Top News:
Lauren Feiner / CNBC:
Comcast reports Q4 media revenue rose 8.4% YoY to $5.83B; Peacock had $335M in revenue, an adjusted loss of $559M, vs. $254 last year, and 24.5M active accounts — - Comcast reported earnings for the fourth quarter of 2021 before the bell on Thursday. — The company beat estimates …
Discussion:
Variety, The Streamable, The Wrap, Variety, Deadline and Comcast Corporation
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Jennifer Maas / Variety:
NBCU says Peacock has 9M+ paid subscribers, with most on the $5/month ad-supported tier; CFO says content spend will double to $3B in 2022 — NBCUniversal revealed streamer Peacock ended 2021 with 9 million paid subscribers during parent company Comcast's fourth-quarter earnings call Thursday …
Todd Spangler / Variety:
AT&T Q4: WarnerMedia revenue rose 15.4% YoY to $9.9B and DTC subscription revenue rose 11.5% YoY to $1.9B; the $43B Discovery merger is expected to close in Q2 — The company also announced that it expects the WarnerMedia spinoff and merger with Discovery to close in the second quarter …
Discussion:
@alexweprin, The Wrap, @thr, @jpalmiotti, @thewrap, Hollywood Reporter, @xpangler, @xpangler, @brianstelter, The Wrap, ZDNet, Deadline, The Streamable, Variety, MediaPost, Media Play News and AT&T
On Substack:
Substack says it will stick to its hands-off approach to content moderation amid increased pressure to censor what some see as dubious or objectionable content — Hamish McKenzie, Chris Best, and Jairaj — Last year, in an interview with the New York Times, anthropologist Heidi Larson …
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Elizabeth Dwoskin / Washington Post:
CCDH: Substack creators publishing vaccine misinformation are making millions of dollars; Substack defends publishing “writers with whom we strongly disagree” — Newsletter company Substack is making millions off anti-vaccine content, according to estimates
Discussion:
Mashable, @meeranavlakha, The Guardian, @alexhern, @alexhern, @alexhern, @alexhern and @ccdhate
Anne Steele / Wall Street Journal:
Spotify is removing Neil Young's music after he gave the company an ultimatum between his music and Joe Rogan's podcast with COVID-19 vaccine misinformation — Folk-rock star had over six million monthly listeners on the service, which he blames for spreading fake info about vaccines
Discussion:
insideradio.com, Variety, MediaPost, Media Matters for America, New York Times, @shannonpareil, Protocol, Los Angeles Times, Insider, SHERO, Unrestrained Inquiry, Boing Boing, Due Dissidence, Al Jazeera, @live1dnews, @jimmy_dore, Uniquely American, @jeffjarvis, @rverrier, @bizballmaury, @racheld, @gavinsblog, @davmicrot, @rschooley, @hkuppy, @hashtaggriswold, @tatianacirisano, @joshsternberg, @dee_bosa, @torriangray, @esotericcd, @dermotcasey, @harrymccracken, @tjmoe28, @mcwm, @korb_heather, @dennisperkins5, @elopezgross, @green_footballs, The Guardian, @xeni, @ronwaxman, Complete Music Update, NPR, Digital Music News, UPI, Campaign Update, INQUIRE, New York Post, The Information, The A.V. Club, Billboard, RAPPLER, Mediaite, Forbes, Barrett Media, The Hollywood Reporter, Axios, UPROXX, Rolling Stone, Engadget, TechCrunch, Variety, Mashable, WGN-TV, The Verge, Reclaim The Net, SPIN and The Daily Beast, more at Techmeme »
Nicholas Quah / Vulture:
Radiolab creator and host Jad Abumrad is leaving the show after 20 years; Lulu Miller and Latif Nasser will continue as co-hosts — Oh, you like podcasts? Sign up for Vulture's new recommendation newsletter 1.5x Speed here. — Radiolab is moving into a radically new era.
Discussion:
@jadabumrad, @jadabumrad, @zuriberry, @nwquah, Today in Tabs and Current
Chris Mills Rodrigo / The Hill:
YouTube permanently bans Dan Bongino for trying to evade a previous suspension; the pro-Trump pundit had previously said he planned to leave the platform — YouTube on Wednesday permanently banned conservative commentator Dan Bongino from the platform, saying he attempted to evade a previous suspension.
Discussion:
USA Today, @oliverdarcy, insideradio.com, New York Times, Mashable, @nandoodles, @slpng_giants, @zamaan_qureshi, @stuartathompson, @profcarroll, @mattgertz, @edbott, @qsteph, @jason_kint, @nandoodles, @green_footballs, @joshsternberg, @projectlincoln, @nandoodles, UPROXX, RAPPLER, Breitbart, The Wrap, UPI, Variety, Engadget, Mediaite, Deadline and Reclaim The Net, more at Techmeme »
Ted Johnson / Deadline:
The Washington Post names Matea Gold as national editor and Philip Rucker as deputy national editor, as part of expanding coverage with more visual storytelling — The Washington Post has named Matea Gold as national editor and Philip Rucker as deputy national editor, with plans to expand …
Discussion:
Washington Post, @mateagold, @jayrosen_nyu, @paulsonne, @harrylitman, @marcosbreton, @froomkin, @jdawsey1, @griffwitte, @ceciliakang, @carolleonnig, @jaxalemany, @colbyitkowitz, @scotusreporter, @loriamontgomery, @froomkin, @froomkin, @nataliejennings, @danlamothe, @petereporter, @vermontgmg, @newsbysamuels, @waposean, @postroz, @anniegowen, @ashleyrparker, @ashleyrparker, @owillis, @shaneharris, @philiprucker and @philiprucker
The Guardian:
Erdogan says the journalist arrested for allegedly insulting him on Twitter “will not go unpunished” but that “it has nothing to do with freedom of expression” — Sedef Kabaş arrested for posting comment allegedly about Turkey's president to her 900,000 Twitter followers
Discussion:
@sjdemas and @indexcensorship
Brian Steinberg / Variety:
VAB study: Nielsen's failure to count “out of home” impressions could have cost networks $350M+ in advertising revenue between May 2021 and November 2021 — A new study by the nation's big TV networks suggests Nielsen's efforts to count viewers watching their favorite programs in so-called …
Joshua Benton / Nieman Lab:
Study: high levels of multiyear funding and strong structural protections for independent public media are positively correlated with healthy democracies — But the direction of causality is tricky. Do a democracy's flaws lead it to starve public media, or does starving public media lead to a democracy's flaws?
Discussion:
@jayrosen_nyu, Platy's Web Excursions, @jayrosen_nyu, @spj_tweets and @cj_toronto
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