Top News:
J. Clara Chan / Hollywood Reporter:
Spotify acquires Heardle, describing the music trivia game inspired by Wordle as a “tool for musical discovery”, and plans to keep it as a standalone site — The game, which challenges users to identify a song based on short audio clips, will remain free to play for users.
Discussion:
Axios, Spotify, Variety, Billboard, CNET, @starfire2258, Deadline, The Wrap, The Verge, TechCrunch, Gizmodo, UPROXX, WGN-TV, @spotifynews, Rolling Stone, CNBC, @mrdiscopop, @kerrymflynn, @loudmouthjulia, Music Business Worldwide and Consequence, more at Techmeme »
Aisha Majid / Press Gazette:
BBC reports a media gender pay gap of 5.9% in 2021-2022, up from 5.2% a year ago, a 1.6% pay gap for BAME, up from 0%, and 5.9% for people with disabilities — Forty BBC on-air journalists made more than £150,000 last year, according to the corporation's 2022 annual report.
Discussion:
@blackamazon and @pressgazette
RELATED:
Naman Ramachandran / Variety:
The BBC reports record income of £5.33B, of which £3.8B came from the license fee, and a surplus of £206M for the 2021-2022 period — The BBC has declared a record income of £5.33 billion ($6.4 billion) for the 2021/2022 period, up from £5.06 billion last year, and a surplus of £206 billion.
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Google says YouTube TV has 5M+ subscribers including free trial users, making it the US' biggest internet pay-TV provider and fifth-largest TV distributor — Google says YouTube TV has surpassed 5 million accounts — making it the U.S.'s biggest internet-based pay TV service.
Discussion:
Deadline, The Streamable and TechCrunch
Laura Hazard Owen / Nieman Lab:
Seven news outlets in Georgia, all led by POC and targeted at Black, Hispanic, or Asian-American audiences, receive a combined $2M from The Pivot Fund — “You can call these rural parts of the state news deserts. But in these deserts are oases.” — Seven nonpartisan news outlets in Georgia …
Discussion:
The Pivot Fund, The Rural Blog and @dicktofel
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Disney and The Trade Desk announce an agreement to let brands target automated ads across Disney properties with data matched on the backend from both companies — Disney has reached an agreement with The Trade Desk, a global ad tech company, that makes it possible for brands …
Discussion:
Variety, Adweek, AdExchanger, @liebermanaustin, @kerrymflynn, @sarafischer and @mediumbuying
Sara Fischer / Axios:
The Information is launching a social network for subscribers, which will include user profiles, a directory, DMs, and a news-feed like page — The Information is rolling out a series of features designed to make it easier for its network of influential tech and business subscribers to connect …
Discussion:
@heetermaria, The Information and @jessicalessin
Mark Sweney / The Guardian:
The Evening Standard, which relies on ads for 90% of its revenue, reports revenue of £28M in 2021, down 36% YoY, with a loss of £14M, down from £17M in 2020 — Evgeny Lebedev's London freesheet reports £14m loss for last year as Covid continues to hit advertising
Discussion:
Press Gazette
Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch:
After scrutiny, TikTok will pause a privacy update in Europe, due for July 13, whereby it would stop asking users for consent to be tracked to receive ads — TikTok has agreed to pause a controversial privacy policy update in Europe, which had been due to happen tomorrow …
Discussion:
@carnage4life, Silicon Republic and @martinsfp, more at Techmeme »
Jennifer Bray / The Irish Times:
Irish government rejects a commission recommendation to abolish the license fee and will consider how to update the charge to reflect modern media consumption — Cabinet approves 49 of 50 measures suggested by Future of Media Commission — People who do not have TVs but watch Irish-produced content …
Discussion:
@irishtimeslaura, @marklittlenews and @jennifer_bray
Bron Maher / Press Gazette:
Journalist groups criticize the UK's governing Conservative party for charging up to £1,250 to attend its October conference to “discourage over-accreditation” — Journalist groups and free speech organisations have criticised the introduction of fees for media attending the UK Conservative party conference.
Discussion:
@fpalondon, @pressgazette, @pressgazette and @pressgazette
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Bloomberg names Twitter's Nick Sallon to its newly created role of chief partnerships officer, where he will oversee licensing, audio and video expansion, more — After seven years at Twitter, Nick Sallon is leaving the nest to join Bloomberg Media as the company's first chief partnerships officer.
Discussion:
@nicksallon and @arctictony
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