Top News:
Kenneth Li / Reuters:
Thomson Reuters reports Reuters News Q4 revenue rose 11% YoY to $220M, driven mainly by generative AI licensing, and adjusted EBITDA grew 56% YoY to $61M — Thomson Reuters Corp (TRI.TO) on Thursday reported higher than expected profit but sales of divisions impacted total revenue growth …
Discussion:
The Wrap, Talking Biz News and Thomson Reuters
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Dow Jones CEO Almar Latour says the company had 3.17M digital-only subscriptions in Q4 2023, up 60% on Q3 2019, and 80% of its revenue comes from subscriptions — Dow Jones, the parent company to the Wall Street Journal, Barron's, MarketWatch, Investor's Business Daily and Financial News …
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Natalie Korach / The Wrap:
News Corp Q2: revenue up 3% YoY to $2.59B, vs. $2.58B est., net income up 95% to $183M, Dow Jones with its highest quarterly revenue since its 2007 acquisition
Discussion:
Press Gazette, @johnbuckley_, @katie_robertson, @katie_robertson, The Bookseller, News Corp, Billboard, News Corp, Reuters and Variety
Alex Sherman / CNBC:
Disney plans to launch ESPN's D2C service in August or the fall of 2025, and include integration with ESPN's fantasy platforms and ESPN Bet — - ESPN will launch its flagship direct-to-consumer streaming service in the fall of 2025, Disney CEO Bob Iger said Wednesday.
Discussion:
Front Office Sports, TechHive, @maccable, @richlightshed, @jtoonkel, @bristei, @thebauminator, @bristei, @bristei, @bristei, @sherman4949, @alex_kirshner, KNSD-TV, Sports Media Watch, AllEars.Net, Media Play News, Engadget, Cord Cutters News, Awful Announcing, Sportico, Hollywood Reporter, Variety, The Wrap, Gizmodo and New York Daily News
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Jennifer Maas / Variety:
Disney Q1: 111.3M Disney+ subscribers, down from 112.6M in Q3, Disney+ Hotstar adds 700K subscribers to 38.3M, and expects streaming profitability by Q4 2024
Discussion:
The A.V. Club, KNSD-TV, MediaPost, @bristei, @bristei, @bristei, @bristei, AllEars.Net, Media Play News, The Streamable, IndieWire and ComingSoon.net
Sarah Whitten / CNBC:
Disney plans to invest $1.5B for a stake in Epic Games and collaborate on a new “universe” connected to Fortnite with content from Disney, Pixar, and more
Discussion:
Variety, Forbes, The Verge, Media Play News, The Walt Disney Company, UPROXX, Emil Protalinski on LinkedIn, @genepark, @fortnitegame, @ballmatthew, @disney, @great_katzby, @bristei, @tomwarren, @loudmouthjulia, @loudmouthjulia, Neowin, Ars Technica, @mgsiegler@threads.net, Yonatan Raz-Fridman on LinkedIn, Fast Company, Neil Duffy on LinkedIn, Polygon, The Information, TechCrunch, The Wrap, Bill Young on LinkedIn, Bloomberg, WORLD SCREEN, Engadget, Business Insider, Deadline, TVNewsCheck and The Hollywood Reporter, more at Techmeme »
Sarah Whitten / CNBC:
Disney reports Q1 revenue of $23.55B, about the same from a year ago, operating income up 27% YoY to $3.9B, and raises its guidance; DIS up 5%+
Discussion:
Los Angeles Times, KNSD-TV, Reuters, MediaNama, @sherman4949, @lucas_shaw, @sherman4949, @bristei, @sherman4949, @tvgrimreaper, Disney, @sherman4949, NBC Bay Area, Axios and @app_economy_insights …
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: NFL, NBA, and other sports leagues were kept in the dark about the sports streaming platform being launched by Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, and Fox — NFL, NBA digest details of new platform looming over their businesses — Sports leagues including the National Football League …
Discussion:
Jean Edhlund on LinkedIn, Yahoo Finance, Sportico, @nikosray.bsky.social, Ad Age, Ars Technica, Financial Times, USA Today, AllEars.Net, CNBC and Associated Press
RELATED:
Kurt Wagner / Bloomberg:
Battle for the Bird book excerpt: how Jack Dorsey's plan to get Elon Musk to save Twitter failed, as Musk dismantled the company after taking over, and more — An excerpt from Battle for the Bird shows how Twitter's two most prominent leaders contributed to its current dilemma.
Discussion:
TechCrunch, @annmlipton, @kurtwagner8, @sarahfrier, @danilo@hachyderm.io, @business and MediaPost, more at Techmeme »
Todd Spangler / Variety:
CBS News Digital staffers form a union with WGA East; WGA East also represents workers at CBS News and won a first collective bargaining agreement at MSNBC — Amid a wave of layoffs sweeping across the media industry, writers and editors at CBS News Digital have formed a union with WGA East for the purpose of collective bargaining.
Discussion:
The Wrap, Writers Guild of America … and The Hollywood Reporter
Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
Bauer Media Group says its UK publishing CEO Chris Duncan is leaving, amid its plans to split print and digital businesses and merge international operations — Bauer is splitting its print and digital operations and moving away from a localised structure.
Ashley Fetters Maloy / Washington Post:
Q&A with millenial EICs of five fashion outlets on how the job has changed since its heyday, relationships with advertisers, accountability to readers, and more — Town cars are over, transparency has replaced aspiration and diversity finally exists. Top editors talk about leading a style magazine in 2024.
Discussion:
Florencia Cavallo on LinkedIn
Jem Aswad / Variety:
Spotify paid out $9B to music rights holders in 2023, a “figure that has tripled over the past six years”, and more than $48B since its founding — Spotify paid the music industry some $9 billion in 2023, according to a statement from the streaming giant, which added that the …
Discussion:
The Ankler, Music Business Worldwide, Music Ally and Hypebot, more at Techmeme »
Sophie Culpepper / Nieman Lab:
How the Alliance of Nonprofit News Outlets, launched in August 2023 and now with 32 member publications, helps small news nonprofits reach large funders — “There are haves and have-nots in the nonprofit journalism space. And this isn't right.” … Here's a question I bet …
Discussion:
@sarahscire, @laurahazardowen and @fara1
David Gilbert / Wired:
How a Russian disinformation campaign is using bots, lifestyle influencers, and state-run media to boost calls for a US “civil war” over the Texas border crisis — An all-encompassing Russian disinformation campaign is using everything from bots to lifestyle influencers …
Discussion:
MIT Technology Review, @leahfeiger, @daithaigilbert, @alecluhn, @w7voa@journa.host and @weilawei@mastodon.online
Connor Jones / The Register:
Microsoft's Threat Analysis Center says Iran's cyber operations in Israel show how Iran could target the 2024 US elections, including AI-generated fake news — Tactics are more sophisticated and supported in greater numbers — Iran's anti-Israel cyber operations are providing a window …
Discussion:
The Guardian and Microsoft On the Issues
Jem Aswad / Variety:
Memo: Warner Music plans to lay off 10% of its staff, or 600 people, wind down its podcast network Interval Presents, and sell the websites Uproxx and HipHopDX — The tough news continues for the music industry as Warner Music announced that it will lay off 10% of its staff, or 600 people, in the coming weeks.
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