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.
Discussion:
YouTube Official Blog, The Wrap, Deadline, TV Tech, The Streamable, Advanced Television, TVNewsCheck, @richlightshed, Variety, 9to5Google, @eric_seufert, NewscastStudio, Ezra Cooperstein on LinkedIn, @tvgrimreaper, Engadget, WORLD SCREEN, Streaming Better, @ricmac@mastodon.social, @youtubeliaison, Neal Mohan on LinkedIn, Daily Guardian, Tubefilter, @yoda, Media Play News and Barrett Media, more at Techmeme »
RELATED:
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” …
RELATED:
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.
Rick Porter / The Hollywood Reporter:
Nielsen and Fox: Super Bowl 2025 averaged a record 126M viewers, up 2% YoY, across Fox, Fox Deportes, Telemundo, Tubi, and NFL platforms; Tubi had 13.6M alone — 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.
Discussion:
The Ankler, @foxsportspr, Ad Age, Next in Media, Music Ally, Deseret News, Just Jared, CNN, Decider, Cele|bitchy, Benzinga, Billboard, MediaPost, New York Post, Sports Illustrated, New York Times, Sports Media Watch, Forbes, Sportico, Reuters, Los Angeles Times, TVLine, Wall Street Journal, Adweek, Variety, Awful Announcing, Deadline, The Wrap, @davidgura.bsky.social, Crossing Broad and Bloomberg
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
Lauren Forristal / TechCrunch:
BuzzFeed says it's developing its own social media platform designed to spread “joy” and that uses “AI to give users agency instead of stealing their agency” — BuzzFeed, the media site known for its celebrity news and quizzes, announced on Tuesday that it's developing …
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 licensing video podcasts as it looks to its next phase of growth. — YouTube's success with video podcasts has shown they're not just for listening.
Discussion:
The Streamable, Gizmodo, The Creativity Business, @ccm_brett and Lucia Moses on LinkedIn
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.
Discussion:
@nymagunion, @nymagunion, @nymagunion and @nymagunion
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.
Discussion:
Advanced Television, Trusted Reviews, Tech Advisor, Engadget, The Verge, TechRadar, Daily Express, What Hi-Fi?, Tech Advisor, Forbes, Digital Spy, Trusted Reviews, Irish Independent, Broadband TV News, Cable.co.uk, The Mirror, Trusted Reviews, Stuff, @skygroup, @stevemay_uk, GB News, The Independent, Sky Group, The Mirror and The Sun
Mark Stenberg / Adweek:
NowThis reports 2024 revenue up 122% YoY to $20M and an adjusted profit of $4.6M, achieving profitability for the first time as an independent company — The social video publisher credits the election and a new editorial strategy for the momentum — The social publisher NowThis …
Discussion:
@markstenberg3
