Mediagazer: Sources: Netflix is weighing how to make money from video games, like via IAPs and ads; Apptopia: as of October 2023, <1% of subscribers played its games daily (Jessica Toonkel/Wall Street Journal)

6:00 PM ET, January 5, 2024

Top News:

Scott Roxborough / The Hollywood Reporter:

Universal had the largest share of 2023's global box office, after releasing 24 films that made $4.91B, dethroning Disney, which had the top spot since 2016 — Box office jumped more than 8 percent to $1.35 billion but remained well below pre-COVID levels. — Thank you Barbenheimer.

Discussion: Deadline

Naman Ramachandran / Variety:

Comscore: UK and Ireland box office revenue rose 8.3% YoY to £1.06B in 2023, the first time it crossed £1B since 2019; box office from 2015-2019 was £1.3B+/year — The U.K. and Ireland box office revenue improved 8.3% from £980.5 million ($1.25 billion) …

Nancy Tartaglione / Deadline:
Gower Street estimates the global box office reached $33.9B in 2023, up 30.5% on 2022 but 15% below the 2017-2019 average; China rose 83% YoY to ~$7.7B in 2023

Discussion: The Hollywood Reporter

Anthony Crupi / Sportico:

Nielsen: NFL made up 93 of 2023's 100 most-watched TV broadcasts, up from 82 in 2022; SOTU and Macy's Parade were the only non-football broadcasts in the top 50 — The actor's glum endorsement of the generic—he looked like a referee who'd been going through a bad divorce …

Discussion: Mediaite, The Streamable, Front Office Sports, College Sports Wire, @dylanbyers, @joelmathis.bsky.social, @sportico, @joepompliano, @sacnesseverdeen, @dinodoodetv, @storminspank, Awful Announcing and @joepompliano

Om Malik / On my Om:

The decline of Wired, once a magazine that inspired hope in technology's future, illustrates a broader loss of necessary optimism among tech writing communities — On January 2nd, 1993, Wired burst onto the scene, and let me tell you, it transformed the way many of us looked at technology and its impact on our future.

Discussion: @spencerreiss, @johnnylaird, @keithgrossman, Steve Makofsky on LinkedIn, @joelmathis.bsky.social and The Rebooting

Jessica Toonkel / Wall Street Journal:

Sources: Netflix is weighing how to make money from video games, like via IAPs and ads; Apptopia: as of October 2023, <1% of subscribers played its games daily — Ideas include charging extra for some games and incorporating ads, in-game purchases — Netflix has said it plans to be in gaming for years to come.

Discussion: TechCrunch, IndieWire, @carnage4life@mas.to, Chris Heatherly on LinkedIn, The Streamable and @davemorgannyc, more at Techmeme »

Dade Hayes / Deadline:

WBD's Max delays plans to start charging for its Bleacher Report sports tier “for a few more months”; the original start date was the end of February 2024 — EXCLUSIVE: Warner Bros. Discovery plans to launch the paid version of its B/R Sports Add-On several months from now, a shift from the company's initial guidance.

Discussion: Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Awful Announcing, The Wrap, @davezatz and The Verge

Alexandra Bruell / Wall Street Journal:

Puck names ex-Twitter executive Sarah Personette as its new CEO; source: the two-year-old publication has 40K paying subscribers and $10M+ in revenue in 2023 — Sarah Personette will be tasked with helping company expand into new coverage areas and markets

Discussion: Richie Grin on LinkedIn, @alexbruell, The Wrap, @teddyschleifer, Brian Poliakoff on LinkedIn, Stephanie Prager on LinkedIn, @dylanbyers, Liz Gough on LinkedIn, Variety, Sarah Personette on LinkedIn and AJ Brown on LinkedIn

Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:

The SEC rules that Disney must have a vote on a proposal for a transparency report on Disney's use of AI at its next shareholder meeting — The AFL-CIO is pushing for Disney and Apple to explain how they use artificial intelligence. — The Walt Disney Co. won't just have a potential proxy fight …

Discussion: The Wrap and Reuters

Andrew Kersley / Press Gazette:

Analysis: the percentage of fully granted FOI requests in the UK fell from 55% in 2013 to 29% in 2022; in Q2 2023, public bodies granted 34% of FOI requests — Journalists are increasingly frustrated by failures in government compliance with the Freedom of Information Act.

Discussion: @rosenbaum6 and @georgegreenwood

Casey Newton / Platformer:

Substack wants to be seen as a pure infrastructure provider, akin to Cloudflare, but Substack can't claim to be simple infrastructure while recommending content — Some thoughts on platforms and Nazis — Most days, this column looks at controversies unfolding on other tech platforms.

Discussion: @edmundlee@threads.net, @seldo@alpaca.gold, @fivetonsflax@tilde.zone, @anildash.com, @PlinyTheOlder@sfba.social, @cooperlund.bsky.social, @cooperlund.bsky.social, @lissaharris.bsky.social, @anildash.com, @crumbler@threads.net, @ben.werdmuller@threads.net, @jonlipeny@threads.net, @bretcarmichael@mastodon …, @ernie@writing.exchange, @marisakabas.bsky.social, @dangillmor@mastodon.social and @ben@werd.social, more at Techmeme »

Benjamin Mullin / New York Times:

Sources: The Messenger made ~$3M in revenue in 2023 and told potential investors it had $1.8M in cash on hand at the end of December after losing ~$38M in 2023 — The company, which debuted last year with big plans to disrupt journalism, generated only $3 million in revenue by the end of December.

Discussion: The Wrap, @arctictony@threads.net, @tvgrimreaper, @ckrewson, @emilybell, @royprice, @benmullin, @emilybell, @simondowens@threads.net, Julie Westfall on LinkedIn, Defector, @ernie.tedium.co and Axios

Sara Fischer / Axios:
Sources: conservative media and business execs met with Jimmy Finkelstein at Mar-a-Lago on January 3 to discuss acquiring a 51% stake in The Messenger for $30M

Jules Roscoe / VICE:

After WHYY fired a reporter in 2023 for jokes he made as a stand-up comedian, an arbitrator ruled he must be reinstated but delete his jokes from social media — Jad Sleiman was a reporter in Philadelphia before he was fired over his budding comedy career. Now, his employer has been ordered to reinstate him.

Discussion: Rolling Stone, @constans, @mattzeitlin, @johnsemley3000, @moorehn, @daveleebbg@threads.net, @jendiagammon@threads.net and @dathinkyparts@threads.net

Ben Mullin / @benmullin:

Sources: Axios names Holly Moore as Axios Local executive editor, replacing Jamie Stockwell; staff were told local ad revenue rose 40% in 2023 — Scoop: Holly Moore — formerly of USA Today and currently head of local innovation Hub for Axios —named exec ed for local. Jamie Stockwell, current exec editor, leaving for a new gig. Staff told eight cities now have 100,000 (unpaid) subs. Local ad revenue was up 40% last year.

Discussion: @jmhaigh

Andrew Beaujon / Washingtonian:
Sources: Jamie Stockwell, who had been Axios Local executive editor, will oversee Washington Post local coverage, replacing Mike Semel, who has been promoted

Discussion: Talking Biz News and Washington Post

Press Gazette:

Analysis: in 2023, media outlets in the UK, the US, and Canada cut at least 7,900 jobs and only made 361 announcements for new positions — Biggest headcount losses proposed at BCE Inc and CBC in Canada, as well as News Corp and Reach. — More than 7,900 journalism industry job cuts throughout 2023 …

Archived Page Info:

This is a snapshot of Mediagazer at 6:00 PM ET, January 5, 2024.

View the current page or another snapshot:

Who's Hiring in Media?

Energy & Commodities Editor, Tokyo — Bloomberg

Politics Reporter, TX — Texas Tribune

Consumer Brands Reporter, GA — AJC

Deputy Editor - Health Care, VA — Politico

Product Editor, CA — CalMatters

Indigenous Affairs Editor, Sydney — Guardian US

China Markets Correspondent, Shanghai — Reuters

Bangor Reporter, ME — Bangor Daily News

Commerce Editor - Health, Remote US — Yahoo

Sports Editor, MI — Detroit News

Managing Editor, Remote US — Velo

Lex Writer, London — FT

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:

Jacob Feldman / Sportico:
Marie Donoghue, vice president of global sports video at Amazon's Prime Video and a former top ESPN executive, is leaving the company

Discussion: @jacobfeldman4, @andrewmarchand, The Wrap, Barrett Media, Variety and Awful Announcing

Brian Steinberg / Variety:
VideoAmp founder Ross McCray steps down as CEO as the company prepares to lay off nearly a fifth of its staff; Peter Liguori will serve as executive chairman

Discussion: Inside Radio, MediaPost and Ad Age

Brian Steinberg / Variety:
Amazon names Jeremy Helfand vice president and head of sales for Prime Video; he had been EVP for advertising for Disney's interactive businesses

Discussion: The Desk, MediaPost, Broadband TV News, Ad Age, The Information, Advanced Television, Adweek and The Wrap

Sara Fischer / Axios:
Eric Newcomer, founder of the Newcomer newsletter on startups and VCs, says he made $1M+ in 2023 revenue from events and subscriptions and has hired a reporter

Discussion: @maddierenbarger, @ericnewcomer, @ericnewcomer, Talking Biz News and Newcomer

Earlier Picks:

Andrew Marchand / New York Post:
YES and MSG Network partner to launch Gotham Advanced Media and Entertainment, a 50/50 venture that aims to capitalize on their streaming services

Ralph D. Russo / Associated Press:
The NCAA and ESPN announce a $920M, eight-year agreement that will give ESPN rights to 40 championships, including the Division I women's basketball tournament

Wall Street Journal:
As Google restricts third-party cookies for 1% of Chrome users, marketers, adtech companies, and publishers say Google has not done enough to prepare the market

From Techmeme:

Samantha Subin / CNBC:
The Nasdaq falls 4%, with Meta closing down 7%, Nvidia down 6%, Amazon down 5%, and Apple down 4% as the White House say Trump's tariffs on China now total 145%

Reuters:
The cybersecurity industry is mostly quiet after Trump canceled SentinelOne's security clearances for hiring Chris Krebs; SentinelOne says it will cooperate

Maxwell Zeff / TechCrunch:
OpenAI updates ChatGPT with a memory feature that references past chats for answers, rolling out to ChatGPT Pro and Plus subscribers, but not in the UK and EEA

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