Mediagazer: Paris-based ad and marketing group Publicis plans to invest €300M in AI, including €100M in 2024, to help improve media planning, buying, and optimization (Daniel Thomas/Financial Times)

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David Folkenflik / NPR:

NPR names Web Summit CEO and former Wikimedia Foundation chief Katherine Maher as its 12th permanent CEO and president — NPR has selected former Wikimedia Foundation chief Katherine Maher to lead the network through an era of declining broadcast listenership, financial uncertainty and technological turbulence.

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Antenna: Peacock's exclusive stream of the NFL AFC Wild Card game drove a record 2.8M sign-ups for the streaming service — NBCU already claimed the Jan. 13 playoff game was the biggest live-streamed event in U.S. history — delivering an average audience of 23 million viewers.

Discussion: Antenna, MediaPost, @xpangler, Shannon Boyd on LinkedIn, @pkafka, @joelmathis.bsky.social, Dan Rayburn on LinkedIn, Awful Announcing, The Desk, The Streamable, IndieWire and Business Insider

Bloomberg:

Sources: Skydance CEO David Ellison has made a preliminary offer to buy Redstone family's National Amusements, as a way to take control of Paramount Global — - Both sides have advisers, are sharing financial information — Son of Oracle Corp. co-founder has met with Shari Redstone

Discussion: The Desk, CNBC, Reuters, @sherman4949, Lucas Shaw on LinkedIn, @lucas_shaw, The Information, Deadline, @sherman4949, The Wrap, @tvgrimreaper and Cord Cutters News

Daniel Thomas / Financial Times:

Paris-based ad and marketing group Publicis plans to invest €300M in AI, including €100M in 2024, to help improve media planning, buying, and optimization — Decision comes as advertising industry faces existential threats from generative artificial intelligence

Discussion: Reuters, MediaPost, Ad Age, Bloomberg and Publicis Groupe

Sophie Culpepper / Nieman Lab:

A look at City Cast, which now has four-person teams producing local news newsletters and podcasts in 11 US cities, after a 2021 launch in Chicago and Denver — This month, City Cast published guest demographic data for podcasts in its 11 cities and analyzed how that data compared to each local community.

Discussion: City Cast

Thomas Buckley / Bloomberg:

How the rising prices of streaming services are driving a new era of US pirate sites, bringing ~$2B per year in ads and subscriptions with a 90% profit margin — Illegal subscription services that steal films or TV shows bring in $2 billion a year in ads and subscriber fees.

more at Techmeme »

Yona Tr Golding / Columbia Journalism Review:

Q&A with Ann Cooper, co-author of an upcoming book about the AP in Nazi Germany, on AP's choice to submit to censorship, the politics of war reporting, and more — In 2016, seventy-one years after the end of World War II, Harriet Scharnberg, a German historian, published a report alleging …

Brian Steinberg / Variety:

Comedy Central says Jon Stewart will return to The Daily Show as Monday host during the 2024 election cycle, starting on February 12, and as executive producer — Comedy Central is reaching back to the past to keep its long-running “The Daily Show” going in the present.

Discussion: CNN, Deadline, TheJournal.ie, The Hollywood Reporter, The Guardian, @mollyjongfast, @shawnhils, @lucas_shaw, @jbflint, @tvgrimreaper, @mattbelloni, Business Insider, @lanceulanoff, @pkafka@threads.net, @walthickey, @jbflint, @hebennigatu, The A.V. Club, The Wrap, The Messenger, Benzinga, Mashable, Reuters, @jalefkowit@octodon.social, Newser, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Next TV, @cmconseils@mastodon.social, Adweek, The Hill, New York Post, The Playlist, New Jersey Online, The Verge, Mediaite, ComingSoon.net, Polygon, SlashFilm, Vanity Fair, Fox News, CBS News, Associated Press, TV Insider, Boing Boing, BGR, Los Angeles Times, New York Daily News, Rolling Stone, TVLine, @paninid@mastodon.world, @joelmathis.bsky.social, Bloomberg, Axios, IndieWire, NewscastStudio, Screen Rant, Irish News, New York Times, FOX8 WGHP and MyStateline.com

Katie Robertson / New York Times:

Bloomberg names veteran technology journalist Brad Stone as the next editor of Bloomberg Businessweek, as the magazine shifts from weekly to monthly publication — Mr. Stone will take the helm as the 94-year-old magazine shifts from weekly to monthly publication.

Discussion: @emilychangtv, @bradstone, @ashleevance, @joelwebershow, @ericnewcomer, @markgurman, Talking Biz News and Bloomberg Media

Robbie Whelan / Wall Street Journal:

Bob Iger's ex-colleagues and others say he is making the same mistakes as his predecessor Michael Eisner, when faced with investor attacks and other challenges — Two decades after replacing Eisner, CEO faces many of the same challenges — Disney's embattled CEO was under fire from activist investors.

Discussion: Business Insider

New York Times:

How Sports Illustrated, whose cover was once the most coveted real estate in sports journalism, lost its power to set the agenda as its elite photographers left — It used to be the most coveted real estate in sports journalism. But its power to set the agenda disappeared along with its elite photographers.

Discussion: Barrett Media, Orlando Sentinel and Boing Boing

Alison Frankel / Reuters:

A US judge denies Smartmatic's motion to dismiss Fox's counterclaim that argues Smartmatic's $2.7B damages claim is baseless and is an attempt to intimidate Fox — CommentaryOn the Case by Alison Frankel — Fox won the right on Wednesday to proceed with a counterclaim accusing voting …

Discussion: Bloomberg, The Hollywood Reporter, Courthouse News Service, Deadline, Los Angeles Times, The Messenger and The Hill