Mediagazer: Pinterest plans to release its first streaming show with Tastemade on February 23 for free on Tastemade's channel and apps, featuring QR codes of shoppable Pins (Todd Spangler/Variety)

6:10 PM ET, February 20, 2024

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

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 …

Discussion: MediaPost, YouTube Official Blog, Mashable, CNET, The Verge 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.

Discussion: Tara Walpert Levy on LinkedIn, TechCrunch and Leander Blumenthal on LinkedIn, more at Techmeme »

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.

Discussion: OrissaPOST, Moneycontrol, Business Insider, NewsBytes, Livemint, News9live, ABP Live, News18, India Today, Free Press Journal, Business Standard, Hindustan Times, @arijitbarman76, India Today, Fortune India, Moneycontrol, CNBC and ThePrint

Bloomberg:
Sources: India's market regulator has found a $241M gap in Zee Entertainment's accounting

Discussion: The Economic Times

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.

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 …

Discussion: Billboard, Variety, Wall Street Journal, Cord Cutters News and Music Business Worldwide

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.

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, @jason_koebler, @danack@threads.net, @dmitriid, @ichbingisele, @ichbingisele, @thishousefresh, @shanejones, @stevage1 and Hacker News, 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

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.

Discussion: 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: TechCrunch, more at Techmeme »

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Pinterest plans to release its first streaming show with Tastemade on February 23 for free on Tastemade's channel and apps, featuring QR codes of shoppable Pins — Pinterest is readying the launch of its first-ever streaming show, cooking and lifestyle series “Deliciously Entertaining” …

Discussion: Observer and Media Play News

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More News:

Bloomberg:
UMG pays $240M for a 25.8% stake in Chord, a company that owns 60K+ songs, giving UMG an outlet to invest in music catalogs without being the primary owner

Discussion: Billboard, Reuters, The Wrap, The Information, The Hollywood Reporter and Music Business Worldwide

Scott Roxborough / The Hollywood Reporter:
Fremantle plans to buy Asacha Media after taking an 80% stake in TV group Beach House; both acquisitions combined will cost Fremantle's parent RTL Group €200M+

Discussion: Variety, Fremantle, Deadline and WORLD SCREEN

Georg Szalai / Hollywood Reporter:
Q&A with Monty Sarhan, CEO of European streamer SkyShowtime, on adding a cheaper ad-supported tier, not revealing subscriber numbers, cutting spending, and more

Discussion: Media Play News

David Satin / The Streamable:
Ampere Analysis: Disney has the biggest library of desirable titles at 148, followed by Paramount Global's 72; Netflix would be Disney's best licensing partner

Discussion: Broadband TV News, The Desk, The Hollywood Reporter and Media Play News

Jude Rogers / The Guardian:
Q&A with BBC Disinformation & Social Media Correspondent Marianna Spring on her book Among the Trolls, being the target of 80% of BBC's online abuse, and more

Earlier Picks:

J. Kim Murphy / Variety:
Apple says Masters of the Air was Apple TV+'s most-watched series launch ever and viewership across the service rose 65% globally vs. the prior seven-day period

Discussion: The Streamable, @tvgrimreaper, @bubbaprog.ilovecitr.us and 9to5Mac

Rick Porter / The Hollywood Reporter:
HBO delays posting Last Week Tonight With John Oliver segments on YouTube for a few days after episodes premiere, to nudge more people to watch the show on Max

Discussion: @iamjohnoliver, Business Insider, IndieWire, Variety, The Verge, @aagave, @tvgrimreaper, @tvgrimreaper, @ernie@writing.exchange, CarterMatt, Deadline, The Wrap, The Desk, TVLine, 9to5Google and Cord Cutters News

Bron Maher / Press Gazette:
The UK's National Association of Press Agencies criticizes News UK for its freelance rates remaining unchanged in 40 years; The Sun pays £20 for a news in brief

Discussion: @pressgazette, @mediaguy19, @pressgazette, @ruthbushi, @propertyjourn, @pressgazette, @etansmallman and @charliemoloney

Elizabeth A. Harris / New York Times:
AI-generated biographies, often riddled with gross grammatical and factual errors, are appearing for sale online soon after the death of well-known people

Discussion: Don Heymann on LinkedIn and @gerrymcgovern@mastodon.green

From Techmeme:

Meta:
Meta launches Llama 4 Maverick with 400B parameters and Scout with 109B parameters and a 10M context window, and previews Behemoth with 2T total parameters

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
How Apple may adjust to the US tariffs; sources: the iPhone 17 Pro's camera panel will span the width of the phone and will be the same color as the device

Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft unveils a demo of Quake II generated using its Muse AI model, with limited playability in a browser, as part of the company's Copilot for Gaming push

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