Mediagazer: Condé Nast staff marked for layoffs in November are assigned to a “central editorial group” as they await the outcome of their union's contract negotiations (Katie Kilkenny/The Hollywood Reporter)

11:05 AM ET, April 12, 2024

Top News:

Jordan Novet / CNBC:

Last week, LinkedIn began letting advertisers pay to amplify posts from some users through Thought Leader ads, as it enters the market of influencer marketing — Ryan Roslansky, CEO of Microsoft's LinkedIn subsidiary, speaks at a LinkedIn event in San Francisco on Sept. 22, 2016.

The Information:
Sources: TikTok is testing an AI feature that generates a virtual influencer and a script for a video ad based on prompts submitted by advertisers

Discussion: Gadgets 360, MediaPost, Brandon Perlman on LinkedIn, The Verge and MSPoweruser, more at Techmeme »

Alexandra Bruell / Wall Street Journal:

A look at the internal upheaval at the NYT around sensitive subjects and management's push to emphasize neutrality and independence, including through probes — After internal upheaval over coverage of sensitive topics like the Israel-Gaza war, management renews emphasis on independence and neutrality

Discussion: @jeffjarvis and @jeffjarvis@mastodon.social

New York Times:

Uri Berliner's essay about NPR reignited criticism of the outlet on social media, especially by conservatives, and spurred vehement pushback from some staffers — An essay from an editor at the broadcaster has generated a firestorm of criticism about the network on social media, especially among conservatives.

Brian Hiatt / Rolling Stone:

A look at Udio, which was founded by four former DeepMind employees in December 2023 and launched a product on April 11 that generates songs from text prompts — Weeks after AI-music generator Suno went viral, a new rival, Udio, is here, backed by tech and music heavyweights.

Discussion: @rollingstone, @hiattb, Joshua Slobin on LinkedIn, Conrad Withey on LinkedIn, G.I. Sanders on LinkedIn, Kostya Doronin on LinkedIn, Tom's Guide, SWAMY WORLD, Digital Music News, Ars Technica and Music Business Worldwide, more at Techmeme »

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Appfigures: short drama apps, like ReelShort, collectively made $146M in Q1 2024, up from $1.8M in Q1 2023; Reelshort made $52M in Q1 and DramaBox made $35M — Was Quibi just ahead of its time? Quibi founder Jeffrey Katzenberg ultimately blamed the COVID-19 pandemic for the failure …

Discussion: Appfigures

Katie Kilkenny / The Hollywood Reporter:

Condé Nast staff marked for layoffs in November are assigned to a “central editorial group” as they await the outcome of their union's contract negotiations — While their union negotiates with top execs about the scale and terms of layoffs, employees who had been working at GQ …

Discussion: @joshkovensky, @semaforben and @willyblackmore

Jenny Strasburg / Wall Street Journal:

A profile of Nicolai Tangen, Norway's sovereign-wealth fund manager and host of In Good Company, a podcast that has interviewed Elon Musk, Daniel Ek, and others — Top CEOs talk to Norway's sovereign-wealth fund manager. This week's guest was Elon Musk on the future of AI.

Discussion: Fortune

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy's letter to shareholders: Prime Video now reaches 200M monthly viewers, and streaming TV advertising is growing quickly — Prime Video has a big audience, and now Amazon CEO Andy Jassy has put a new number on it: The premium video service has more than 200 million monthly viewers.

Discussion: Fast Company, About Amazon, TechRadar, Alejandro L. on LinkedIn, Deadline, Fortune, Sebastiaan van Wijngaarden on LinkedIn, Beryl Tomay on LinkedIn, Josh White on LinkedIn, Observer, MarketWatch, Washington Post, The Wrap, Media Play News, The Streamable, The Hollywood Reporter and Cord Cutters News, more at Techmeme »

Brian Steinberg / Variety:

Amazon hires Krishan Bhatia, previously a senior NBCUniversal exec, as VP of global video advertising for Amazon Ads, leading global sales for video operations — As Amazon ramps up its efforts to woo ad dollars that once were earmarked for traditional TV, it is also luring ad executives …

Discussion: MediaPost, Adweek, Brian Steinberg on LinkedIn, Ad Age and Next TV

Richard J. Tofel / Second Rough Draft:

Q&A with Evan Smith, Texas Tribune CEO from 2009 to 2022, on earned income in nonprofit journalism, sponsorship to fund news for marginalized people, and more — Events, sponsorship— and why one size doesn't fit all … RT: We agree on a lot of things about nonprofit journalism and the financing of journalism generally.

Discussion: Andrew Ramsammy on LinkedIn

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Paramount is shutting down Showtime's streaming service on April 30, after it integrated Showtime's programming into the top-tier Paramount+ plan in June 2023 — Sunset of premium TV service's standalone apps comes after its integration into Paramount+ With Showtime package

Discussion: Telegraph, TechRadar, Broadband TV News, The Wrap, TVLine, The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline and The Verge

Megan Graham / Wall Street Journal:

How “made for advertising” sites, which are criticized for their UX and dubious results for advertisers, get ~15% of automated ad spend or $10B/year, per ANA — Industry leaders want brands to shun ‘MFA’ websites. Others think more nuance is needed.

Discussion: Chris Walton on LinkedIn, Nandini Jammi on LinkedIn, Dr. Augustine Fou on LinkedIn and Heidi Saas on LinkedIn

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More News:

Doja Daoud / Committee to Protect Journalists:
Q&A with Gaza journalist Diaa Al-Kahlout, Gaza bureau chief for the Qatari-funded newspaper Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, on being held for 33 days in Israeli custody

Discussion: @jfsteinfeld, @caseyrights, @gypsystrategy, Naomi Zeveloff on LinkedIn and Doja Daoud on LinkedIn

Flipboard:
Flipboard makes 400 creators and 11,000 of their curated magazines visible in the fediverse and integrates fediverse notifications into the Flipboard app

Discussion: @timothyjchambers@threads.net, @coffeegeek@flipboard.social, @Flipboard@flipboard.social and TechCrunch

Aisha Malik / TechCrunch:
Substack now lets podcasters distribute their shows on Spotify, and says podcasters on Substack collectively earn $100M+ per year, up 100%+ over the past year

Discussion: On Substack, Branded Podcast Agency, Spotify, RAIN News, MSPoweruser and Engadget

Variety:
Taylor Swift's music returns to TikTok, ahead of her next album due out on April 19, after UMG pulled her songs as part of an ongoing dispute with TikTok

Emilia David / The Verge:
The Weather Company launches ReelSphere, an AI-powered video creation tool that provides captions, hyperlocal weather overlays, and an AI “meteorologist”

Discussion: The Weather Company, The Weather Company and Next TV

Earlier Picks:

Brian Bonilla / Ad Age:
A look at The Way Upfronts, a quarterly event debuting in May and led by Sugar23, where producers and celebrities will pitch their projects to brands to invest

Discussion: @adage and Brian Bonilla on LinkedIn

Max Goldbart / Deadline:
The BBC names Alex Kay-Jelski, currently The Athletic's UK and Europe EIC, as Director of BBC Sport, starting in June 2024

Discussion: Broadband TV News and BBC

Katie Robertson / New York Times:
Axios changes strategy in response to AI: more events, a $1K/year membership program, and more subscription newsletters; Aja Whitaker-Moore will be the new EIC

Discussion: Media Voices, @sillygwailo@mastodon.social, @danprimack, @djtweets, Avi Hakhamanesh on LinkedIn and Sara Fischer on LinkedIn

Anne Steele / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Spotify is developing tools to let subscribers speed up, mash up, or edit songs as a type of playback feature; rights holders would still get paid

Discussion: Music Ally, CMU, The Verge, @chaykak, @chaykak, Digital Music News, The Information, Music Business Worldwide, Tubefilter, UPROXX and 9to5Mac

Brody Ford / Bloomberg:
Docs: Adobe offers its network of photographers $120 for videos of people engaged in everyday actions, or ~$2.62/minute to ~$7.25/minute on average, to train AI

Discussion: Gadgets 360, The Information, @adamhlavac, @klendathucap, @brodyford_, BGR and MSPoweruser

From Techmeme:

Emma Roth / The Verge:
Mark Zuckerberg says Threads is testing custom feeds for certain profiles or topics; the Threads' version seems easier to use than Bluesky's custom feeds

Financial Times:
Sources: xAI raised $5B at a $45B valuation, almost double its valuation a few months ago; SpaceX prepares a tender offer that would value the company at $250B+

Jibin Joseph / PCMag:
UK mobile operator Virgin Media O2 creates Daisy, an AI-generated “scambaiter” tool that mimics the voice of an elderly woman to waste scammers' time

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