Top News:
Eric Johnson / Recode:
Wired launches a metered paywall with five free articles per month, followed by a $20 annual subscription fee — Wired's wall goes up today: Four free clicks, then $20 a year. — Starting today at 9 am ET, Wired.com will have a paywall — although infrequent visitors might not notice it right away.
Discussion:
Nieman Lab, Wired, WWD, @attackerman, @jasontanz, @mmasnick, @kottke and Talking Biz News
Financial Times:
Sources: BuzzFeed Editor Ben Smith has held preliminary talks with the Emerson Collective, funded by Laurene Powell Jobs, about investing in BuzzFeed News — The editor of BuzzFeed has had discussions with the company started by Laurene Powell Jobs, the widow of the late Steve Jobs …
Discussion:
Variety
Craig Silverman / BuzzFeed:
Researchers say publisher of Newsweek and IBTimes used fraudulent methods to inflate traffic to get ad deals; company acknowledges buying traffic, denies fraud — Several of Newsweek Media Group's business websites are buying and manipulating traffic that originates on pirated video streaming sites.
Discussion:
@hadas_gold, @metacurity, @daniel_knauf, @craigsilverman and @bmorrissey
Ryan Faughnder / Los Angeles Times:
Owner of The Hollywood Reporter and Billboard combines media outlets with Dick Clark Productions and House of Cards producer MRC to create Valence Media — Media investor Todd Boehly is reshaping his entertainment empire with a complex deal that puts three very different Hollywood companies under the same corporate umbrella.
Discussion:
Hollywood Reporter, The Wrap, Variety, Billboard and Business Wire
Recode:
Facebook's daily active user base in the US and Canada fell for the first time ever in Q4, dropping to 184M from 185M in Q3 — It was a small but negative change to daily active users in Facebook's most valuable market. — Here's a troubling data point if you're a Facebook investor …
Discussion:
Boing Boing, Bloomberg, CNBC, ZDNet, @privacymatters, MediaNama, @dhh, @bloombergasia, GeekWire, The Next Web, Fortune, @jmichaelwaller and Vanity Fair, more at Techmeme »
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Richard Nieva / CNET:
Mark Zuckerberg says showing fewer viral videos reduced the total time people spent on Facebook by ~50M hours every day, as MAUs reach 2.13B, up 14% YoY
Discussion:
CNBC, Vanity Fair, Recode, BGR, @joshconstine, Press Gazette, Facebook, New York Times, New York Magazine, Ad Age, VentureBeat, AdExchanger, Forbes, TechCrunch, CNBC, Business Insider, TechCrunch, The Wrap, Variety and @anthony, more at Techmeme »
Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:
Instagram announces plan to bring Carousel Ads to Stories, letting advertisers show up to three photos or videos in Stories — It's been less than a year since Instagram brought advertising to Instagram Stories — a format that its owner Facebook said in November has more than 300 million daily users.
Discussion:
Ad Age, Instagram for Business, Fast Company and Engadget, more at Techmeme »
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Keith J. Kelly / New York Post:
Meredith CEO Tom Harty says editorial staff face no changes yet at Time Inc. as Meredith takes over; Time Inc. CEO Rich Battista, other top executives to leave — Meredith is moving in. — The $2.8 billion acquisition of Time Inc. becomes final on Jan. 31, and Meredith officially takes over Feb. 1.
Discussion:
Vanity Fair, Fortune, @mediabistro, Page Six, TVWeek.com, @davidzmorris and @abbywestnyc
David Katzmaier / CNET:
YouTube TV is now available on select Roku devices for $35/month; YouTube says the service is coming to Apple TV “very soon” — YouTube's $35-per-month alternative to cable TV is now on the most popular streaming platform. — Just in time for the big game, the Winter Olympics …
Discussion:
TechCrunch, The Wrap, Broadcasting & Cable, MacRumors, Engadget and The Verge, more at Techmeme »
Alexandra Alter / New York Times:
National Book Awards will recognize translated books, giving awards jointly to living authors and translators for works published in the US — The National Book Awards, among the most prestigious literary prizes, are going global. — Starting this year, the National Book Foundation …
Discussion:
Bookseller News, Publishers Weekly, @scottesposito, @philnel, Melville House Books, @likaluca, @likaluca and NPR
Paul Farhi / Washington Post:
Examining the ethics of journalists buying Twitter followers, after the suspension of Chicago Sun-Times movie critic Richard Roeper — The greatest asset for all journalists is their credibility — the track record of accuracy that makes news consumers believe what they have to say.
Discussion:
@ckrewson, @mlcalderone, @charliemagne and The Ringer
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Dirk VanderHart / Portland Mercury:
Memo: The Oregonian, owned by Advance Publications, lays off 11 newsroom staffers — After repeated rounds of layoffs, it's hard to imagine the Oregonian having anywhere else to cut. But the news business's grim prognosis marches on, so the cuts continue.
Lucia Moses / Digiday:
A look at the economic shifts as publishers move from guaranteed payments to revenue sharing with content recommendation services like Outbrain and Taboola — For the past three years, publishers have benefited from fat guarantees from content recommendation services like Outbrain and Taboola.
Discussion:
@randfish, @simonowens and @mathewi
Nellie Andreeva / Deadline:
Podcast network Gimlet Media launches Gimlet Pictures, a new film and TV division headed by Chris Giliberti — Podcast network Gimlet Media is establishing a footprint in film and television with the launch of Gimlet Pictures, a new film and television arm headed by the company's Chris Giliberti.
Discussion:
RAIN News
Ricardo Bilton / Nieman Lab:
A look at Opinary, a German startup that makes polling tools for 60+ media companies, as it builds out its product to give news orgs insights in real time — Can a widget's worth of reader engagement lead to useful data — and maybe even money? “The whole idea is to give readers and communities a voice within journalism.”
Discussion:
@newsbyschmidt and @jinnovationcity
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