Top News:
Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
Annual letter: YouTube CEO Neal Mohan says TV has overtaken mobile as the “primary device for YouTube viewing in the US”, indicating YouTube is “the new TV” — YouTube CEO Neal Mohan released his annual letter Tuesday morning, outlining his priorities for the video platform.
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Rick Porter / The Hollywood Reporter:
Updated figures via Nielsen and Fox: Super Bowl 2025 averaged a record 127.7M viewers across Fox, Fox Deportes, Telemundo, Tubi, and NFL sources; Tubi had 13.6M — Fox says 126 million viewers watched the game across all platforms. — A blowout on the field didn't deter a record number of viewers from watching Super Bowl LIX.
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Sara Fischer / Axios:
Sources and a memo: Disney makes changes to its DEI programs, like scraping its Reimagine Tomorrow initiative and changing content disclaimers on some titles — - Other Performance Factors (OPFs): Beginning this fiscal year, Disney will replace the “Diversity & Inclusion” …
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Matthew Weaver / The Guardian:
A BBC study finds 51% of AI answers to questions about the news had “significant issues”, and 19% of answers citing BBC content introduced factual errors — Most answers had ‘significant issues’ when researchers asked services to use broadcaster's news articles as source
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Caitlin Huston / The Hollywood Reporter:
PBS closes its DEI office to comply with President Trump's EO and says affected staff are leaving, as it faces an FCC investigation and threats to its funding — The public broadcaster is also facing an investigation by the FCC and potential threats to its funding.
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Business Insider:
Sources: Netflix is exploring licensing video podcasts and looked into doing a deal with Alex Cooper in 2024 that included creating original shows — - Netflix is exploring potential deals with video podcasters as it looks to its next phase of growth. — YouTube's success with video podcasts …
Kate Knibbs / Wired:
In a potential blow to AI companies, Thomson Reuters wins a major AI copyright case against AI startup Ross Intelligence, which copied Westlaw content — The Thomson Reuters decision has big implications for the battle between generative AI companies and rightsholders.
Katie Kilkenny / The Hollywood Reporter:
A planned walkout at New York magazine was averted on Feb. 7 after its union reached a three-year tentative deal with wage increases and guardrails on AI use — The tentative three-year agreement includes guardrails around the use of AI after parent company Vox Media struck a licensing deal with OpenAI last year.
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Dade Hayes / Deadline:
Philo reveals $450M in 2024 revenue, 20% YoY growth in subscribers to 1.3M, the acquisition of TVOD outlet Row8, and the hiring of Tubi alum Edward King as CPO — The company has hit 1.3 million subscribers, posting a 20% year-over-year growth rate in 2024.
Michael Bürgi / Digiday:
Publicis Media debuts a women's sports investment unit, to help advertisers invest in women's sports media, and unveils a partnership with Disney Advertising — We may have just finished football season with a blowout Super Bowl, but women's sports is where the real competition is at — at least from an ad marketplace point of view.
Lewis Empson / What Hi-Fi?:
Sky unveils two new TVs in the UK: Sky Glass Gen 2, a successor to its 2021 model, and the cheaper Sky Glass Air, coming later in 2025, both in 43", 55", or 65" — Plus the elusive new Sky Glass Air has been revealed... Sky has announced two new TVs today, including an overdue successor to the Sky Glass, which launched in 2021.
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Brent Lang / Variety:
Study: 42% of the 100 top-grossing US films had female protagonists in 2024, up from 28% in 2023 and matching the percentage of male protagonists, a first — Films like “Wicked,” “The Substance,” “A Quiet Place: Day One” and “Moana 2” didn't just dominate the box office.
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Reuters, The Hollywood Reporter and Deadline
