Top News:
Lucas Manfredi / The Wrap:
Nielsen: US monthly TV viewership rose 1.4% YoY to a four-year high in January, which included three of the top 10 days with the most TV viewing since May 2021 — Monthly TV usage hit a four-year high in January 2024, according to Nielsen, with three of the top 10 days (Jan. 1, 14 and 28) …
Discussion:
Nielsen, MediaPost, Radio & Television …, Next TV, @tvgrimreaper, @lucas_shaw, @tvgrimreaper, The Hollywood Reporter, @lucas_shaw, Cord Cutters News and Deadline
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Lauren Forristal / TechCrunch:
Nielsen: YouTube has been the top streaming service in the US for 12 consecutive months; YouTube says viewers watch 1B+ hours of YouTube per day on their TVs — Nielsen today released its January report on viewing usage across linear TV and streaming, which revealed that YouTube is once again …
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The Hill, MediaPost, YouTube Official Blog, CNET, The Verge, Mashable and Media Play News
Dade Hayes / Deadline:
As YouTube marks one year as Nielsen's top US streaming service, a Q&A with YouTube VPs Nicky Rettke and Tara Levy on the NFL, ad innovation, creators, and more — EXCLUSIVE: YouTube has been racking up milestones lately. Its pay-TV bundle, YouTube TV, just passed 8 million subscribers.
Arijit Barman / The Economic Times:
Sources: Zee has re-engaged with Sony in a last-ditch attempt to revive their $10B merger, which had been called off on January 22; ZEEL closed up 7.93% — Zee Entertainment Enterprises has re-engaged with Sony Group Corp in a last-ditch attempt to revive their $10-billion merger.
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Jacob Pramuk / CNBC:
Walmart agrees to acquire TV maker Vizio for $2.3B, or $11.50/share, to boost its ad business via Vizio's SmartCast OS, which lets users stream content with ads — - Walmart is buying TV maker Vizio for $2.3 billion in cash. — The move is a bid to boost the big-box retailer's high-margin ad business.
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Walmart Inc., The Hill, Adweek, Variety, Fast Company, AdExchanger, NBC 7 San Diego, Deepak Maini on LinkedIn, Observer, Johanna Bauman on LinkedIn, Ars Technica, MarTech, @eric_seufert, @simondowens@threads.net, @thetranscript_, CBS News, CNN, Chris Williams on LinkedIn, Jon Gibs on LinkedIn, @carnage4life, The Hollywood Reporter, @rasmus_kleis, Forbes, The Desk, Rio Longacre on LinkedIn, The Verge, Ian Baer on LinkedIn, New York Post, Axios, @sarafischer, Jason Goldberg on LinkedIn, The Streamable, The Information, Broadband TV News, Rob Leathern on LinkedIn, @lucas_shaw, Wall Street Journal, Deadline, The Drum, MarketWatch, Joseph Artuso on LinkedIn, @rasmus_kleis, Media Play News, MediaPost, The Wrap, TechCrunch, Search Engine Land, Ad Age, ABC4 Utah, NBC Bay Area and Cord Cutters News, more at Techmeme »
Rebecca Rubin / Variety:
Sony Pictures Entertainment strikes a deal to manufacture, distribute, and market Disney's DVD, Blu-ray discs, and other physical media in the US and Canada — Disney is outsourcing a big piece of its home entertainment division to Sony Pictures Entertainment, which will manufacture …
Blake Brittain / Reuters:
A US appeals court rules a $1B jury verdict from 2019 against Cox for users' music piracy was unjustified; a new trial to be held to determine suitable damages — Cox Communications [RIC:RIC:COXC.UL], the cable television and internet service provider, convinced a U.S. appeals court to throw …
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Billboard, The Verge, Ars Technica, Variety, Wall Street Journal, Cord Cutters News and Music Business Worldwide
HouseFresh:
How some big publishers are inundating the web with subpar product recommendations without testing the products, and how Google is helping them through inaction — And why you shouldn't trust product recommendations from big media publishers ranking at the top of Google
Discussion:
Nieman Lab, Search Engine Land, Jill Caren on LinkedIn, Jonathan Berthold on LinkedIn, @weaselproof.bsky.social, Jean-Christophe Chouinard on LinkedIn, Ian Betteridge on LinkedIn, Mark Williams-Cook on LinkedIn, @jason_koebler, @mhucka@fediscience.org, @metin@graphics.social, @Infloop@indieweb.social, @mpesce@arvr.social, @mdekstrand@hci.social, @danack@threads.net, @clive@saturation.social, @dmitriid, @ichbingisele, @ichbingisele, @thishousefresh, @shanejones, @stevage1 and Hacker News, more at Techmeme »
CNBC:
Lawsuit document: FuboTV sues Disney, Fox, and WBD over their planned joint venture in sports streaming, citing “extreme suppression of competition” — - FuboTV is suing Disney, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery over their recently announced sports streaming joint venture, according to a copy of the lawsuit obtained by CNBC.
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Nate Ostiller / The Kyiv Independent:
Russia labels RFE/RL an “undesirable organization”, following an earlier decision by Russian tax authorities to begin bankruptcy proceedings against the outlet — Russia labeled Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) an “undesirable organization,” the outlet reported on Feb. 20, citing Russia's Justice Ministry.
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Voice of America
Benjamin Mayo / 9to5Mac:
Apple debuts a monthly Apple Music Replay, offering insights like total listening time, top songs, artists, and albums, and releases 2024's Replay Mix playlist — Apple today updated the Apple Music Replay experience, available at replay.music.apple.com, with visualizations of your favorite music habits …
Discussion:
CNET and TechCrunch, more at Techmeme »
Sara Fischer / Axios:
The New York Times is recruiting select advertising partners to test its new generative AI ad-targeting tool, which it plans to make widely available in H2 2024 — The New York Times is recruiting partners to test new ad-targeting solutions using generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) beginning next quarter, executives told Axios.
Discussion:
@sarafischer and The Wrap
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