Mediagazer: Publicis reports 2025 net profit of €1.65B, down from €1.66B in 2024, and total revenue up 8.5% YoY to €17.4B, but PUB falls 8%+ driven by AI fears (Adrià Calatayud/Wall Street Journal)

Top News:

Disney names Josh D'Amaro, head of its theme parks and consumer products division, as CEO, replacing Bob Iger, effective March 18; D'Amaro joined Disney in 1998 — Dana Walden named president and chief creative officer of the company — The Walt Disney Co., after a more than two-year saga …

Dade Hayes / Deadline:

Disney names Dana Walden, co-chairman of Disney Entertainment, as its president and chief creative officer, a newly created role, effective March 18 — Disney Experiences Chairman Josh D'Amaro has been elevated to CEO of the Walt Disney Co., capping a closely watched multi-year process of identifying Bob Iger's successor.

Discussion: StreamTV Insider, The Wrap, Variety, IndieWire, Adweek, CNN, Financial Times, Comic Book, UPI, Daily Disney News, BMI, New York Post, Axios, Yahoo Finance, WPXI-TV, New York Times, The Hollywood Reporter, CNBC, Los Angeles Times, Barrett Media, ZeroHedge News and Bloomberg

Jennifer Maas / Variety:

Disney says new CEO Josh D'Amaro's initial annual package is set at ~$38.4M, with a $2.5M base, and President Dana Walden's is set at ~$24M, with a $3.75M base — Disney has set the pay packages for its newly appointed top executives: CEO Josh D'Amaro and president and chief creative officer Dana Walden.

Discussion: The Wrap, Puck, Fast Company, People, New York Post, Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter, Just Jared, The Indian Express, Pulse 2.0, Screen, Yahoo Finance, Washington Examiner and Bloomberg

Daniel Thomas / Financial Times:

Publicis CEO Arthur Sadoun says the company is among the few in the sector to crack the use of generative AI, and pledges another €1B for AI and data operations — Chief executive says French ad group is among sector's few companies to have figured out how to scale the technology

Discussion: The Drum, The Times, Anne Stagg on LinkedIn and Adweek

Adrià Calatayud / Wall Street Journal:

Publicis reports 2025 net profit of €1.65B, down from €1.66B in 2024, and total revenue up 8.5% YoY to €17.4B, but PUB falls 8%+ driven by AI fears — Shares in European afternoon trading were on track for their biggest one-day percentage drop since April 2020

Discussion: MediaPost, BMI, MediaBrief and PR Week UK

Isaac Rouse / Polygon.com:

Crunchyroll is raising its US prices by $2 per month; the cheapest tier gets its first price increase since 2019 and now offers offline downloads on one device — If you didn't secure a Crunchyroll subscription when it was on sale during Black Friday, we have some bad news, anime fans: The price has officially gone up.

Discussion: Ars Technica, Digital Trends, The Wrap, Engadget, IGN, Kotaku, Telecompaper, Screen Rant, Comic Book, Crunchyroll News, PCMag, CNET, The Verge and r/anime, more at Techmeme »

Hannah Abraham / Forbes:

Reliance's Jio Studios acquires a 50.1% equity stake in Sikhya Entertainment for ~$16.7M, uniting India's largest studio with the Oscar-winning production house — Sikhya Entertainment co-founders Guneet Monga Kapoor and Achin Jain with Jio Studios President Jyoti Deshpande

Discussion: Variety, Livemint, Moneycontrol, The Indian Express, News18, Fortune India, MediaNews4U, CNBC-TV18, BW Marketing World, The Hindu, The Hindu BusinessLine, BMI, Business Standard, Outlook India, The Hollywood Reporter India, Financial Express and The Economic Times

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:

DMGT reports revenue down 1% YoY to £1.1B, adjusted operating profit up 11% to £97M, and digital ad revenue down 15% to £148.3M due to Google's AI Overviews — Digital advertising revenue at the publisher of the Daily Mail fell by 15% last year.

Charlie Savage / New York Times:

Court docs: the US DOJ failed to tell a judge about a 1980 law protecting journalists when it sought to seize WaPo reporter Hannah Natanson's devices last month — The Justice Department did not address a 1980 law that generally bars warrants for reporting material when it sought to seize …

Discussion: @charliesavage.bsky.social, @ericjgeller.com and The Reporters Committee …

Etan Vlessing / The Hollywood Reporter:

Fubo reports Q1 revenue up 40% YoY to $1.55B, up 6% to $1.68B pro forma after closing Disney's Hulu merger, and 6.2M North American subscribers, down from 6.3M — The sports-first streamer and ESPN also unveiled a reseller and marketing deal to expand the reach and distribution of Fubo services.

Discussion: Advanced Television, Benzinga, ir.fubo.tv, Cord Cutters News, Streaming Better and Telecompaper

Sarah Scire / Nieman Lab:

Q&A with journalist Danny Funt about his new book on sports betting, news organizations making sports betting deals, parallels with prediction markets, and more — “Sports media is kind of getting bribed,” as one former ESPN reporter told journalist Danny Funt.

Discussion: @bmoritz99.bsky.social, @daviddaniel.bsky.social, @samlitzinger.bsky.social and @dannyfunt.bsky.social

Katie Kilkenny / The Hollywood Reporter:

An interview with Christopher Nolan about becoming president of the Directors Guild of America, labor negotiations, studios striking AI deals, and more — In his first interview as president of the Directors Guild of America, the ‘Oppenheimer’ and ‘Dark Knight’ helmer called a recent downturn …

Discussion: Variety, Dexerto, The Movie Blog, @nelsoncarvajal.com, Deadline, Screen Rant and @katiekilkenny.bsky.social