Mediagazer: The Kyiv Independent crosses 20,000 paying members, up from 17,500 in May, with ~70% of its revenue coming from readers, and has no plans to add a paywall (Sarah Scire/Nieman Lab)

Spotify reports Q2 revenue up 10% YoY to €4.2B, MAUs up 11% to 696M, subscribers up 12% to 276M, and an €86M net loss; SPOT closes down 11.6% after missed est. — The audio streaming service added more listeners than it had forecast, but reported a net loss for the second quarter

Catherine Perloff / The Information:
Daniel Ek says Spotify's ad business has “been moving too slowly”; Spotify ad chief Lee Brown left on July 28 to join DoorDash as its chief revenue officer

Discussion: AdExchanger, @catherineperlo1, Inside Radio, Billboard, Deadline, Financial Times, campaignlive.co.uk, Bloomberg and Axios, more at Techmeme »

Rocket Drew / The Information:

Runway and Luma AI say they are talking to robotics and self-driving car companies about their video models and expect these revenue sources to eclipse studios — Imax on Monday announced that it would screen the winning films from Runway's AI-generated film festival at some of its theaters.

Discussion: Breitbart, TechCrunch, PetaPixel, The Wrap, Forbes, The Decoder, The Hollywood Reporter, WinBuzzer and Deadline

Jay Peters / The Verge:

YouTube will now allow videos with strong profanity in the first seven seconds to be fully monetized, reversing previous restrictions that limited ad revenue — Videos that use the F-word in the first seven seconds are now eligible for full ad revenue.

Discussion: TechIssuesToday.com, Android Police, Creator Insider on YouTube, @teamyoutube, Dexerto and PC Gamer

Sarah Scire / Nieman Lab:

The Kyiv Independent crosses 20,000 paying members, up from 17,500 in May, with ~70% of its revenue coming from readers, and has no plans to add a paywall — Horizontal connections and membership community have kept subscriber churn for the English-language publication under 2%.

Amy Hollyfield / Dallas Morning News:

DallasNews Corporation board rejects Alden-owned MediaNews's bid and accepts an improved merger deal from Hearst, which raised its offer from $14 to $15/share — The board also voted to implement a shareholder rights plan to hold off Alden. — DallasNews Corporation announced Monday …

Discussion: Nieman Lab, Bloomberg, @royalpratt, WFAA-TV, KERA News, Poynter, @stufalk.bsky.social and Dallas Business Journal

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:

The Daily Mail consolidates its digital platforms under the name Daily Mail and renames its digital subscription package, which has 325K subscribers, DailyMail+ — Aim is to reach one million paying digital subscribers by October 2028. — The Daily Mail has set a target of reaching …

Discussion: PodcastingToday and Telegraph

Reuters:

Canal+ reports H1 2025 revenue down 3.3% YoY to €3.09B, free cash flow of €370M, up from €128M in H1 2024, and expects FY 2025 EBITA of ~€515M; CAN jumps 6% — French pay-TV company Canal+ (CAN.L) reported a jump in free cash flow in the first half even as revenue fell …

Discussion: Broadcast, Broadband TV News, Advanced Television, Deadline and Canal+

Renju Jose / Reuters:

Australia says it will include YouTube in its ban on social media for children under 16 years of age, reversing an earlier decision to exempt the platform — Australia said on Wednesday it will include Alphabet-owned (GOOGL.O) YouTube in its world-first ban on social media for teenagers …

Daniel Thomas / Financial Times:

Ofcom: YouTube is the second most-watched TV service in the UK, behind the BBC and ahead of ITV; one in five Gen Alpha viewers turn to YouTube first on their TV — Online video service has overtaken ITV in overall TV viewing figures, though still behind BBC

Discussion: The Guardian, Telegraph, campaignlive.co.uk, TVREV, Deadline, The Standard, Ofcom and GB News

Jesse Whittock / Deadline:

France's TF1 Group reports H1 2025 revenue up 0.1% YoY to €1.1B, media division revenue down 0.9% YoY to €975M, and Studio TF1 revenue up 6.4% YoY to €128M — France's TF1 Group posted half-year revenue of €1.1B ($1.3B), with dips at its media arm offset by growth at its newly refurbished studios division.

Discussion: Variety and TF1 Group

Jill Goldsmith / Deadline:

Disney says it has completed its 2025-2026 Upfronts with streaming accounting for more than 40% of total volume and sports advertising nearing $4B — Disney Advertising said it's completed its 2025-2026 Upfront with overall volume consisted with the year before despite increased sales in sports and streaming.

Discussion: Sports Business Journal, The Wrap, Adweek, Variety, MediaPost and TVNewsCheck

Ben Smith / Semafor:

How Fox Corp. has accelerated its roll-up of independent media talent, as it seeks to attract younger viewers through digital and streaming platforms — Co-Founder and Editor-in-Chief, Semafor — If you want a glimpse of the coming consolidation in digital media, take a look at Fox Corp. …

Discussion: Simon Owens's Media Newsletter, @tvgrimreaper, @simonowens and CNN