Mediagazer: Q&A with Ashokan Studios' Justin Wells on making “high quality” conservative content, the second season of his doc about Trump's campaign and second term, more (Peter Kiefer/The Hollywood Reporter)

9:45 PM ET, June 18, 2025

Top News:

Netflix signs a landmark deal with France's TF1 to show linear TV for the first time; TF1 will broadcast all five of its channels, showing live sports and more — Deal will be closely watched by broadcasters, who are losing millions of viewers to streaming giants — Daniel Thomas and Hannah Murphy in Cannes

Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:

At Cannes, YouTube CEO Neal Mohan says YouTube plans to integrate Google's most advanced AI video generation tool, Veo 3, into YouTube Shorts later this summer — The Veo 3 video generator is capable of creating both videos and sound based on text prompts, with YouTube CEO Neal Mohan saying the …

Discussion: Android Central, Engadget, Search Engine Journal and TVNewsCheck, more at Techmeme »

Kayla Cobb / The Wrap:

Cannes Lions: YouTube CEO Neal Mohan says YouTube Shorts now averages 200B daily views, up 186% from the 70B average daily views YouTube reported in March 2024 — CEO Neal Mohan also shares that AI model Veo 3 will be coming to the social media platform this summer — YouTube has crossed another major milestone.

Discussion: Android Headlines, Dexerto, Android Authority, The Desk, TechRadar, 9to5Google, Ars Technica, Tomer Margolin on LinkedIn, Lowpass, Android Police, Tubefilter and The Verge, more at Techmeme »

CNN:

With Trump's media habits once again having serious foreign policy effects, Fox News takes a pro-war stance in the MAGA media feud over the Israel-Iran conflict — As conservative radio host Clay Travis opened his mouth Tuesday night on Fox News, he was hyper-aware of the viewer-in-chief.

Peter Kiefer / The Hollywood Reporter:

Q&A with Ashokan Studios' Justin Wells on making “high quality” conservative content, the second season of his doc about Trump's campaign and second term, more — Banished from Fox News with his boss Tucker Carlson, Justin Wells is back with a buzzy Trump documentary …

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Tubi launches Tubi for Creators, a new program that includes licensing more than 500 episodes from six YouTube creators, including Rhett & Link's Mythical — Fox-owned free streamer has hired ex-Vimeo exec Rich Bloom as GM of creator programs — Tubi is expanding its streaming buffet …

Discussion: Streaming Better, Deadline, The Desk, Anjali Sud on LinkedIn, Cord Cutters News, TechCrunch, Tubefilter, NewscastStudio and TVNewsCheck

Dominic Ponsford / Press Gazette:

The Daily Beast says Reddit and Facebook have made up for falling Google referral traffic; Vox CEO says OpenAI is a good partner but still undervalues content — Reddit and Facebook have made up for falling referral traffic from Google for the Daily Beast.

Discussion: Bloomberg Law, Forbes, Benzinga, Yahoo Finance, Search Engine Roundtable and Digiday

The Hollywood Reporter:

How top Hollywood creatives are pushing Gov. Gavin Newsom to expand California's film and TV program from $330M to $750M, seeking to halt a production exodus — In Sacramento, A-listers delicately push to expedite a bulked-up tax incentive to halt a production exodus.

Anthony D'Alessandro / Deadline:

Alcon buys Village Roadshow's library of 108 films for $417.5M, following Village Roadshow's bankruptcy in March; the library generates an estimated $50M/year — Alcon Media Group LLC has won its $417.5 million bid to acquire Village Roadshow Entertainment Group's library of 108 feature film titles, Alcon said Wednesday.

Discussion: The Wrap, Jessica Urven on LinkedIn, The Hollywood Reporter and Variety

Elsa Keslassy / Variety:

London- and Paris-based Animaj, a kids' media company that uses proprietary generative AI production tools to automate animation pipelines, raised $85M — HarbourView Equity Partners is leading a $85-million investment in Animaj, the AI-powered media company specializing in kids & family entertainment.

Discussion: Carlos Cruz on LinkedIn, Animation Magazine, Gregory Dray on LinkedIn, Amir Javaid on LinkedIn and Advanced Television

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:

The Economist reports revenue up 2% YoY to £368.5M for FY ending March 31, operating profit up 2% to £48.1M, subscribers up 3% to 1.25M, and digital subs up 8% — The Economist has reported a record year for revenue fuelled by growing subscriptions.

Discussion: @pressgazette

Megan Graham / Wall Street Journal:

A look at the media company Breaking and Entering, whose “60 Seconds of Advertising News” videos have become vital morning viewing for ad industry executives — Breaking and Entering has expanded from a podcast for young creatives to a daily must-watch news roundup for ad leaders

Discussion: Oliver McAteer on LinkedIn, Hollie Rapello on LinkedIn, PR Daily, Jonathan Sanchez on LinkedIn and TVNewsCheck, more at Techmeme »

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Dan Milmo / The Guardian:
Deezer says AI-made music accounts for just 0.5% of streams on the music streaming platform, but up to 70% of those streams are fraudulent

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Max Goldbart / Deadline:
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Financial Times:
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Jason Del Rey / Fortune:
A profile of LA-based Whatnot, a livestream marketplace valued at ~$5B, which has raised $700M+ since 2019 and expects its GMV to grow 100%+ YoY to $6B+ in 2025

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Jaewon Kang / Bloomberg:
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Discussion: TheStreet, Julia Thornton on LinkedIn, Elle and PYMNTS.com

Samantha Schmidt / Washington Post:
El Salvador President Nayib Bukele, emboldened by his Trump administration ties, is cracking down on journalists along with dissenting lawyers and activists

Discussion: TVNewsCheck, @doggett.house.gov and @matthewhaybrown.bsky.social

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Jennifer Maas / Variety:
Warner Bros. Games restructures its operations into teams based on its four key franchises: Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, Mortal Kombat, and the DC Universe

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Sources: Substack is pitching investors on a round between $50M and $100M that would value it above its ~$700M last round price, and is generating ~$45M in ARR

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Ted Johnson / Deadline:
The US Senate confirms Olivia Trusty to the FCC, giving Republicans a 2-1 majority after the recent departures of two members

Brian Steinberg / Variety:
Politico ramps up its podcast investments, aiming to compete with broadcasters through video podcasts on YouTube, including by launching Sunday talk shows

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Jay Peters / The Verge:
The Atlantic launches a new games hub, available on the web and in the app, featuring a mix of already available games, as well as some new puzzles

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Aisha Malik / TechCrunch:
Facebook renames its Videos tab as the Reels tab and says all videos on its platform will soon be shared as reels, regardless of their length or orientation

From Techmeme:

Ashley Gold / Axios:
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Beatrice Nolan / Fortune:
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