Mediagazer: Axel Springer is shutting down its news aggregator app Upday at the end of December and plans to relaunch it as a “trend news generator” driven by AI in 2024 (Reuters)

3:00 PM ET, December 8, 2023

Top News:

Lucas Manfredi / The Wrap:

Paramount stock jumps ~14% after reports Skydance Media CEO David Ellison and RedBird Capital's Gerry Cardinale are “kicking the tires” on acquiring its assets — The companies are reportedly interested in parent company National Amusements' majority stake in the media conglomerate

Discussion: Puck, MediaPost, CNBC, Deadline, Next TV, Matthew Belloni on LinkedIn, @benmullin, The Hollywood Reporter, The Information and Cord Cutters News

Nick Robertson / The Hill:

ABC News announces it will host a Republican presidential primary debate in New Hampshire on January 18, three days before a CNN debate at the same location — ABC News announced Thursday that it will host the sixth GOP debate on Jan. 18 in Manchester, New Hampshire, set to take place just days before a CNN event at the same location.

Discussion: New York Times, Mediaite, HuffPost, WMUR, ABC News, The Messenger, Politico and CNN

CNN:
CNN plans to host two Republican presidential primary debates, set for January 10 in Iowa and for January 21 in New Hampshire; CNN Max will stream both debates

Reuters:

After a Reuters report found that Israel fired the shells that killed journalist Issam Abdallah, Israel says Abdallah was in an active combat zone — The Israeli military, responding on Friday to a Reuters investigation that determined its forces killed a Reuters journalist in southern Lebanon on Oct. 13 …

Discussion: Media Nation, The Wrap, Talking Biz News, HuffPost, CBS News, @jsymmescobb@threads.net, Mediaite, PetaPixel, Why Evolution Is True, The Messenger, UPI and The Guardian

Bloomberg:

Sources: sports streaming company DAZN Group, backed by Len Blavatnik, is exploring ways to raise as much as $1B as it seeks to speed its global expansion — - Blavatnik's sports broadcaster holds talks with advisers — CEO previously said DAZN would welcome strategic partners

Sarah Scire / Nieman Lab:

An experiment involving nearly 1,500 US readers showed that people perceived news outlets as less trustworthy when the outlets labeled articles as AI-generated — “We already expect quite a lot from the public in terms of media literacy to be able to navigate the contemporary information environment …

Discussion: American Press Institute, @nic221@techhub.social, @joelmathis.bsky.social, Media Voices and Digiday

Wall Street Journal:

Sources: X has held preliminary talks with Amazon to make ads available via Amazon's ad-buying software, and PubMatic, seeking to attract more small advertisers — Social-media platform has had preliminary talks with Amazon to sell ads through e-commerce giant's ad-buying software

Discussion: PRWeek, Reuters, The Guardian, Forbes, The Hill, The Daily Beast, NPR, New York Post, Financial Times and Bloomberg, more at Techmeme »

Lisa Heyamoto / LION Publishers:

Lessons from LION's Revenue Growth Fellowship: revenue growth requires operational readiness, a clear strategy, leader involvement, and hiring the right person — How strategy, structure and consistency are essential for revenue growth, and other lessons learned from our Revenue Growth Fellowship

Jess Weatherbed / The Verge:

An untitled countdown timer viewable only on the Threads.net homepage in EU countries suggests that the service will be expanded to EU users on December 14 — Following its rollout in countries like the US and UK this past July, Threads will finally be expanded to users in the European Union on December 14th.

Discussion: Engadget, 9to5Google, Interhacktives and 9to5Mac, more at Techmeme »

Sam Kille / Report for America:

Report for America adds dozens of new host newsrooms and opens applications for 50+ new reporting jobs, including seven involving statehouse coverage for the AP — Report for America has announced the selection of dozens of new host newsroom partners while opening applications for just over 50 …

Discussion: AZ Luminaria

Reuters:

Axel Springer is shutting down its news aggregator app Upday at the end of December and plans to relaunch it as a “trend news generator” driven by AI in 2024 — Axel Springer is shutting down the news outlet Upday, the German publishing giant said on Friday, in plans to revive the brand as a …

Discussion: Axel Springer SE

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Spotify says CFO Paul Vogel plans to leave on March 31, 2024, and launches a search for a successor; Daniel Ek wants a CFO “with a different mix of experiences” — Spotify said chief financial officer Paul Vogel will leave the company next year and that it has launched a search to find a replacement.

Kevin Lind / Columbia Journalism Review:

Q&A with nonprofit news outlet WyoFile's reporter Angus M. Thuermer Jr. about the state of Wyoming media, covering climate change in a polarized state, and more — Angus M. Thuermer Jr. has been a reporter, photographer, and editor in Wyoming for forty-five years—a career, he says …

Discussion: @koshywrites, @sammy_roth and Global Investigative …

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More News:

Zachary Small / New York Times:
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Brian Steinberg / Variety:
Disney and Brittney Griner, who Russia arrested and held in 2022, strike a deal to tell “the nuances of her story” across ESPN, ABC News, and a scripted series

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Jake Kanter / Deadline:
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Discussion: The Guardian, The Independent, WORLD SCREEN, @scottygb, @jake_kanter, @jake_kanter, @scottygb, Variety, The Sun, Financial Times, Press Gazette, National Union of Journalists … and BBC

Bron Maher / Press Gazette:
UK magazine publisher Future reports FY 2023 revenue down 4% YoY to £788.9M, and plans to hire 150 editorial staff over the next two years; FUTR drops 16%+

Discussion: Media Voices, @seangriffey, @pressgazette, @seangriffey, FUTURE PLC, Financial Times and MediaPost

Brian Steinberg / Variety:
Disney is mulling launching shopping and gaming experiences on Disney+, with which advertisers could get involved, hinting at an ad presentation on January 10

Discussion: MediaPost, Engadget, Graham Fisher, ACE on LinkedIn and The Streamable

Earlier Picks:

Christi Carras / Los Angeles Times:
Study: since the Hollywood strikes began in May 2023, entertainment employment in Los Angeles fell 17% to ~118K workers, with a collective wage loss of ~$1.4B

Discussion: The Hollywood Reporter, @otiscollege, The Messenger, Deadline, Otis College of Art and Design and Variety

Bron Maher / Press Gazette:
The UK's The New European EIC says the outlet ended November with 28K+ subscribers, ~17.4K of which are digital, and October was its first profitable month

Discussion: @matthewdancona and @pressgazette

Todd Spangler / Variety:
Memo: Vice Media Group co-CEO Hozefa Lokhandwala plans to step down to start “a new endeavor”, leaving Bruce Dixon as the sole CEO; Lokhandwala joined in 2018

Discussion: The Hollywood Reporter, The Wrap and @maxwelltani

Jay Peters / The Verge:
Sony removing Discovery content due to licensing “arrangements” and unexpectedly banning PSN accounts are timely reminders that users don't own digital content

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From Techmeme:

Cecilia D'Anastasio / Bloomberg:
Take-Two announces a fall 2025 release date for Grand Theft Auto VI, and reduces its bookings forecast for FY 2025 from $8B+ to $5.55B+

Javier Espinoza / Financial Times:
The EU opens a formal DSA investigation into Meta, to assess if Facebook, Instagram, and its other apps were reinforcing “rabbit hole” effects and other issues

Wall Street Journal:
Source: Microsoft is asking about 700 to 800 employees involved in its China-based AI and cloud computing operations to consider relocating to other countries

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