Top News:
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Amazon reports Q1 ad revenue up 24% YoY to $11.8B, vs. $11.7B est., driven by the growth of its Stores and Prime Video businesses — Amazon raked in $11.82 billion in advertising revenue for the first quarter of 2024, topping analyst expectations, fueled by the ecommerce giant's move …
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The Wrap, Media Play News, The Hollywood Reporter and Deadline, more at Techmeme »
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Jacob Bryant / The Wrap:
Fubo cuts ties with WBD after renewal negotiations for their partnership fell through, citing WBD's “abuse of massive market power” as cause for the decision — The media company accuses WBD of refusing “to engage in good faith negotiations” — Fubo cut ties with Warner Bros. Discovery …
Discussion:
The Verge, The Desk, MediaPost, Yahoo Finance, The Streamable, Awful Announcing, Variety and Deadline
Sara Guaglione / Digiday:
The Athletic has ~2.95M newsletter subscribers, up nearly 20% YoY; Comscore: the outlet had 17.6M unique US visitors in March 2024, up from 6.6M in March 2023 — This article was provided as an exclusive preview for Digiday+ members, who were able to access it early.
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Jennifer Maas / Variety:
Source: Paramount and Charter extend contract renewal talks; the contract, which affects Paramount's cash flow amid buyout talks, was set to expire on April 30 — Paramount Global and Charter Communications agreed to extend their talks on a deal renewal, which — for now …
Discussion:
Bloomberg, Deadline, The Wrap, Los Angeles Times and The Hollywood Reporter
Melvin Backman / Quartz:
WBD shares hit a 52-week low after a WSJ report suggested WBD could lose rights to NBA games, as NBCUniversal is prepared to bid about $2.5B per year for rights — The stock hit a 52-week low and was one of the S&P 500's worst performers of the day — Warner Bros Discovery stock hit …
Aisha Malik / TechCrunch:
Twitch rolls out its TikTok-like discovery feed, launching as a tab within the Twitch iOS and Android apps, showing live streams and clips — Twitch is officially rolling out its new TikTok-like discovery feed to all users this week, the company announced on Tuesday.
Discussion:
Bloomberg and Traackr, more at Techmeme »
Thania Garcia / Variety:
Warner Music Group CEO Robert Kyncl and singer FKA twigs testify before a US Senate committee to support a plan to defend people from nonconsensual AI deepfakes — ‘We must enact regulation now to safeguard our authenticity and protect against misappropriation of our inalienable rights,’ FKA Twigs said.
Natalie B. Compton / Washington Post:
A profile of Rick Steves, whose travel company makes $120M yearly, published 110 books, filmed 12 seasons of his travel show, and produced 750+ podcast episodes — Travel mogul. Philanthropist. Legal weed champion. The real Rick Steves is so much more complex than who you see on TV.
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@rodmickleburgh, @journalism_joe, @washingtonpost, @rr_edmonds, @greenmelinda, @mswaichingliu81, @sirlupin2, @natbco, @byerussell and @cdarwin@c.im
Nielsen:
US audiences gave 67% of their daily ad-supported audio time to over-the-air radio in Q1, 20% to podcasts, and the rest to streaming audio or satellite radio — Are you listening? As the audio horizon expands, the ways audiences are tuning in is shifting.
Discussion:
Business Insider, RADIO ONLINE and Inside Radio
Ken Klippenstein:
The Intercept's Ken Klippenstein resigns, citing the outlet's corporatization and saying its “fear of funders is more important than journalism itself” — I resigned from The Intercept today in order to pursue a new kind of journalism here on Substack, one more hard-hitting than what's possible in the corporate world.
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@chrisrulon, @agoldmund, @alexjordanatl, @poorlyreasoned, @jeremymbarr, @katebushupdates, @nandoodles, Mediaite, @jeremymbarr, @jragazzo, @ggreenwald, @WorMP3@mstdn.social, @trappgodd.bsky.social, @alshafei@mastodon.social, @alexdecampi.bsky.social, @faustianfool.bsky.social, @flargh@mastodon.social, @asherelbein.bsky.social, @hypercubexl.bsky.social, @taylorlorenz@mastodon.social and @davidgerard@circumstances.run
Katie Robertson / New York Times:
Eight daily newspapers owned by Alden sue OpenAI and Microsoft, accusing them of using copyrighted articles without permission to train generative AI products — The suit, which accuses the tech companies of copyright infringement, adds to the fight over the online data used to power artificial intelligence.
Discussion:
Axios, Denver Post, The Overspill, @sarafischer, CBS News, The Verge, UPI, The Register, @sarafischer, Craig McCosker on LinkedIn, Justin Finnegan on LinkedIn, Sara Fischer on LinkedIn, NPR, The Hollywood Reporter, Associated Press, The Hill, The Wrap, The Information and City A.M., more at Techmeme »
Tyler Aquilina / Variety:
Survey: 33% of Peacock users were still using the free tier in Q1 2024, though new sign-ups ended in January 2023; 24% of Peacock Premium users stream it daily — As the ever-shifting SVOD business continues to evolve, one key challenge now confronting streamers is how to handle subscription plans that no longer exist.
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Streaming Better
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