Mediagazer: Azerbaijan is accused of cracking down on independent media in the run-up to snap elections; 13 journalists, including from Abzas Media, have been detained (David Pegg/The Guardian)

12:40 PM ET, February 3, 2024

Top News:

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

David Pegg / The Guardian:

Azerbaijan is accused of cracking down on independent media in the run-up to snap elections; 13 journalists, including from Abzas Media, have been detained — Sevinc Vaqifgizi is one of 13 independent journalists detained since snap presidential vote announced

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 »

Salvador Rodriguez / Wall Street Journal:
Meta reports Q4 revenue up 25% YoY to $40.1B, with ad revenue of $38.7B, ad impressions delivered across its Family of Apps up 21%, and average ad price up 2%

Discussion: MediaPost, Meta Investor Relations, The Information, The Wrap, @alexeheath, @alexeheath, @alexeheath, @kantrowitz, @alecmacgillis, CityAM, TVNewsCheck, Search Engine Land, MacStories, Variety and Music Ally

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 …

Discussion: Techdirt, @freedomofpress, @a_greenberg, @a_greenberg, @jkdbchr, @taylorbuley, @amys_here, @a_greenberg, @robchapman@ohai.social, @jsrailton, @nsnadeemsarwar, MuckRock, @jeff@honeytree.social, @mmasnick@mastodon.social, @DaveMWilburn@infosec.exchange, @evacide@hachyderm.io and Hacker News

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: @lucas_shaw, @xpangler, @tvgrimreaper, The Streamable, The Wrap, Broadband TV News, Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter and Media Play News

Annie Palmer / CNBC:
Amazon Q4: ad revenue up 27% YoY to $14.7B, vs. $14.2B est., subscription revenue up 14% YoY to $10.5B, and North America segment sales up 13% YoY to $105.5B

Discussion: MediaPost, NBC Bay Area, Annie Palmer on LinkedIn, Spyglass, @ericjhonsa, @lucas_shaw, GeekWire, Search Engine Land, NBC 7 San Diego, CNN and The Hollywood Reporter

Selome Hailu / Variety:

HBO cuts Miloš Biković from The White Lotus cast, after Ukraine accused him of supporting Russia since its war; Biković calls the move a “disturbing precedent” — HBO has cut Miloš Biković from the cast of “The White Lotus” Season 3 following a callout …

Discussion: TV Insider, DNyuz, The Independent, Business Insider, New York Post, @twmcltd, EW.com, The Daily Beast, @variety, CBR, New York Times, TVLine, IndieWire, The Wrap, The Hollywood Reporter and Deadline

Harry McCracken / Fast Company:

Interviews with Disney executives about Apple Vision Pro, how the device is changing the studio's production pipelines, future plans for the device, and more — Years in the works, the new Disney+ app has an immersive new twist. But the company sees it as one small step into a new entertainment medium with rich possibilities.

Discussion: Reuters, TechCrunch, @harrymccracken@mastodon …, Harry McCracken on LinkedIn, 9to5Mac, Pete Voss on LinkedIn, Front Office Sports, MacRumors, Digital Journal, DNyuz, Sportico, Wired, The Verge, CNN and Gizmodo, more at Techmeme »

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 …

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: Rolling Stone, Wrestlezone, POST Wrestling, Awful Announcing, WFLA, Fox News, DNyuz, The Wrap, Deadline, BroBible, The Morning Call, USA Today, NBC 7 San Diego, The Sun, Metro 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: Washington Post, Media Nation, The Boston Globe, @kirkmin, @farhip, @bostonglobe, @poynter and The Boston Globe

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, Media Play News, Hollywood Reporter 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

Discussion: @evandrellich, Cord Cutters News, Sports Media Watch, @tvgrimreaper, @matthewtaylormn, @evandrellich, Front Office Sports, Awful Announcing, Sportico, Reuters and Barrett Media

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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

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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

Discussion: Digital Music News, Reuters, Music Business Worldwide and CMU

Dexter Thomas / Wired:
Q&A with TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew on the company's music festival in Mesa, AZ, his background, TikTok and music, music labels, US scrutiny, moderation, and more

Discussion: @wired, Rolling Stone, Fox News, MediaNama, Insider Intelligence, NPR, Gizmodo, Bloomberg and Music Ally

Anna Nicolaou / Financial Times:
Sources: some independent record labels are pushing back on Apple's plans to pay more for spatial audio tracks, saying it benefits larger record companies

Discussion: The Verge, MacRumors, AppleInsider, 9to5Mac and MIT Technology Review

Chris Willman / Variety:
Chuck Philips, a Pulitzer Prize-winning Los Angeles Times journalist known for his investigative reporting on the music industry, died in January at age 71

Discussion: Deadline, @hearinladotcom, @khal, The Daily Beast and The Wrap

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

Discussion: Techdirt, @jbflint, Ashley Woods Branch on LinkedIn, @snigdhasur, @theakglassman, @ryangrim, @jayrosen_nyu, @jragazzo, @scottnover, @nohodge, @jordannovet, @froomkin, Defector and Newser

Earlier Picks:

Kevin T. Dugan / New York Magazine:
Interviews with shareholders and current and ex-employees suggest that SI's publisher Arena missed the licensing payment by choice, not because it lacked money

Discussion: @jayshams, @leomschwartz, Awful Announcing and Washington Post

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: Variety, Newser, Politico, @ellefs0n, @juliareinstein, @juliareinstein, @willsommer, @benmullin, Axios, Deadline, The Hill, Hollywood Reporter, The Wrap and New York Magazine

Todd Spangler / Variety:
Apple Q1: revenue from Services, which includes Apple TV+ and Apple Music, rose 11% YoY to a record $23.1B, and the installed base passed 2.2B active devices

Discussion: MacRumors, Music Ally, @neilcybart, AppleInsider, Apple, Media Play News and The Hollywood Reporter

Jim Edwards / Press Gazette:
Google plans to limit news publishers to tracking users across five of their own websites under its Privacy Sandbox, which is set to replace third-party cookies

Discussion: The Drum, AdExchanger, Jim Edwards on LinkedIn, WAN-IFRA, @pressgazette, Paweł Nowacki on LinkedIn and Poynter

Lesley Goldberg / The Hollywood Reporter:
Highlights from Netflix's press event: a push for live programming, no planned theatrical releases, licensing content from others won't impact originals, more

Discussion: Wrestlezone, @tsoh_investing, @reecekelleyg, @thr, @ryansatin, @meltzersaidwhat, Deadline, Deadline, Variety, The Playlist and POST Wrestling

From Techmeme:

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

Cristina Criddle / Financial Times:
Sources: OpenAI recently gave staff and third-party groups just days, vs. several months previously, to evaluate risks and performance of its latest models

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

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