Mediagazer: A look at livestreamed e-commerce, already mature and established in China, which TikTok, YouTube, Meta, Amazon, and others want to bring to the US and Europe (Financial Times)

8:15 AM ET, August 12, 2022

Top News:

Scott Deveau / Bloomberg:

Activist investor ValueAct Capital takes a 7% stake in The New York Times and urges an aggressive rollout of subscriber-only bundles; NYT's stock jumps 10%+ — Activist investor ValueAct Capital Management has built a new position in the New York Times Co., contending the iconic newspaper company …

Discussion: New York Times, @espiers, @newsynick, @nytimesbusiness, @benmullin, @felixsalmon, @trengriffin, @bernstein, @jeffjarvis, Financial Times, Wall Street Journal and CNBC

Twitter:

Twitter outlines its Civic Integrity Policy ahead of the US midterm elections, including state-specific hubs featuring local news and better account protections — Twitter is the place to find real-time, reliable information about the 2022 midterms - whether you're looking for breaking news from reporters …

Discussion: @twittersafety, @shayan86, @tomfitton, @hippojuicefilm, @michaelmalice, @donie, @levinejonathan, @w7voa, @tedcruz, @digiphile, @bretweinstein, @twittersafety, New York Post, Gizmodo, The Hill, CNET, CNN, Reclaim The Net, Mediaite, Engadget and The Hill

Todd Spangler / Variety:

While Disney has more streaming subscribers than Netflix, Disney+'s US and Canada ARPU was $6.27/month in its Q3, vs. Netflix's ARPU of $15.95/month in its Q2 — But the value of those subscriber bases is much different. — Domestically, for example, Disney+ generated about 39% …

Discussion: Axios, Films and Faith, @xpangler, The Walt Disney Company, SlashFilm, Associated Press, Decider, TechCrunch and TVLine

Aisha Malik / TechCrunch:
Disney hit 221.1M global streaming subscribers in its Q3, above Netflix's 220.7M in its Q2; Disney+ had 152.1M subscribers, Hulu had 46.2M, and ESPN+ had 22.8M

Discussion: CNN, The Guardian, Observer, Gamereactor UK, Fortune, Broadband TV News, Boing Boing, MediaPost, Too Much TV Newsletter, IndieWire and CNBC

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

Discussion: Forbes, The Great Reset Diary 2022, @nixxin, @carnage4life, Wall Street Journal, The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline, CNBC and Variety

Hamish McKenzie / On Substack:

Substack's Hamish McKenzie changes his title to Chief Writing Officer from COO to emphasize the platform's respect for writers and says he'll be writing more — The first job title I've ever taken seriously … Audio playback is not supported on your browser. Please upgrade.

Discussion: @annehelen, Jimmy's McLoughlin Notebook, @jbenton, @annehelen, @rmac18, @hamishmckenzie, @hamishmckenzie, @kgeee, @tydunne, @annehelen, @annehelen, @hamishmckenzie, @jaykaydee, @benwolfson10, @pkafka, @kgeee and @caseyjohnston

Eric Mandel / Atlanta Business Journal:

Mailchimp co-founder Ben Chestnut plans to step down as CEO after 21 years and transition to a founder-advisor role; Intuit's Rania Succar will take over — Managing Editor, Atlanta Business Chronicle — See Correction/Clarification at end of article — Ben Chestnut is stepping …

Discussion: CoinDesk, more at Techmeme »

Jason Nelson / Decrypt:
Mailchimp cracks down on newsletters from crypto-related content creators, suspending the accounts of crypto wallet Edge, intelligence firm Messari, and Decrypt

Discussion: @decryptmedia, The Coin Crunch, @readdanwrite, CoinDesk and Waivly, more at Techmeme »

Nieman Lab:

A look at the pros and cons of Canada's Online News Act, which could be made more inclusive but has greater transparency than Australia's news bargaining bill — While many governments around the world have begun to more actively engage in the journalism policy space in recent years …

Discussion: @niemanlab, Journalism news …, @journo_dale, @emilybell and @supriyadwivedi

Financial Times:

A look at livestreamed e-commerce, already mature and established in China, which TikTok, YouTube, Meta, Amazon, and others want to bring to the US and Europe — Manrika Khaira regularly broadcasts live on TikTok to her following of more than half a million people.

Discussion: @anjliraval, @cristinacriddle, @richlightshed, @astaniscia86, @liahaberman, @mattnavarra and Simon Owens's Media Newsletter

Tierney Sneed / CNN:

CNN, WaPo, NBC, and Scripps ask a court to unseal all documents tied to Trump's Florida home search, including those not covered by a DOJ bid to unseal warrant — CNN, joined by The Washington Post, NBC News and Scripps, asked a court on Thursday to unseal documents connected to the FBI search …

Discussion: @brianstelter, @brianstelter, Beyond The Optics, @dangillmor, @meridithmcgraw, Bloomberg, @jayrosen_nyu and Slate

Etan Vlessing / The Hollywood Reporter:

Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, which owns the streaming service Crackle, completes its acquisition of Redbox in a $375M all-stock deal — The acquisition bolsters the combined entity's presence in the fast-growing ad-supported streaming space. — Crackle streaming service owner …

Discussion: The Streamable, Digital TV Europe, @zaackhunt and Variety

Marketing Brew:

Outlets like the LA Times and Vanity Fair juice traffic by buying ads in mobile game Subway Surfers, which offers rewards for viewing ads or skimming articles — We played Subway Surfers for three weeks. Of 365 ads, 124 were articles from 26 different publishers.

Discussion: @simonowens, @danbeucke, @marketingbrew, @bymeg and @ryanbarwick

Nellie Andreeva / Deadline:

Charter is shutting down Spectrum Originals, after launching its original scripted content initiative in 2019, as production costs increase — EXCLUSIVE: Charter Communications is getting out of the original programming business. The decision to shut down Spectrum Originals comes as Katherine Pope …

Discussion: Variety, Next TV and TVLine

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Fox Entertainment plans to expand its free, ad-supported streaming service Tubi to Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Panama later in August 2022 — Fox Entertainment's Tubi is upping its free-streaming game in Latin America, set to launch in five countries in the region later this month.

Discussion: Digital TV Europe and Media Play News

Sara Guaglione / Digiday:

Fortune, Bloomberg, Forbes, Gizmodo, and Money are growing their dedicated blockchain and crypto teams, even amid a bear market, to better explain the tech — 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.

Discussion: @jeffjohnroberts and TechCrunch

Archived Page Info:

This is a snapshot of Mediagazer at 8:15 AM ET, August 12, 2022.

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Who's Hiring in Media?

Deputy Ed. - Gen. Assignment Desk, DC — WaPo

EU Technology Reporter, Brussels — Bloomberg

Breaking News Reporter, NY — Guardian US

Harrisburg Reporter, PA — PCBC

Senior Editor - Styles, NY — NYT

Part-time Editor, Remote — Techmeme

Home & Travel Reporter, Ireland — Newsweek

Assistant Digital Editor, MA — Boston Globe

Senior Editor - Visuals (Temporary), DC — NPR

Copy Editor, Remote US — ProPublica

Markets Reporter, NY/CA — Sherwood Media

Staff Writer, MI — Watershed Voice

Food Reporter, CA — SF Standard

Staff Writer, NV — Las Vegas Weekly

Pharma Editor, Remote — Endpoints

Higher Ed. Reporter, Remote CA — EdSource

Politics Reporter, Brussels — Politico

Investigations & Enterprise Ed., WI — Cap Times

Social Strategy Editor, NY — WSJ

Senior Narrative Editor, CA — Cloud Chamber

Editor-in-Chief, NY (flexible) — The 74

Housing Reporter, OK — The Frontier

Writer/AI Content Reviewer, CA — Outlier

Writer/Editor, Remote — Mediaite

Multi Media Reporter, NC — Cardinal & Pine

Afternoon/Night Editor, NH — Keene Sentinel

Education Lab Editor, WA — Seattle Times

Senior Editor, Remote US — PCWorld

State Worker Reporter, CA — Sacramento Bee

Executive Editor, NM — Searchlight

News Assistant, NY — Quanta Magazine

Local Editor, NJ (Remote) — Patch

News Writer, CA — Hollywood Reporter

News Editor/Reporter, KS — Blade-Empire

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The NewsGuild:
Hundreds of Gannett newsroom employees protested for better pay and fewer staff cuts, reacting to threats of layoffs following the company's Q2 earnings report

Discussion: @katikokal, @dianesmith_rc, @elaheizadi, @pbnewsguild, @azrepublicguild, @rocnewsguild, @amyqin12, @pbnewsguild, @rafaelcarranza, @therecordguild, @melanieanzidei, @deadlineclub, @kaelymonahan and @appmcjguild

Asif Shahzad / Reuters:
Pakistan's interior minister says TV channel ARY TV will face sedition charges for airing comments made by an adviser of former Prime Minister Imran Khan

Discussion: Al Jazeera

Scott Roxborough / The Hollywood Reporter:
Paramount plans to launch Paramount+ in Italy on September 15, Germany and France “in the coming months”, and “all major European markets” by the end of 2022

Discussion: Digital TV Europe and TBI Vision

Politico:
Marina Ovsyannikova, the Russian journalist who denounced Moscow's war in Ukraine during a live TV broadcast, faces charges for disseminating false information

Discussion: euronews, Reuters, @sarahrainsford, Deadline, Associated Press and The Guardian

Earlier Picks:

Rasha Al Aqeedi / New Lines Magazine:
Veteran Iraqi actress and talk show host Enas Taleb plans to sue The Economist for using her picture as an example of “fat” Arab women in a July 28, 2022 story

Discussion: BBC, @monicalmarks, @leloveluck, @newlinesmag, @amadfarouki, @_amroali, @rashaalaqeedi, VICE, Arab News, Daily Mail, Deadline, Newser and New York Post

Kristin Robinson / Billboard:
Docs and sources: how two men in Phoenix, Arizona ran one of the largest known YouTube music royalty scams, leading to a 30-count indictment in November 2021

Discussion: @jasonlipshutz, @billboardpro, @davidclowery, @wordsbykristin, @zoecello and @edchristman

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

From Techmeme:

Alex Heath / The Verge:
Meta details Llama 3: 8B- and 70B-parameter models, a focus on reducing false refusals, and an upcoming model trained on 15T+ tokens that has 400B+ parameters

Raffaele Huang / Wall Street Journal:
Apple removes WhatsApp and Threads from its App Store in China, saying it was ordered to do so by China's cyberspace officials citing national security concerns

Ryan Morrison / Tom's Guide:
Microsoft researchers introduce VASA-1, an AI model that creates a realistic talking face video from a portrait photo and an audio file, in research preview

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