Top News:
Brooks Barnes / New York Times:
Amazon joins the Motion Picture Association, after a long courtship; the lobbying group's other members are Disney, Netflix, Paramount, Sony, Universal, and WBD — The Motion Picture Association has been wooing the company for years. The addition gives the group a lot more muscle.
Discussion:
The Hollywood Reporter, Los Angeles Times, Variety, The Wrap and Deadline, more at Techmeme »
Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
The Economist introduces AI translations into French, German, Mandarin, and Spanish for Espresso, its budget-friendly, “snack-sized” journalism app — The Economist has deployed AI-translated content on its budget-friendly “snack-sized” app Espresso after deciding the technology had reached the “good enough” mark.
Discussion:
Ludwig Siegele on LinkedIn
Jessica Toonkel / Wall Street Journal:
Amazon's new competition TV show, debuting October 30, will have entrepreneurs pitch judges, including Amazon execs; finalists' product will be sold on Amazon — In competition show, sellers compete in front of Amazon executives and celebrity judges — Coming soon: Amazon.com sellers duking …
Discussion:
David J. Katz on LinkedIn and Bloomberg, more at Techmeme »
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:
Amazon's Twitch is launching The Glitch, a “brand-customizable” game world in Fortnite, on September 20, with two brand partners having their own in-game worlds — Twitch has teamed up with Halo co-creator Alex Seropian's Look North World to create The Glitch, a brand-customizable game world in Fortnite.
Matt Bernardini / The Guardian:
A look at Intelligencer Today, a pro-Russian, anti-vaccine website with editorial board members tied to Trump and contributors tied to Kremlin state media — George Papadopoulos and others involved in Intelligencer, increasingly popular source of news in rightwing circles
Mark Stenberg / Adweek:
A look at Erika Badan's plans as CEO of Food52: pivoting from mass retail, rebuilding content infrastructure, and launching a fresh slate of video programming — The two publishers share a business model but have vastly different cultures and commercial circumstances — Erika Badan understands the skepticism.
Discussion:
Simon Owens on LinkedIn, @markstenberg3, @seangriffey and @simondowens@threads.net
Sean Hollister / The Verge:
YouTube says it has “widely rolled out Pause ads to all advertisers” after a “strong advertiser and strong viewer response” and piloting Pause ads from 2023 — It's been nearly six years since we warned you that ads were coming for your pause button …
Discussion:
CNN, Engadget, MediaPost, ZDNET, Tech Advisor, BGR, Android Authority and Thurrott, more at Techmeme »
Caitlin Huston / The Hollywood Reporter:
Ted Sarandos calls on streaming rivals to release their viewership numbers, says Netflix can double its viewership with live events and Christmas Day NFL games — The executive added that he believes the streaming giant can double its viewership thanks to programming like live events and the Christmas Day NFL games.
Discussion:
AV Club, Front Office Sports, Deadline, Quartz, IndieWire, TVNewsCheck and The Wrap
Robbie Whelan / Wall Street Journal:
Memo: Disney plans to stop using Slack in most units by the end of 2024, after a hacking group leaked 1TB+ of its data, including 44M Slack messages, in July — The company said in a memo that most of its businesses would stop using the tool by the end of this year
New York Times:
For marketers, ensuring brand safety on YouTube and other platforms has become difficult during the US election, as their ads appear next to inflammatory videos — Large organizations and brands saw their advertising dollars funneled to videos amplifying inflammatory narratives …
Discussion:
TVNewsCheck, @tchambers@indieweb.social and @lauren@mastodon …
Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:
Amazon launches an AI-powered video generator, available for some US advertisers in beta, which turns a single product image into a few-second video showcase — Like its rival, Google, Amazon has launched an AI-powered video generator — but it's only for advertisers at the moment, and somewhat limited in what it can do.
Discussion:
About Amazon, Search Engine Land, MediaPost, The Verge, The Desk and Tv Technology, more at Techmeme »
Reshmi Basu / Bloomberg:
Sources: Byron Allen's media group is planning deeper cost cuts as it faces debt repayment deadlines, including one in February 2025 — - The company has retained Moelis and Kirkland as advisers — Its $840 million term loan quoted about 65 cents on the dollar
Discussion:
Adweek
Josh Dickey / The Wrap:
Fox News fires Robert Samuel, a nearly 20-year network veteran who was an executive producer for Sean Hannity's show, after allegations of sexual harassment — Robert Samuel was terminated last week, according to Brian Stelter's “Reliable Sources” — Fox News has fired “Hannity” …
Discussion:
@ogmcduck.bsky.social and TVNewsCheck
Foo Yun Chee / Reuters:
The EU's General Court annuls a €1.49B antitrust fine imposed on Google in 2019 for abusing its dominance to prevent websites from using non-AdSense ad brokers — Alphabet (GOOGL.O) unit Google won a legal challenge on Wednesday against a 1.49 billion euro ($1.7 billion) …
Discussion:
Android Central, @adrianweckler, @eucourtpress, The Register, Android Authority, Global Competition Review, Search Engine Land, Courthouse News Service, Thurrott, BBC, The Information, Wall Street Journal, The Information, Neowin, Engadget, Financial Times, CNBC, TechCrunch, Bloomberg, Reuters, Associated Press, Politico and RTÉ
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