Top News:
Peter Kafka / Vox:
Spotify will buy The Ringer, the podcast-centric media company run and owned by Bill Simmons, and plans to hire Simmons and his approximately 90 employees — The Ringer CEO Bill Simmons in 2015 | Photo by Mike Windle/Getty Images for Vanity Fair — It's the fourth podcast deal Spotify has done in a year.
Discussion:
CNN, New York Times, Business Wire, Hollywood Reporter, Awful Announcing, Fast Company, The Wrap, TechCrunch, @kerrymflynn, Fortune, @sarthakgh, @fromedome, @brettbivens, @bensmith94, @benmullin, @natjarv, @sherman4949, 9to5Mac, @jyarow, @annaknicolaou, @pkafka, @pkafka, @pkafka, The Verge, Wall Street Journal, @kerrymflynn, @pkafka, @pkafka and Financial Times, more at Techmeme »
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Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Spotify reports Q4 results: 271M total MAUs, up 31% YoY, as paying users rise 29% YoY to 124M; overall revenue was $2B, up 24% YoY — Streaming music now accounts for more than 80% of all music consumption in key markets like the US, and one of the big leaders in the field is reaping some of the rewards.
Discussion:
Business Wire, Fast Company, VentureBeat, Variety, @ingridlunden and @kerrymflynn, more at Techmeme »
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: DOJ reached out to more than a dozen publishers, ad agencies, and ad tech rivals of Google as its online ad tools become a focus of antitrust probe — Antitrust enforcers have reached out to more than a dozen publishers, ad tech rivals and ad agencies
Discussion:
MediaPost, @wsj, @asharma, @matthewstoller, @jason_kint, @keachhagey and @keachhagey, more at Techmeme »
Knight Foundation:
Knight Foundation launches a three-year, $2M initiative to give grants of up to $20K to help 25 underserved newsrooms adopt and manage digital platforms — Three-year initiative will give publishers subsidies to adopt and manage digital platforms — Contact: Roshni Neslage …
Discussion:
Poynter, @knightfdn and @poynter
Bloomberg:
Sources: Instagram generated ~$20B in advertising revenue in 2019, making up more than a quarter of Facebook's revenue — - Unit brought in about $20 billion in 2019, people familiar say — Photo-sharing app has gained in importance since 2012 purchase
Discussion:
Digiday, @caseynewton, @timfullerton, @jonrussell, @jowens510, @andyellwood, @seanrose, @jason_kint, @rolandsmartin, @nicoagrant, @awallenstein, @mgsiegler, @yoda, The Wrap, INSIDER, The Verge and The Verge, more at Techmeme »
Kaitlan Collins / CNN:
President Trump awarded Rush Limbaugh with the Medal of Freedom during Tuesday's State of the Union — Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump awarded the Medal of Freedom to conservative radio personality Rush Limbaugh on Tuesday in an unprecedented move during the State of the Union address.
Discussion:
Associated Press, @jaketapper, The Daily Beast, Variety, Politico, Washington Post, Poynter, @existentialfish, @kaitlancollins, @mattgertz, Talking Points Memo, @noahshachtman, The Hill, New York Times, @rabiasquared, The Week, @craigcalcaterra, @mattgertz, @slavamalamud, @swin24, @gabbyorr_, @johnfugelsang, @farhip, @pbump, @briankarem, @jdawsey1, @brianstelter, @dandrezner, INSIDER, Raw Story, Breitbart, The Hill, Mediaite and The Daily Caller
Emily McCormick / Yahoo Finance:
Disney beats analyst expectations for Q1, reporting $20.86B in Q1 revenue, up 36% YoY, 26.5M subscribers for Disney+, and 30.4M for Hulu, up 33% YoY — DIS) posted better than expected results in the company's first report since the launch of its eponymous streaming service.
Discussion:
CNN, @jbflint, The Wrap, Variety, Hollywood Reporter, CNBC, @awallenstein, The Walt Disney Company, @pkafka, @natjarv, @elainelow, @natjarv, @jbflint, @danrayburn, @pkafka, @natjarv, @jbflint, @aagave, @nytmedia, The Wrap, Awful Announcing, Vox, Multichannel News, The Streamable, MarketWatch, Reuters, Hollywood Reporter, Hollywood Reporter and New York Times, more at Techmeme »
Bloomberg:
Sources: Liz Schimel, the head of business for Apple News who oversaw advertiser and publisher relations, steps down; Apple is seeking a replacement — - Liz Schimel was Conde Nast executive prior to joining in 2018 — Paid news and magazine service had a sluggish first year
Discussion:
Gizmodo, @mgsiegler, @rafat, @markgurman, 9to5Mac, MacRumors and Patently Apple
Steve Matthews / Bloomberg:
Lawyers for Bloomberg News, AP, Dow Jones, Market News, and Reuters ask Department of Labor to end plans to restrict journalists' early access to econ reports — - Attorneys for Bloomberg News, Reuters, others send letter — News organizations say changes violate law, freedom of press
Discussion:
Talking Biz News, @bchappatta, @jordanfabian and The Hill
Kayleigh Barber / Digiday:
Verizon Media launches a new, millennial-focused personal finance site called Cashay — Verizon Media is launching on Wednesday a new personal finance site for Generation Z and millennials called Cashay. — The site will feature a mixture of content, including original stories …
Discussion:
Talking Biz News, @derekflanz and @whatthebit
Cansu Çamlibel / Nieman Reports:
The EIC of Duvar, a new Turkish English-language news site, talks about launching an independent site in one of the most inhospitable countries for journalists — The pain of a journalist whose work is thrown into a deep dark hole by government gatekeepers deployed in a newsroom is like no other pain on earth.
Discussion:
@aydnselcen and @msafaksari
Adam Piore / Columbia Journalism Review:
Profile of RedState owner Salem Media Group, which preaches both Christian morality and Trump through its digital arm Townhall that gets 15M+ monthly uniques — The Salem Media empire preaches morality and Donald Trump — Even for Washington, so accustomed to political sex scandals, the story of Katie Hill was a bombshell.
Discussion:
@cjr, @cjr, @kathsstewart, @cjr, @betsymorais and @emilybell
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