Fox Corp Enjoys Ad ‘Tsunami’ from Baseball Triple-Header
Bloomberg: Fox Corp. begins its baseball season with its first-ever triple-header on Saturday -- nine hours of games on the Fox broadcast network. The advertising inventory is sold out. "Our baseball inventory 10 days ago just shot off the shelf when people realized...
Vice Media: We’re Still on Path to Profits Despite Pandemic
World Screen: Vice Media CEO Nancy Dubuc: "We're very fortunate to be about 30 percent ad-supported and the rest is other income. That does insulate us a bit from what's going on. We're still on a path to be profitable in the fourth quarter. And that’s sustained...
Spotify Inks Licensing Deal with Vivendi’s Universal Music
Reuters: Spotify has signed a new, multi-year licensing agreement with Vivendi's Universal Music Group, reinforcing the music streaming service's catalogue and products. Spotify and UMG plan to collaborate on new, state-of-the-art marketing campaigns across Spotify's...
Wave.tv Raises $32 Million to Acquire Sports Media Brands
Adweek: With most live sports on hold, sports media publishers have had to stretch their imaginations to find interesting stories to tell. Wave.tv, a digital media company built around working with license holders to repackage archival sports, hopes to invest more in...
Taboola, Outbrain ‘Clickbait’ Ad Merger Gets a Green Light
Wall Street Journal: The Justice Department has informed ad networks Taboola and Outbrain that it won't stand in the way of their proposed merger. A DOJ spokeswoman said the department had closed its investigation of the merger without taking action but didn’t provide...
Clear Channel Billboard Ads Dive as US Stays Off the Road
Bloomberg: Surprising as it may seem now, 2020 was supposed to be a great year for billboard ads. New kinds of marketers, like the burgeoning weed industry, were flocking to outdoor advertising, letting it outshine other media. Then Covid-19 hit, forcing many...
Martha Stewart Gets Buzz from Sultry Selfie on Instagram
NBC Today: Martha Stewart shared a new photo of herself lounging in the pool, and fans can't get enough of the sizzling selfie. In the shot, the lifestyle guru can be seen from the neck up, pursing her lips in a sultry pout. Stewart infused a mix of glam and casual...
Fox Corp Loses News Host After Coronavirus Office Scare
CNN: Fox News has parted ways with a host who dismayed fellow staffers when she came to work while visibly sick in the early days of the coronavirus crisis. Heather Childers, who had been an early morning host on Fox since 2012, was benched after the incident in late...
New York Times to Acquire Podcast Studio Behind ‘Serial’
Wall Street Journal: The New York Times plans to acquire Serial Productions, the maker of the hit podcast "Serial," a deal that aims to further the newspaper's podcasting ambitions. Terms of the deal weren't disclosed, but the transaction could be worth as much as $50...
Axel Springer Reveals Gender Pay Gap at Business Insider
Business Insider: Across Insider, the median salary for all female employees is $75,000. For all male employees, it's $85,000. BIPOC employees earn $81,000 to white employees' $85,000. Female BIPOC employees make $70,000. Racial and gender wage gaps aren't unique to...
Hearst Brass Supports Magazine Boss Amid ‘Creepy’ Claims
New York Post: Insiders say the top brass at Hearst are standing behind Troy Young, after the magazine boss was called out in a New York Times story for leading a "toxic culture." Young has drawn criticism for a reported series of lewd and sexist...
Conde Nast Pauses Paywall Model as Tests Begin at Hearst
WWD: As Hearst ramps up plans for paywalls at its magazines, rival Conde Nast appears to be taking a breather. Former CEO Bob Sauerberg was to roll out a model company-wide by the end of 2019. But that rollout has yet to happen under Sauerberg's successor Roger...
Newsweek Under Fire for Covid Loan After Money Scheme
New York Post: Newsweek and Olivet University are drawing fire for receiving coronavirus stimulus loans following their involvement in a $35 million money-laundering scheme that has resulted in guilty pleas by former executives of the media company and the...
Vox Media’s New York Magazine Staff Creates Layoff Fund
GoFundMe: Last week, Vox Media announced layoffs of employees across the company, including about 20 workers at New York magazine. A GoFundMe has been created to help those who have been laid off. Money raised will be divided equally among each person who applies for...
New York Times Taps Operating Officer for New Chief Exec
New York Times: The New York Times has named Meredith Kopit Levien, the news organization's chief operating officer, as its next president and chief executive. Levien will succeed Mark Thompson, the chief executive since 2012, on Sept....
ViacomCBS Lays Off New York Staffers Amid the Pandemic
The Wrap: ViacomCBS laid off dozens of New York staffers in June as job cuts at the recombined entertainment giant continued. The latest headcount reduction tallied losses of "mid-double digits." Like previous rounds of staff cuts, the June pink slips came at multiple...
Disney’s ABC Leads TV Networks in Major Viewer Declines
Sportico: While TV viewers are always tougher to reach during summer, this year's sultry season numbers are particularly grim. The primetime audience in the last 54 days has dropped 9% compared to the year-ago period, a difference of more than 7 million viewers per...
Netflix’s Rise Moves Viewers, Big Media to Snub Cable TV
Variety: Most general entertainment cable TV channels have suffered double-digit drops in ratings in recent years. Among them: Nick at Night, AMC, FX, USA, TBS. "They're managing their decline, but make no mistake about it, it's a decline. It feels...
Facebook, Snap to Profit as Lockdowns Change Behavior
Bloomberg: Internet companies are likely to be long-term winners from the pandemic as lockdown measures have now lasted long enough for changes in consumer behavior to become permanent, according to Credit Suisse. "It takes 66 days for a change in behavior to turn...
AT&T’s HBO Max to Pivot Production of ‘Friends’ Reunion
Los Angeles Times: David Schwimmer, who played Ross in the hit '90s sitcom "Friends," revealed on "The Tonight Show" that tentative plans have been made to film the highly anticipated "Friends" reunion special in quarantine. "It's supposed to happen maybe in...
Spotify Unveils Video Podcasts to Compete with YouTube
Los Angeles Times: Spotify, known as a music and podcast streaming service, is making a bigger leap into video. Seven podcasts available on Spotify will show footage of podcasters recording their programs. For years, many podcasters uploaded video versions of their...
ByteDance Investors Discuss Possible Purchase of TikTok
The Information: A small group of ByteDance's US investors is discussing with the company's top management the possibility of joining forces to buy a majority stake in TikTok, as it grows more difficult for the Chinese-owned company to keep control of the fast-growing...
EBay Becomes Acquisition Target in Sell-Off of Classifieds
CNET: It's possible that, after selling off piece after piece of the company, eBay may now be small enough and focused enough to make for a good acquisition target, which is a rumor that's been swirling in the e-commerce world since the PayPal...
Google Says Technical Error Led to Removal of News Sites
Fox Business: Google had a technical issue Tuesday morning that temporarily removed the home pages of several news sites from its search results. For instance, when you Googled the Daily Caller, stories about the Daily Caller would show up but not links to its home...
Snap Plans Internal Probe After Racism, Sexism Charges
Business Insider: Snap has launched an internal investigation into allegations of racism and sexism at the company. The investigation comes after former employees spoke out in June about shrinking diversity and what they called biased editorial...
Disney’s ESPN Faces Anchor Claim of Divisive Workplace
Wall Street Journal: ESPN anchor Sage Steele has told management she believes she was excluded from a special the network aired on race last month because she wasn’t considered by certain Black colleagues to be an authentic voice for the Black...
News Corp’s Murdoch is Danger to Democracy, Grant Says
Daily Mail: Hugh Grant has labeled Rupert Murdoch a "danger to liberal democracy" and said his life was "extremely difficult after his Divine Brown escapade" in a new BBC2 documentary. "The Rise of the Murdoch Dynasty" focuses on the phone-hacking scandal of 2009 to...
Reuters Finds Anxieties Among Reporters Covering Covid
Press Gazette: A "significant" number of journalists reporting on the Covid-19 pandemic appear to be suffering signs of mental health issues, according to new research. The survey of journalists found that around 70% of respondents were suffering from some level of...
Forbes to Create Shoppable Video Offering for Advertisers
MediaPost: Forbes is working with KERV Interactive, a digital ad video platform, to create branded and shoppable content on Forbes.com. The partnership means Forbes can offer advertisers an opportunity to market individual products throughout a...
Politico Extends Staff Work-at-Home Order Through 2020
MediaPost: Politico publisher Robert Allbritton has informed employees the company is extending its work from home status for at least the remainder of 2020. "None of us want to work inside of a plexiglass bubble" he wrote, after outlining the challenges of returning...