Top News:
Alexandra Bruell / Wall Street Journal:
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’
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 …
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Max Tani / Semafor:
Some NBC News staff raise concerns that the hiring and firing of Ronna McDaniel will damage relationships with GOP sources, making breaking news more difficult
Some NBC News staff raise concerns that the hiring and firing of Ronna McDaniel will damage relationships with GOP sources, making breaking news more difficult
Discussion:
Washington Post, @ampersine@mastodon.online, The Wrap, Fox News, New York Post, @karol, New York Times, @mikeelgan, @johnnydollar01, @nedryun, @gregtsargent, @josephzeballos, @nedryun, @newsjennifer, @asmith83, Fast Company, @jayrosen_nyu, @thepacketrat, @maxwelltani, Reason, Politico, Vanity Fair, @sfdb@mastodon.social, @alex@masto.digittante.com, @GreenFire@mstdn.social, @wademinter.com, HuffPost, Mediaite, Financial Times, @MikeElgan@mastodon.social, CNN, Reuters and The Desk
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, TechCrunch, Android Police, Pedro Pina on LinkedIn, Tubefilter, Engadget, CNN, Fast Company, 9to5Google and TechCrunch
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
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, Observer, @sarapoyzer, Daily Mail, Gizmodo, The Guardian, @matthewg_yoga, The Hollywood Reporter, The Drum, Rolling Stone, The Daily Beast and @nathanwyburnart
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.
Benoit Berthelot / Bloomberg:
BuzzFeed signs an agreement licensing the UK and Ireland operations of HuffPost, Tasty, Seasoned, and BuzzFeed to the Independent, which ~30 staff will join — - Deal also includes UK arms of HuffPost, Tasty and Seasoned — BuzzFeed's share price has gained after job cuts, asset sales
Discussion:
The Guardian, BuzzFeed, Inc., The Wrap, Reuters, The Independent and Press Gazette
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:
European Audiovisual Observatory, Broadband TV News and Media Play News
Andrew Deck / Nieman Lab:
Q&A with Phoebe Connelly, The Washington Post's first-ever senior editor for AI strategy and innovation, on prompt training, anxiety about job loss, and more — Phoebe Connelly on prompt training, AI anxieties, and her first-of-its-kind role … Phoebe Connelly is The Washington Post's …
Discussion:
@niemanlab
Nicola Agius / Search Engine Land:
Google blocked or removed 5.5B ads and 12.7M advertiser accounts for violating its policies in 2023, up from 5.2B ads and 6.7M advertiser accounts in 2022 — The number of advertisers who were blocked or removed due to policy violations nearly doubled compared to the previous year. — Chat with SearchBot
Discussion:
@vera_community, The Wrap, 9to5Google, @google, The Keyword and The Indian Express
Max Goldbart / Deadline:
The BBC unveils its 2024/25 Annual Plan: a £492M deficit, up 40% YoY, £3.8B in license fee income, and an 8% increase in content spending to £3.2B — The BBC's financial deficit is projected to reach nearly £500M next year as the corporation delivers what it has described as a “transformational budget.”
Discussion:
Advanced Television, BBC, The Hollywood Reporter, @jake_kanter, @back_the_bbc and @pressgazette