Mediagazer: Sources: Coinbase's internal “sentiment” tracker showed Sam Bankman-Fried's FTX was consistently viewed more favorably by the media right up until its collapse (Reed Albergotti/Semafor)

Tony Stubblebine / The Official Medium Blog:

Medium creates its own Mastodon instance, plans to offer it as a service for members, promises reliable moderation and smoother onboarding, and more — The fediverse is a breath of fresh air for writers and social media — Today, Medium is launching a Mastodon instance at me.dm to help our authors …

Discussion: @jlori, @medium, @asmartbear, @tmcw, @chrismessina, @brittanyjezouit, @kissane@mstdn.social, @kissane@mstdn.social, @kissane@mstdn.social, @coachtony@me.dm, @dansinker@omfg.town, @coachtony@me.dm and Bloomberg, more at Techmeme »

Elsa Keslassy / Variety:

WBD signs a deal with Amazon to offer a “Warner Pass” on Prime Video Channels in France with all HBO programs and 12 other channels, including CNN — The offer will be available exclusively on Amazon Prime Video Channels in France, and will boast all of HBO programs …

Discussion: The Wrap, Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter, Broadband TV News and Media Play News

Max Goldbart / Deadline:

Tim Davie says the BBC isn't “proactively putting a date on a digital switchover” and that the shift won't “remove things used by lots of people too soon” — The BBC is “not proactively putting a date on a digital switchover or anything stupid like that,” …

Reed Albergotti / Semafor:

Sources: Coinbase's internal “sentiment” tracker showed Sam Bankman-Fried's FTX was consistently viewed more favorably by the media right up until its collapse — Crypto exchange Coinbase has for years tracked how the company is portrayed in the press and online, and that …

Brian Veseling / WAN-IFRA:

After enabling online subscription cancellation, Minnesota Star Tribune finds the online process retains 18.5% of customers vs. 8.8% when done via a call center — 2023-01-12. “Our goal is to discuss retention as often as we discuss acquisition,” says Toby Collodora …

Discussion: Nieman Lab

New York Times:

Prince Harry's memoir, Spare, sold 1.43M copies on its first day, including pre-orders, a record for any nonfiction book ever published by Penguin Random House — The steady drumbeat of revelations that preceded the book's release helped push early orders and initial sales, making “Spare …

Discussion: The Hill, Vanity Fair, UPI, Variety, Insider and The Hollywood Reporter

Saksha Menezes / Bloomberg:

Research: UK vinyl sales reached £150.5M in 2022, surpassing CD sales, which fell 17.4% YoY to £124M, the first time vinyl outsold CDs since 1987 — Vinyl Outsold CDs in the UK Last Year — Sales from 2018 to 2022 — Source: The Digital Entertainment and Retail Association

Discussion: ERA Ltd

Sam Kille / The GroundTruth Project:

The GroundTruth Project, home of Report for America and Report for the World, names Rob Zeaske as its new CEO, starting January 23 — The GroundTruth Project, home of Report for America and Report for the World, is pleased to announce the selection of Rob Zeaske as its CEO and president …

Discussion: @stevenwaldman

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Warner Bros. Discovery announces the first price hike for HBO Max, with the ad-free monthly subscription in the US increasing from $14.99 to $15.99 — Effective Thursday, Jan. 12, the price of a new HBO Max no-ads monthly subscription in the U.S. will increase from $14.99 to $15.99 (plus applicable taxes).

Discussion: CNBC, Forbes, The Streamable, SlashFilm, MediaPost, The Verge, The Wrap, The Streamable, Reuters, TechCrunch, CNET, Engadget, BGR, Deadline, Collider, IndieWire, The TV Answer Man!, TVLine, Rolling Stone, Bloomberg, ComingSoon.net, masslive.com, @joshuaneall, @benjaminjs, Media Play News and The Hollywood Reporter

Jeremy Barr / Washington Post:

A look at ratings growth for Fox News' The Five, surpassing shows from Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity, and second only to Yellowstone in 2022 cable ratings — How ‘The Five’ surpassed Tucker Carlson in the ratings: It's the ‘Avengers of Fox News’ — but at an hour that reflects the increasing dominance of older viewers.

Discussion: @amyargetsinger

Conor Dougherty / New York Times:

Q&A with The Last of Us showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann on working with HBO, adapting a video game, avoiding past failures, fan reactions, and more — Hollywood has mostly failed to adapt successful video games into satisfying series and films.

Discussion: Vanity Fair, IGN, Empire, NPR, Washington Post, Collider, The Escapist, Rolling Stone, New York Times, Engadget, The Guardian, CNET, Digital Spy and New York Post

Kenneth Shepard / Kotaku:

Some creators are protesting YouTube's policy changes to regulate swearing and violence, which demonetize gaming videos and retroactively impact old content — YouTube's policy changes on swearing and violence are being retroactively applied to old gaming content

Discussion: @vahn16 and @mattnavarra, more at Techmeme »