Top News:
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, Politico, BBC, The Guardian, Variety, Bloomberg, The Wrap, Reuters, The Hill, @amanpour, Rolling Stone, Deadline, CBS News, New York Times, @mediaite@threads.net, @justinbaragona, The Daily Beast, @warrenterra.bsky.social, @everythingism.bsky.social, The Kyiv Independent, The Kyiv Independent, The Daily Caller, @kevinrothrock@infosec …, The Hollywood Reporter, @maxseddon, The Daily Beast, Columbia Journalism Review, Daily Kos, New Republic, Newser, Spectator and Metro.co.uk
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, The Desk, The Streamable, Axios, @benmullin, Neowin, The Information, @youtube, Business Insider, @daveleebbg@threads.net, Media Play News, @pkafka@threads.net, @lucas_shaw@threads.net, @simondowens@threads.net, Deadline, 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:
Observer, Next TV, The Hollywood Reporter, The Wrap and Cord Cutters News, more at Techmeme »
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:
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Spotify says Q4 ad-supported revenue grew 12% YoY to €501M, a quarterly high; CFO Paul Vogel expects the podcast segment to reach positive gross margin in 2024 — Spotify pulled in more than new listeners than it expected for the fourth quarter, as the streamer narrowed its net loss …
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.
Mike Isaac / New York Times:
Meta proposes standards to identify AI content that its industry peers could use, and plans to label AI images posted on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads — The social network wants to promote standardized labels to help detect artificially created photo, video and audio material across its platforms.
Discussion:
TechCrunch, The Register, The Hill, Engadget, Wired, CNN, @andymstone, @metanewsroom, The Guardian, Axios, NBC News, The Verge, Meta, The Wrap, Bloomberg and @nickclegg, more at Techmeme »
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, @scottdetrow_npr@threads.net, @audieoffmic@threads.net, Current and @davidfolkenflik
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:
@nbj914, @jbarro and @bigmeaninternet
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