Top News:
Sarah Whitten / CNBC:
Netflix reports Q4 revenue up 12.5% YoY to $8.83B, vs. $8.71B est., paid users up 12.8% to 260.3M, vs. 256M est., $938M net income, up from $55M; NFLX jumps 8%+ — - Netflix added 13.1 million subscribers during the fourth quarter. — The company now has 260.8 million paid subscribers.
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Netflix, NBC 7 San Diego, @sherman4949, @tvmojoe, @lucas_shaw, @tvgrimreaper, Business Insider, @sherman4949, Associated Press, Financial Times, @lucas_shaw, @lucas_shaw, Thurrott, Axios, The Streamable, IndieWire, Sarah Whitten on LinkedIn, The Hollywood Reporter, NBC Bay Area, Media Play News and The Messenger, more at Techmeme »
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Emma Roth / The Verge:
Netflix plans to to retire its ad-free Basic plan in some countries where ad-supported plans are available, starting with Canada and the UK in Q2 2024 — Although Netflix no longer allows new or returning members to sign up for the ad-free Basic subscription that costs $11.99 per month …
John Koblin / New York Times:
Sources: Netflix plans to begin streaming HBO's Sex and the City in early April 2024, but the series' spinoff And Just Like That will remain exclusive to Max — Media companies that had been reluctant to are increasingly offering shows to Netflix, which is pulling further ahead in the streaming wars.
Discussion:
The Wrap, Deadline and Rolling Stone
Pranav Dixit / Engadget:
Netflix says user engagement with games on its service tripled in 2023 and Grand Theft Auto has become its most successful launch to date
Discussion:
Benzinga and Business Insider, more at Techmeme »
Peter White / Deadline:
Netflix says it's not interested in acquiring “linear assets”, and it does not believe further M&A will “materially change the competitive environment”
Discussion:
The Wrap, @tvgrimreaper, Forbes and Bloomberg
CNBC:
Netflix buys the exclusive rights to WWE programs like Raw, airing in 2025 in the US, Canada, Latin America, and more; filing: the 10-year deal is worth $5B+
Discussion:
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Meg James / Los Angeles Times:
The Los Angeles Times plans to lay off off at least 115 people, or more than 20% of the newsroom, citing annual losses of between $30M and $40M — The Los Angeles Times announced Tuesday that it was laying off at least 115 people — or more than 20% of the newsroom — in one of the largest …
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Hanaa' Tameez / Nieman Lab:
The Los Angeles Times' layoffs have hit the outlet's Latino-focused vertical De Los, which was launched in 2023, and the Washington, DC bureau — “We are not in turmoil. We have a real plan,” the paper's owner, billionaire businessman Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, said.
Discussion:
@alemolina, NBC News, @sarahdwire, @froomkin, Awful Announcing, @sarahscire, @ximena_bustillo, @shiramstein, @byjulialove, @jherrerx, @izzieramirez, @chels_hylton, Talking Biz News and The Wrap
CBS News:
Charles Osgood, who joined CBS News in 1971, anchored CBS Sunday Morning for 22 years, and spent decades as a radio commentator, dies at age 91 — Award-winning journalist Charles Osgood, who anchored “CBS Sunday Morning” for 22 years and was host of the long-running radio program “The Osgood File,” died Tuesday at home in New Jersey.
Discussion:
Variety, Washington Post, @brianstelter, NewscastStudio, Adweek, @lanceulanoff, @jaketapper, @cbssunday, @tvmojoe, Steve Gosset on LinkedIn, @benmullin, @johnjharwood, KUSA-TV, New York Daily News, Radio & Television …, Bobby Lee on LinkedIn, Wall Street Journal, Hollywood Life, Associated Press, TV Insider, New York Post, Inside Radio, The Daily Beast, Fox News, Page Six, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, CNN, The Wrap, TVLine, The Hollywood Reporter, The Messenger, Metro and Deadline
Noam Cohen / Bloomberg:
As Wikimedia Russia shuts down, a look at the Kremlin-compliant Wikipedia alternative Ruwiki, which recently went live, led by an ex-Wikimedia Russia director — A campaign to replace the country's Wikipedia with a more pliant alternative seems near completion.
James Tapper / The Guardian:
A filing in a class action suit by 10 US artists against Midjourney and others lists 16,000 artist names whose work Midjourney had allegedly used for training — US lawyers approached about class action against Midjourney and other AI firms accused of ‘copyright laundering’
Discussion:
Isabelle Doran on LinkedIn and Cointelegraph
Sarah Scire / Nieman Lab:
Some independent outlets in Baltimore are seeing a spike in online traffic, subscribers, donations, and social media followers, after The Baltimore Sun's sale — “We're taking the opportunity to remind people that we are an independent, trustworthy news source in the Baltimore region — and they are responding.”
Discussion:
@halleteri, @sarahscire, @sarahscire and MediaPost
Sara Guaglione / Digiday:
How podcast networks, like Acast and iHeartMedia, are testing AI tools to increase their ad sales, translate shows into different languages, and more — It seems it's not just big digital publishers like BuzzFeed and BDG looking to generative artificial intelligence tools as ways to streamline their sales process.
Discussion:
Inside Radio
New York Times:
In 2023, no US films ranked among the 10 highest grossing in China, which is producing more high-quality movies that resonate with domestic audiences — No American films ranked among the 10 highest grossing in China last year as viewers who once flocked to foreign blockbusters continued to disappear.
Discussion:
@thedragonfeeder
Aisha Malik / TechCrunch:
Google unveils a new Gemini-powered chat-based tool in Google Ads to build Search ad campaigns, out in beta to all English language advertisers in the US and UK — Google announced today that Gemini, its family of multimodal large language models, now powers the conversational experience within the Google Ads platform.
Discussion:
MediaPost, Digiday, @googleads, Social Media Today, @quinnypig, Google and The Decoder, more at Techmeme »
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