Top News:
Wall Street Journal:
Fox, ESPN, and WBD announce a new joint venture to launch a streaming sports service in the US in the fall of 2024; each entity will own a third of the JV — The service will be available to ESPN+, Hulu and Max subscribers.
Discussion:
Axios, Cord Cutters News, Reuters, MediaPost, The Hill, Awful Announcing, TVLine, Business Insider, CNBC, The Desk, Sportico, The Information, The Verge, New York Times, USA Today, Bloomberg, Deadline, @jeffjarvis, @fiddleelphier, @jacobfeldman4, @sherman4949, @jacobfeldman4, @tvmojoe, @tvmojoe, Dakotah Rice on LinkedIn, @pkafka@threads.net, Sports Media Watch, @tim_bays, Barrett Media, AllEars.Net, ESPN Press Room U.S., @novy_williams, @jtoonkel, @mattbelloni, @lucas_shaw, @blackamazon.bsky.social, @sherman4949, @eriqgardner, UPROXX, @bristei, @loudmouthjulia, Media Play News, Forbes and Digital Trends, more at Techmeme »
Todd Spangler / Variety:
YouTube says YouTube TV now has 8M+ subscribers, up from 5M+ in mid-2022, and that the YouTube Partner Program has 3M+ channels receiving ad revenue share — CEO Neal Mohan also says more than 3 million channels now receive ad-revenue share, touts 1 billion hours viewed on TV daily
Discussion:
YouTube Official Blog, @pkafka@threads.net, Alex Kruglov on LinkedIn, The Streamable, @youtube, Business Insider, @benmullin, The Information, @daveleebbg@threads.net, Axios, Media Play News, @pkafka@threads.net, @lucas_shaw@threads.net, @simondowens@threads.net, Deadline, Neowin, Digital Trends and Cord Cutters News, more at Techmeme »
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Abner Li / 9to5Google:
YouTube says Shorts averages 70B+ daily views and the number of channels uploading Shorts rose 50% YoY — YouTube CEO Neal Mohan today shared what the video service is focusing on in 2024. At a high-level, it's AI, elevating creators, safety, and the “next frontier” of the living room and subscriptions.
Discussion:
The Desk, Observer, Tubefilter, Next TV, The Hollywood Reporter, The Wrap and Cord Cutters News, more at Techmeme »
Dave Lawler / Axios:
Former Fox host Tucker Carlson says he has traveled to Moscow to interview Vladimir Putin and will air the interview “unedited” on his website and on X — Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson said in a video posted to X on Tuesday that he is in Moscow to interview Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Discussion:
@tuckercarlson, Media Matters for America, Politico, Mediaite, The Guardian, Variety, Reuters, The Hill, Bloomberg, The Wrap, New York Post, BBC, Radio Free Europe/Radio …, @rferl, @sarahrainsford, @jason, @amanpour, New Republic, @jonathanlanday, @karaswisher@threads.net, @karaswisher@threads.net, Rolling Stone, Deadline, CBS News, @mediaite@threads.net, @justinbaragona, The Daily Beast, @warrenterra.bsky.social, @everythingism.bsky.social, New York Times, @maxseddon, The Daily Beast, Columbia Journalism Review, The Kyiv Independent, The Daily Caller, @kevinrothrock@infosec …, The Hollywood Reporter, Daily Kos, Newser, Spectator and Metro.co.uk
Ashley Carman / Bloomberg:
Spotify reports Q4 revenue up 16% YoY to €3.7B, MAUs up 23% YoY to 602M, subscribers up 15% YoY to 236M, a €75M operating loss, and expects 618M MAUs in Q1 2024 — - Spotify posts second-largest gain ever for the quarter — Company has been cutting costs in drive to become profitable
RELATED:
Washington Post:
The Atlantic cuts ties with prominent contributor Yascha Mounk after writer Celeste Marcus accused him of rape; Mounk calls the claims “categorically untrue” — The Atlantic magazine has cut ties with writer Yascha Mounk, one of its prominent contributors, after a woman accused him of rape …
Winston Cho / The Hollywood Reporter:
Gina Carano, who was fired from The Mandalorian after controversial social media posts, sues Disney and Lucasfilm for wrongful termination in a suit funded by X — The actress claims the entertainment giant discriminated against her for voicing right-wing opinions on hot-button issues.
Discussion:
The Guardian, Gizmodo, Screen Rant, TVLine, IndieWire, Fox News, The Wrap, Variety, The Hill, Us Weekly, Rolling Stone, Engadget, TMZ.com, ComingSoon.net, Forbes, Reclaim The Net, The A.V. Club, @stevesilberman@newsie.social, TV Insider, The Daily Beast, AllEars.Net, @ampersine@mastodon.online, CBR, Deadline, UPROXX, The Verge, Consequence, BroBible and Daily Disney News
Jonathan Vanian / CNBC:
Snap reports Q4 revenue up 5% YoY to $1.36B, vs. $1.38B est., DAUs up 10% YoY to 414M, a net loss of $248M, vs. $288M YoY; SNAP drops 30%+ after hours — - Snap said fourth-quarter revenue rose about 5%, while the company's net loss narrowed 14% from a year earlier.
Discussion:
The Guardian, TechCrunch, Variety, Reuters, Bloomberg, CNN, Deadline, @thestockmarketnerd … and The Hollywood Reporter, more at Techmeme »
Melanie Goodfellow / Deadline:
Dubai-based Camb.ai, which makes a translation tool that “instantaneously” dubs speech in 100+ languages and was used at the Australian Open, raised a $4M seed — Dubbing Platform Camb.ai, which has recently been used for coverage of the 2024 Australian Open tennis tournament …
Discussion:
Sports Business Journal, Business Wire and The Hollywood Reporter
Ted Johnson / Deadline:
Linda Wertheimer, an NPR “founding mother” who joined the outlet at its 1971 launch and directed and hosted All Things Considered, is retiring after 53 years — Linda Wertheimer, one of the “founding mothers” of National Public Radio, said today that she is retiring.
Discussion:
VPM, @nprkelly, @audieoffmic@threads.net, Current, @davidfolkenflik and @scottdetrow_npr@threads.net
Liz Hoffman / Semafor:
Sources: Standard Industries, a roofing conglomerate that has invested in Puck and Pushkin, is in talks to acquire Graydon Carter's Air Mail for ~$50M — The Scoop — A billionaire roofing family is in talks to buy Air Mail, former Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter's effort to drag glossy magazines into the online age.
Discussion:
@nichcarlson@threads.net, @bigmeaninternet, @nbj914 and @jbarro
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Substack is running a pilot program to help creators on the platform sell ads; a writer says Substack contracted an outside team to approach advertisers — Substack is experimenting with a new pilot program that helps creators on its platform find advertisers and coordinate ad buys, Axios has learned.
Adam Chitwood / The Wrap:
An 87% majority of editorial and creative employees at video game outlet IGN vote to unionize with the NewsGuild-CWA; the group will consist of 80+ employees — The newly formed IGN Creators Guild will consist of over 80 employees — A majority of editorial and creative employees at IGN …
Discussion:
Variety, The NewsGuild, The Hollywood Reporter, @sweetpotatoes and Kotaku