Top News:
Benjamin Mullin / New York Times:
The Onion, backed by some Sandy Hook families and Everytown for Gun Safety, buys Infowars in a bankruptcy auction, and plans a January 2025 relaunch as a parody — The satirical news site planned to turn Infowars into a parody of itself, mocking “weird internet personalities” who peddle conspiracy theories and health supplements.
Discussion:
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The Hollywood Reporter:
Disney expects to spend $24B on content in 2025, up from $23.4B in 2024, due to sports programming expenses rising after NFL rate increases and NBA contracts — Rate hikes at the NFL and NBA may mean that sports drive the slight spending increase, with the company reporting $23.4 billion for this past year.
Discussion:
@philthepill.bsky.social
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Robbie Whelan / Wall Street Journal:
Disney reports Q4 revenue up 6% YoY to $22.6B, TV network revenue down 6% YoY to $2.5B, and a $321M DTC streaming profit, up from a $387M loss in Q4 2023
Jennifer Maas / Variety:
In Q4, Disney added 4.4M Disney+ Core paid subscribers, reaching 120M in total, Disney+ Hotstar subscribers rose 1% YoY to 35.9M, and Hulu subscribers hit 52M
Discussion:
Advanced Television, Awful Announcing and IndieWire
Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
Reliance and Disney complete their $8.5B Indian media merger, creating India's largest media group with $3.1B in annual revenue and 50M+ streaming subscribers
Discussion:
Financial Times, Times of India, Reuters, Deadline, The Wrap, Hindustan Times, The Hollywood Reporter and YourStory.com
Brooks Barnes / New York Times:
In its Q4 report, Disney, which rarely offers guidance, shares growth expectations to 2027, including a ~$700M operating profit in DTC streaming in 2025
Discussion:
Orange County Register, Yahoo Finance, Financial Times, WHEC.com, Benzinga, @brianstelter and WORLD SCREEN
Matthew Keys / The Desk:
Disney said Disney+ Q4 ARPU in the US and Canada, down 1% QoQ to $7.70, was affected partly by new wholesale arrangements with some distributors — The Walt Disney Company's recent distribution agreements with Charter Communications and DirecTV impacted a key metric that analysts …
Discussion:
StreamTV Insider, The Verge, The Streamable and Cord Cutters News
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Todd Spangler / Variety:
Disney plans to add an ESPN “tile” to Disney+ for US subscribers on December 4, giving users access to some free ESPN content — Disney has called its next streaming blitz: In a few weeks, Disney+ will add an ESPN “tile” to the streaming service — and the company will include …
Discussion:
Awful Announcing, AdExchanger, Tv Technology, @sherman4949, Deadline and Barrett Media
Dade Hayes / Deadline:
Disney investor call: Bob Iger says 60% of all new Disney+ subscribers are for the ad tier, and in a hot-mic moment wonders if he should have said the detail — Disney CEO Bob Iger had a “hot mic” moment on the company's fiscal fourth quarter earnings call Thursday morning …
Discussion:
Adweek, The Wrap, IndieWire, Tubefilter and Cord Cutters News
Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
CEOs at Nexstar, Sinclair, and Tegna, plus some analysts, say they expect deregulation and consolidation in the broadcast TV industry under Trump's FCC — Flush with political ad dollars and anticipating a deal-friendly environment, moguls are eyeing big moves to roll up lucrative local broadcasters.
Discussion:
Patrick Caligiuri on LinkedIn, @mediaevan and @WarnerCrocker@mastodon.social
Washington Post:
WaPo names Liz Seymour managing editor; she has held various roles over 25 years at the outlet, including deputy managing editor and executive features editor — A veteran Washington Post newsroom leader, Seymour marks her 25th year at the publication — The Washington Post today named …
Discussion:
Kathy Baird on LinkedIn
Jess Weatherbed / The Verge:
Google plans to stop showing political ads to users in the EU in 2025 due to uncertainties around new transparency rules coming into effect in October 2025 — Google has announced it will stop showing political ads to users in the European Union next year due to uncertainties around the bloc's new transparency regulations.
Discussion:
The Keyword and Engadget
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Newsletter platform Beehiiv launches a “beehiiv Media Collective” for journalists, offering health insurance stipends, backend tools for accounting, and more — - Journalists that have recently joined the beehiiv platform include former CNN media reporter Oliver Darcy …
Dell Cameron / Wired:
The PRESS Act, shielding journalists from US government spying, stalls as Senate Democrats juggle legislative priorities before ceding control January 3 — The PRESS Act, which would protect journalists from government spying, enjoys broad bipartisan support and has passed the House …
Wall Street Journal:
X names former Tubi CFO Mahmoud Reza Banki as its CFO; Trump pardoned Banki in January 2021 for making false statements; a source says he joined X in November — Mahmoud Reza Banki, former Tubi finance chief, joins platform amid financial challenges — Elon Musk's X Corp. named Mahmoud …
Discussion:
Business Insider, Fortune, Deadline and The Hollywood Reporter, more at Techmeme »
Janko Roettgers / Lowpass:
Proposed Trump tariffs on consumer electronics imports may raise prices for TVs and streaming devices, causing a drop in sign-ups for Netflix and other services — Also: Binging goes global — In partnership with … With Donald Trump set to return to the White House in January …
Discussion:
NewsNation, Janko Roettgers on LinkedIn, The Japan News and Modern Retail
Umar Shakir / The Verge:
Echoing TikTok's gifting, YouTube is rolling out “jewels” that users can buy to support creators during livestreams, for those in the YouTube Partner Program — YouTube is taking a page out of the TikTok playbook by adding “jewels” you buy to exchange for gifts for your favorite creators during livestreams.
Discussion:
TechCrunch and The Verge, more at Techmeme »
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