G/O Media CEO Talks Up Commitment to Diversity Hiring
PR Newswire: "G/O Media believes that the sum of its parts makes the company stronger and that diverse talent gives us a multifaceted view through which the team can be better storytellers and journalists," says Jim Spanfeller, CEO, G/O...
Taboola, Outbrain End Talks to Merge After Nearly a Year
CNBC: Nearly a year after announcing a deal to unite, merger talks between digital advertising companies Taboola and Outbrain have ended. The companies place content boxes with headlines such as “8 Celebs Who Have Severe Illnesses” and also deliver traditional web...
Apple Hires Hollywood Dealmaker to Push Video Service
Telegraph: Tim Connolly, a former executive at Disney and streaming start-up Quibi, has joined Apple's TV division. Connolly helped launch the live TV offering from Disney's Hulu internet video service, striking deals that brought major networks on board. He also...
Facebook’s Top Media Pages Led by Breitbart, Fox News
@oliverdarcy: "Breitbart and Fox News over the past week had more share of the voice than the next eight US media pages combined (CNN, NBC News, The Hill, ABC News MSNBC, The Daily Caller, The New York Times, and NPR). ... Facebook's own tool measures popularity on...
Google: Murdoch Helped Siphon Newspaper Ads, Not Us
ZDNet: Google, in a new blog post, argues that it "supports" Australia's news business and does not steal news content. The search giant also says it is not to blame for the decline in newspaper revenue in Australia, citing a study linking revenue losses to online...
Netflix CEO Talks Up Streamer’s ‘No Rules’ in New Book
Financial Times: Reed Hastings's new book, "No Rules Rules," explains — and debates — Netflix's smash-the-conventions tradition, which the co-CEO sees as central to the streaming company's extraordinary success. "If you happen to simply say no guidelines, then it's...
Disney Sees Surge in Streaming Downloads from ‘Mulan’
Bloomberg: Downloads of Disney's streaming app rose 68% to 890,000 over the weekend, a sign its unorthodox online release of "Mulan" helped drive demand for the service. "Mulan,” a live-action remake of the 1998 animated hit, was released online Friday after the...
AT&T’s WarnerMedia ‘Tenet’ Tests US Return to Theaters
Los Angeles Times: As theaters in key US cities like New York and Los Angeles remain shuttered, Christopher Nolan's "Tenet" opened with an estimated $20.2 million in North American receipts through the Labor Day holiday, in the biggest test yet of Americans'...
Chernin Warns of Pain, Disruption for US Movie Industry
Variety: Top media investors and advisors warn of years of pain still to come in the US theatrical movie business. The disruption brought on by the coronavirus pandemic has accelerated some existing trends and already wrecked many studios' business...
Comcast Taps Veteran for Programming at NBCUniversal
Los Angeles Times: NBCUniversal has narrowed its search for a top TV programmer to Susan Rovner, a longtime Warner Bros. studio executive. Rovner is to oversee programming for the NBC broadcast network, cable channels including Bravo, E!, Syfy and USA, as well as the...
Discovery Buys Broadcaster MediaWorks in New Zealand
World Screen: New Zealand's MediaWorks has agreed to sell its TV operations to Discovery. The deal will add to Discovery's New Zealand portfolio the entertainment channels Three and Bravo, the streaming service ThreeNow and the multiplatform news and current affairs...
Fox Corp Stifles Own Journalist in News Story on Trump
Showbiz411: Jennifer Griffin scored the scoop of a lifetime by working her sources. She posted to Twitter a series of posts confirming the reporting in The Atlantic magazine by Jeffrey Goldberg that President Trump thinks the military is full of "suckers" and...
News Corp’s UK Newspapers Hit with Delay After Protest
BBC News: Extinction Rebellion activists delayed the distribution of several national newspapers after blocking access to three printing presses owned by Rupert Murdoch. Protesters targeted Newsprinters presses at Broxbourne in Hertfordshire, Knowsley in Merseyside,...
iHeartMedia Poll Says Most Trustworthy Source is Radio
Radio World: A survey conducted for iHeartMedia found that radio continues to rank very highly as a trustworthy medium. In fact it found radio to be number one in terms of trust and also two times more trustworthy than social media. As a major owner of radio stations,...
Conde Nast to License Magazine Brand for Sex Products
MediaPost: Self magazine is expanding into licensing, with the announcement of an upcoming product line with sexual-wellness brand JimmyJane. Self's collaboration with JimmyJane will include an exclusive line of products for sexual health and care, available for...
Meredith’s People Interviews ‘Sexiest Man’ for BlackPrint
People: John Legend, People's reigning "Sexiest Man Alive" title holder, reveals who he thinks should take the crown during a conversation with Meredith's :BlackPrint, and opens up about the "fun" year he's had with the superlative: "I've truly enjoyed just making fun...
Atlantic Magazine Owner Faces Trump Call for Retaliation
NBC News: President Trump called on his fans to inundate The Atlantic's co-owner Laurene Powell Jobs with messages after the magazine reported that he once called American service members killed in combat "losers" and "suckers." The magazine "spews FAKE NEWS &...
New York Times ‘1619 Project’ Sparks New Trump Threat
Daily Mail: President Trump threatened to defund schools in California that use the New York Times's "1619 Project" in the public school curriculum. On Sunday Trump retweeted a message from an unverified account saying the project would be taught in schools and...
Gannett, Tribune Join Media Cutting Costs in Real Estate
WWD: Conde Nast is far from being alone in reconsidering its real estate needs as the coronavirus pummels the already fragile media industry, triggering an unprecedented advertising freefall. Following furloughs, pay reductions and layoffs, real estate has become the...
G/O Media’s Tech, Gaming Industry Sites to Shutter in UK
Game Revolution: Kotaku UK and Gizmodo UK are shutting down this week, with the rights being reverted back to the network G/O Media. Kotaku UK was launched in September 2014, while Gizmodo UK launched in September 2011, with both providing localized coverage of the...
Global Media Forecast to Take $120 Billion Hit from Covid
TVBEurope: The global media and entertainment industry will contract by 5.6 percent during 2020, according to the new Global Entertainment & Media Outlook report by PwC. Hollywood Reporter: Expect high-profile "streaming casualties."...
Apple Delays New Rule Set to Upend Digital Ad Targeting
The Information: Apple plans to delay the enforcement of a controversial change to its next mobile operating system that would upend how ads are targeted on iPhones and iPads. The change was due in the next version of Apple's mobile...
Facebook’s New Plan to Curb Political Ads Stirs Criticism
CNBC: Facebook said it will ban new political ads in the week before the US election. But the new policies are so narrow that they won't have any real effect on election information that spreads across the social network....
Google to Face US Antitrust Case, Gives Staffers Day Off
New York Times: The Justice Department plans to bring an antitrust case against Google as soon as this month. CNBC: Google has told employees to take Friday off as a "collective wellbeing" holiday during the...
Amazon Scuttles Javier Bardem’s Miniseries Citing Covid
Hollywood Reporter: A big-budget Amazon miniseries starring Javier Bardem has been scuttled due to Covid-19. Bardem was to have starred in "Cortés y Moctezuma." Producers said "there is no way to remount the production in the near...
AT&T’s WarnerMedia to Pause ‘The Batman’ Due to Covid
Vanity Fair: Robert Pattinson is said to have tested positive for the coronavirus, causing filming of "The Batman" to be halted just days after the superhero film resumed production in London. Warner Bros. would not comment on any worker's...
ViacomCBS Plans Virtual Anniversary Event for ‘Star Trek’
New York Post: CBS All Access is beaming fans into the anniversary of the "Star Trek" franchise. On September 8, the streaming network will host a 24-hour virtual celebration to mark the 54th anniversary of the original "Star Trek" series...
Disney Faces Claim of Trimming Black Role in ‘Star Wars’
Bloomberg: John Boyega, the actor known for playing the role of Finn in the "Star Wars" sequel films, has accused Disney of marginalizing diverse members of the franchise's cast and of promoting his role as more significant than it was to the...
Comcast’s NBC Meets Muslim Groups Over MSNBC Host
New York Post: Executives at NBC have met with members of a top Muslim advocacy group as backlash mounts over MSNBC host Joy Reid's controversial claims on her show about "the way Muslims act." Reid "must clearly...
Nielsen Unveils Weekly Top 10 List of Streaming Shows
Los Angeles Times: In another sign of the changing times in television, Nielsen is releasing a weekly ranking of the most popular shows on streaming platforms. Traditional TV ratings have been regularly reported on for...