Top News:
Sarah Krouse / Wall Street Journal:
Antenna: 9% of Netflix's US sign-ups in November were for its ad tier; ~57% of ad-tier subscribers were people re-joining or new signups, while ~43% downgraded — Streaming giant's ad-backed plan accounted for 9% of new signups in the U.S. in November, according to subscription-analytics firm Antenna
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ScreenRant, The Streamable, Light Reading, @bysarahkrouse, Gizmodo, @astaniscia86, IndieWire, Media Play News, @lmoses and @jtoonkel, more at Techmeme »
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Tim Peterson / Digiday:
An interview with Netflix's President of Worldwide Advertising Jeremi Gorman on the service's ambitions for the ad tier beyond 15- and 30-second ads and more — 2022 was a big year for Jeremi Gorman. The former Amazon executive stepped down as Snap's chief business officer …
David Folkenflik / NPR:
Investigation: six Alabama and Florida outlets that attacked critics of power companies have financial ties to Matrix, a consulting firm the utilities hired — NPR's David Folkenflik reported this story with Mario Ariza and Miranda Green of Floodlight, a nonprofit newsroom that investigates …
Discussion:
@emorwee, American Press Institute, The Rural Blog, @professajay, @realdarrenwhite, @mehdirhasan, @jeffvandermeer, Floodlight, @emilybell, @toomuchme, @jeffvandermeer, @davidfolkenflik, @jljacobson, @gaspgroup, @taitdl, @mattyglesias, @thederosh, @travisakers, @mirandacgreen, @mirandacgreen, @emorwee, @toomuchme, @salstrange, @emorwee, @alneuhauser, @davidfolkenflik, @emorwee and Common Dreams
Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:
Twitter pilots Blue for Business with some accounts, helping publishers identify brands and key employees associated with them via badges — Twitter launched “Blue for Business” last week alongside relaunching Twitter Blue. At that time, the social network had assigned a gold checkmark to businesses.
Discussion:
@twittersupport, @twitterbusiness, Gizmodo, @faizsays, Adweek, @esthercrawford, @kimcrayton1, @brettthousand, @sorrelkj, @broderick, @leftatlondon, @advodude, @petermccormack, Insider, @tharriesyt, @femkesvs, @sharonodea, @beewol, @davidsacks, @__apf__, @jamesrbuk, @lavellansbootay, @opinonhaver, @evanstnlyjones, @smtuffy, @gissisim, @esthercrawford, @jason, @sharonodea, @ianfortey, @twitterbusiness, @evacide, @alexplank, @pattymo, @jpbrammer, @denysully, The Verge and Variety, more at Techmeme »
Jessica Elgot / The Guardian:
The UK's IPSO says Jeremy Clarkson's Sun column, where he said he “hated” Meghan Markle, received over 20,000 complaints, more than all the complaints in 2021 — Ipso receives in excess of 17,500 objections to Sun article, more than the regulator received in the whole of 2021
Discussion:
@jeremyclarkson, CNN, Reuters, Press Gazette, Newser, @_peterhunt, @philipoconnor, @mrjohnnicolson, @arusbridger, Sky News, The Queenager …, @dmitryopines, Corey's Blog, @alanjzycinski, @lucysiegle, @sarah_kendall, @domjoly, @ne_al_, @david_conn, @mrjohnnicolson, @pmdfoster, @david_challen, @nadine_writes, @thelondonhughes, Semafor, @gmb, @toadmeister, @paulbernaluk, @courtneypochin, @jaymotty, Conquest of the Useless, @pressgazette, Press Gazette, BBC, Los Angeles Times, CBS News, Bloomberg and Hacked Off
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Insider Intelligence: Google will capture 28.8% of US digital ad revenue in 2022 and Meta will get 19.6%, for a combined 48.4%, down from a 54.7% peak in 2017 — Google and Meta, known together in the ad industry as the “duopoly,” are expected to bring in less than half of all U.S. digital advertising …
Discussion:
@sarafischer, Adweek, @rasmus_kleis and @devonheinen, more at Techmeme »
Bron Maher / Press Gazette:
After negotiations with the UK's NUJ, the FT agrees to a £4,200 pay rise for those earning up to £42,000 per year and a 10% hike for those on £42,000 to £50,001 — The FT's is the largest cumulative pay rise recently reported by Press Gazette.
Discussion:
Journo Resources, @charlottetobitt, @josephinecumbo, @adebradley, @pressgazette and @federicacocco
David Satin / The Streamable:
Ampere Analysis: the Disney Bundle is an effective tool against price sensitivity among users; almost 32% of Hulu's total users have bundled it with Disney+ — Many have speculated that the way forward for an increasingly mature streaming market is aggregation.
Discussion:
Media Play News, Broadband TV News and WORLD SCREEN
Michael Schneider / Variety:
The Television Academy scraps “variety talk” and “variety sketch” Emmy categories and adds “outstanding talk series” and “outstanding scripted variety series” — The Television Academy is taking another stab at resolving its Emmys variety talk and variety sketch category conundrum.
Discussion:
Vanity Fair, @deggans, The Hollywood Reporter and The Wrap
Sara Fischer / Axios:
ProPublica plans to return $1.6M received from SBF's family foundation, setting aside the money until legal authorities decide where it should be sent — ProPublica, the nonprofit investigative news outlet, will return the $1.6 million in funds it received from Sam Bankman-Fried's family foundation …
Discussion:
Observer, @neoavatara, @markamesexiled, @parkermolloy, @kenvogel and CoinDesk, more at Techmeme »
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Vice Media expects to miss its 2022 revenue goal by over $100M, generating ~$600M, roughly flat compared to 2021, a blow as the company pursues a sale — The new-media company has been in sale talks with Greek broadcaster Antenna Group and has sought a valuation of around $1.5 billion
Discussion:
@jbflint, The Wrap, @johnbuckley_, @arttavana and @asharma
Olivia Konotey-Ahulu / Bloomberg:
Sources: the Telegraph Group slashes paternity leave for UK staff from six months to two, citing “significant operational challenges” following the 2019 policy — Telegraph Media Group Ltd. slashed its paternity leave policy for UK employees down to two months from six , rowing back after its introduction three years ago.