Top News:
Kylie Robison / The Verge:
Perplexity is launching a program to share ad revenue with partners such as Time, Der Spiegel, Fortune, and WordPress.com, after weeks of plagiarism accusations — Perplexity is launching a program to share ad revenue with publishing partners following weeks of plagiarism accusations.
Discussion:
Fast Company, Press Gazette, Digiday, TechCrunch, Talking Biz News, CNBC, The Information, @kyliebytes, @mattrosoff, @pranavdixit, The Drum, WordPress.com News, Semafor, Engadget, San Francisco Chronicle, Perplexity AI, @perplexity_ai, VentureBeat, CNBC Television on YouTube and @kyliebytes, more at Techmeme »
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Twitch remains unprofitable a decade after Amazon's acquisition; Docs show Twitch generated ~$667M in ad revenue and $1.3B in commerce revenue in 2023 — The live-video service has slowing user growth, and workers are expecting more layoffs, changes ahead
Anne Steele / Wall Street Journal:
Podcasting is becoming an industry of megastars with huge deals and the biggest audiences; Edison: the top 25 podcasts reach nearly 50% of US weekly listeners — The top shows are adding video, merchandise and live tours and signing megadeals with Spotify, Sirius and Amazon.
Discussion:
The Media Leader, Max Cutler on LinkedIn, 9to5Mac, @robenfarzad, @samro, @joshthomastn, @davidharsanyi, @ckwitt3 and @wsj
Jason Koebler / 404 Media:
Some popular sites like Condé Nast's titles and Reuters.com modified robots.txt to block Anthropic's bots, but Anthropic has just made new bots with other names — Update 7/30/24: After this story was originally published, an Anthropic spokesperson told 404 Media that CLAUDEBOT …
Dade Hayes / Deadline:
Diamond Sports Group and Comcast reach a carriage deal to restore 15 RSNs to Xfinity Ultimate TV subscribers on August 1, ending a three-month blackout — Bankrupt regional sports network operator Diamond Sports Group has reached terms with Comcast on a carriage deal restoring 15 RSNs to Xfinity pay-TV systems.
Dylan Byers / Puck:
Sources: several Nikkei boardmembers push for consideration of a sale of the Financial Times as they have grown impatient with its economic performance — But first... 🗞️ Will the Financial Times head to the block?: Might the FT, the august salmon-hued internationalist business broadsheet, eventually hit the market?
Discussion:
@jeffjarvis@mastodon.social and Talking Biz News
Laura Hazard Owen / Nieman Lab:
Substack lets writers add embeds from predictions market startup Polymarket; Polymarket claims news prediction helps fight against clickbait and propaganda — Are prediction markets “the best tool we have to fight back against bullshit, clickbait, and propaganda,” or “just a euphemism for online gambling”?
Discussion:
Semafor, The Oracle, On Substack and Columbia Journalism Review
Ashley Hiruko / KUOW News & Information:
Brady Walkinshaw, a former state lawmaker, bought several Index Media publications, including Seattle's longtime alternative media outlet The Stranger — The Stranger, Seattle's longtime alternative media outlet and self-proclaimed “only newspaper” has new ownership.
Discussion:
New York Times, @cruickshank and @sydbrownstone
Derek Futterman / Barrett Media:
An interview with and profile of CNBC media and entertainment reporter Alex Sherman, who is helping build the new CNBC Sport vertical to reach younger audiences — “This package of material that is not bound by the cable bundle is essential for CNBC to survive and flourish with a younger audience that is not tied to the cable bundle."
Discussion:
@sherman4949 and Adweek
Bloomberg:
The K-pop industry is betting on an internationalized business model to expand its appeal; ~50% of the K-pop songs released in 2024 had majority English lyrics — The industry is betting on a new internationalized business model that could be a make or break moment for the idol music genre.
Discussion:
Sohee Kim on LinkedIn, @soheefication, @cecianasta, @nicola_news and @lucas_shaw
Daniel Thomas / Financial Times:
Sources: WBD is in talks with rivals, including Virgin Media, to carry Max content as part of their bundles in the UK after WBD's deal with Sky runs out in 2025 — US group's discussions raise questions over its exclusive agreement with Sky to show programmes such as ‘Game of Thrones’
Discussion:
The Desk, Advanced Television and Broadband TV News
Elsa Keslassy / Variety:
WBD says Max and Discovery+ have pulled in more unique viewers in the first two days of the Paris Olympics than in the entirety of the Tokyo games in 2021 — In just two days, Warner Bros. Discovery's Max and Discovery+ streaming services pulled in more unique viewers for the Paris Olympics …
Discussion:
NPR, ComingSoon.net, Media Play News, Deadline, Broadband TV News, @tvgrimreaper, Advanced Television, Pressroom and Deadline