Google Must Pay News Publishers for Content, France Says
Reuters: France's competition authority ruled on Thursday that Google must pay French publishing companies and news agencies for re-using their content. "Google's practices caused a serious and immediate harm to the press...
Facebook, Google Yet to Feel Impact of Advertising Collapse
TheStreet: The coronavirus pandemic is destroying advertising budgets, but you wouldn’t know it to look at the two titans of the digital ad industry, Facebook and Alphabet. Both companies' stocks are up about 5% in the last week of...
WPP Former CEO Says Virus Will Hurt Publishers, Not Tech
Beet.TV: Martin Sorrell says Google, Facebook, Amazon, Tencent, Alibaba and TikTok "are going to emerge from the Covid-19 crisis with huge advantages" in terms of data. "That's another permanent effect" of the...
Report: 1,000+ US Publications Face Cuts from Coronavirus
Press Gazette: US journalists working across more than 1,000 local newspapers and other publications are facing cuts due to the economic hit their employers have taken on coronavirus. "This is absolutely brutal – the worst-case...
US Newspapers, TV Stations Eye Relief in Coronavirus Bill
Deadline: Trade groups representing local newspapers and broadcasters are seeking provisions in the next coronavirus relief legislation that would provide a lifeline to struggling outlets amid a drop in advertising...
Tribune to Cut Staff Pay as Ads Decline During Shutdown
Chicago Tribune: Tribune Publishing on Thursday announced pay cuts of up to 10% for nonunion employees making $67,000 per year or more. The pay cuts, effective April 19 across the newspaper chain, are aimed at reducing...
McClatchy to Furlough Some Staff Over Covid-19 Impact
McClatchy DC: McClatchy has announced a series cost-cutting actions, including 90-day leaves for a number of advertising employees. The cuts involved more than 4% of McClatchy's 2,770-member workforce. No journalists were...
New York Times Among Media Still Hiring During Pandemic
Digiday: There are a number of media companies who remain staunchly in hiring mode. The New York Times continues to hire, with 174 roles open, 20 which were posted within the last week. The Washington Post has 54 open job...
Hearst Prides Itself on Zero Layoffs, Furloughs Amid Crisis
New York Post: The coronavirus may be battering the news industry, but Hearst Corp., which owns 33 TV stations and two dozen newspapers in addition to magazines, appears to be weathering the storm. "No one has been laid off or...
Conde Nast, Hearst to ‘Exploit the Chaos’ from Coronavirus
New York Times: From a creative standpoint, editors and publishers said they are taking advantage of the chaos resulting from the pandemic. It’s an excuse to try new things; to shake up familiar visuals and stale formats; to introduce more...
ViacomCBS Decline Accelerates Amid Covid-19 Disruption
Forbes: ViacomCBS forecasts were not expected to be better even before coronavirus put a freeze on entertainment and sports businesses. "The merger was a huge mistake," says one analyst. "They should have sold Viacom many years...
AT&T’s New WarnerMedia CEO Sees ‘Urgency’ in Streaming
Hollywood Reporter: Jason Kilar arrives at WarnerMedia as the AT&T division prioritizes streaming. "The people that I talk to, they're very eyes-wide-open and very much believers that there needs to be a sense of urgency to do that," Kilar...
Disney, Comcast Mull TV Broadcast of Streaming Originals
New York Post: Broadcast TV networks, hamstrung by the inability to shoot new shows, may turn to their streaming services for content. Talks have kicked off among ABC, CBS and NBC and their streaming counterparts to access streaming...
ViacomCBS Schedules All-Star Coronavirus Special for BET
Associated Press: DJ Khaled, Charlie Wilson, Chance the Rapper, Fantasia and Melvin Crispell III are slated to perform in a BET special that will assist people of color in dealing with the coronavirus. The "Saving Our Selves" relief effort airs April...
Disney’s Streaming Service Subscribers Surpass 50 Million
CNBC: Disney announced that Disney+, its new video service, now has more than 50 million subscribers. That’s almost twice as many as Disney reported in February, when it said that Disney+ reached 26.5 million subscribers during the...
Netflix’s ‘Tiger King’ Emerges as Big Hit During Lockdown
Fox Business: Millions of Americans streamed Netflix's docuseries "Tiger King" since its late March release as the nation sought distraction and entertainment because of the coronavirus quarantines and lockdowns, according to...
Quibi Launch Gets a Tepid Response Across Social Media
Variety: Quibi’s launch received a tepid response on social media, far below the amount of attention generated by Disney Plus and Apple TV Plus on their launch days. Quibi was the subject of 46,554 Twitter posts on April...
Analysis: Media Usage in Coronavirus Era Differs by Age
Visual Capitalist: People have increased their media consumption as a result of the coronavirus outbreak, and media usage differs across each generation. Gen Zers are more likely to be listening to music than searching for...
Google Former CEO: Big Tech Will Get Bigger After Crisis
Fortune: Eric Schmidt has a prediction about what the tech industry will look like after the coronavirus outbreak subsides: Big Tech will be even bigger. "The strongest brands and the strongest companies will recover more...
Amazon CEO Still World’s Richest as Virus Hits Wealth
WWD: While the coronavirus crisis pushed 267 people off Forbes's annual tally of the world's richest people, there were still plenty of billionaires around to fill out the list. Sitting at the top of the pile for the third year in a row was Jeff...
Survey: Ad Execs Project Second Wave of Spending Cuts
MediaPost: Three-quarters of ad executives plan to cut the remainder of their 2020 ad spending by 5% or more due specifically to the impact of the pandemic. That's one of the findings of an annual survey of 40 ad executives by UBS....
Gannett Faces Mounting Doubts About Company’s Future
Nieman Lab: Gannett's market value can't fall much lower, but the questions about its future continue to multiply. Why did the stock fall off the cliff? Why the poison pill? What's the next step with Apollo Global...
Alden Global Capital Chief Vows to Help Save Newspapers
Seattle Times: Alden Global Capital boss Heath Freeman has finally spoken up. In a letter written to Illinois senators, Freeman said the folks who have called him a “"vulture capitalist" and "corporate strip miner" have him all...
News Corp’s Dow Jones CEO to Step Down After Six Years
Financial Times: Will Lewis is stepping down as chief executive of Dow Jones, the Rupert Murdoch-owned publisher. The British media executive is leaving "amicably" from the company, according to people with knowledge of the...
Hearst CEO Promises No Newspaper Pay Cuts, Furloughs
Poynter: Hearst CEO Steven Swartz told publishers and editors in a conference call this week that the company is giving a 1% bonus to all employees, will create an added bonus merit pool later and is waiving the budget targets for executive...
Vox Media Seeks User Donations to Make Up for Ad Slump
WWD: Vox Media is asking its audience for donations for Vox and Recode to make up for falling advertising revenues that have plagued the whole media industry amid the coronavirus outbreak despite record engagement in...
News Corper Talks ‘Tiger King’ at Trump Covid-19 Briefing
Mediaite: New York Post reporter Steven Nelson used his time during the daily White House coronavirus press briefing to ask President Trump about possibly pardoning Joe Exotic from the "Tiger King" documentary that has become a pop culture...
Survey: US Gives Thumbs Up to Covid-19 Media Coverage
The Hill: A majority of US adults say the news media "have done an excellent or good job" covering the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new survey by the Pew Research Center. Fifty-four percent of Americans approved of the...
Twitter CEO Pledges $1 Billion to Coronavirus Relief Efforts
CNBC: Jack Dorsey said he will set aside $1 billion in his Square equity to support relief efforts for Covid-19 and other causes once the pandemic is over. After the crisis is over, he will dedicate money to causes like universal basic income and girls' health and...
AT&T Lands $5.5 Billion Loan to Weather Pandemic Impact
MarketWatch: AT&T provided an update on its financial position amid uncertainties surrounding the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, saying it had a "strong" cash position and "attractive" liquidity. The company has announced a $5.5 billion term-loan agreement with...