Mediagazer: Source: last month, Sundial Media bought Refinery29 for ~$30M, or roughly its 2023 revenue; Refinery29 buys trade beauty show Beautycon to move away from ads (Sara Fischer/Axios)

9:30 AM ET, May 8, 2024

Top News:

Benjamin Mullin / New York Times:

The NYT added 210,000 digital subscribers in Q1, for 10.5M subscribers in total, up 8% YoY, and ad revenue fell 2.4% YoY to $103.7M; the OpenAI lawsuit cost $1M — Adjusted operating profit was $76.1 million, an increase of about 41 percent from a year earlier.

Discussion: The Wrap and @benmullin

The New York Times Company:

The NYT reports Q1 revenue up 6% YoY to $594M, subscription revenue up 13% YoY to $293M, operating profit up 73% YoY to $48.3M, Athletic revenue up 33% to $37M — NEW YORK, May 8, 2024 - The New York Times Company (NYSE: NYT) announced today first-quarter 2024 results. Key Highlights

Austin Fuller / Current:

NPR CEO Katherine Maher will not attend a US House committee hearing on May 8 looking at alleged NPR bias due to a schedule conflict, but offers to appear later — NPR CEO Katherine Maher will not attend a U.S. House committee hearing Wednesday aimed at looking into alleged ideological bias at the organization.

Discussion: Fox News, @davidfolkenflik, @renee.diresta@threads.net, @davidfolkenflik and Fox News

Joshua Benton / Nieman Lab:

A historical look at Pulitzer winners shows the decline of local and regional newspapers and the growth in online news outlets, especially at the local level — For the first time ever, more online news sites produced Pulitzer finalists than newspapers did.

Discussion: Poynter, NPR, @michaelluo, @jbenton, Poynter, Michael A. Riepe, Ph.D. on LinkedIn, @kottke@mastodon.social, artofneed, @niemanlab@mastodon.social, The New York Times Company and Axios

Benjamin Mullin / New York Times:
A look at Chicago's Invisible Institute, a nonprofit newsroom with about a dozen journalists incorporated in 2015 that won two 2024 Pulitzers

Discussion: @chrisahowell@threads.net, Poynter, Chicago Tribune and Edmund Carlevale on LinkedIn

Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:

Fox Corp reports Q3 revenue down 15% YoY to $3.4B, ad revenue down 33% YoY to $1.2B, a $704M net income, up from a $50M loss YoY, $1.9B affiliate fee revenue — The owner of Fox, Fox News and Fox Sports hosted the Super Bowl a year ago, leading to the advertising decline.

Discussion: The Wrap, Variety, @jbflint, @jbflint, @jbflint, @jbflint and Fox

Sara Fischer / Axios:

Source: last month, Sundial Media bought Refinery29 for ~$30M, or roughly its 2023 revenue; Refinery29 buys trade beauty show Beautycon to move away from ads — - The company bought Refinery29 for roughly the same amount that the publisher made in top-line revenue in 2023, which was $30 million, a source told Axios.

Discussion: Wall Street Journal

Reuters:

A Moscow court places veteran Russian journalist Nadezhda Kevorkova in pre-trial detention for two months on suspicion of “justifying terrorism”, per her son — Veteran Russian journalist Nadezhda Kevorkova was placed in pre-trial detention for two months by a Moscow court …

Discussion: Fox News

Hanaa' Tameez / Nieman Lab:

Internews survey of 25 exiled news outlets: all but two are financially dependent on philanthropic or institutional funding, 28% are fully funded by donors — On World Press Freedom Day last week, the International Consortium of Investigative Reporters said in a statement that …

Discussion: @internews, @niemanlab and Internews

Natalie Korach / The Wrap:

Dotdash Meredith unionized workers ratify contracts with management after negotiating since 2021; the deal covers ~160 staffers at People and other magazines — The three-year deal covers approximately 160 staffers at People, Entertainment Weekly and Martha Stewart Living

Discussion: @meredithunion and @nyguild

Pew Research Center:

Survey: 48% of US adults prefer websites or social media for local news; 15% paid for local news in the last year; 63% believe local outlets do well financially — As news consumption habits become more digital, U.S. adults continue to see value in local outlets — Table of Contents Table of Contents

Discussion: Press Gazette, @knightfdn, @mattdpearce, @pewresearch, @pewresearch, Sarabeth Berman on LinkedIn, @jackshafer, @jenrubin9@threads.net, @dustysneakers_@threads.net, @iohn.bsky.social, Nieman Lab and Poynter

Kate Knibbs / Wired:

A look at Musi, a free music streaming app popular among high schoolers that uses YouTube to source music, opening Musi up to legal action from record labels — Musi's free music streaming app is a hit with thrifty teens. The app claims to tap content on YouTube, but some in the music industry question the legitimacy of that model.

Discussion: Business Insider, @knibbs, @extremeknibbs@threads.net and 9to5Mac

Karissa Bell / Engadget:

Substack announces Substack Creator Studio, a program to support 10 US-based video creators to “turn their TikTok channels into Substack shows and communities” — The company says its plans are unrelated to a potential TikTok ban. — Newsletter platform Substack is ramping …

Discussion: Christina Loff on LinkedIn, Washington Post, On Substack and On Substack

Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:

OpenAI is developing a Media Manager tool, slated for release by 2025, to let content owners identify their works to OpenAI and control how they are used — OpenAI says it's developing a tool to let creators better control how their content is used in AI. — Called Media Manager …

Discussion: Android Headlines, The Information, Ars Technica, Neowin, Wired and VentureBeat

Deepa Seetharaman / Wall Street Journal:
OpenAI releases a tool to detect DALL-E 3-created images, claiming 98% accuracy for unaltered images, and joins Microsoft and Adobe's content credentials group

Discussion: Microsoft On the Issues, Quartz, New York Times, Reuters, ZDNet and TechCrunch

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More News:

Nellie Andreeva / Deadline:
Ricky Strauss, who has been head of marketing at Apple TV+ for 16 months, is leaving; he earlier was president of content and marketing at Disney+ at its launch

Discussion: Variety, @rarebre3d, The Wrap, Puck and 9to5Mac

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Meta announces an update to its AI ad tools, which can now make full new images, not just backgrounds, and claims to add strong guardrails to prevent abuse

Discussion: Facebook, Marketing Interactive, Social Media Today, Digiday, Neowin, Hadar Dor on LinkedIn, The Drum, Bloomberg, VentureBeat, Ad Age, Search Engine Land and The Media Leader, more at Techmeme »

Ashley Capoot / CNBC:
Reddit reports Q1 revenue up 48% YoY to $243M, vs. $212.8M est., net loss of $575.1M, driven by IPO expenses, and DAUq total up 37% to 82.7M; RDDT jumps 15%+

Discussion: MediaPost, Reuters, Reddit, Fast Company, The Guardian, Neowin, Quartz, The Information and Bloomberg

New York Times:
TikTok sues the US government over the law forcing a sale or ban, saying it violates users' First Amendment rights and divestiture is “simply not possible”

Earlier Picks:

Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
Amazon announces three new interactive ad formats for Prime Video: shoppable carousel ads, interactive pause ads, and interactive brand trivia ads

Discussion: Business Insider, Digiday, Ars Technica, The Streamable, Amazon Ads, AdExchanger, Variety, Adweek, Next TV, Ad Age, Deadline and MediaPost

Jennifer Maas / Variety:
Disney CEO Bob Iger says Marvel is going to reduce output and focus on quality by releasing “about two TV series a year” and a “maximum of three” films per year

Discussion: Empire, Screen Rant, ComingSoon.net, IGN, @ballmatthew, The Hollywood Reporter, @tvgrimreaper, The Playlist, Deadline, Business Insider, The Wrap, Jackie Szymanski on LinkedIn, Gizmodo, SlashFilm, TVLine and The A.V. Club

Robbie Whelan / Wall Street Journal:
Disney's streaming unit reports a loss of $18M in Q2, down from a $659M loss YoY, and says it is on track to achieve streaming profitability in Q4 2024

Discussion: @tvgrimreaper, Dylan Jones on LinkedIn, Axios, Media Play News, The Walt Disney Company, The Hollywood Reporter and CNBC

Max Tani / Semafor:
Memo: Business Insider Global Editor-in-Chief Nich Carlson is stepping down and will become an editor-at-large focused on longer-term projects

Discussion: @billackman, @julie188, @nichcarlson, @thestalwart, @mjnblack, @sarafischer, @sportsrapport, @nataliekorach@threads.net, Talking Biz News, Reuters, New York Post, Axios, The Wrap and The Daily Beast

From Techmeme:

Paresh Dave / Wired:
Google says it wouldn't force its device makers, browser, and wireless carrier licensees to distribute Gemini to US users for three years, in a proposed remedy

Wall Street Journal:
Gina Raimondo says holding back China in the chips race is a “fool's errand”, and investment, more than export controls, will keep US ahead of Beijing

Reuters:
Albania bans TikTok for a year from January 2025, part of a broader plan to make schools safer following the killing of a 14-year-old near a school in November

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