Top News:
Benjamin Mullin / New York Times:
The Onion, backed by some Sandy Hook families and Everytown for Gun Safety, buys Infowars in a bankruptcy auction, and plans a January 2025 relaunch as a parody — The satirical news site planned to turn Infowars into a parody of itself, mocking “weird internet personalities” who peddle conspiracy theories and health supplements.
Discussion:
The Onion, Washington Post, Nieman Lab, NPR, Fox Business, Benzinga, Mediaite, Associated Press, TMZ.com, New York Magazine, Perez Hilton, AV Club, Hollywood Life, Paula Maki on LinkedIn, @MicheleV_AK@sfba.social, Inc.com, The Ankler, @bencollins.bsky.social, Esquire, Alternet.org, @maxwelltani, Above the Law, NBC News, Fast Company, Al Jazeera, @oneunderscore__, New York Post, CNN, @bencollins.bsky.social, David Wyatt on LinkedIn, Le Monde, New Republic, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Engadget, @oneunderscore__, CBS News, Fortune, The Information, UPI, Plain Dealer, Just Jared, @zimbalist, @semaforben, @yonetteajoseph@threads.net, Twin Cities, Breitbart, To the Contrary, @hadas_gold, @jamesrbuk, 6abc, @bencollins.bsky.social, Raw Story, Financial Times, @colbyhall, Laurel Pinson on LinkedIn, @benmullin, Politico, @sherman4949, @jamesrbuk, Houston Public Media, Mashable, The Verge, USA Today, Digby's Hullabaloo, Block Club Chicago, RedState, Laura Seaton on LinkedIn, The Present Age, @oneunderscore__, Status, @daithaigilbert, @pkafka, Bloomberg, Mother Jones, Axios, Newser, @brianstelter, @everytown@threads.net, The Wrap, @claireatki, @bencollins.bsky.social, The Guardian, @sherman4949, The Hill, @mick@cosocial.ca, Washington Examiner, The Desk, @vwampage@xoxo.zone, The Daily Caller, OMG.BLOG, Variety, @willguyatt, @pbump, @bencollins.bsky.social, @brianstelter, @web_martin@mastodon.social, One America News Network, @theonion, ZeroHedge News, @laurenthomanwrites …, The Hollywood Reporter, I guess this is a …, Business Insider, The Gateway Pundit, Rolling Stone, TVNewsCheck, Barrett Media, Law & Crime, RTÉ, HuffPost, Boing Boing, Deadline, Not the Bee, Consequence, New York Daily News, Forbes, The National Pulse, Daring Fireball, Press Herald, Crooks and Liars, Daily Kos, Austin American-Statesman, WHEC.com and UnHerd
The Hollywood Reporter:
Disney expects to spend $24B on content in 2025, up from $23.4B in 2024, due to sports programming expenses rising after NFL rate increases and NBA contracts — Rate hikes at the NFL and NBA may mean that sports drive the slight spending increase, with the company reporting $23.4 billion for this past year.
Discussion:
@philthepill.bsky.social
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Robbie Whelan / Wall Street Journal:
Disney reports Q4 revenue up 6% YoY to $22.6B, TV network revenue down 6% YoY to $2.5B, and a $321M DTC streaming profit, up from a $387M loss in Q4 2023
Jennifer Maas / Variety:
In Q4, Disney added 4.4M Disney+ Core paid subscribers, reaching 120M in total, Disney+ Hotstar subscribers rose 1% YoY to 35.9M, and Hulu subscribers hit 52M
Discussion:
Advanced Television, IndieWire and Awful Announcing
Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
Reliance and Disney complete their $8.5B Indian media merger, creating India's largest media group with $3.1B in annual revenue and 50M+ streaming subscribers
Discussion:
Financial Times, Times of India, Deadline, The Wrap, Reuters, The Hollywood Reporter, Hindustan Times and YourStory.com
Brooks Barnes / New York Times:
In its Q4 report, Disney, which rarely offers guidance, shares growth expectations to 2027, including a ~$700M operating profit in DTC streaming in 2025
Discussion:
Orange County Register, Yahoo Finance, Financial Times, WHEC.com, Benzinga, @brianstelter and WORLD SCREEN
Matthew Keys / The Desk:
Disney said Disney+ Q4 ARPU in the US and Canada, down 1% QoQ to $7.70, was affected partly by new wholesale arrangements with some distributors — The Walt Disney Company's recent distribution agreements with Charter Communications and DirecTV impacted a key metric that analysts …
Discussion:
StreamTV Insider, The Verge, The Streamable and Cord Cutters News
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Todd Spangler / Variety:
Disney plans to add an ESPN “tile” to Disney+ for US subscribers on December 4, giving users access to some free ESPN content — Disney has called its next streaming blitz: In a few weeks, Disney+ will add an ESPN “tile” to the streaming service — and the company will include …
Discussion:
Awful Announcing, AdExchanger, @sherman4949, Deadline, Tv Technology and Barrett Media
Jess Weatherbed / The Verge:
Google plans to stop showing political ads to users in the EU in 2025 due to uncertainties around new transparency rules coming into effect in October 2025 — Google has announced it will stop showing political ads to users in the European Union next year due to uncertainties around the bloc's new transparency regulations.
Discussion:
Engadget and The Keyword
Emma Roth / The Verge:
TikTok adds Getty Images to its AI ad creation tool, Symphony Creative Studio, which lets advertisers use the images to make videos, create AI avatars, and more — TikTok will let advertisers pull in content from Getty Images when using the platform's AI ad creation tool.
Discussion:
Reuters and TikTok For Business
Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
YouTube: 45M+ people in the US watched election content on November 5; top livestreams were from Fox News, NBC News, LiveNOW, ABC News, and the PBD Podcast — The Google-owned video platform released data Thursday indicating that tens of millions of Americans decided to watch their election returns there.
Discussion:
TVNewsCheck, @alexweprin, @youtubeinsider, @youtubeinsider, Fox News, Business Insider and Forbes
Lachlan Cartwright / Columbia Journalism Review:
Just before the election, a Trump lawyer demanded $10B in damages from the NYT and Penguin Random House, part of a flurry of Trump's legal threats to media — Legal letter follows complaints aimed at CBS News, the Washington Post, and the Daily Beast. — The letter, addressed to lawyers …
Discussion:
@lachcartwright
Umar Shakir / The Verge:
Echoing TikTok's gifting, YouTube is rolling out “jewels” that users can buy to support creators during livestreams, for those in the YouTube Partner Program — YouTube is taking a page out of the TikTok playbook by adding “jewels” you buy to exchange for gifts for your favorite creators during livestreams.
Discussion:
TechCrunch, Tubefilter and The Verge, more at Techmeme »
Washington Post:
WaPo names Liz Seymour managing editor; she has held various roles over 25 years at the outlet, including deputy managing editor and executive features editor — A veteran Washington Post newsroom leader, Seymour marks her 25th year at the publication — The Washington Post today named …
Discussion:
The Wrap, MediaPost and Kathy Baird on LinkedIn
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Newsletter platform Beehiiv launches a “beehiiv Media Collective” for journalists, offering health insurance stipends, backend tools for accounting, and more — - Journalists that have recently joined the beehiiv platform include former CNN media reporter Oliver Darcy …
Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
CEOs at Nexstar, Sinclair, and Tegna, plus some analysts, say they expect deregulation and consolidation in the broadcast TV industry under Trump's FCC — Flush with political ad dollars and anticipating a deal-friendly environment, moguls are eyeing big moves to roll up lucrative local broadcasters.
Discussion:
Patrick Caligiuri on LinkedIn, @mediaevan and @WarnerCrocker@mastodon.social
Janko Roettgers / Lowpass:
Proposed Trump tariffs on consumer electronics imports may raise prices for TVs and streaming devices, causing a drop in sign-ups for Netflix and other services — Also: Binging goes global — In partnership with … With Donald Trump set to return to the White House in January …
Discussion:
PolitiFact, NewsNation, Janko Roettgers on LinkedIn and The Japan News
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