Top News:
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Disney announces Disney+ Basic, its ads tier for $7.99 per month, launching in the US on December 8, and raises the ad-free price from $7.99 to $10.99 per month — Disney has set pricing and date for the U.S. launch of the version of Disney+ with ads, while also hiking the monthly price of the Disney+ tier with no ads.
Discussion:
The Walt Disney Company, The Verge, Collider, @loudmouthjulia, @film_girl, Digiday, @xpangler, MediaPost, @drtvlotz, @carnage4life, @xpangler, @exameter, @xpangler, @davidfowl, Digital TV Europe, @nixxin, The A.V. Club, Adweek, Light Reading, Ad Age, Gizmodo, The Streamable, Engadget, 9to5Mac, Decider, The Wrap, TechCrunch, CBR, TVLine, AppleInsider, Next TV and CNBC, more at Techmeme »
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Sarah Whitten / CNBC:
Disney beats with Q3 revenue up 26% YoY to $21.5B, vs. $20.96B est., 14.4M new Disney+ subscribers, and 221M total streaming subscribers; stock jumps 8%+ — - Analysts anticipate the company added around 10 million new Disney+ subscribers during the period between April and June, bringing the total number of users to 147 million.
Aisha Malik / TechCrunch:
Disney hit 221.1M global streaming subscribers in Q3, surpassing Netflix's 220.7M in Q3; Disney+ had 152.1M subscribers, Hulu had 46.2M, and ESPN+ had 22.8M — The Walt Disney Company reported on Wednesday that total Disney+ subscriptions rose to 152.1 million during the company's third-quarter, posting better-than-expected results.
Discussion:
The Walt Disney Company, Fortune, Boing Boing, Deadline, Too Much TV Newsletter, CBS News, The Streamable, IndieWire and Decider, more at Techmeme »
Erik Hayden / The Hollywood Reporter:
Disney lowers its Disney+ subscriber forecast to between 135M and 165M by 2024, and separates its Disney+ Hotstar subscriber guidance, aiming to hit 80M by 2024 — The Hollywood giant's flagship streaming platform had earlier set guidance of 230 million to 260 million subscribers by 2024 …
Discussion:
Variety, Wall Street Journal, The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline and CNBC
Oliver Darcy / CNN:
Memo: The Washington Post media critic Margaret Sullivan is retiring her column at the end of August 2022 and will join Duke University as a visiting professor — New York (CNN Business)Media critic Margaret Sullivan is retiring her column and departing The Washington Post this month.
Discussion:
@sulliview, @oliverdarcy, Vanity Fair, Poynter, @oliverdarcy, @mlcalderone, @emilybell, @bgrueskin, @dangillmor, @vanityfair, @parkermolloy, @bandriatch, @stuartemmrich, @newsceo, @sulliview, @film_girl, @charlottetklein, @evanasmith, @jayrosen_nyu, @nfl_dougfarrar, @meredithshiner, @lrozen, @jamesfallows, @dankennedy_nu, @dangillmor, @timjgraham, @ericmgarcia, @karenkho, @ericschultz, @dansaltzstein, @journalistslike, @ddiamond, @deborahblum, @markberman, @oneunderscore__, @mathewi, @lisatozzi, @citizencohn, @dankennedy_nu, @joshuahol, @malitzd, @jasonabbruzzese, @froomkin, @brandyzadrozny, @katzish, @brandonetc, @mollyjongfast, @mlcalderone and Sanford School …
Sara Guaglione / Digiday:
Fortune, Bloomberg, Forbes, Gizmodo, and Money are growing dedicated blockchain and crypto teams, even amid a bear market, to better explain the tech to readers — The week the cryptocurrency market crashed in mid-June, Fortune sent Jeff Roberts an offer to become its crypto editor and oversee building a team of reporters.
Rasha Al Aqeedi / New Lines Magazine:
Veteran Iraqi actress Enas Taleb plans to sue The Economist for using her picture as an example of “fat” women in the Arab world in a July 28 story — The British newspaper ran a story about the epidemic of obesity among Arab women and used the photo of Enas Taleb to illustrate the phenomenon
Discussion:
BBC, VICE, Arab News, Daily Mail, Deadline, Newser, @amadfarouki, @rashaalaqeedi, New York Post, @leloveluck, @newlinesmag and @_amroali
Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:
Spotify quietly tests Spotify Tickets, directly selling live music tickets to users in the US, instead of redirecting buyers to Ticketmaster or Eventbrite — Spotify has launched a new site to sell fans tickets to live gigs directly from its platform instead of redirecting users to partners like Ticketmaster and Eventbrite.
Discussion:
Music Ally, @indianidle, @musically, @emmaswiftsings, Tubefilter, Music Business Worldwide, Forbes, CNET, Billboard, Gizmodo, The Verge, Engadget and Complete Music Update
Bassem Mroue / Associated Press:
Biden marks the 10th anniversary of journalist Austin Tice's abduction by calling on Syria's government to work with the US “so that we can bring Austin home” — President Joe Biden said Wednesday the U.S. is certain that the Syrian government is holding American journalist Austin Tice …
Discussion:
The Guardian, @davejorgenson, CBS News, Washington Post, The Hill, @cforman, @jmhansler, @cforman, CNN, McClatchy Washington Bureau, Texas Monthly, CNN, Al Jazeera, The Hill and Next TV
Kristin Robinson / Billboard:
Docs and sources detail how two men in Phoenix, Arizona ran one of the largest known YouTube music royalty scams, leading to a wire fraud indictment and more — Inside the brazen but surprisingly simple scheme that took royalties from songs by artists like Daddy Yankee, Anuel AA, Julio Iglesias and more.
Mark Stenberg / Adweek:
Satirical feminist site Reductress announces it has been acquired by Phenomenal Media, a media company focused on women and historically excluded communities — The merger combines like-minded publishers with an eye toward entertainment — The satirical publisher Reductress …
Discussion:
@katienotopoulos, @katienotopoulos, @markstenberg3, @lexandrapinel, Vulture, MediaPost, Insider and The Hollywood Reporter
Whip Media:
Survey: 72% of Netflix subscribers say they are unlikely to switch to a lower cost tier with ads, 92% of HBO Max users with the ad tier are satisfied, and more — Spotlight on the Ad-Supported Experience whipmedia.com Introduction © 2022 Whip Media All product names, logos, and brands are property of their respective owners.
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MediaPost, The Streamable, The Streamable, Next TV, MediaPost, Next TV and MediaPost
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