Mediagazer: WBD plans to shut down Rooster Teeth after failing to sell the unprofitable fandom, gaming, and comedy entertainment unit, resulting in layoffs of ~150 staff (Todd Spangler/Variety)

Sarah Scire / Nieman Lab:

Q&A with FT Group CEO John Ridding on the benefits of being owned by Nikkei, using AI in the newsroom and for engagement, US growth, and Big Tech's AI missteps — The FT has more than 1.4 million subscribers, including more than 1 million digital subscribers. About 20% are based in the United States.

Discussion: @worldeditors, Financial Times and @niemanlab

Bron Maher / Press Gazette:

FT executive Alexandra Calinikos says FT Ventures plans to make £30M in initial deployments, investing £500K to £5M in “information, intelligence, media” firms — FT becomes strategic investor in growing media companies. — FT Ventures, the recently-announced venture arm …

Discussion: Talking Biz News

Reuters:

Spotify plans to raise its prices in France due to a new tax law that adds a 1.2% tax on streaming companies' revenue to help finance local music creation — Swedish streaming service Spotify (SPOT.N) on Thursday said it would increase its prices in France due to a new tax, which it argued would fail to accomplish its intended goal.

Discussion: Billboard, Spotify, TechCrunch, Music Ally and Music Business Worldwide

Meg James / Los Angeles Times:

A jury finds Rust movie armorer Hannah Gutierrez guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the 2021 accidental shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins — Weapons experts and prosecutor witness Bryan Carpenter, explains in court that he found fault with Alec Baldwin's conduct and use of guns.

Discussion: The Sun, NME, Variety, Fox News, Al Jazeera, Us Weekly, Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, E! Online, Washington Post, NPR, The A.V. Club, SlashFilm, WTOL-TV, TMZ.com, ABC News, Associated Press, NBC News, New York Times, Law & Crime, New York Post, IndieWire, The Wrap, Deadline and CBS News

Ben Markus / Colorado Public Radio:

Colorado Public Radio lays off 15, primarily in audio and podcast production, and spares the newsroom of cuts; staff grew from 48 in FY 2006 to 214 in FY 2022 — Colorado Public Radio laid off 15 employees this week, the largest cut to the public broadcaster's payroll in at least a quarter of a century.

Discussion: Radio Ink and @oddryhepburn@threads.net

Tatiana Siegel / Variety:

A look at Apple's studio business: sources say the company spent $700M+ of its reported $1B+ annual 2023 spend on just three films, which earned $466M combined — On March 10, the tech giant has 13 shots to take home an Oscar via two historical epics, “Killers of the Flower Moon” and …

Discussion: Business Insider, @pdergarabedian, @tatianasiegel27, GoldDerby and The Information, more at Techmeme »

New York Times:

Analysis: Temu and Shein are spending heavily on Facebook, X, and YouTube ads in the US; Temu placed ~1.4M ads globally on Google services in the past year — Temu, Shein, and streaming and gaming apps looking to break into the U.S. market are spending huge sums to get their wares in front of American consumers.

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, more at Techmeme »

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:

News sites are closing due to the collapse of programmatic ad revenue; a case study of Talking Points Memo shows how subscriptions kept the site in business — Over the years I've written about structural problems in the digital news industry, often driven by the growth of platform monopolies and other issues.

Discussion: @fishertktk, @gbdonart, @joshtpm, @joshtpm, @joshtpm, @joshtpm, @joshuamzeitz, @laurarbelin, @danb11, @timbray@cosocial.ca and Media Nation

Variety:

ITV reports 2023 external revenue down 3% YoY to £3.6B, ITV Studios revenue up 4%, digital revenue up 19% to £490M, linear ads down 15%, and ITVX MAUs up 19% — U.K. commercial broadcaster ITV's annual results for 2023 were revealed Thursday. — Total group revenue was down 2% …

Discussion: The Media Leader, The Guardian, ITV, Deadline and The Hollywood Reporter

Kasey Moore / What's on Netflix:

Netflix licenses the first season of the OnlyFans original series House of Sims, which debuted on OFTV in May 2023, in the UK — No, we're not making that up... House of Sims is coming to Netflix UK. — There are always headlines I have to write here at What's on Netflix …

Discussion: The Sun

Matthew Keys / The Desk:

Dish Media announces it has formed an advertising partnership with streaming service Philo, letting Dish Media clients purchase Philo's addressable ad inventory — Dish Media has formed a strategic, advertising-driven partnership with wallet-friendly general entertainment streaming service Philo, the companies announced on Wednesday.

Discussion: About DISH

Will Shanklin / Engadget:

Twitch details its 2024 plans: redesigning its mobile app for the first time since 2019 to add mod tools, the ability to upload short videos, and more — It promises “a more modern, immersive viewing experience” later this year. — Twitch is redesigning its mobile app for the first time since 2019.

Discussion: Music Ally, TechCrunch, The Verge and PRWeek, more at Techmeme »