Mediagazer: YouTube says YouTube TV now has 8M+ subscribers, up from 5M+ in mid-2022, and that the YouTube Partner Program has 3M+ channels receiving ad revenue share (Todd Spangler/Variety)

5:25 PM ET, February 6, 2024

Top News:

Fox, ESPN, and Warner Bros. Discovery are creating a joint streaming platform to share sports assets; sources: it will be available to ESPN+, Hulu and Max subs — The service will be available to ESPN+, Hulu and Max subscribers.

Todd Spangler / Variety:

YouTube says YouTube TV now has 8M+ subscribers, up from 5M+ in mid-2022, and that the YouTube Partner Program has 3M+ channels receiving ad revenue share — CEO Neal Mohan also says more than 3 million channels now receive ad-revenue share, touts 1 billion hours viewed on TV daily

Abner Li / 9to5Google:

YouTube says Shorts averages 70B+ daily views and the number of channels uploading Shorts rose 50% YoY — YouTube CEO Neal Mohan today shared what the video service is focusing on in 2024. At a high-level, it's AI, elevating creators, safety, and the “next frontier” of the living room and subscriptions.

Discussion: The Desk, Observer, Tubefilter, Next TV, The Hollywood Reporter, The Wrap and Cord Cutters News, more at Techmeme »

Dave Lawler / Axios:

Former Fox host Tucker Carlson says he has traveled to Moscow to interview Vladimir Putin and will air the interview “unedited” on his website and on X — Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson said in a video posted to X on Tuesday that he is in Moscow to interview Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Ashley Carman / Bloomberg:

Spotify reports Q4 revenue up 16% YoY to €3.7B, MAUs up 23% YoY to 602M, subscribers up 15% YoY to 236M, a €75M operating loss, and expects 618M MAUs in Q1 2024 — - Spotify posts second-largest gain ever for the quarter — Company has been cutting costs in drive to become profitable

Todd Spangler / Variety:
Spotify says Q4 ad-supported revenue grew 12% YoY to €501M, a quarterly high; CFO Paul Vogel expects the podcast segment to reach positive gross margin in 2024

Discussion: The Verge, Reuters, CMU, @xpangler, The Wrap and @xpangler

Washington Post:

The Atlantic cuts ties with prominent contributor Yascha Mounk after writer Celeste Marcus accused him of rape; Mounk calls the claims “categorically untrue” — The Atlantic magazine has cut ties with writer Yascha Mounk, one of its prominent contributors, after a woman accused him of rape …

Discussion: Poynter, @celestemarcus3, @esotericcd, @mskellymhayes, @2600@mastodon.online, @brandyljensen, @davidklion, @moiradonegan, @juliaioffe, @moiradonegan, @annacbross, @roddreher, @willsommer, New York Post, The Wrap and Mediaite

Winston Cho / The Hollywood Reporter:

Gina Carano, who was fired from The Mandalorian after controversial social media posts, sues Disney and Lucasfilm for wrongful termination in a suit funded by X — The actress claims the entertainment giant discriminated against her for voicing right-wing opinions on hot-button issues.

Discussion: Gizmodo, Screen Rant, TVLine, IndieWire, The Wrap, Variety, Fox News, Engadget, TMZ.com, ComingSoon.net, Forbes, Reclaim The Net, The A.V. Club, TV Insider, The Daily Beast, AllEars.Net, Deadline, @ampersine@mastodon.online, CBR, UPROXX, BroBible, The Verge, Consequence and Daily Disney News

Jonathan Vanian / CNBC:

Snap reports Q4 revenue up 5% YoY to $1.36B, vs. $1.38B est., DAUs up 10% YoY to 414M, a net loss of $248M, vs. $288M YoY; SNAP drops 30%+ after hours — - Snap said fourth-quarter revenue rose about 5%, while the company's net loss narrowed 14% from a year earlier.

Discussion: TechCrunch, Variety, Reuters, Bloomberg, CNN, Deadline and The Hollywood Reporter, more at Techmeme »

Ted Johnson / Deadline:

Linda Wertheimer, an NPR “founding mother” who joined the outlet at its 1971 launch and directed and hosted All Things Considered, is retiring after 53 years — Linda Wertheimer, one of the “founding mothers” of National Public Radio, said today that she is retiring.

Discussion: VPM, @scottdetrow_npr@threads.net, @audieoffmic@threads.net, Current and @davidfolkenflik

Liz Hoffman / Semafor:

Sources: Standard Industries, a roofing conglomerate that has invested in Puck and Pushkin, is in talks to acquire Graydon Carter's Air Mail for ~$50M — The Scoop — A billionaire roofing family is in talks to buy Air Mail, former Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter's effort to drag glossy magazines into the online age.

Discussion: @nichcarlson@threads.net, @bigmeaninternet, @nbj914 and @jbarro

Sara Fischer / Axios:

Substack is running a pilot program to help creators on the platform sell ads; a writer says Substack contracted an outside team to approach advertisers — Substack is experimenting with a new pilot program that helps creators on its platform find advertisers and coordinate ad buys, Axios has learned.

Adam Chitwood / The Wrap:

An 87% majority of editorial and creative employees at video game outlet IGN vote to unionize with the NewsGuild-CWA; the group will consist of 80+ employees — The newly formed IGN Creators Guild will consist of over 80 employees — A majority of editorial and creative employees at IGN …

Discussion: Variety, The NewsGuild, The Hollywood Reporter, @sweetpotatoes and Kotaku

Mike Isaac / New York Times:

Meta proposes standards to identify AI content that its industry peers could use, and plans to label AI images posted on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads — The social network wants to promote standardized labels to help detect artificially created photo, video and audio material across its platforms.

Discussion: Fast Company, TechCrunch, Neowin, The Register, Wired, CNN, @andymstone, The Hill, @metanewsroom, The Guardian, Axios, NBC News, The Verge, Engadget, Meta, The Wrap, Bloomberg and @nickclegg, more at Techmeme »

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