Top News:
Max Tani / Semafor:
Substack, which still isn't profitable but has added 1M+ paid subscribers over the past year, is trying to become a primary way creators of all mediums get paid — Seven years since its launch, the newsletter platform Substack has consolidated its dominance of the independent news business.
Discussion:
Jason Whittaker on LinkedIn, @semafor and Business Insider, more at Techmeme »
Wall Street Journal:
eMarketer: Google's share of the US search ad market is expected to drop below 50% in 2025 for the first time in 10+ years, as Amazon, Apple, and others gain — A flurry of new offerings for advertisers is hitting the market — Google's grip on the nearly $300 billion search advertising business is loosening.
Trip Gabriel / New York Times:
Former NYT investigative reporter David Burnham, whose work uncovering corruption in the NYPD during the 1970s inspired the movie Serpico, dies at the age of 91 — Tipped off by the detective Frank Serpico, he wrote an explosive series on police corruption in New York City, sparking an investigation by the Knapp commission.
Discussion:
@schwellenbach, @sergenyt, @proflhunter, @carlmalamud@official … and Deadline
Matthew Jordan / The Conversation:
As Congress tries to force carmakers to install AM radios as a matter of public interest, it should push licensed stations to abide by public interest standards — A lament about the demise of AM radio has been rising in the halls of Congress. — Several automakers, most notably Tesla and Ford …
Discussion:
RADIO ONLINE, Inside Radio and Radio Ink
Victoria Gomelsky / New York Times:
Watches of Switzerland Group, one of the world's largest watch retailers, acquires the watch enthusiast website Hodinkee, says coverage will remain independent — Neither Benjamin Clymer, its founder, nor the Watches of Switzerland Group would disclose terms, but they stressed that coverage would continue to be independent.
Discussion:
@reb40, @ilyakan2004, @kstahl, @hiddenvaluegems, @penttijokinen, @will__stern, @cllctmedia, @aspeciale, @rafat, @robbreport, @etkeld, London Evening Standard, The Mirror, City A.M., MarketWatch, Fortune, Forbes Australia, Bloomberg, cllct, Hodinkee, Daniela Morena on LinkedIn, Benjamin Clymer on LinkedIn, Lorcan McCabe on LinkedIn, Katie Reed on LinkedIn, Adam Schoenberg on LinkedIn and Coverager
Emma Roth / The Verge:
Mullenweg says WordPress.org “belongs to me personally”, as his WP Engine feud blurs the lines between WordPress.org, the WordPress Foundation, and Automattic — The lines between the WordPress open-source project, the nonprofit backing it, and the commercial arm owned by Automattic are blurring.
Discussion:
@vwbusguy@mastodon.online, @mattbeck, @evadevalk, @heatherbragg, @alchemyunited, CNBC, @jpd@threads.net, @younelan@threads.net, @robz@toot.robzazueta.com, The Register, Reclaim The Net, Kellie Peterson, Matt Mullenweg, MEDIANAMA, TechCrunch, Automattic and Ars Technica, more at Techmeme »
Georg Szalai / The Hollywood Reporter:
An interview with ex-NBCUniversal executive Evan Shapiro on why streaming is a “shitty” business, Netflix ads, and why Hollywood must band together to thrive — After an Iberseries & Platino Industria keynote, the “media universe cartographer” explains why streaming is a “sh**ty” …
Discussion:
@tvgrimreaper
Kurt Wagner / Bloomberg:
Meta unveils Movie Gen, which creates up to 16-second videos from a text prompt, available to some staff and partners; Meta plans to add it to its apps in 2025 — Movie Gen tool can create short videos from a text prompt — Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc. debuted a new artificial intelligence tool …
Discussion:
Meta, Andrew Weld-Moore on LinkedIn, Mike Hollander on LinkedIn, Siddharth Bhattacharya on LinkedIn, @jimclydego, @soumithchintala, @dr_cintas, @prashant_1722, @ahmad_al_dahle, @koltregaskes, @prashant_1722, @nearcyan, @kimmonismus, @reece___rogers, @arankomatsuzaki, @soumithchintala, @prashant_1722, @_akhaliq, ZDNET, Ars Technica, The Wrap, Neowin, The Verge, New York Times, @aaldahle@threads.net, @jakebailey@threads.net, @aiatmeta@threads.net, @evolving.ai@threads.net, @chriscox@threads.net, Wired and TechCrunch
Ben Cohen / Wall Street Journal:
A look at Google NotebookLM's Audio Overview feature, which was built by Google Labs and has gone viral for its AI-generated “deep dive” podcasts with two hosts — With this Google tool, you can now listen to a show about any topic you could possibly imagine. You won't believe your ears.
Discussion:
@ambermac, @cnbctechcheck, @ericjorgenson, @stevenbjohnson, @omarsar0, @karpathy, @omartosca, @davetroy, @elonmusk, @firstadopter, @stevenbjohnson, @karpathy, @karpathy, Barron's Online, MIT Technology Review, Forbes, MIT Technology Review, Axios and Hard Fork on YouTube, more at Techmeme »
Dade Hayes / Deadline:
Filing: Nexstar cuts its chief revenue officer position, and CRO Michael Strober will leave the company on October 30; he was hired after Nexstar bought The CW — Nexstar Media Group, which hired Turner veteran Michael Strober as EVP and Chief Revenue Officer in 2022, has eliminated his position.
Discussion:
The Desk, TVNewsCheck and Variety
ProPublica:
Sources and records: Trump Media has forced out its COO, CPO, and other executives after internal allegations that CEO Devin Nunes is mismanaging the company — Several people involved with the former president's company, operator of Truth Social, believe the departures …
Karen Raugust / Publishers Weekly:
Penguin renews its master publishing deal with BBC Studios for Bluey books; the books have sold 20M+ copies in 22 languages worldwide, including 8.5M in the US — Penguin has renewed its master publishing deal with BBC Studios for the hit preschool animated series Bluey.
Discussion:
WORLD SCREEN