Top News:
Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
NBC News cuts about 150 jobs, or about 2% of the NBC News Group's workforce, ahead of the spinoff of MSNBC and CNBC into Versant — The cuts come ahead of Comcast's Versant spinoff, which will see MSNBC and CNBC cleaved off from the rest of the NBC News Group.
Discussion:
The Wrap, New York Times, Variety, Awful Announcing, Adweek, Deadline, TheDesk.net, RedState, @scottdagostino.ca, HotAir, @corbinbolies, @lyndagood.bsky.social, Eric Deggans on LinkedIn, Traci Lee on LinkedIn, The Washington Free Beacon, Axios, The A.V. Club, al.com, @sarahoconnellshow.com, @brunojnavarro.bsky.social, The Daily Caller, @victinibcn.bsky.social, Jim Long on LinkedIn, Bloomberg, @maxwelltani, Forbes, @robertscotthorton.bsky.social, @ericmgarcia.bsky.social, Business Insider, @dtgeek@mastodon.social, @KimPerales@toad.social, Sports Business Journal, Baller Alert, Cord Cutters News, @esqueer.net, Fox Business, Barrett Media, TheGrio and New York Post
Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
LAT Media Group reports a net loss before taxes of $48.1M in 2024, up from $30M in 2023, with a $21.5M loss in H1 2025; 50%+ of revenue still came from print — More than half of Los Angeles Times revenue still came from print in 2024. — The Los Angeles Times Media Group made a loss of almost $50m …
Discussion:
Axios
Annie Aguiar / Poynter:
Indiana University fired the adviser for The Indiana Daily Student, whose alums have won Pulitzers, showing how easily universities can seize student papers — By firing the Indiana Daily Student's adviser, IU showed how easily universities can seize control of the press they claim to support
David Wheeldon / YouTube Official Blog:
YouTube's creative ecosystem added over €7B to the EU's GDP in 2024 and supported 200K+ full-time equivalent jobs, according to advising firm Oxford Economics — YouTube's creative ecosystem added over €7B to the EU's GDP in 2024, while supporting over 200,000 jobs.
RELATED:
Ashley Carman / Bloomberg:
Spotify says audiobook listeners grew by 36% in the second year since the service's launch, hours streamed grew 37%, and its catalog tripled to 500,000 titles — The number of people trying audiobooks and the number of hours streamed have increased annually
Discussion:
RouteNote Blog, Erin Styles on LinkedIn, Music Business Worldwide, Spotify and @ljkawa.bsky.social
New York Times:
Spotify's deal to bring video podcasts to Netflix prevents shows from airing in full on YouTube; Netflix won't run ads, but Spotify's integrated ads will remain — Netflix will show video versions of 16 podcasts on sports, culture, entertainment and true crime.
Discussion:
Vulture, Mumbrella, Spyglass, The Hollywood Reporter, Tubefilter, Türkiye Today, @tchambers@indieweb.social, The Streamable, Tom's Guide, Deadline, Broadband TV News, Android Headlines, SportsPro, Music Business Worldwide, Podnews, PCMag, The US Sun, NCS | NewscastStudio, Business Standard, FlatpanelsHD, Advanced Television, TipRanks Financial, Washington Times, Thurrott, AdExchanger, Netflix Tudum, @theonlyjdb.bsky.social, @karaswisher@threads.com, Notebookcheck, Digital Trends, The Verge, Business Insider, MobileSyrup, @jodyavirgan.com, Variety, Realscreen, Sports Business Journal, Barrett Media, 9to5Mac, Media Play News, PodcastingToday, Axios, TVNewsCheck, Adweek, The Wrap, Engadget, Bloomberg, Reuters, Los Angeles Times, Just Jared and TechCrunch
RELATED:
Spotify:
Spotify's video podcasts deal with Netflix will bring 16 shows to the platform, including The Bill Simmons Podcast, The Rewatchables, and Serial Killers
Spotify's video podcasts deal with Netflix will bring 16 shows to the platform, including The Bill Simmons Podcast, The Rewatchables, and Serial Killers
Discussion:
Neowin, TheDesk.net, Ben Woods on LinkedIn, SammyGuru, RouteNote Blog, StreamTV Insider, KnowTechie, Broadband TV News, Variety, SamMobile, Deadline, Hypebeast, WFAA-TV, @bridgemusicbunker.bsky.social, Billboard, CNET, Sportico, CNBC, Awful Announcing, Digital Music News and Barrett Media
Verity Townsend / IGN:
Japan says it formally requested that OpenAI refrain from infringing on Japanese IP, including anime, manga, and games, calling them “irreplaceable treasures” — “We are a country that has captivated the world with the creative power of anime, games, and music.”
Lucas Manfredi / The Wrap:
Netflix is merging Scanline, the VFX company it acquired in 2021, with Eyeline, its virtual production and R&D unit, to form a one-stop shop for digital tools — The streamer is merging its research lab Eyeline with longtime VFX house Scanline to create a one-stop shop for digital tools to better help creatives
Discussion:
TV Tech, Media Play News, Variety, About Netflix and TVNewsCheck
Jess Weatherbed / The Verge:
Meta adds group chats to Threads with support for up to 50 followers, rolling out globally, excluding the UK and Australia, and expands DMs to the EU — Users can add up to 50 people into a single conversation. … Threads users can create a group chat by starting a new message …
Discussion:
TechCrunch, Neowin, Engadget, 9to5Mac, Android Central, Digital Trends, Android Headlines, Mashable and Social Media Today, more at Techmeme »
Chris Roush / Talking Biz News:
WSJ restructures its health, science, and education teams, with the health group moving back under the business team, after separating during the pandemic — Wall Street Journal editor in chief Emma Tucker sent out the following on Wednesday: — Dear all,
Discussion:
The Wrap
Ben Croll / Variety:
As viewers move online, animation studios are forced to find new ways to finance their work; YouTube is emerging as a testing ground and launchpad for originals — To reach audiences migrating online, producers must develop new financing and distribution models beyond traditional broadcaster support
Discussion:
Screen Rant and Thurrott
Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
DMG Media launches two social publishers to produce original content for the Daily Mail's TikTok and Instagram; its social channels have 150M followers in total — Daily Mail publisher DMG Media has launched two dedicated social publisher arms, “doubling down” on reaching young people and what they can offer advertisers.
Trishla Ostwal / Adweek:
Over 20 ad tech companies including PubMatic, Optable, and Yahoo launch the Ad Context Protocol, a new open standard to support future agentic advertising — A consortium of ad tech companies is laying the groundwork for the next evolution of automated advertising.
Discussion:
Mumbrella, Digiday, MediaPost, AdExchanger and TVNewsCheck
