Mediagazer: A look at German tabloid Bild, whose paid tier, Bildplus, has 707K digital subscribers and has grown subscribers by buying rights to boxing matches not on TV (Charlotte Tobitt/Press Gazette)

12:50 PM ET, February 22, 2024

Top News:

Sara Fischer / Axios:

BuzzFeed sells Complex, acquired for $300M in 2021, to livestream shopping platform Ntwrk for $108.6M; BuzzFeed plans to lay off 16% of its workforce — - The Wall Street Journal reported that BuzzFeed is also looking to possibly sell its social media food brand Tasty.

Dr Richard Fletcher / Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism:

Analysis: at 2023's end, 48% of the top news websites in the US, the UK, and eight others had blocked OpenAI's crawler and 24% had blocked Google's AI crawler — In this factsheet we describe the proportion of top news websites in ten countries that block AI (artificial intelligence) crawlers.

Discussion: NewsLab, @carnage4life@mas.to, @risj_oxford, @risj_oxford, @risj_oxford, @risj_oxford, @josemurilo@mato.social, @risj_oxford and @risj_oxford, more at Techmeme »

Corbin Bolies / The Daily Beast:

Newsmax joins the New York Post's editorial board and other right-leaning outlets criticizing a pair of Florida bills making it easier to sue for defamation — The cable channel joins a growing list of right-wing outlets bashing Florida GOP legislation that takes square aim at the news media.

Discussion: Raw Story, @aaron.rupar@threads.net, New York Post and Fox News

Lucas Manfredi / The Wrap:

Amazon says there are “no changes” coming to Freevee, following reports that the company plans to shutter its FAST service in the coming weeks — The statement comes after AdWeek reported that the free, ad-supported streamer was shutting down — Amazon is pushing back against reports …

Discussion: Broadband TV News, Fast Company, MediaPost, Media Play News, The Streamable, The A.V. Club, Variety, UPROXX and Cord Cutters News

Mark Stenberg / Adweek:
Sources: Amazon plans to shut its FAST service Freevee in the coming weeks, as part of a broader effort to focus its ad and product efforts on Prime Video

Michael McCarthy / Front Office Sports:

Sources: Amazon paid $120M for exclusive rights to show a 2025 NFL playoff game on Prime Video; NBCU paid $110M for a January 2024 NFL playoff game on Peacock — Out of the Big Four tech giants, Amazon is the most ambitious about invading live sports. The giant streamer is opening …

Discussion: The Streamable, Deadspin, The Desk and Awful Announcing, more at Techmeme »

Max Tani / @maxwelltani:

[Thread] Engadget announces layoffs and a restructuring that separates news and features from reviews and buying advice — Memo that went out to staffers at Engadget announcing layoffs today [image]

Discussion: @maxwelltani

Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:

Instagram debuts its marketplace tool to connect brands and creators for partnerships or ads in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Japan, India, and Brazil — Instagram said today that it is expanding its marketplace tool to connect brands with creators for paid partnerships or ads in eight new countries.

Discussion: B&T, Music Ally and Meta, more at Techmeme »

Sara Fischer / Axios:

Substack says 3M+ customers subscribe to paid newsletters on its platform, up from 2M in February 2023, and credits its recommendations feature for the growth — - The company said it plans to expand the recommendations feature, which helps writers promote other newsletters in its network …

more at Techmeme »

Reuters:

Sources: Reddit has inked a deal with Google to make its content available for training the search giant's AI models; source: the contract is worth ~$60M a year — Social media platform Reddit has struck a deal with Google (GOOGL.O) to make its content available for training …

Discussion: The Wrap, One Man & His Blog, The Keyword, New York Post, Search Engine Land, @annatonger, @reuters, @chirag_mehta, @reuters, @reuters, @toddlombardo, The Verge, @mrjnowlin, @basedtorba, @brij and Gizmodo, more at Techmeme »

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:

A look at German tabloid Bild, whose paid tier, Bildplus, has 707K digital subscribers and has grown subscribers by buying rights to boxing matches not on TV — Bundles and sports livestreams help, but journalism drives most subscriptions for Bild. — The head of the digital subscriptions strategy …

Miranda Bryant / The Guardian:

In a Danish court, prosecutors allege a man fraudulently made ~£502K in royalties from music streamers and breached copyright law — Aarhus court hears he may have profited from artificially generated playbacks, in case thought to be first of its kind

Discussion: The Kyiv Independent, CMU, Digital Music News and Music Ally

Stanley Widianto / Reuters:

Meta says “we understand Meta will not be required to pay for news content that publishers voluntarily post to our platforms” in Indonesia under a new law — Facebook parent Meta Platforms (META.O) on Thursday said it believes that a new Indonesia law does not require …

Discussion: Bloomberg, more at Techmeme »

Josh Peck / TPR:

Journalists at Hearst's San Antonio Express-News and MySA.com say they intend to unionize, becoming the fourth Texas newsroom to announce a union effort in 2024 — Journalists at the San Antonio Express-News and MySA.com announced their intent to unionize on Wednesday …

Discussion: @mediaguildwest, @susanrinkunas.com, San Antonio Express-News, The NewsGuild and MediaPost

Archived Page Info:

This is a snapshot of Mediagazer at 12:50 PM ET, February 22, 2024.

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Who's Hiring in Media?

Energy & Commodities Editor, Tokyo — Bloomberg

Politics Reporter, TX — Texas Tribune

Consumer Brands Reporter, GA — AJC

Deputy Editor - Health Care, VA — Politico

Product Editor, CA — CalMatters

Indigenous Affairs Editor, Sydney — Guardian US

China Markets Correspondent, Shanghai — Reuters

Bangor Reporter, ME — Bangor Daily News

Commerce Editor - Health, Remote US — Yahoo

Sports Editor, MI — Detroit News

Managing Editor, Remote US — Velo

Lex Writer, London — FT

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More News:

Lachlan Cartwright / The Hollywood Reporter:
A look at Dana Walden's reorganization of ABC News, which is an effort to stabilize the unit and showcase her mettle as a top decision-maker at Disney

Meg James / Los Angeles Times:
The first trial in the death of a cinematographer on the set of Rust begins; weapons handler Hannah Gutierrez pleads not guilty to involuntary manslaughter

Discussion: KTAR.com, @megjameslat, @megjameslat, NewsNation, UPI, Rolling Stone, Raw Story, Reuters, Associated Press and Deadline

Kristen Hare / Poynter:
Press Forward, the philanthropic initiative to invest $500M over five years in local news, says 11 new communities have joined six established chapters

Discussion: American Press Institute, Press Forward, Nieman Lab, Sarah Gustavus Lim on LinkedIn, Editor and Publisher, Lizzy Hazeltine on LinkedIn and North Carolina Local …

Margi Murphy / Bloomberg:
A profile of ElevenLabs, whose AI voice cloning tech is being used to spoof politicians; five of the startup's 40 employees are dedicated to trust and safety

Discussion: Margi Murphy on LinkedIn

Dominic Ponsford / Press Gazette:
ABC report: UK magazines' digital sales rose 15.4% YoY to an average of 2.6M per edition, including 1.2M from “all you can read” sales via Readly and others

Discussion: @pressgazette and Press Gazette

Earlier Picks:

Katie Paul / Reuters:
Israel-based BRIA, a Getty-backed AI image generation startup that licenses 1B+ images from 18 stock providers, raised a $24M Series A from Publicis and others

Discussion: Amit Goldenberg on LinkedIn, Jay Eum on LinkedIn, Assa Eldar on LinkedIn, Yair Adato on LinkedIn and AdExchanger

Todd Spangler / Variety:
Apple debuts Apple Sports, a free app offering scores and stats for the NBA, NHL, Premier League, and more, in the US, Canada, and the UK, on iOS 17.2 or later

Lachlan Cartwright / The Hollywood Reporter:
Q&A with Jeff Zucker about RedBird IMI's approach to news investments, backlash from The Telegraph journalists, lessons from The Messenger launch, and more

Discussion: Poynter, Adweek, @pressgazette, @lachcartwright and @jeremymbarr

Amelia Pollard / Bloomberg:
Filing: a US court gives Audacy, the second-largest radio broadcaster in the US, approval to exit bankruptcy, slashing ~$1.7B of its debt in a restructuring

Discussion: The Desk, Inside Radio and Radio & Television …

Max Tani / Semafor:
Mehdi Hasan joins The Guardian US as a regular columnist; the outlet has been staffing up in recent months, adding well-known writers and an investigative unit

Discussion: New York Post, Mediaite, @pressgazette, The Guardian, The Hill, Press Gazette and The Wrap

From Techmeme:

Dan Mangan / CNBC:
President Trump pauses tariffs on most countries for 90 days, setting a 10% “lowered Reciprocal Tariff”, and sets 125% tariffs on China “effective immediately”

David DiMolfetta / Nextgov/FCW:
President Trump directs the DOJ to investigate former CISA Director Chris Krebs, who Trump fired for contradicting Trump's baseless 2020 election fraud claims

Jesse Hamilton / CoinDesk:
The US Senate confirms former SEC Commissioner Paul Atkins as SEC chair, succeeding Gary Gensler; Atkins is widely expected to support crypto-friendly policies

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