Mediagazer: Meta reports Q4 revenue up 25% YoY to $40.1B, with ad revenue of $38.7B, ad impressions delivered across its Family of Apps up 21%, and average ad price up 2% (Salvador Rodriguez/Wall Street Journal)

6:50 PM ET, February 1, 2024

Top News:

Ashley Carman / Bloomberg:

UMG begins pulling its artists' music from TikTok after negotiations failed; videos featuring UMG-owned songs will be muted, and users can pick a new soundtrack — - Publisher behind Drake and Taylor Swift pushes for better pay — Videos featuring Universal Music-owned songs will be muted

Jordan Hoffman / New York Magazine:

A Messenger journalist describes his time working for the outlet, where the expensive offices were empty and reporters were instructed to chase trending topics — A text time-stamped 1:19 a.m. early Wednesday read, “I think it's over, man.” It was a Los Angeles-based colleague at The Messenger.

Discussion: Observer, Slate, Defector, @ishaantharoor, @carolynmichelle, @bgrueskin, @asilbwrites, @mattzeitlin, @caroletarrant, @zzzzaaaacccchhh, Semafor, The Wrap, New York Post and Columbia Journalism Review

The Daily Beast:

Ex-employees of The Messenger file a class-action lawsuit against the shuttered outlet, alleging that it failed to give them proper notice ahead of their firing — The class-action lawsuit comes just a day after The Messenger closed up shop for good, firing its hundreds of staff without offering them severance.

Discussion: @juliareinstein, @juliareinstein, Hollywood Reporter, @willsommer and @benmullin

Kevin T. Dugan / New York Magazine:

Interviews with shareholders and current and ex-employees suggest that SI's publisher Arena missed the licensing payment by choice, not because it lacked money — At about 4 p.m. on Thursday, January 25, the board of the media conglomerate the Arena Group met after the company had blown up its license to publish Sports Illustrated.

Discussion: @leomschwartz

Ben Strauss / Washington Post:

Sources: an Arena executive ordered SI to remove a transgender boxing story from a print issue; SI says the story was no longer newsy and will be posted online — The publisher of Sports Illustrated called for the removal of a story about transgender boxing from an upcoming issue of the print magazine …

Discussion: MediaPost, @benjstrauss and @jmkliegman

Salvador Rodriguez / Wall Street Journal:

Meta reports Q4 revenue up 25% YoY to $40.1B, with ad revenue of $38.7B, ad impressions delivered across its Family of Apps up 21%, and average ad price up 2% — Company posts biggest quarterly revenue gains in two years — Facebook parent Meta Platforms posted its fourth consecutive quarter …

Discussion: Meta Investor Relations, Variety, The Wrap, TVNewsCheck, The Information, @alexeheath, @alexeheath, @alexeheath, @kantrowitz, @alecmacgillis, Search Engine Land, MacStories and Music Ally, more at Techmeme »

Max Tani / @maxwelltani:

Memo: The Wall Street Journal EIC Emma Tucker restructures its DC bureau, shutters the DC-based Business and US-China teams, and lays off “a number” of staffers — Note from WSJ EIC Emma Tucker to Journal staff about today's layoffs changes to the paper's DC bureau. The business team and Washington-based China team are both shuttering. [image]

Discussion: Talking Biz News, @feliciasonmez, @samro, @katie_robertson, @bgrueskin, @corbinbolies, @bgrueskin, @katie_robertson, @katie_robertson, @azambelich, @kaivanshroff, @theamarareport and @theamarareport

Lesley Goldberg / The Hollywood Reporter:

Highlights from Netflix's press event: a push for live programming, no planned theatrical releases, licensing content from others won't impact originals, more — A greater push for live programming, no theatrical releases and much more from content chief Bela Bajaria.

Discussion: @thr, @ryansatin, Deadline, The Playlist, Variety, @meltzersaidwhat and POST Wrestling

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Apple Q1: revenue of Services, which includes Apple TV+ and Apple Music, rose 11% YoY to a record $23.1B, and installed base crossed 2.2B active devices — Apple turned in another record quarter in its services business, as strong iPhone 15 sales boosted total revenue in the last three months of 2023.

Discussion: Engadget, AppleInsider, @neilcybart, Apple, Media Play News and The Hollywood Reporter, more at Techmeme »

Jim Edwards / Press Gazette:

Google plans to limit news publishers to tracking users across five of their own websites under its Privacy Sandbox, which is set to replace third-party cookies — Details have emerged of how Google's Privacy Sandbox could strengthen its online monopoly. — Google plans to limit the sharing …

Discussion: Poynter, @pressgazette, The Drum, Paweł Nowacki on LinkedIn and The Register, more at Techmeme »

Annie Palmer / CNBC:

Amazon Q4: ad revenue up 27% YoY to $14.7B, vs. $14.2B est., subscription revenue up 14% YoY to $10.5B, and North America segment sales up 13% YoY to $105.5B — - Amazon reported fourth-quarter earnings and revenue on Thursday that sailed past analysts' estimates.

Discussion: CNN, NBC 7 San Diego, GeekWire, Search Engine Land, @ericjhonsa, @lucas_shaw and The Hollywood Reporter, more at Techmeme »

Richard Nieva / Forbes:

YouTube says YouTube Premium and Music have a combined 100M subscribers; CEO Neal Mohan says subscriptions have become a “meaningful part” of YouTube's business — YouTube CEO Neal Mohan told Forbes the subscription services are now a “meaningful part” of the business.

Discussion: YouTube Official Blog, Variety, The Verge, Engadget, Music Business Worldwide, @petergyang, 9to5Google, Music Ally, @joshuaogundu, The Hollywood Reporter, Billboard and TechCrunch, more at Techmeme »

Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:

Gamma, which creates, distributes, and markets music, podcasts and films, raised $100M+ led by Alpha Wave Global, sources say at a $400M valuation — - Alpha Wave Global leads round valuing company at $400 million — Former Apple executive Larry Jackson launched company in 2023

Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:

Primary Wave Music acquires a 50% stake in the Brazilian company Nas Nuvens, which holds music catalogs of about 40 artists, valuing Nas Nuvens at ~$100M — - Primary Wave invests in the Brazilian company Nas Nuvens — Funding round values Nas Nuvens at around $100 million

Discussion: Music Business Worldwide

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More News:

Lucia Moses / Business Insider:
Companies representing 300 TV stations, including CBS and Gray Television, plan to launch Zeam, a free local news streaming service, an evolution of VUit

Discussion: Lucia Moses on LinkedIn, TVNewsCheck, Media Play News, Radio & Television … and Cord Cutters News

The NewsGuild:
More than 200 unionized Tribune journalists, designers, and production workers across seven newsrooms are staging a 24-hour strike today

Discussion: Bloomberg, Courthouse News Service, Associated Press, @ctguild, @chinewsguild, @newsguild, @ctguild, MediaPost, The Wrap, WAVY-TV, Axios, Chicago Sun Times and Washington Post

Nqobile Dludla / Reuters:
NBCU and South African pay TV company MultiChoice plan to invest $177M in Showmax, MultiChoice's streamer built on Peacock; NBCU gets a 30% stake in Showmax

Discussion: Financial Times and Deadline

Georg Szalai / The Hollywood Reporter:
SiriusXM reports a Q4 net drop of 94K subscribers and 109K Pandora subs, net income down 4% YoY to $352M, revenue of $2.29B, and eyes “cost efficiencies”

Discussion: Inside Radio

Reuters:
A Russian court extends the pre-trial detention of Russian-American RFE/RL journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, in custody since October 18, to April 5

Discussion: Courthouse News Service, Radio Free Europe/Radio …, Committee to Protect … and USAGM

The Hollywood Reporter:
As Amazon becomes the latest streamer to push an ad-supported tier, TV writers react with frustration to the move away from the original promise of streaming

Discussion: TechHive, Jeremiah McMillan on LinkedIn, @tvgrimreaper, Sean Redlitz on LinkedIn, Fast Company, Front Office Sports and UPROXX

Earlier Picks:

Bron Maher / Press Gazette:
Politico redesigns its Europe, German, and French websites to have simpler homepages than the UK and US versions, to improve readability for AI web crawlers

Jon Allsop / Columbia Journalism Review:
A look at press freedoms in Guatemala, as pro-press freedom and anti-corruption activist Bernardo Arévalo becomes the country's new president

Discussion: @normajtorres, @jon_allsop and @sheilacoronel

Christina Couch / Nieman Lab:
How some small media outlets are trying to prevent reporter burnout by adopting work models that reduce workloads and prioritize time outside the office

Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Disney has reached a preliminary agreement to sell 60% of its Indian media business to Reliance-backed Viacom18 at a $3.9B valuation

Discussion: The Streamable, @adityakalra, Media Play News, @bollywoodhq, Livemint, Reuters, MediaNama, The Wrap and TechCrunch

Katie Campione / Deadline:
The Onion Union reaches a tentative agreement with G/O Media, with the negotiating committee making “important gains in wages and workplace protections”

Discussion: @wgaeast, @onionincunion and Hollywood Reporter

Jordan Moreau / Variety:
VFX workers at a Disney subsidiary vote to unionize with the IATSE, becoming the first group of “vendor-side” artists to unionize via an official NLRB vote

Discussion: @iatse, @awesomington, @gkwillis6, @matthewloeb, @iatse, Engadget, The Wrap and Hollywood Reporter

From Techmeme:

Joe Rivano Barros / Mission Local:
Waymo says it temporarily suspended its ride-hailing service in San Francisco during a citywide blackout, as downed traffic lights appeared to halt its vehicles

John Sakellariadis / Politico:
Sources: DHS is investigating whether 6 staffers misled CISA's acting director into taking a polygraph that he failed, compounding instability at the agency

Sri Muppidi / The Information:
Source: OpenAI's share of revenue after the cost of running AI models for paying users has jumped to ~70% in October, up from ~52% at the end of 2024

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