BuzzFeed Ramps Up Commerce with Website for Shopping
Wall Street Journal: BuzzFeed has introduced a standalone website called BuzzFeed Shopping that lets visitors complete purchases without going anywhere else. BuzzFeed earns an average commission of 25% on direct sales, with partner Shop Bonsai receiving a portion of...
Apple, Amazon CEOs Face Hostility in US Antitrust Hearing
CNET: Four of America's richest and most powerful tech CEOs faced a combative audience at the US House of Representatives' antitrust subcommittee Wednesday, taking harsh questions about alleged predatory business practices, theft of digital content and aggressive...
Disney’s ABC Preps for Broadcast of Virtual Emmy Awards
Variety: No surprise, but the 2020 Emmys are going virtual. Shortly after the nominations were announced, this year's Emmy executive producers — including host Jimmy Kimmel — sent a letter to key acting nominees informing them that this year’s ceremony will be...
Comcast’s Universal Deal to Forever Change Movie-Going
Bloomberg Opinion: That sound you just heard is a window shattering, and Comcast billionaire Brian Roberts is holding the brick. Comcast's Universal Pictures is chopping the theatrical window to 17 days as part of a game-changing agreement with AMC, the biggest...
Netflix Acquires Rights to Seven Classic Black TV Sitcoms
Shadow and Act: Netflix has landed the streaming rights to several iconic Black sitcoms from the late 1990s and early 2000s. The streaming giant has landed "Moesha," "The Game" (the CW years, seasons 1- 3), "Sister, Sister," "Girlfriends," "The Parkers," "Half &...
Disney’s Beyoncé Streaming Special to Become ‘Event TV’
CNET: Beyoncé's new visual album, "Black Is King," will debut on streaming service Disney Plus this Friday. As always when it comes to Beyoncé's visual projects, we expect this to be event TV for the streaming age -- a Disney exclusive to rival "Hamilton," which...
ViacomCBS Plans 2021 Rebrand of CBS Flagship Streamer
CNBC: ViacomCBS is adding 70 TV series to CBS All Access on Thursday and will continue to move shows from Viacom's cable networks into the company's flagship streaming service in the coming months before officially rebranding it in 2021. The new name for CBS All...
Fox Corp’s News Channel is Ungrateful to Me, Trump Says
Daily News: President Trump lashed out at Fox News again, accusing the right-wing cable channel of being ungrateful and unwatchable. "It is AMAZING in watching Fox News how different they are from four years ago. Not even watchable," Trump tweeted. "They totally...
Vice Media Names Exec for New Role in Global Distribution
Broadband TV News: Vice Media has appointed Bea Hegedus SVP, global head of distribution. In the newly created role she will lead the company's global distribution and licensing strategy with a focus on building new US domestic and international...
Spotify Subscribers Hit 138 Million as Streaming Rebounds
Reuters: Spotify missed quarterly revenue expectations on Wednesday and forecast a soft current quarter, due mainly to a decline in ads as the COVID-19 pandemic kept advertisers at bay. The results overshadowed a rebound in demand for music streaming as more users...
ByteDance’s TikTok CEO Bashes Facebook on ‘Patriotism’
CNBC: Kevin Mayer is accusing Facebook of using patriotism as an unfair way to attack the Chinese-owned consumer app. "At TikTok we welcome competition. We think fair competition makes all of us better," the TikTok CEO said in a blog note posted...
Hearst Magazine Staffers Vote to Form Union Amid Tumult
New York Post: For the first time in its 133 year history, Hearst magazines have a unionized editorial workforce, after voters opted to be represented by the Writers Guild of America East by nearly a 3 to 1 margin. The final tally was 241 votes in favor of the union...
Conde Nast’s Vogue: ‘I Think Things Are About to Change’
New York Post: Naomi Campbell, discussing Anna Wintour's recent comments on Vogue's lack of diversity on "Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen," seemed hopeful about the future of the glossy magazine: "I think things are about to change, don't you?” she asked....
Meredith’s People Magazine is Pulled Into Markle Lawsuit
Daily Mail: Meghan Markle believes naming the five female friends who briefed People magazine about her and a letter sent to her father Thomas would be an "unacceptable price to pay" for pursuing a claim against the Mail on Sunday and MailOnline, the High Court heard...
McClatchy News Expresses Support for Black Lives Matter
Poynter: Were McClatchy journalists in danger of losing their jobs if they showed public support for Black lives? To be clear: no. Some, however, were afraid they would be fired. That's why Kristin Roberts, McClatchy's vice president of news, sent out a tweet on...
Gannett, Tribune Early US Newspapers Helped Sell Slaves
Daily Beast: Some of America's first newspapers – a handful of which today are owned by Gannett, News Corp. and Tribune – commonly published advertisements to sell slaves. Newspaper editors, including Benjamin Franklin, even stepped in to help connect buyers and...
Axel Springer Boosts Hiring at Blodget’s Business Insider
Institutional Investor: There are no layoffs at Business Insider, which is now part of a larger site called simply Insider — a nod to a new expansion of its reporting focus beyond the business world. In fact, Insider is hiring: More than 30 editorial job listings for...
BuzzFeed’s Laid Off British Employees Find New Positions
Press Gazette: BuzzFeed closed its UK news operation during the Covid-19 lockdown, leading to journalists losing their jobs. It was the first major casualty of the downturn brought about by the pandemic. But many of the former website's editorial team have since...
Access Intelligence Closes Magazine-Industry Trade Folio
Bo Sacks: Folio magazine is no more. The demise is unfortunate but understandable. Our industry is under extreme duress, and so too are trade organizations that track our industry. ...It is all a reflection of the realignment of the content distribution business...
Media Giants Face a Future as Clear as Mud, Analyst Says
RBR-TVBR: Michael Nathanson, senior analyst at MoffettNathanson, says he senses a "tremendous" level of discomfort among internet advertising and media names. "There are massive unanswered questions about the direction that the Covid-19 pandemic will take and how it...
Tech Giants Fortify CEOs to Testify Before US Lawmakers
CNET: The CEOs of Amazon, Facebook, Apple and Google cast their companies as icons of American ingenuity in opening remarks as they gear up for a highly anticipated antitrust hearing with legislators on Wednesday. Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Tim Cook and Sundar...
Ad Giants Shed Staffers, Make Changes in ‘Big Correction’
New York Times: Omnicom Group says revenue in its second quarter slumped nearly 25 percent and that the decline "is expected to continue for the remainder of the year." Like many of its peers, it laid off 6,100 employees, shed more than 1 million square feet of space,...
Comcast Studio Inks Landmark Deal for Early Home Movies
Los Angeles Times: Universal Pictures and AMC Theatres are agreeing on a pact to release big Hollywood films in the home much sooner than ever before. Under the new agreement, theaters will have exclusive rights to first show Universal movies for at least three...
CAA Cuts, Furloughs Nearly 20 Percent of Agency Staffers
Los Angeles Times: Creative Artists Agency, one of the largest Hollywood talent agencies, says it is laying off 90 agents and executives this week and furloughing 275 staffers. The cost-cutting measures are among the most sweeping to date in the agency business and...
AT&T’s WarnerMedia Says HBO Max Lures Young Viewers
MediaPost: HBO Max users are "significantly younger" than subscribers to traditional HBO, with 23% falling between the ages of 18 and 24, according to WarnerMedia. The company says, without providing viewership data, that "Friends" is the most-watched show on HBO Max...
Lionsgate, BuzzFeed Team on Films for Young Audiences
Media Play News: Lionsgate and BuzzFeed have announced a new partnership to develop, produce and distribute a multi-picture slate of "socially relevant and high-concept feature films for global millennial and Gen Z audiences." Lionsgate will greenlight full-length...
Fox Corp Touts News Channel as Most-Watched in Cable
Fox News: Fox News Channel says it finished July as the most-watched cable network for the 49th straight month, marking the network's best July in history. Fox News averaged 3.2 million prime time viewers and 1.6 million total viewers to finish atop all of basic cable...
Netflix Scores Record 160 Nominations for Emmy Awards
CNET: Netflix spends billions of dollars every year making TV programming, more than any competitor -- and in the Emmy nominations, it showed. Netflix earned a record 160 nominations, the most ever for a single network, beating out No. 2 HBO by more than four...
Facebook’s Instagram Offers Cash to Lure TikTok Creators
Wall Street Journal: Instagram is offering financial incentives to TikTok users with millions of followers to persuade them to use a new competing service, an escalation in a high-stakes showdown between the two social-media giants. Facebook is planning to unveil...
Twitter, Facebook, YouTube Pulling Misleading Covid Video
MarketWatch: Social-media sites have come out swinging against a video pushing misleading information about hydroxychloroquine as a Covid-19 treatment — which led to Twitter's partially suspending Donald Trump Jr.'s account. The conservative media outlet Breitbart...