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Netflix added 8.05M subscribers in Q2, vs. 5M est., as it benefited from its crackdown on password sharing and popular titles like Bridgerton and Baby Reindeer — Netflix (NFLX.O) said on Thursday it added more than 8 million subscribers in its second quarter as the streaming service benefited …
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Netflix reports Q2 revenue up 16.8% YoY to $9.56B, vs. $9.53B est., paid memberships up 16.5% YoY to 277.65M, vs. 274.4M est., net income up 44% YoY to $2.15B — Netflix reported second-quarter earnings Thursday that showcased the media giant's position at the head of the streaming race …


Peter Naylor, Netflix's VP of ad sales since August 2022, is leaving, and the company plans to hire a head of US and Canada ad sales to replace his global role
Discussion:
Ad Age, Variety, @pkafka, @pkafka, @pkafka, TVNewsCheck, The Information, Adweek and Deadline

Netflix says its ad tier now accounts for 45%+ of all signups in the markets where it's available, and ad tier memberships grew 34% QoQ in Q2 to 40M MAUs in May
Discussion:
Variety, Yahoo Finance, RTÉ, WORLD SCREEN, MediaPost, Financial Times, @sharonwaxman, IGN, Quartz, The Information, Next TV and Deadline


A Russian court convicts Evan Gershkovich of espionage and sentences him to 16 years in prison; Wall Street Journal calls the trial a “sham” — US journalist Evan Gershkovich has been sentenced by a Russian court to 16 years in prison on espionage charges, after a secretive trial decried as a “sham” by his employer.
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, The Desk, Mediaite, Talking Biz News, Washington Post, @potus@threads.net, @senatorwarner@threads.net, Reuters, Alistair MacDonald on LinkedIn, Axios, Al Jazeera, @jaketapper, ABC7, Bloomberg, Brian Tierney on LinkedIn, TVNewsCheck, @kimzetter, New York Times, @jrezaian, SWAMY WORLD, Voice of America, The US Sun, Politico, @jtoonkel, Newser, The Guardian, Reuters, Nora Eckert on LinkedIn, CNN, @brettbruen, Lynn Cook on LinkedIn, The Wrap, Raw Story, Euractiv, @maxseddon, @davidfolkenflik, Breitbart, Associated Press, Semafor, @bbcstever, Courthouse News Service, freebeacon.com, NPR, @sylkegruhnwald@infosec …, Lucy Knight on LinkedIn, Radio Free Europe/Radio …, Business Insider, CBS News, Washington Examiner, Committee to Protect …, The White House, Fox News, The Daily Beast, SPJ News and News/Media Alliance


Media orgs, WSJ union, and a congressional panel express support for Selina Cheng, who says WSJ fired her for assuming Hong Kong Journalists Association's chair — - Asia Chapter of the Asian American Journalists Association latest to support reporter who says newspaper fired her over press freedom role
Discussion:
Talking Biz News, @wongmjane@threads.net, ABC, @ceccgov, @connor_mycroft, Hong Kong Free Press HKFP, @connor_mycroft, SPJ News, China Media Project, Hong Kong Free Press HKFP, @connor_mycroft, @connor_mycroft, CNN, Washington Post, Semafor, Voice of America, National Union of Journalists … and Al Jazeera


CrowdStrike reports widespread “BSODs on Windows hosts”, impacting thousands of PCs and disrupting TV broadcasters, including Sky News and NBC News — Major carriers, including American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines, all issued ground stops Friday morning citing communications issues.
Discussion:
@george_kurtz, ABC News, The Guardian, NPR, WWMT-TV, New York Post, New York Times, TechCrunch, @davidgrayrhodes, NBC Bay Area, The US Sun, Vox, @matthewkeyslive, MediaPost, Al Jazeera, Washington Examiner, Mercury News, Quartz, The Sun, CNBC, Mashable, Broadband TV News, Associated Press, SWAMY WORLD, @troyhunt, Variety, Ars Technica, Courthouse News Service, Gizmodo, al.com, ABC13, ABC7, Hong Kong Free Press HKFP, @vxunderground, @tomwarren, Politico, @tomwarren, 9to5Mac, @troyhunt, @skysportsnews, @aidanfitzryan, MIT Technology Review, The Record, @netcapgirl, @trungtphan, Fast Company, The Daily Beast, Los Angeles Times, CBS News, The Verge, Reuters, Deadline, HuffPost, Digital Trends and Washington Post, more at Techmeme »


Disney announces that Safra Catz, CEO of Oracle, is departing its board of directors after six years — Disney announced that Safra Catz, CEO of Oracle, is departing its board of directors after six years. — Disney and Catz did not provide an explanation for why she stepped down from the Mouse House's board.


Podcasts seem to be recovering: Audacy's podcast business is profitable, iHeartMedia's and Acast's Q1 podcast revenue grew 18% YoY and 25% YoY, respectively — The dark days of financial and legal woes appear to be ending as the industry sees signs of revival — Hello, hello, and welcome back to Soundbite.
Discussion:
Molly DeMellier on LinkedIn, @ashleyrcarman and The Podcast Host


X's Grok AI model struggles to generate accurate headlines and new summaries, especially for breaking news, elevating jokes and rumors into some X news items — Grok posted incorrect information, amplified unverified claims and failed to identify sarcasm as details of Trump shooting unfolded
Discussion:
@alexacorse, @alexacorse, Wired, @rachaelmyrow, Forbes and The Wrap


A study of 14K domains used in the C4, RefinedWeb, and Dolma datasets finds a dramatic drop in content available to train AI models as publishers tighten access — New research from the Data Provenance Initiative has found a dramatic drop in content made available to the collections used to build artificial intelligence.


Fortune names Jim Edwards as its global news director to create “24/7 coverage across Europe, US, and Asia”; Edwards was Business Insider UK's founding editor — Fortune has hired longtime business journalist Jim Edwards to be is global news director. — He will start on Monday.
Discussion:
@ajs


In an interview, Metro executives say the free newspaper is now profitable in both print and digital, after it underwent a major restructuring in March 2023 — Metro is growing commercially even as free London rival Evening Standard forced to reduce print output.
Discussion:
Sofia Victoria Delgado on LinkedIn, Emily Shackleton on LinkedIn and Media Voices

Amazon's Twitch reinstates Donald Trump's account three years after he was banned, as “there is value in hearing from presidential nominees directly” — Gaming site says it allowed the candidate back after his presidential nomination. — LEARN MORE
Discussion:
TechCrunch, Engadget and The Verge, more at Techmeme »