Mediagazer: Sources: Disney explores a membership program akin to Amazon Prime, bundling streaming, theme parks, and merchandise, and adding a commerce feature to Disney+ (Wall Street Journal)

9:40 AM ET, September 1, 2022

Top News:

Sources: Disney explores a membership program akin to Amazon Prime, bundling streaming, theme parks, and merchandise, and adding a commerce feature to Disney+ — Entertainment giant looks to package streaming, parks and merchandise offerings together; aims to add commerce feature to Disney+

Alex Heath / The Verge:

Memo: on top of cutting ~20% of its staff, Snap cancels its original shows, in-app games, and Zenly and Voisey apps; the layoffs could save $500M annually — Snapchat's original shows, in-app games, and camera drone are no more — Snap is laying off around 20 percent of its more than 6,400 employees …

Discussion: Snap Newsroom, Variety, CNBC, CNN, The Register, @gergelyorosz, @alexeheath, PR Daily, @obrien, TechCrunch, MediaPost, @kyurieff, @xpangler, @lucas_shaw, @sarafischer, @sarafischer, IndieWire, Los Angeles Times, Tubefilter, New York Times, Observer, Ad Age, Billboard, Associated Press, The Hill, CNET, Forbes, TechCrunch, Deadline, Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal and Axios

David Bauder / Associated Press:

Media Insight Project's May-June 2022 survey: ~71% of younger Americans get news daily from social media and 32% enjoy following the news, down from 53% in 2015 — Young people are following the news but aren't too happy with what they're seeing. Broadly speaking, that's the conclusion …

Suzanne Vranica / Wall Street Journal:

Sources: Netflix seeks to charge brands a ~$65 CPM on its ad-supported tier, more than most other streaming services, and cap every brand's annual spend at $20M — Streaming giant aims for Nov. 1 launch of ad-supported tier, ad buyers say — Netflix Inc. NFLX 1.32%▲ …

Discussion: Ad Age, @bristei, Deadline, @tim_bays, @asharma, Digiday and Variety, more at Techmeme »

Angela Fu / Poynter:

Sources: in a staff Q&A, CEO Mike Reed said Gannett laid off 3% of its US workforce in August 2022, or ~400 people; he and the CFO defended Reed's compensation — The round of layoffs, which started Aug. 12, followed a dismal second quarter. — Gannett CEO Mike Reed told staff …

Discussion: @epro, @indyemapolis, @woodardcolin, @brianmmunoz, @reporterdavidj, @margaretrenkl, @willcleveland13, @mattsebastian, @taylorgoebel, @travisfain, @arthurdelaneyhp, @kelciemmorris and MediaPost

Jem Aswad / Variety:

US music publishers settle on 15.35% for mechanical streaming rates in 2023-2027, avoiding costly legal fights with Amazon, Apple, Google, Pandora, and Spotify — The announcement comes as a surprise, as the NMPA has been saying for months that it would push for a 20% rate for the forthcoming period.

Discussion: Billboard, Digital Media Association, Billboard, National Music Publishers …, Wall Street Journal and Music Business Worldwide, more at Techmeme »

Casey Newton / Nieman Lab:

An interview with Medium CEO Tony Stubblebine: writers with subscribers should be paid more and thinking “Medium was going to shine” in journalism was a mistake — Sometimes as a reporter you write a piece that is critical of a company and the company decides not to talk to you again for a long while, or ever again.

Discussion: @caseynewton, @waxy, @bcmerchant, @oneunderscore__, @mariaramirezny, @martinsfp, The Official Medium Blog and Platformer

Dade Hayes / Deadline:

Paramount+ plans to combine with Showtime into a single app for $11.99/month with ads and $14.99/month without; stand-alone Showtime will cost $10.99/month — Paramount+ and Showtime have combined into a single streaming app. — The full bundling follows an initial move last year to unify …

Discussion: Variety, MediaPost, TechCrunch, The Ankler, The Desk, @redletterdave, @xpangler, Media Play News, Awful Announcing, The A.V. Club, Collider, The Streamable, Forbes, CBR, The Wrap, TVLine, The Verge, Decider, The Hollywood Reporter and AppleInsider

Jonathan Spicer / Reuters:

An investigation details extensive efforts by Erdoğan's regime in Turkey to shape the nation's news, dictated by the 1,500-strong Directorate of Communications — From an office tower in Ankara, Turkish officials shape the nation's news, media insiders say - always to President Tayyip Erdogan's advantage.

Discussion: @reuters, @reuters and @specialreports

Reuters:

India's antitrust watchdog says Sony and Zee's merger requires further investigation; sources say the findings will delay regulatory approval of the deal — A merger between the Indian unit of Japan's Sony (6758.T) and Zee Entertainment (ZEE.NS) to create a $10 billion TV enterprise …

Discussion: Digital TV Europe, @reutersbiz, @adityakalra, @adityakalra and @adityakalra

Manyun Zou / The Pudding:

A comparison of The Big Bang Theory episodes to censored ones in China suggests the government aims to silence sex and LGBTQ+ topics plus disrespect of China — With , Russell Goldenberg and Rob Smith — This story contains scroll-driven visuals. View them in static format on off

Discussion: @gertig, @shortformernie, @sonnybunch and @manyun_zou

ProPublica:

An investigation details an Instagram verification scheme using fake profiles on Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, and more; Meta removes badges from 300+ accounts — ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they're published.

Discussion: @craigsilverman, @moorehn, Numlock News, @craigsilverman, @phil_lewis_ and @rafranzdavis

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Live Nation's Ticketmaster partners with Dapper Labs to issue ticket NFTs on the Flow blockchain and expands its NFL deal to give NFTs to attendees of 100 games

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