Top News:
Jessica Testa / New York Times:
A look at SiriusXM's podcasting business; 2024's “off-platform earnings” were $606M, with podcast advertising making up most of that sum, up from $475M in 2022 — The company famous for car radio and Howard Stern has recently climbed the podcast charts by betting hundreds …
Discussion:
Barrett Media
Andrew Marchand / The Athletic:
Sources: ESPN and MLB have a deal framework giving ESPN exclusive rights to sell out-of-market regular-season games digitally and in-market games for five clubs — Major League Baseball and ESPN have a framework agreement that would give the network the exclusive rights to sell …
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Wall Street Journal:
Sources: NBCU is in advanced talks with MLB to carry games on NBC and Peacock for close to $200M/year; Netflix nears a deal for the Home Run Derby at $35M+/year
Alex Sherman / CNBC:
Sources: ESPN is in talks to license MLB.TV and wants midweek national games, giving up Sunday Night regular season games and the Home Run Derby
Sources: ESPN is in talks to license MLB.TV and wants midweek national games, giving up Sunday Night regular season games and the Home Run Derby
Discussion:
Adweek, Sports Business Journal, @nicholasadeleon, Inside Radio, The Verge, ESPN Press Room U.S., KSTP-TV, Deadline, Vulture, Awful Announcing, The Information, TV Tech, Forbes, Fast Company, Streaming Better, Washington Post, Deseret News, Business Insider, Cord Cutters News, Wall Street Journal and Barrett Media
Haroon Siddique / The Guardian:
Actor Noel Clarke loses his UK libel case against the Guardian over an investigation in which he was accused of sexual misconduct by more than 20 women — High court rejects actor's claim that accusations against him by more than 20 women were false and part of a conspiracy
Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
Four outlets have taken down AI-generated articles by a “journalist”; Wired says the article it took down didn't get a proper fact-check or sufficient editing — More editors reveal they had been pitched by ‘Margaux Blanchard’. — Wired has revealed that a request …
Discussion:
Wired, The Guardian, @pressgazette.co.uk, Mumbrella, The Wrap, Futurism, MediaPost, TVNewsCheck, Talking Biz News and Press Gazette
Sarah Raza / Associated Press:
After News Media Corporation announced the closure of 31 outlets in five states on August 6, a publishing group bought 8 papers in WY and another bought 4 in SD — A dozen recently shuttered newspapers across Wyoming and South Dakota are set to publish again, after buyers stepped up within days …
Bloomberg:
Sources: The Weeknd is in talks to raise around $1B of financing backed by some of his music rights; he tried to sell a stake two years ago, asking around $1.3B — The Weeknd is in talks to raise about $1 billion of financing backed by some of his music rights, according to people familiar with the matter.
Daniel Thomas / Financial Times:
Filing: OnlyFans gross revenue hit $7.2B in FY ending Nov. 2024, up from $6.6B YoY, and paid $5.8B to creators, up from $5.3B; creator accounts grew 13% to 4.6M — Porn streamer paid $5.8bn to content creators last year as Leonid Radvinsky holds talks over offloading majority stake
Discussion:
The Guardian, Forbes, Variety, Benzinga, Bloomberg, The Standard, Telegraph and Proactive, more at Techmeme »
New York Times:
Veteran anchor Chris Wallace has become a senior adviser for news and media investments at RedBird Capital Partners, a major Skydance investor — The longtime news anchor recently began working for a financial firm connected to CBS's new parent company and has spoken with the network's owner, David Ellison, several times.
Discussion:
TVNewsCheck, The Wrap, Status and @carlquintanilla.bsky.social
Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
Reach plans to “radically reorganize” newsrooms through the creation of a live news network with journalists across its outlets reporting to one leader — Reach has told staff of plans to “radically reorganise” the editorial structure of its newsrooms around the UK and beyond.
Discussion:
Telegraph and HoldtheFrontPage
Julian Wyllie / Current:
South Dakota Public Broadcasting plans to lay off 25% of its staff, affecting public affairs programming; CPB funding made up 20% of its FY24 revenue — Screenshot/YouTube … " id="street-iframe-svdc8d6wzow0000000000 " style="max-width: 100%;"> — “These reductions include the elimination …
Discussion:
@chrisottolnp.bsky.social and Radio & Television …
Jason Notte / Adweek:
EDO: the NFL brings in $5.2B annually in national TV ads; in 2024-2025 ads on streaming-exclusive NFL games were 66% more effective for brands than TV ads — New data from EDO finds that ads during football games on Peacock, Netflix, and Amazon last year were more effective than in-game linear
Discussion:
The Streamable, @kennysmith.bsky.social, TVNewsCheck, Business Wire and MediaPost
Lydia Polgreen / New York Times:
A reflection on Israel's killing of Al Jazeera journalist Anas al-Sharif in an airstrike on a press tent, and Israel's weak claim that he was a Hamas militant — Eleven days ago, Israel assassinated a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, a young man who had suddenly become the face and voice …
