Mediagazer: The New York Times' thriving games business prompts others to try to replicate its success, such as with Hearst's acquisition of Puzzmo, but games coverage lags (Nathan Grayson/Aftermath)

5:55 PM ET, April 19, 2024

Top News:

Ruth La Ferla / New York Times:

Graydon Carter opens a physical store called Air Mail Newsstand in NYC, as an extension of his digital newsletter Air Mail, selling books, magazines, and more — Shoe horns, lampshades and CBD-infused elixirs are among the goods Graydon Carter is selling at a new newsstand-style shop in New York.

Discussion: Showbiz411, Harrison Vail on LinkedIn and @nbj914

Emma Roth / The Verge:

Post.News, the news-focused social platform launched in 2022 that offered micropayments to publishers, is shutting down after failing to grow “fast enough” — Post News, a Twitter alternative that emerged in the wake of Elon Musk's takeover, is shutting down.

Discussion: TechCrunch, @stop@threads.net, @SteveThompson@mastodon.social, @bluesky, @hellodavidryan@threads.net, @NevadaWolf@birds.town and @timothyjchambers@threads.net, more at Techmeme »

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Netflix plans to stop reporting subscriber numbers and Average Revenue per Membership from Q1 2025, as time spent is its “best proxy for customer satisfaction” — Netflix will no longer report subscriber numbers — a key metric for streaming services for years — beginning with the first quarter of 2025.

Sarah Whitten / CNBC:
Netflix reports Q1 revenue up 15% YoY to $9.37B, vs. $9.28B est., paid memberships up 16% YoY to 269.6M, vs. 264.2M est., and net income up 79% YoY to $2.33B

Discussion: Netflix, @lucas_shaw, @lucas_shaw, @lanceulanoff, @sherman4949, MediaPost, Next TV, Business Insider, IndieWire, The Information, Yahoo Finance, Variety and The Hollywood Reporter, more at Techmeme »

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Filing: Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav's 2023 compensation package was worth $49.7M, up 26.5% from the year prior, with $23.1M in stock awards — David Zaslav, president and CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, had a 2023 pay package worth $49.7 million, up 26.5% from the year prior …

New York Times:

Sources: Sony Pictures Entertainment and Apollo discussed a joint all-cash offer for Paramount, which is still in an exclusive negotiation window with Skydance — The company and Apollo Global Management are discussing a joint effort, even as Paramount conducts exclusive merger negotiations with Skydance.

Bron Maher / Press Gazette:

At a town hall, GB News CEO announced job cuts affecting 40 roles, its first major round of cuts after its 2021 launch; GB News had 295 staffers in May 2023 — It is the first major redundancy exercise since the broadcaster launched. — GB News chief executive Angelos Frangopoulos …

Discussion: The i Paper and @smartin

Bron Maher / Press Gazette:

Inside the turmoil at UK-based nonprofit newsroom Open Democracy, whose leadership team says it could have been insolvent by June without 40% cost cuts — Turmoil at the top of Open Democracy has led to legal letters being sent. — Open Democracy could have gone into liquidation by June …

Discussion: @martinjdocherty, @adamramsay, @pressgazette, @pressgazette and @jdowsea

Andrew Beaujon / Washingtonian:

Interviews with over a dozen current and former WAMU staffers and contractors show management's contradictory, unclear messaging about its closure of DCist — The star-crossed marriage of Washington's NPR member station and a feisty digital news publication came to an abrupt end in February.

Discussion: @combs@mastodon.art, @srepetsk@dmv.community and @wesleylowery

Nathan Grayson / Aftermath:

The New York Times' thriving games business prompts others to try to replicate its success, such as with Hearst's acquisition of Puzzmo, but games coverage lags — “The ad market is terrible. There's very real news fatigue. There's tons of alternative sources for news that aren't even news agencies."

Discussion: @vahn16, @vahn16, @slhamlet, @jason_koebler, @vahn16, @chaykak, @vahn16, Digiday and The Daily Beast

David Ingram / NBC News:

Hyundai says it is pausing ads on X, after one ad appeared next to antisemitic and pro-Nazi content; the ad appeared on a user profile that had 55K+ followers — The move came after a Hyundai ad appeared next to antisemitic posts from a user who has posted pro-Hitler content.

Discussion: MediaPost, NBC News, CNN, @markjacob16, @rolandsmartin, @nancylevine, Reuters, ADOTAT with Pesach Lattin !, @scottbudman@threads.net, @goatburgler@threads.net and The Hill

Megan Specia / New York Times:

RSF: London has become a “hot spot” of transnational threats against Iranian journalists, including from Iranian government, its proxies, and opposition groups — Iranian reporters and broadcasters in Britain have suffered physical attacks, threats and surveillance …

Discussion: Nikos Panagiotou on LinkedIn, Reporters Without Borders and r/Journalism

Jay Allred / @jayallred651:

[Thread] The California Journalism Protection Act is good for big media and hedge funds like Alden, but not for indie local outlets like the Richland Source — Can we talk about Google and the California Journalism Protection Act for a minute? 1/

Discussion: @jayallred651, @jayallred651, @jayallred651, @jayallred651, @jayallred651, @jayallred651, @jayallred651, @jayallred651 and @jayallred651

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Earlier Picks:

Daniel Tencer / Music Business Worldwide:
Short-form video app Triller is merging with Hong Kong financial services company AGBA; Triller shareholders will own 80% of the combined company valued at $4B

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Sara Fischer / Axios:
CalMatters, a nonprofit focused on CA politics and policy, acquires tech news nonprofit The Markup; CalMatters has ~$12.5M in funding and The Markup has $5M

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Q&A with Erica Heilman, host of “Rumble Strip”, an independent podcast she created in 2013 that chronicles how Vermont changed over the years

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Jessica Testa / New York Times:
A look at Highsnobiety, a creative consultancy and clothing line, as well as magazine and website led by EIC Willa Bennett covering fashion and youth culture

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Discussion: Committee to Protect … and Fox News

From Techmeme:

Foo Yun Chee / Reuters:
Apple says Meta has made 15 interoperability requests under the EU's DMA, more than any other company, and that these could affect users' privacy and security

Hayden Field / CNBC:
OpenAI debuts a way to talk to ChatGPT by dialing 1-800-CHATGPT for 15 minutes of free access per month in the US or messaging the number via WhatsApp globally

Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:
GitHub offers Copilot in VS Code for free with 2,000 code completions and 50 chat messages per month; GitHub now has 150M developers, up from 100M in early 2023

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