Top News:

Sources: Politico's Jake Sherman, Anna Palmer, and John Bresnahan are launching a daily newsletter in 2021 as a standalone company, competing against Playbook — Three of Politico's biggest reporting stars plan to launch a competitor to the company's Politico Playbook franchise, sources tell me.
Discussion:
@jasonshevrin, @yashar, @jimvandehei, The Wrap and Washingtonian

Nielsen: workers increased their TV watching time between 9am and 4pm by 21% YoY; kids between 6 and 17 also saw double-digit increases in TV watch time — Altered viewing patterns during Covid-19 present new reality for advertisers — As people continue working and attending school remotely …
Discussion:
@adweek, MediaPost and nexttv.com

Red Ventures, which owns CNET and travel advice site The Points Guy, has acquired travel media company Lonely Planet from NC2 Media — FIRST FREE STORY (1 OF 3) — More travel executives get their mission-critical industry news from Skift than any other source on the planet. — Already a member?
Discussion:
Red Ventures, @celbrash, @rafat, @thepointsguy, @sean_oneill, @chyan and Publishers Weekly

Showtime debuts a Pluto channel, Showtime Selects, which will air a selection of its programming for free, with ads, to attract new subscribers — Showtime is unlocking a selection of original programming — for free, with ads — in a new channel on Pluto TV.
Discussion:
The Streamable, Decider, Light Reading, MediaPost and /Film

NYT says it has raised $4M for Headway, a three-year journalistic venture, which will aim to produce 10-12 deeply researched, data-rich projects per year — The New York Times has raised $4 million to launch Headway, a journalism initiative to investigate global and national challenges.
Discussion:
@jayrosen_nyu, @kimmelman, @jayrosen_nyu, @froomkin, @jswatz and @rockphilanth

The Drudge Report, once a supporter of Trump's rise to the presidency, featured a Photoshopped image of the president in an orange prison jumpsuit on Tuesday — Matt Drudge, the head of influential news aggregator Drudge Report, featured an image of President Donald Trump in a prison jumpsuit on his website.
Discussion:
Vanity Fair and The Wrap

Joe Rogan is Spotify's most popular podcast globally and NPR News Now is in the US with The Daily, Call Her Daddy, and Michelle Obama's podcast in the top five — As they do at this time every year, Spotify has unveiled the top artists, albums, tracks, playlists and podcasts …
Discussion:
Fast Company, Spotify, @highwayqueens, @drownedinsound, @wcchen, The A.V. Club, The Wrap, @drownedinsound, @kerrymflynn, Spotify, Hollywood Reporter and Engadget

Sources: Patch launches Patch Labs, a service to help local news reporters publish their own newsletters and websites, with tools to sell ads and subscriptions — Patch, the hyperlocal (and profitable) local digital news company, has built a new software platform called “Patch Labs” …

TCG, the Chernin Group's venture subsidiary, is investing $30M in Surfline, a mostly subscription-based media company that focuses on surfing coverage — TCG, a venture affiliate of The Chernin Group that invests in media, entertainment and tech businesses, is investing $30 million in Surfline …
Discussion:
Business Insider, @sarafischer, PR Newswire, @sanjitatwal, @peterchernin, @rafat and @kylelaughlin

Hearst exec says UK subscriptions rose 233% YoY in March as readers made use of subscription trials; after abandoning them in April, orders still rose 100% YoY — Magazine giant Hearst had to take action to stem losses from discount magazine subscription offers as new subscribers jumped 233% following the start of the pandemic.

Some publishers are experimenting to keep events engaging during the pandemic: Atlas Obscura is planning US road trips, PopSugar hosted a drive-in LA premiere — This article is part of the Future of Work briefing, a weekly email with stories, interviews, trends and links about how work, workplaces and workforces are changing.
Discussion:
@kayleighjbarber

Reddit says it averaged 52M DAUs in October, up 44% YoY, disclosing the metric for the first time; ad revenue hit $100M+ in 2019, on track to rise 70%+ in 2020 — The disclosure comes as the tech company pursues new advertisers — Reddit Inc. said it averaged 52 million daily active users in October …
Discussion:
The Wrap, The Verge, Adweek and Engadget, more at Techmeme »