Top News:
Ashley Carman / Bloomberg:
Spotify reports Q4 revenue up 13% YoY to €4.5B, Premium users up 10% YoY to 290M, MAUs up 11% YoY to 751M, and a €701M operating income, above €639.1M est. — Spotify Technology SA, the Swedish music streaming giant, signed up significantly more users than analysts expected …
Discussion:
Financial Times, Spotify, TechCrunch, Fast Company, Forbes, Proactive, The Wrap, Thurrott, Billboard, The Independent, Benzinga, CNBC, The Hollywood Reporter, @xpangler, Digital Music News, Wall Street Journal, Variety, @eldsjal, iPhone in Canada, Business Wire, Engadget and Sherwood News, more at Techmeme »
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Candle Media sells a majority stake in ATTN: back to ATTN:'s founders and others; the digital media company was valued at $150M when Candle bought it in 2022 — - It also signals a strategy shift for Candle Media. — When Candle Media was created, it aimed to eventually take its house …
Discussion:
The Wrap
Angela Giuffrida / The Guardian:
Sports journalists at Italy's state broadcaster Rai stage protests over blunders by sports director Paolo Petrecca during the Winter Olympics opening ceremony — Director of state broadcaster Rai Sport welcomed viewers to wrong stadium and mistook Italian actor for Mariah Carey
Discussion:
Agenzia ANSA, Associated Press, Fox News, inkl, inkl, NBC New York, indy100 and Gamereactor UK
Kyle Tharp / @kylewilsontharp:
Turning Point USA added 900K followers on YouTube between February 2 and February 9, the day after it hosted an “alternate” Super Bowl halftime show — 📈 FYI, about that half-time show... Turning Point USA has added nearly 1 million new YouTube subscribers in the past *week*, far more than any other political channel on the platform. [image]
Discussion:
Media Play News and The Wrap
Foo Yun Chee / Reuters:
The European Publishers Council files an EU antitrust complaint against Google over AI Overviews, for “using its market power” to take content without consent — Alphabet (GOOGL.O) unit Google was hit with an EU antitrust complaint by the European Publishers Council on Tuesday …
Discussion:
Irish Examiner and WinBuzzer
Lillian Rizzo / CNBC:
Paramount sweetens its WBD bid with a “ticking fee” worth ~$650M/quarter if the deal isn't closed by year-end and offers to fund WBD's $2.8B Netflix breakup fee — Paramount Skydance said Tuesday it has sweetened its offer for Warner Bros. Discovery, adding a so-called “ticking fee” …
Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
The Independent names Barney Henderson, Newsweek's publishing director, as UK editor and Jacqui Merrington, Mail Metro Media's AI director, as executive editor — The Independent has named Newsweek's director of publishing Barney Henderson as its new UK editor.
Discussion:
InPublishing
Deana Kjuka / Bloomberg:
Russian media: Russia's communications regulator, Roskomnadzor, plans to limit access to Telegram from Tuesday, as the government promotes its Max “super app” — Russia's communications watchdog, Roskomnadzor, plans to limit access to Telegram from Tuesday, the RBC news service reported …
Discussion:
The Kyiv Independent, The Verge, Reuters, @noelreports, @noelreports, @jayinkyiv, @mike_eckel, @cyberknow20, @rajdianos, @delfoo, @ozkaterji and @jurgen_nauditt, more at Techmeme »
Swati Gupta / Bloomberg:
India tightens its rules on social media content, especially for AI-generated and manipulated material, giving platforms three hours to comply with takedowns — India tightened the rules governing social media content and their platforms, especially for artificially generated and manipulated material …
Discussion:
Business Today, TRT World, Reuters, Channel NewsAsia, The North West Star and BMI, more at Techmeme »
Nat Rubio-Licht / The Deep View:
NYC-based AI video startup Runway raised a $315M Series E led by General Atlantic, a source says at a $5.3B valuation, and says it will pre-train world models — The AI industry just got another indicator that the future lies beyond words alone. — On Tuesday, video AI firm Runway announced a $315 million Series E funding round.
Discussion:
TechCrunch, Unite.AI, Implicator.ai, Bloomberg, Crunchbase News, @runwayml, Runway and ZDNET, more at Techmeme »
Patrick Coffee / Wall Street Journal:
Analysis: despite AI ads outnumbering traditional Super Bowl ad categories like beer, nostalgia-driven ads from Budweiser and Dunkin' dominated social media — Budweiser and Dunkin' got the most attention on social media, but big tech's AI product demos may still have the last laugh, experts say
Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:
YouTube rolls out an AI-powered playlist generator that lets Premium and Music Premium users on iOS and Android use text prompts to create playlists — YouTube is rolling out a new AI-powered playlist-generation feature that allows Premium users on iOS and Android to use text prompts to create playlists.
Discussion:
Android Authority, Thurrott, Digital Trends, 9to5Google, BGR, The Hans India, PCMag, The Verge, Trusted Reviews, @updatesfromyt, NewsBytes, iPhone in Canada, Droid Life, PCWorld, HotHardware, Android Headlines, Phandroid, MacRumors, Moneycontrol, GSMArena.com and Tech Times, more at Techmeme »
OpenAI:
OpenAI begins testing ads in ChatGPT in the US for logged-in adult users on its Free and Go tiers, and says that the ads do not change ChatGPT's answers — Ads that support free access and don't change ChatGPT answers. — Today, we're beginning to test ads in ChatGPT in the U.S. The test …
Discussion:
TechCrunch, Retail TouchPoints, Tech Advisor, PCMag, @pkafka, @justin_abrams1, @dhadfieldmenell, @andrewlolk, @haven_emme, Business Standard, @benbajarin, PhoneArena, The Deep View, @compliantvc, Phandroid, Ad Age, @zats, @kentcdodds, Cult of Mac, Thurrott, Gizchina, The Economic Times, @btibor91, Benzinga, The Rundown AI, Digital Trends, @0xa5ad, @freddiev4, TestingCatalog, Business Today, PCWorld, Neowin, Digit, @benhylak, BMI, Mashable, @omni1896837, @techikansh, @openai, The Decoder, Search Engine Roundtable, Tech Times, SiliconANGLE, @jamesborow, Pixel Envy, Coverager, How-To Geek, CNET, Gizmodo, GSMArena.com, Search Engine Journal, CBS News, iPhone in Canada, The Verge, NBC News, The Information, Appleosophy, Yahoo Finance, Crypto Briefing, Decrypt, MacRumors, Engadget, Business Insider, The Mac Observer, Search Engine Land, NewsMax.com, Sherwood News, ZDNET, Moneycontrol, 9to5Mac, a16z and Android Authority, more at Techmeme »
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