Top News:
Brooks Barnes / New York Times:
Amazon joins the Motion Picture Association, after a long courtship; the lobbying group's other members are Disney, Netflix, Paramount, Sony, Universal, and WBD — The Motion Picture Association has been wooing the company for years. The addition gives the group a lot more muscle.
Discussion:
The Hollywood Reporter, Los Angeles Times, The Wrap, Variety and Deadline, more at Techmeme »
Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
The Economist introduces AI translations into French, German, Mandarin, and Spanish for Espresso, its budget-friendly, “snack-sized” journalism app — The Economist has deployed AI-translated content on its budget-friendly “snack-sized” app Espresso after deciding the technology had reached the “good enough” mark.
Discussion:
Publishers Weekly and Ludwig Siegele on LinkedIn
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:
Amazon's Twitch is launching The Glitch, a “brand-customizable” game world in Fortnite, on September 20, with two brand partners having their own in-game worlds — Twitch has teamed up with Halo co-creator Alex Seropian's Look North World to create The Glitch, a brand-customizable game world in Fortnite.
Jessica Toonkel / Wall Street Journal:
Amazon's new competition TV show, debuting October 30, will have entrepreneurs pitch judges, including Amazon execs; finalists' product will be sold on Amazon — In competition show, sellers compete in front of Amazon executives and celebrity judges — Coming soon: Amazon.com sellers duking …
Discussion:
David J. Katz on LinkedIn and Bloomberg, more at Techmeme »
Patrick Frater / Variety:
Study: revenue from premium VOD in India grew 38% YoY to $1.04B in H1 2024, driven by cricket; YouTube still makes up 92% of all online video consumption — Local content, especially live sports, were the dominant programming categories, across the country's ad-supported (AVOD) …
Discussion:
WORLD SCREEN and Deadline
Matt Bernardini / The Guardian:
A look at Intelligencer Today, a pro-Russian, anti-vaccine website with editorial board members tied to Trump and contributors tied to Kremlin state media — George Papadopoulos and others involved in Intelligencer, increasingly popular source of news in rightwing circles
Mark Stenberg / Adweek:
A look at Erika Badan's plans as CEO of Food52: pivoting from mass retail, rebuilding content infrastructure, and launching a fresh slate of video programming — The two publishers share a business model but have vastly different cultures and commercial circumstances — Erika Badan understands the skepticism.
Discussion:
Simon Owens on LinkedIn, @markstenberg3, @seangriffey and @simondowens@threads.net
Sean Hollister / The Verge:
YouTube says it has “widely rolled out Pause ads to all advertisers” after a “strong advertiser and strong viewer response” and piloting Pause ads from 2023 — It's been nearly six years since we warned you that ads were coming for your pause button …
Discussion:
CNN, Engadget, MediaPost, ZDNET, Tech Advisor, BGR, Android Authority and Thurrott, more at Techmeme »
Caitlin Huston / The Hollywood Reporter:
Ted Sarandos calls on streaming rivals to release their viewership numbers, says Netflix can double its viewership with live events and Christmas Day NFL games — The executive added that he believes the streaming giant can double its viewership thanks to programming like live events and the Christmas Day NFL games.
Discussion:
AV Club, Front Office Sports, Deadline, Quartz, IndieWire, TVNewsCheck and The Wrap
Robbie Whelan / Wall Street Journal:
Memo: Disney plans to stop using Slack in most units by the end of 2024, after a hacking group leaked 1TB+ of its data, including 44M Slack messages, in July — The company said in a memo that most of its businesses would stop using the tool by the end of this year
New York Times:
For marketers, ensuring brand safety on YouTube and other platforms has become difficult during the US election, as their ads appear next to inflammatory videos — Large organizations and brands saw their advertising dollars funneled to videos amplifying inflammatory narratives …
Discussion:
TVNewsCheck, @tchambers@indieweb.social and @lauren@mastodon …
Reshmi Basu / Bloomberg:
Sources: Byron Allen's media group is planning deeper cost cuts as it faces debt repayment deadlines, including one in February 2025 — - The company has retained Moelis and Kirkland as advisers — Its $840 million term loan quoted about 65 cents on the dollar
Discussion:
Adweek
Josh Dickey / The Wrap:
Fox News fires Robert Samuel, a nearly 20-year network veteran who was an executive producer for Sean Hannity's show, after allegations of sexual harassment — Robert Samuel was terminated last week, according to Brian Stelter's “Reliable Sources” — Fox News has fired “Hannity” …
Discussion:
@ogmcduck.bsky.social and TVNewsCheck
Reuters:
Sources: Google tried to end an EU antitrust probe by offering to sell its ad marketplace AdX, or Ad Exchange, but European publishers rejected the proposal — Alphabet's (GOOGL.O) Google earlier this year offered to sell its advertising marketplace AdX to allay EU competition concerns …
Discussion:
Glossy, Breitbart, The Verge, The Information, Engadget and Associated Press, more at Techmeme »
RELATED:
Foo Yun Chee / Reuters:
The EU's General Court annuls a €1.49B antitrust fine imposed on Google in 2019 for abusing its dominance to prevent websites from using non-AdSense ad brokers
Discussion:
Android Central, @adrianweckler, @eucourtpress, The Register, Android Authority, Global Competition Review, Search Engine Land, Courthouse News Service, Thurrott, BBC, Wall Street Journal, The Information, The Information, Neowin, Engadget, Financial Times, CNBC, TechCrunch, Bloomberg, Reuters, Associated Press, Politico and RTÉ
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