Top News:
Jack Greenberg / YouTube Official Blog:
YouTube debuts an $8/month Premium Lite tier in the US, offering most videos ad-free and music with ads, and plans to launch in Thailand, Germany, and Australia — Today we'll begin expanding our Premium Lite pilot to users in the US. Premium Lite gives viewers a new …
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Murray Stassen / Music Business Worldwide:
YouTube says YouTube Music and YouTube Premium now have 125M+ subscribers globally, including trials, after passing 100M subscribers in February 2024
Discussion:
TVNewsCheck, The Desk, YouTube Official Blog, Music Ally, The Information, @lucas_shaw and The Hollywood Reporter, more at Techmeme »
Oliver Darcy / Status:
Source: WaPo Publisher Will Lewis quietly met with Free Beacon EIC Eliana Johnson last month, where the two discussed recruiting conservative journalists — As Jeff Bezos pushes The Washington Post to the right, publisher Will Lewis quietly met with a conservative editor last month, Status has learned.
Joe Flint / Wall Street Journal:
Disney is cutting nearly 6% staff, or ~200 jobs, across ABC News and Disney Entertainment Networks; ABC is also eliminating 538, which had ~15 employees — The layoffs are being announced to employees as early as Wednesday — About 200 employees are being let go at Disney's ABC News Group …
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Awful Announcing, The Guardian, HuffPost, The Independent, Mediaite, Fox Business, Radio & Television …, @natesilver538, Breitbart, Silver Bulletin, The Daily Wire, Adweek, Yahoo Finance, Benzinga, HotAir, @statisticurban, Cord Cutters News, @brianstelter, The Daily Beast, @electionsjoe, @brianstelter, The Wrap, Nieman Lab, @walthickey, TVNewsCheck, @databyler, @drewsav, Barron's Online, @jbflint, @ecaliberseven, @jakesherman, @jbflint, @gelliottmorris.com, Fast Company, @grace_panetta, @natesilver538, @mattyglesias, New York Post, @claremalone, @gelliottmorris, Deadline, CNN, Daily Kos, Variety, The Hill, Advanced Television, The Hollywood Reporter, Ace of Spades HQ, The Post Millennial, The Daily Caller, Entrepreneur, Reuters, USA Today, Bloomberg and @oliverdarcy@threads.net
Mike Isaac / New York Times:
Digg co-founder Kevin Rose and Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian are relaunching Digg, after acquiring the site from Money Group for an undisclosed sum — Two decades after creating Digg, a community-focused social message board, Kevin Rose is reviving the site and teaming up with a founder of Reddit.
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Fast Company, Engadget, Digiday, Digg, Associated Press, Tubefilter, @bengoggin.bsky.social, Entrepreneur, Gizmodo, Baltimore Sun, Benzinga, CNBC, Fortune, Winnipeg Free Press, TechCrunch, Inc.com, The Hollywood Reporter, @mediaevan.bsky.social, @lvanderson.bsky.social, The Verge, Reuters, @dannygroner.bsky.social, 9to5Mac, @nwin@mastodon.ie, Blake Saunders on LinkedIn, Bloomberg, @cwarzel.bsky.social, @mathewingram.com and Business Insider, more at Techmeme »
Variety:
Variety.com names Zack Sharf as managing editor; Sharf joined Variety in January 2022 as digital news director after seven years at IndieWire — He previously served as digital news director since 2022. … “In the last three years, Zack has helped reinvent Variety's award-winning digital coverage …
Chris Roush / Talking Biz News:
WSJ journalists laid off amid consolidation of tech and media teams include Alexa Corse, Tom Dotan, Asa Fitch, Ben Fritz, Miles Kruppa, and Aaron Tilley — Here are The Wall Street Journal journalists whose jobs were eliminated on Tuesday: — Reporters:
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Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
Sesame Workshop cuts staff as it continues to look for a TV or streaming outlet for Sesame Street; production of the series' 56th season resumes next month — The non-profit said Wednesday that season 56 will begin production next month as it seeks a new home for iconic children's show.
Discussion:
NPR, Adweek, TVNewsCheck and Cord Cutters News
Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
Q&A with Jonathan Capehart, Eugene Daniels, and Jackie Alemany on co-hosting MSNBC's The Weekend beginning in April, the channel's transition period, and more — Eugene Daniels, Jonathan Capehart and Jackie Alemany talk about what they plan to bring to the newly-expanded weekend program.
Discussion:
Adweek, Advocate, @msnbcpr.bsky.social, The Wrap, Barrett Media, Editor and Publisher, MSNBC, Deadline and Variety
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Patch CEO Warren St. John says its AI-curated newsletters, with 400K subscribers, have grown Patch's reach from 1,100 to 30K US communities in just a few months — - Of Patch's 3 million newsletter subscribers nationally, 400,000 subscribe to its new AI newsletter products, per St. John.
Discussion:
Will Figueroa on LinkedIn and Mike Carraggi on LinkedIn
Variety:
A look at Neon's unconventional strategy to win an Oscar for Anora, including merchandise like branded thongs and spending $18M, or a fraction of its rivals — In the run-up to the Academy Awards, Neon took a unique approach to scoring the season's top prize for “Anora.”
Discussion:
IndieWire and @brentalang
Ian Carlos Campbell / Engadget:
Amazon announces an “AI-aided dubbing” pilot program on Prime Video, starting with dubbing in English and Latin American Spanish on 12 movies and series — To start, AI dubbing will only occur in English and Latin American Spanish. — In an effort to make movies and TV shows …
Discussion:
TechCrunch, Quartz and Reuters, more at Techmeme »
Daniel Thomas / Financial Times:
WPP invests in Stability AI as part of a deal to use its models across images, video, and audio, and says it is increasing its AI investment to ~£300M per year — AI being used across industry to produce marketing campaigns faster and at lower cost — UK advertising group WPP …
Discussion:
Adweek, Authority Magazine, Ad Age and Fortune
Laura Hazard Owen / Nieman Lab:
A look at the LA Times' AI “Insights”: much of the cited sourcing wouldn't pass scrutiny in a newsroom or a classroom, and the political labels can be confusing — The hope: The L.A. Times will appear more “objective” if it presents both sides of an issue, even if one side's written …
Discussion:
CNN, @lisafung.bsky.social, @maxwelltani, Techdirt, The Guardian, @bretcarmichael@mastodon …, The Wrap, @theredterra.bsky.social, @racebannon.bsky.social, @cmonstah.bsky.social, @mrreeezinable.bsky.social, @jacobclifton.com, @joshuafoust.com, @dfeds.bsky.social, @michaelhobbes.bsky.social, SFGATE, @katebevan.com, @dabeard.bsky.social, @marissarothkopf.bsky.social, Gizmodo, @laurahazardowen.bsky.social, The Verge and Los Angeles Times, more at Techmeme »
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