Top News:
Ben Sisario / New York Times:
Taylor Swift Touring says the Eras Tour made $2B in ticket sales, double the gross of any other concert tour in history, with an average seat price of ~$204 — Over 21 months, the pop superstar's culture-dominating stage show doubled the gross of its closest competitor, according to ticket sales figures confirmed for the first time.
Discussion:
Variety, Los Angeles Times, The Hollywood Reporter, Benzinga, Glamour, E! Online, Us Weekly, Forbes, Consequence, TMZ.com, Just Jared, Suggest, Rolling Stone, Entrepreneur, Page Six, Deadline, UPI, NBC News, UPROXX, The Mirror, People, Cosmopolitan, iHeart, @erbrown.bsky.social, @gibsonoma.bsky.social, CBS News, Business Insider, New Jersey Online, USA Today, Billboard, Time, WPXI-TV and Fortune
Dominic Ponsford / Press Gazette:
The Guardian publishes a letter by 125 Guardian and Observer staff contradicting Scott Trust claims of “extensive consultations” with staff over Observer sale — The Guardian has published two letters from current and former staff attacking the chair of the Scott Trust, the limited company which owns Guardian Media Group.
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Dominic Ponsford / Press Gazette:
Guardian and Scott Trust leaders faced staff fury over the Observer sale; the Scott Trust plans to invest £5M in the new Tortoise/Observer business
Guardian and Scott Trust leaders faced staff fury over the Observer sale; the Scott Trust plans to invest £5M in the new Tortoise/Observer business
Discussion:
The Guardian, @iainm.bsky.social, @pressgazette, @pressgazette, Press Gazette, Sky News, Financial Times, Australian Financial Review, The Media Leader, @dominicponsford.bsky.social, @carolecadwalla.bsky.social, @pressgazette.co.uk, @stevebasnett.bsky.social, Reuters, @pressgazette.co.uk, @eduardosuarez.bsky.social, Semafor, @charlottetobitt.bsky.social, Le Monde, BBC and Bloomberg
Dade Hayes / Deadline:
Brendan Carr, Donald Trump's pick to chair the FCC, vowed to back local TV stations even if it conflicts “with the interests of national broadcast networks” — Video … Appearing Friday on CNBC's Squawk on the Street, Carr continued to draw attention to broadcast networks' …
Discussion:
TVNewsCheck, CNBC and Business Insider
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Ben Smith / Semafor:
Source: Fox is talking to potential acquisition targets in political media, particularly on the right, including Daily Wire and Red Seat Ventures — THE SCOOP — My colleague Liz Hoffman has written that “SpinCo,” the new proprietor of NBC's cable assets, will be born with a strong balance sheet …
Discussion:
@bmccandless, @brianstelter and @semaforben
Mark Sweney / The Guardian:
ITV CEO Carolyn McCall has fared well in an embattled sector, turning around the UK's biggest commercial public broadcaster despite a stubbornly low share price — CEO has fared well in an embattled sector, turning around the UK's biggest commercial public broadcaster despite the stubbornly low share price
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Comcast and WBD announce a multiyear distribution pact, including letting Comcast bundle Max in the US; Sky will launch the Max app in the UK in April 2025 — Sky gets U.K. rights to HBO's forthcoming Harry Potter series, will distribute Max in the country
The New York Times Company:
Matea Gold, who has been a managing editor of The Washington Post for the past 15 months, joins The New York Times as Washington editor — Matea, who has a stellar track record as an ambitious and creative editor, will be Washington editor. — This is an exciting one.
Oliver Darcy / Status:
Q&A with Vox Media CEO Jim Bankoff on The Verge's paywall, New York Magazine's new app, podcast renewal talks, and layoffs at Thrillist, PS, and Eater — The Vox Media boss spoke to Status about the tough reality digital publishers are facing, with “compounding changes in technology …
Discussion:
@oliverdarcy.bsky.social and @carlquintanilla.bsky.social
Max Tani / Semafor:
Source: Vox Media will not renew its deal to distribute Taylor Lorenz's video podcast, set to expire at the start of 2025; the first episode aired in March 2024 — The Scoop — Vox Media is ending its deal to distribute Taylor Lorenz's podcast and YouTube show.
Discussion:
@mediaevan, @joeconchatv, @maxwelltani, @taylorlorenz.bsky.social and @taylorlorenz.bsky.social
Daniel Thomas / Financial Times:
GroupM expects global ad industry revenue to hit $1T for the first time in 2024; Google, Meta, ByteDance, Amazon, and Alibaba are set to earn 50%+ of the total — Google, Meta, ByteDance, Amazon and Alibaba expected to earn more than half the annual total — The global advertising industry …
Bloomberg:
Omnicom Group agrees to buy Interpublic Group in a deal that will create the largest ad company in the world, with a combined $25B+ in annual revenue — Under the terms of the agreement announced Monday, Interpublic shareholders will receive 0.344 Omnicom shares for each share of Interpublic common stock they own.
Discussion:
Fast Company, The Wrap, Variety, Radio & Television …, Adweek, Wall Street Journal, Business Insider, The Media Leader, Ad Age, Omnicom Group Inc., New York Times, Axios, MediaPost, TVNewsCheck, The Information, Benzinga, Financial Times, PR Daily, City A.M., PRWeek, Deadline, The Drum, Yahoo Finance, RTÉ, Associated Press, @davidclinchnews, Reuters, City A.M., Emir Teffaha on LinkedIn, @karstenw, Adweek, @joshsternberg.com, Brett Middleton on LinkedIn, Ad Age, Ian Whittaker on LinkedIn, The Drum, PRovoke Media, Mumbrella, @sarafischer, Financial Times, Variety, @asharma and Barron's Online
Josef Adalian / Vulture:
Disney's addition of an ESPN tile within Disney+ shows how Bob Iger's strategy has evolved since 2019, when he wanted to avoid “one gigantic fat bundle” — This story first ran in Buffering, Vulture's newsletter about the streaming industry. Head to vulture.com/buffering and subscribe today!
Discussion:
@tvgrimreaper and @tvmojoe.bsky.social