Top News:
Sahil Patel / Digiday:
BuzzFeed drove $250M in transactions from affiliate sales and licensing revenue in 2018, says CRO, as it pitches branded commerce posts and a shoppable ad unit — BuzzFeed is ramping up its sales pitch to marketers interested in pairing the publisher's ad capabilities with its growing commerce operation.
Discussion:
New York Times, @media_evan and @rafat
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Todd Spangler / Variety:
Memo: in 2018, BuzzFeed generated $200M from business lines that didn't exist in 2017; Facebook video platform revenue grew from $500K in Q1 to $3M in Q4 2018 — - BuzzFeed CEO Says Company Is Generating Over $200 Million Annually From Businesses That Didn't Exist Two Years Ago
Joe Berkowitz / Fast Company:
Q&A with Barstool Sports CEO Erika Nardini on Miel Brudow's fight with the site after it posted Brudow's video without credit: “we really botched” the response — On Monday, writer and performer Miel Bredouw took to Twitter to disclose publicly how her content had been misappropriated …
Discussion:
Deadspin, @onlxn, @rezac1 and The Daily Beast
Julia Alexander / The Verge:
Disney CEO Bob Iger says streaming service Disney+ will include the entire Disney film library soon after launch this year, essentially ending Disney's “vault” — Exclusivity and availability is a tremendous advantage — Disney+, the company's upcoming streaming service …
Discussion:
TechCrunch, Vulture, Polygon, Jezebel, Fast Company, CNBC, Ars Technica, @drewmcweeny, @loudmouthjulia, @tasharobinson, MacRumors, @scalzi, @kimscorcher, @heyjonanderson, @jank0, @ceilidhann and 9to5Mac
Mathew Ingram / Columbia Journalism Review:
Facebook's shift to more private sharing will make misinformation harder to track and raises questions about the company's liability for its diffusion — On Wednesday, in what seemed like a major shift, Mark Zuckerberg wrote that he wants to reorient Facebook around private, encrypted …
Discussion:
Nieman Lab, New York Times, The Guardian, New York Times, @zeynep, MIT Technology Review, New York Times, Stratechery, The Verge, @alexstamos, Parse.ly, Techdirt, Wired, The Verge, @jayrosen_nyu, @evanselinger, @jason_kint, @sivavaid, @sivavaid, @jessefelder, @willoremus, Memex 1.1, @_maditla, Wired, @jayrosen_nyu, ClickZ, WIRED UK, Business Insider and The Week, more at Techmeme »
BuzzFeed News:
DHS' inspector general is probing whether officials violated policies by creating a list of journalists and activists to be questioned at the southern border — WASHINGTON — The Department of Homeland Security's inspector general is investigating whether immigration officials violated policies …
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NBC 7 San Diego:
Leaked documents show the US government is closely monitoring journalists and immigration advocates tied to the 2018 migrant caravan
Discussion:
Committee to Protect …, SPJ News, @brooklynmarie, @repmikelevin, @senblumenthal, @fightfortheftr, American Press Institute, @aclu, Poynter, @samsanders, NPR, The Week, Broadcasting & Cable, Techdirt, Reporters Without Borders, VICE News, @jamilsmith, @mattdpearce, @mattdpearce, @otraletra, @katierogers, The Reporters Committee …, Fortune, Politico, Mediaite, CNN, New York Post and Splinter
Variety:
Spotify, Google, Pandora, and Amazon have filed to appeal a copyright ruling that increases payouts to songwriters by 44%; sources: Apple not planning to appeal — Amazon is filing a separate appeal against the ruling, which would increase writer rates by nearly 50%.
Discussion:
RAIN News, @drewberinger, MacRumors, Radio & Television …, 9to5Mac, Engadget, Fortune and Music Ally, more at Techmeme »
Jaclyn Peiser / New York Times:
Infinite Dial survey: ~90M people are monthly podcast listeners, up 6% YoY; weekly podcast listeners rose 5% to 62M, 70% of Americans are familiar with podcasts — The number of podcast listeners has increased sharply this year, according to a new report. — More than half the people …
Discussion:
@awealthofcs, Marketing Land, Radio World and Convince and Convert
Sydney Johnson / EdSurge:
Turnitin, a developer of AI software that checks for plagiarism, will be acquired by media conglomerate Advance Publications, reportedly for nearly $1.75B — A company best known (and sometimes rebuked) for its plagiarism checker has just received one of the biggest checks in the education technology industry.
The Conversation:
Australian court case puts media outlets on notice that they could face large compensation claims, after The Age was found liable for a reporter's PTSD — A landmark ruling by an Australian court is expected to have international consequences for newsrooms, with media companies on notice …
Discussion:
Nieman Lab and NEWS.com.au
Joe Pompeo / Vanity Fair:
In six days, the Murdoch-owned NY Post published 24 articles about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez; one source credits high-level orders, another credits tabloid focus — The New York Post's relentless coverage of the freshman congresswoman from the Bronx has some in the newsroom speculating that the old man is taking the reins.
Discussion:
@vanityfair, @brianstelter, @gerryfsmith and @joepompeo
Rick Edmonds / Poynter:
McClatchy reports a $27.5M loss for Q4 on $213M revenue; print ad revenue fell 22% YoY, and digital-only subscribers rose 51% YoY — McClatchy recorded sharp declines in print advertising and circulation revenue in the fourth quarter of 2018, the company reported Thursday.
Discussion:
McClatchy Co
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