Top News:
Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:
YouTube channel Dude Perfect hires former NBA executive Andrew Yaffe as CEO; Yaffe had been the NBA's head of social, digital, and original content — - Ex-NBA executive Andrew Yaffe to lead digital media company — The channel has more than 60 million followers on YouTube
Katie Drummond / Wired:
Q&A with Bobbi Althoff about The Really Good Podcast, her rise to fame as part of “Mommy TikTok”, chaos after her Drake interview, brand deals, and more — From Mommy TikTok to that Drake interview and beyond, the podcast host is proof you can brute-force your way to online fame …
Discussion:
WIRED on LinkedIn, Simon Owens on LinkedIn, Vanity Fair, @laurengoode@threads.net and @katiedrumm
Evan Drellich / New York Times:
Diamond Sports Group, which is in Chapter 11 bankruptcy, says in 2025 it will stop carrying all but one of the 12 MLB teams it now televises — Embattled broadcaster Diamond Sports Group says in 2025 it will stop carrying all but one of the 12 MLB teams it now televises …
Josh Ocampo / New York Times:
Q&A with The New York Times media reporter Ben Mullin about building relationships with sources, challenges of the media beat, social media, and more — To report on the business of media, the journalist Ben Mullin says he is “endlessly curious” about the people populating his own industry.
Discussion:
@benmullin and @semaforcomms
Joe Otterson / Variety:
WBD and All Elite Wrestling sign a multiyear deal, sources say worth $150M+ per year; AEW shows remain on TBS and TNT and stream live on Max in the US in 2025 — All Elite Wrestling (AEW) has officially signed a new multi-year multimedia rights deal with Warner Bros. Discovery.
Brian Steinberg / Variety:
Memo: Disney's ABC News and local TV stations cut staff; source: about 75 staffers will be let go, split about evenly between national news and the TV stations — Employees were notified Wednesday of the staff reductions, according to a person familiar with the matter …
Discussion:
Adweek, The Hollywood Reporter, New York Post, Los Angeles Times, @jbflint, The Desk, The Wrap, TVNewsCheck, Bloomberg and Deadline
Angela Fu / Poynter:
Journalists in western North Carolina hustled to cover Hurricane Helene's aftermath with sparse internet access, and radio broadcasts became crucial connectors — Local journalists are working to reach isolated communities to fill in information gaps — while dealing with damage in their own lives
Discussion:
The Asheville Citizen Times, @ellekehres, @cislmunc, @poynter, @amariscastillo, @poynter, @solomonlexib, @poynter, Poynter, Radio World, The Urban News, NewsLab, NPR and Asheville Watchdog
Rick Porter / The Hollywood Reporter:
Nielsen: the vice presidential debate between JD Vance and Tim Walz drew 43.15M US viewers across 15 networks, down 25.5% from the 2020 vice presidential debate — Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz faced off in the CBS News-produced debate. — The lone debate between …
Discussion:
CNN, Variety, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The Wrap, Politico, Axios, New York Post, Forbes, Bloomberg, Deadline, DNyuz, Media Play News and Mediaite
Connie Loizos / TechCrunch:
TechCrunch unveils a redesign with a better UI, fresh color palette, more modern aesthetic, and new ways to show breaking news, after its last redesign in 2018 — Sometimes, you have to start from scratch to make something amazing. Sometimes, you already have most of the ingredients …
Discussion:
@zeffmax
Peter Kafka / Business Insider:
Q&A with Matthew Yglesias about leaving Vox, launching his own Substack, and more; Yglesias says Slow Boring has ~18,000 subscribers paying ~$80 per year — - Matthew Yglesias, a prolific political writer, co-founded Vox in 2014. Six years later, he left to run his own Substack newsletter.
Joe Mandese / MediaPost:
Sources: ad-tech startup Hudson MX, controlled by UK holding company Ascential, discontinues operations; Ascential had been trying to find a buyer for Hudson MX — Editor's Note: An initial version of this story incorrectly reported that Comcast's FreeWheel division had acquired certain assets …
Daniel Thomas / Financial Times:
Amazon plans to increase the number of ads on Prime Video in 2025 after not seeing a sharp drop in subscribers since adding advertisements in January 2024 — Ecommerce group attempting to win over more brands as it steps up push into ad-funded streaming services in 2025
Discussion:
The Information, Ars Technica, Quartz, Engadget, The Media Leader, @raydouglasuk, Deadline and Digiday, more at Techmeme »