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 »
Cecilia Kang / New York Times:
A US FTC report on the data practices of Meta, YouTube, TikTok, and six other companies finds “vast surveillance” of consumers to monetize their information — Meta, YouTube and other sites collected more data than most users realized, a new report by the Federal Trade Commission finds.
Discussion:
The Guardian, Federal Trade Commission, TechCrunch, MediaPost, Los Angeles Times, NBC News, The Register, @mulvihill79, @ftc, @senmarkey, @ftc, @chesterj1, @wendyndavis, @mattdpearce, How-To Geek, GovInfoSecurity.com, BleepingComputer, SiliconANGLE, The Verge, CBS News, ZDNET, @aram@aoir.social, @stefan@stefanbohacek.online, @brucelawson@social …, Engadget, Federal Trade Commission, AdExchanger, @BenjaminHCCarr@hachyderm.io and Reuters, 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
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 …
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.
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
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 »
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.
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
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, MediaPost, Engadget, BGR, ZDNET, Tech Advisor, 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