Mediagazer: New York-based The Brandtech Group, which provides generative AI-based tools for advertising and marketing campaigns, raised a $115M Series C at a $4B valuation (Daniel Thomas/Financial Times)

The Atlantic is profitable, has 1M subscribers, and revenue grew 10% in 2023 thanks to a 50% price hike, a harder paywall, and a shift to in-depth reporting — Storied magazine raised subscription prices and hired top talent; ‘we make something worth buying’

Discussion: Megha Garibaldi on LinkedIn, @nycsouthpaw, Mariah Craddick on LinkedIn, The Hill, Molly Logan Cox on LinkedIn, Nicholas Thompson on LinkedIn, Bhumika Tharoor on LinkedIn, @palewire, @davidtoddmccarty@me.dm, @delia_cai, @edmundlee@threads.net, Justin Pallenik on LinkedIn, Alice McKown on LinkedIn, The Atlantic, @alexbruell, @thekenyeung@mastodon.social and The Wrap

Ashley Carman / Bloomberg:

How MowPod, which sells podcast advertising tools, uses mobile game ads to incentivize gamers to follow shows on Apple Podcasts in order to earn in-game tokens — At least nine of the current top 50 shows on Apple Podcasts have been promoted in mobile games — Welcome back to Soundbite.

Discussion: @kantrowitz

New York Times:

The NBC News-Ronna McDaniel saga highlights the perks and perils of partisan talk TV; a source says McDaniel is now seeking $600K+ for her two year deal — Why are television news networks so enamored with paid Beltway analysts? — Trying to juice ratings in an election year …

Discussion: Washington Post, @comilady@threads.net, @mattyb_diary@threads.net, @mattyb_diary@threads.net, The Hollywood Reporter, @nhannahjones, Media Nation, Raw Story, Reason, NPR, The Guardian, Mediaite, Fox News, New York Post and Politico

New York Times:

Karlie Kloss' Bedford buys Life publication rights from Dotdash Meredith and plans to resume regular print publication in 2025; Josh Kushner will be publisher — The investor Josh Kushner and his wife, Karlie Kloss, have struck a deal with Barry Diller's media company to revive it as a regular print title.

Amrita Khalid / The Verge:

YouTube says 25%+ of Partner Program channels earn money from Shorts; of those who joined the program thanks to Shorts, 80% earn from other parts of YouTube — One year after YouTube turned on revenue sharing for its shortform video feature, a growing chunk of creators are getting paid for it.

Discussion: YouTube Official Blog, Fast Company, The Information, Pedro Pina on LinkedIn, TechCrunch, Ina Fuchs on LinkedIn, Engadget, CNN, Tubefilter, 9to5Google, Android Police and TechCrunch, more at Techmeme »

Sara Guaglione / Digiday:

BDG's SVP of marketing details changes amid referral traffic declines, including prioritizing quality, focusing on Instagram and TikTok, and staging events — This article was provided as an exclusive preview for Digiday+ members, who were able to access it early.

Daniel Thomas / Financial Times:

New York-based The Brandtech Group, which provides generative AI-based tools for advertising and marketing campaigns, raised a $115M Series C at a $4B valuation — The Brandtech Group will use funds to disrupt industry with machine-generated content and artificial intelligence

Discussion: The Brandtech Group, more at Techmeme »

Peter Kafka / Business Insider:

The proposed Living Wage for Musicians Act would add $4-$10/month to streaming fees, distributed based on usage and also capped to limit funds to top artists — - A proposed bill would add an extra $4 to $10 a month to streaming music fees. — Making streaming music work better for artists …

Discussion: The Guardian, UMAW, @pkafka and @pkafka

Reuters:

Blackwells, which is in a proxy fight with Disney, sues Disney over possible disclosure violations in dealings with ValueAct; Disney calls the claims “baseless” — Blackwells Capital upped the pressure on Walt Disney (DIS.N) in a long-running boardroom battle …

Discussion: Yahoo Finance and Deadline

Jake Kanter / Deadline:

Actor Sara Poyzer says BBC is using AI instead of her voice in a documentary; the BBC says it is to recreate the voice of a dying person at a family's behest — UPDATE: The BBC has issued a statement that offers important context to Sara Poyzer's viral social media posts.

Discussion: Mediaite, @sarapoyzer, Daily Mail, @matthewg_yoga, Rolling Stone, Gizmodo, Observer, @nathanwyburnart, The Guardian, BGR, The Daily Beast, The Drum and The Hollywood Reporter

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:

The UK's Reach plans to move 300 of its 2,000 journalists into central traffic-driving content hub to reduce the number of journalists writing similar stories — The proposed hub will end duplication as multiple journalists at different Reach websites currently write about the same trending topics.

Discussion: HoldtheFrontPage

Advanced Television:

European Audiovisual Observatory: Netflix, Prime Video, and Disney+ took 85% of VOD viewing time in nine EU countries from September 2022 to September 2023 — Concentration is the main characteristic of VoD usage in Europe with 85 per cent of viewing time generated by only three services (Netflix, Prime Video and Disney+).

Discussion: Broadband TV News, Media Play News and European Audiovisual Observatory