobe's site for stock images lists AI-generated images of the Israel-Palestine conflict, and some small outlets have used them without labeling them as AI — As fears rise over fake imagery generated by artificial intelligence flooding the internet, one of the world's leading stock photo websites …
Brian Steinberg / Variety:
WBD reports Q3 revenue up 1% YoY to $9.9B, a $417M net loss, down from a $2.31B loss YoY, global DTC subscribers fell 0.7M to 95.1M, and ad revenue fell 12% YoY — The owner of CNN, the Warner Bros. studio and the Max streaming service said its net loss narrowed to $417 million …
Katie Robertson / New York Times:
The New York Times reports Q3 revenue up 9.3% YoY to $598.3M, an $89.8M adjusted operating profit, 10M+ subs, and subscription revenue up 15.7% YoY to $282.2M — The company reported an adjusted operating profit of $89.8 million in its latest quarter, up from $69 million a year earlier.
Hanaa' Tameez / Nieman Lab:
How the Financial Times, The New York Times, Vox, The Times of India, CNN en Español, and other news publishers are using WhatsApp Channels to share news — We talked to the Financial Times, La Nación, The New York Times, Vox, Chilango, the Times of India …
Discussion:
Insider, New York Times, @ishaantharoor, @niemanlab, @damianradcliffe, @hanaatameez and David Cohn on LinkedIn, more at Techmeme »
Jennifer Maas / Variety:
Nexstar reports Q2 net revenue down 10.8% YoY to $1.1B, adjusted EBITDA down 51.9% YoY to $236M, a $60M loss for the CW, and core ad revenue down 2.3% to $391M — Nexstar reported its third-quarter 2023 earnings Wednesday, revealing TV ad revenue was down overall 23% for the July-September quarter.
Discussion:
TVNewsCheck, The Hollywood Reporter and Nexstar Media Group, Inc.
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