News Corp Presents New Ad Products from WSJ-Barron’s
MediaPost: The Wall Street Journal-Barron’s Group launched a new suite of ad products called The Exchange, at its virtual NewFront presentation. The Exchange combines ad tech, first-party targeting and native publishing tools “in a brand safe and contextual...
New York Times Confronts Yet Another Internal Squabble
Daily Beast: New York Times employees are at odds over another sensitive editorial decision, marking the latest flare-up within the paper of record. A blogger said he was shutting down his widely read site over a forthcoming story in the Times that would share his...
Los Angeles Times Top Editor Won’t Resign Amid Outcry
The Wrap: Norman Pearlstine asserted during an epic town hall meeting that he would not resign despite mounting criticism leveled against the Los Angeles Times's top management over failures to address the lack of recruitment and retention of Black...
Analysis: Covid Rips a Hole in US News Business Models
Financial Times: At least 38,000 US news workers are estimated to have been furloughed, laid off or taken pay cuts since March. "We got the crap kicked out of us," said Ben Lerer, CEO of Group Nine Media. "This sucks. Let's not sugar coat it. I'm trying to make...
Disney Exports Disney+ to Eight More Countries in Europe
Reuters: Disney plans to launch Disney+ in eight more countries in Europe, with millions of people stuck at home due to coronavirus restrictions. Disney+ is coming to Portugal, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, Belgium and...
ViacomCBS Preps Global Rollout for CBS News Streamer
Axios: CBSN, the 24/7 digital streaming news service for CBS News, is expanding internationally to pull in more digital TV ad dollars, while also growing its audience. The company has brokered carriage partnerships in over 89...
AT&T’s WarnerMedia Sees Exit of CEO at Bleacher Report
The Information: Howard Mittman, the CEO of WarnerMedia's digital sports website Bleacher Report, is stepping down amid concerns about revenue growth and complaints about a lack of diversity at the site's top...
iHeartMedia Joins WarnerMedia on Podcasts for HBO Max
Deadline: WarnerMedia and iHeartMedia have inked a deal to co-produce a slate of companion podcasts for HBO Max's upcoming originals and legacy programming. "Today's streaming fans are hungry for more...
Disney Faces ‘ESPN Problem’ with Top Sports Still on Hold
Yahoo Finance: Disney has an ESPN problem, according to strategist Michael Lee. "They need to address that fact that they've built a business model that is unsustainable." Lee said ESPN overpaid for multi-year sports...
Survey: Generation Z is Losing Trust in Media, Hollywood
Fast Company: Members of Gen Z trust their elders more than the police, the government, and even, yes, Hollywood. A lot more than Hollywood, actually. This demographic is losing faith in all major institutions in the United...
ViacomCBS: Nickelodeon to Revive ‘Nick News’ Specials
Variety: Nickelodeon is bringing back “Nick News” for an hour-long special about children, race and unity. The special will be hosted by Alicia Keys and is meant to amplify the voices and experiences of Black kids across the...
Charter Wants to Start Charging Fees to Video Streamers
Ars Technica: Charter Communications has asked federal regulators for permission to impose data caps on broadband users and to seek interconnection payments from large online video providers, starting next year....
Amazon Looks to Add Live TV Programming to Prime Video
Protocol: Amazon is looking to add 24/7 live programming to its Prime Video service, according to job listings posted over the past several weeks. The new channels could include live news, music and sports, as well as scheduled movies and TV...
Twitter Gives US Workers Day Off to Vote on Election Day
Associated Press: Twitter said it will give its US employees Election Day off going forward and employees around the world paid time off to vote in national elections. The US is a bit of an outlier among industrial democracies in holding elections on a...
Apple, Google Condemn Trump’s Immigration Crackdown
CNBC: Tech leaders have criticized President Trump’s latest immigration crackdown on the visa programs that their companies rely on to employ thousands of staff. Google’s Sundar Pichai and YouTube’s Susan Wojcicki were quick to condemn the...
News Corp’s Murdoch Set to Win Big War Against Google
Bloomberg: Rupert Murdoch is on the cusp of his biggest win yet in his war against Google: a Justice Department antitrust lawsuit against the internet giant. Media companies have long griped about Google's dominance of the digital advertising...
Conde Nast Unveils New Influence Plan, Podcast Network
Deadline: Conde Nast introduced several new offerings for advertisers in a virtual NewFronts presentation. The media company announced a new content offering called The Influence Network, a branded podcast network, and...
American Media Lands Deal to Stay Afloat as Sales Plunge
New York Post: American Media Inc. lenders have thrown the cash-strapped owner of the National Enquirer, US Weekly and OK! a financial lifeline to help it survive a sales slump brought on by the coronavirus...
Forbes Exec to Take New Role for Strategies on Inclusion
MediaPost: Forbes has named Sade Muhammad director of representation and inclusion partnerships, a new role to work with marketers and brands on campaigns and strategies that advocate and drive systemic change around diversity, equity and...
Bauer to Close UK Magazines ‘Unsustainable’ After Covid
Press Gazette: Bauer is closing a number of titles as part of a review to “protect the long-term health” of the business. Music title Planet Rock, “true-life” magazine Simply You, and Practical Photography will all publish their final issues in July....
New York Times Lays Off 68 Staffers, Mostly in Advertising
Axios: The New York Times has laid off 68 people, mostly on its advertising team, the company said in an internal memo to employees. There were no layoffs in the company's newsroom or opinion...
Los Angeles Times Black Journalists Push to Fix Inequities
TheWrap: The Los Angeles Times Guild's Black Caucus sent a letter to the newspaper's leadership, outlining the lack of Black journalists in the newsroom, the experiences of those journalists who are Black and demands to help rectify the...
Media Giants Face Pressure to Hire Black Staffers in News
Los Angeles Times: More than 320 scholars and practitioners in media signed a letter sent to six CEOs of television news networks, including NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN and PBS, calling out systemic racism within the organizations. It calls for the companies to hire more Black...
Apple CEO Speaks About Black Lives Matter, Coronavirus
CNET: Apple CEO Tim Cook kicked off this year's Worldwide Developers Conference addressing two major events affecting the world at the moment: the Black Lives Matter movement and the worldwide conronavirus pandemic. It's time for the US to "aim higher to build a...
Netflix Shares Surge as Coronavirus Pandemic Continues
MarketWatch: Shares of Netflix rallied Monday, putting them on track for a record close. The streaming video company, which has been benefiting from shelter-at-home orders during the Covid-19 pandemic, could be getting a renewed lift from data showing that half of US...
ViacomCBS’s ‘SpongeBob’ Snubs Theaters for Streaming
Variety: "The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run," Paramount and Nickelodeon’s animated adventure based on the absorbent underwater fry cook, is skipping its planned theatrical debut. It will instead launch on premium digital rental services in early 2021 before...
Disney’s Streaming-Wars Strategy for Hulu: Less is More
Vanity Fair: When Hulu launched its subscription service a decade ago, it wasn’t expecting to become the sexier, R-rated sibling of Disney+. But in the past six months, Hulu has had a remarkable run of provocative originals like "The Great," "Normal People," "High...
Comcast’s Sky Adds Disclaimer to ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’
Variety: Sky, the Comcast-backed pay-TV broadcaster in the UK, has added "outdated attitudes" disclaimers to a batch of films, including the original animated "Jungle Book," "Breakfast at Tiffany's" and "The Last Samurai." Altogether, some 16 films on Sky Cinema now...
ViacomCBS, Fox Corp Return to Morning TV Show Studios
Associated Press: The morning team on "Fox & Friends" returned for the first time Monday to the Manhattan studio vacated in March because of the coronavirus pandemic. A few blocks west, there was a similar welcome for two-thirds of the "CBS This Morning" hosts....
Fox Corp Enjoys Saturday Ratings Record for Trump Rally
Mediaite: A record number of people tuned into Fox News's coverage of President Trump's rally in Tulsa. The network had its most Saturday viewers in its history during the prime time slot and landed over 7.6 million viewers between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. EST., according...