Top News:
Anne Steele / Wall Street Journal:
Spotify and Joe Rogan sign a new multiyear deal, estimated to be worth $250M; Rogan's show will be available across podcast platforms and as videos on YouTube — Hit show to be distributed broadly, including on YouTube, rather than exclusively on audio-streaming service
Discussion:
Spotify, Simon Owens's Media Newsletter, Semafor, Bloomberg, The Verge, Reuters, Mumbrella, New York Times, Rolling Stone, Inside Radio, The Information, Business Insider, Variety, @carnage4life@mas.to, Axios, @pearlmania500@threads.net, @dada_drummer, New York Post, NBC 7 San Diego, Gizmodo, CBS News, Engadget, @profgalloway@threads.net, @dada_drummer, @dangillmor@mastodon.social, @spotify, TechCrunch, Brandon Bauman on LinkedIn, @dada_drummer, @scottnover, @simondowens@threads.net, @charlesbarbour@threads.net, @hagen@mastodon.social, The Wrap, Los Angeles Times, Newser, The Hill, The Hollywood Reporter, @brianstelter, AppleInsider, Digital Music News and Cord Cutters News, more at Techmeme »
Joshua Benton / Nieman Lab:
The Messenger's flop was the result of Jimmy Finkelstein's blindness to bad ideas, like its traffic-chasing strategy, not a consequence of economic headwinds — The flaws in the site's strategy were highly predictable (and repeatedly predicted). But Jimmy Finkelstein's muddled nostalgia …
Discussion:
Ashley Woods Branch on LinkedIn, Techdirt, @snigdhasur, @theakglassman, @ryangrim, @jayrosen_nyu, @jragazzo, @scottnover, @nohodge, @jordannovet, @froomkin, Newser and Axios
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The Daily Beast:
Ex-employees of The Messenger file a class-action lawsuit against the shuttered outlet, alleging that it failed to give them proper notice ahead of their firing
Discussion:
Politico, Variety, Newser, @ellefs0n, @juliareinstein, @juliareinstein, @willsommer, @benmullin, Axios, Deadline, The Hill, Hollywood Reporter and The Wrap
Financial Times:
China-based advertisers now account for 10% of Meta's annual revenue and contributed 5 percentage points to its total worldwide revenue growth — The US group has benefited from huge but unsustainable outlays from Chinese advertisers — Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp may be banned in China.
Discussion:
The Information and New York Times, more at Techmeme »
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Andy Greenberg / Wired:
How the EFF, Techdirt, MuckRock, and DDoSecrets are pushing back against legal threats aimed at censoring their reports on Appin's alleged hacker-for-hire past — A loose coalition of anti-censorship voices is working to highlight reports of one Indian company's hacker-for-hire past …
Will Sommer / Washington Post:
The WSJ lays off ~30 staffers as it restructures its DC bureau and shutters the US-China news team; laid-off staffers will be allowed to apply for some new jobs — The Wall Street Journal took a hatchet to its Washington bureau on Thursday, laying off roughly 20 staffers in a restructuring …
Discussion:
Columbia Journalism Review, Politico, Talking Biz News, The Daily Beast, @katie_robertson, HuffPost, @compliancememe, @rubinations, @bgrueskin, @byrontau, DNyuz, @bgrueskin, @dnvolz, @katie_robertson, @bgrueskin, @corbinbolies, @azambelich, @samro, @theamarareport, @theamarareport, @katie_robertson, @jhweissmann, @katie_robertson, @kaivanshroff, @feliciasonmez, @rhcm123, @bgrueskin, The Wrap, Talking Biz News and @maxwelltani
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Filing: Amazon spending on content rose 14% YoY to $18.9B in 2023 despite Hollywood strikes — While other media companies have been paring back content spending, Amazon shelled out more than $2 billion more in 2023 for TV shows, movies and music than it did a year earlier.
Discussion:
Broadband TV News, @tvgrimreaper, @lucas_shaw, Deadline, @xpangler, The Wrap, The Hollywood Reporter, The Streamable and Media Play News
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Wall Street Journal:
Sources: federal authorities have been investigating sexual assault and sex trafficking allegations against WWE co-founder Vince McMahon since 2022 — Authorities have been interviewing women who accuse longtime WWE boss of sexual misconduct — Federal authorities have been investigating sexual assault …
Discussion:
Awful Announcing, Wrestlezone, WFLA, The Morning Call, Deadline, The Wrap, The Sun, DNyuz, BroBible, Fox News, POST Wrestling, USA Today, Metro, NBC Bay Area and VICE
Tom Jones / Poynter:
While reporting on a woman who sought assisted suicide, a Boston Globe columnist signed a form helping her to proceed, raising questions about journalism ethics — While reporting on a woman who sought assisted suicide, Kevin Cullen got personally involved, putting the Globe in an ethical dilemma.
Discussion:
@kirkmin, @bostonglobe, The Boston Globe, The Boston Globe, @farhip and @poynter
Dade Hayes / Deadline:
Charter lost 248K video customers in Q4 2023, partly due to the Disney carriage dispute in September, after losing 145K video customers in Q4 2022 — UPDATED with closing price. Shares in Charter Communications dropped 16.5% Friday after the company reported disappointing fourth-quarter earnings …
Discussion:
MediaPost, @tvgrimreaper, Charter Communications, Hollywood Reporter, Media Play News and Reuters
Jonathan Randles / Bloomberg:
Diamond Sports strikes a deal to continue broadcasting Cleveland Guardians, Minnesota Twins, and Texas Rangers games through the upcoming MLB season — - Broadcaster's deals with three MLB clubs runs through 2024 — Diamond said agreements averts potential fan disruption
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Local newsletter company 6AM City raised a $10M Series A led by Tegna; news and weather from Tegna stations will be included in 6AM newsletters in some markets — Local newsletter company 6AM City has raised more than $10 million in series A funding round led by local broadcaster Tegna, Axios has learned.
Marc Schneider / Billboard:
Merck Mercuriadis is stepping down as CEO of Hipgnosis Song Management and will be replaced by Ben Katovsky, the company's current president and COO — Mercuriadis will transition to chairman, with Ben Katovsky rising to chief executive as the advisor eyes smoother relations with its publicly listed royalty fund.
Discussion:
Digital Music News, Music Business Worldwide, Reuters and CMU
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