New York Times Shutters Spanish-Language NYT en Español
The Hill: The New York Times on Tuesday announced the closure of its Spanish-language platform, NYT en Español. "While the Español site did attract a new audience for our journalism and consistently produced coverage we are very proud of, it did not prove financially...
Financial Times to Promote ‘New Agenda’ in Brand Campaign
Digiday: The Financial Times has launched a global-brand awareness campaign tied to driving subscriber acquisitions, which involved dropping the paywall for a day. “The new agenda” campaign is the FT’s aim to position itself as...
Conde Nast’s Glamour Editor to Host New Podcast on Money
MediaPost: Glamour has launched its second podcast with iHeartMedia to tell stories of women and their relationship with money. Called “She Makes Money Moves,” the podcast comes nine months after Conde Nast's first true-crime podcast was created with...
Hearst Unveils ‘Uncommon’ Print Magazine with Retailer REI
Ad Age: Outdoor retailer REI has launched Uncommon Path, a quarterly print magazine, in partnership with HearstMade, the division of Hearst Magazines that produces Airbnb Magazine with Airbnb. Uncommon Path replaces the retailer’s...
BuzzFeed Looks to Hire a President Amid Shift in Operations
Axios: BuzzFeed is looking to hire a new president, according to an internal memo sent from CEO and co-founder Jonah Peretti to staff. The role has been vacant since 2017, when then-president Greg Coleman left the position to become a senior advisor to the...
Axios Plans Content Management Service for Big Companies
Business Insider: Axios is gearing up for the January launch of a content management service aimed at big companies as it looks to reduce its reliance on advertising. The news startup has been testing the service with a few clients with one-year deals costing $1...
AT&T Faces Accusations of Faking Accounts for DirecTV Now
Bloomberg: AT&T pressured employees to create fake accounts for its DirecTV Now streaming television service to boost subscriber numbers ahead of its 2018 merger with Time Warner, according to a lawsuit accusing the telecommunications giant of misleading...
Netflix Nabs ‘Seinfeld’ as Streamer Loses ‘Friends,’ ‘The Office’
Los Angeles Times: Netflix has fired back in the battle for popular network sitcoms by landing the global streaming rights to “Seinfeld.” As part of a deal with Sony Pictures Television, which controls distribution of the iconic TV show, Netflix will offer all 180...
Zenith: Online Video Viewing to Hit 100 Minutes a Day in 2021
World Screen: The average person will spend 100 minutes each day watching online video in 2021, up from 84 minutes this year, according to Zenith's "Online Video Forecasts 2019" report. This is the equivalent of watching 25 continuous days of video in...
Endeavor Looks to Raise $600 Million+ in Public Offering Plan
CNBC: Ari Emanuel’s company Endeavor detailed its plans Monday to go public, listing 19.4 million Class A shares. The global entertainment, sports and content company expects to price its initial public offering at $30 to $32 a share, hoping to raise more than $600...
CBS Staffer Sentenced to 14 Years in Prison for Embezzlement
Los Angeles Times: The former manager of the now-defunct CBS Employees Federal Credit Union has been sentenced to 14 years and one month in federal prison in connection with a two-decade embezzlement scheme that caused the cooperative to lose $40 million and forced it...
Nexstar Wins FCC Approval of $6.4 Billion Deal to Buy Tribune
Reuters: The Federal Communications Commission on Monday said it voted to approve Nexstar Media’s acquisition of Tribune Media in a $6.4 billion deal. The 3-to-2 vote follows the U.S. Justice Department’s announcement in July that it had approved the...
Comcast’s NBC Sees ‘SNL’ Drop New Cast Member Over Video
Associated Press: “Saturday Night Live” has rescinded its invitation to a cast member who posted a video last year in which he used a racial slur for Chinese people and derided Asians trying to learn English. A show rep said that the language Shane Gillis used was...
Google’s YouTube: We’re a Tech Platform, Not a Broadcaster
Fierce Video: Given everything that YouTube has done in the past few years to build its content lineup, it’s fair to ask if the service is looking to replace traditional media. Cécile Frot-Coutaz, the head of YouTube EMEA, answered the...
IAC’s Tinder to Move Into Scripted Content with Video Series
Reuters: Popular dating app Tinder has wrapped filming on its first television series, as owner Match Group seeks to dive deeper into creating original content. Making new shows is part of a larger strategy that will be revealed in the near...
Facebook Instagram Star Muses on Life in Influencer Industry
New York: "Without Instagram, it’s possible I wouldn’t have gotten the acting job that moved me to New York, nor the relationships, experiences, and identity that followed," writes Tavi Gevinson. "I definitely would have less income and less of an audience to share...
TikTok’s Roots in Beijing Fuel New Suspicions of Censorship
Washington Post: Researchers have grown worried that TikTok could prove to be one of China’s most effective weapons in the global information war, bringing Chinese-style censorship to mainstream U.S. audiences and shaping how they understand real-world...
Snap Unveils Online Database of All Political Ads on Snapchat
ABC News: Snap, the maker of the Snapchat app, unveiled an online database featuring all of the political ads within Snapchat, as 2020 presidential campaigns intensify and tech giants face increased scrutiny for their roles in the spread of information each election...
SmartNews Aggregation App Now Offers ‘News from All Sides’
TechCrunch: SmartNews, the news aggregation app that recently hit unicorn funding status, wants to give users a way to step out of their bubbles with a feature called News From All Sides. The feature was created for readers who want to see other points of...
New York Times Faces Many Questions for Story on Kavanaugh
Associated Press: Between an offensive tweet and a significant revision, the New York Times’s handling of a new sexual misconduct allegation against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh attracted almost as much attention as the accusation...
Hearst Readies ‘Downton’ Digital Takeover at Town & Country
WWD: If you’ve been a waking person for the last few weeks, you know there is a “Downton Abbey” movie coming. But Town & Country is hoping to attract the superfans of the show with a new “collectors” edition of the magazine. An online takeover will feature...
Meredith: A Digital Approach to Print Magazines Works for Us
FIPP: Meredith’s Liz Vaccariello, editor-in-chief of Parents magazine, explains how a "digital mindset" is improving the print magazine. "One year we did one long story called '100 things teachers want to know.' The next year, however, we tested that against a format...
Valence Lays Off Editorial Employees at Spin, Vibe, Stereogum
Billboard: Valence Media made a round of editorial layoffs at Spin Media Group on Monday, letting seven employees go across the Spin, Stereogum and Vibe brands. The decisions were made in conjunction with a pivot in business and content...
Opinion: Paper Books, Glossy Magazines Will Never Go Away
Bloomberg Opinion: Vinyl records, paper books, glossy magazines – all should be long dead, but they’re refusing to go away and even showing some surprising growth. It’s probably safe to assume that people will always consume content in some kind of physical shell...
Fox’s Expat Murdoch is No ‘Succession’ Fan, Turns to Investing
New Yorker: After leaving the family empire, Rupert Murdoch’s son James is investing in comics, championing Pete Buttigieg, and fighting threats to democracy that sound an awful lot like Fox News. “I don’t watch ‘Succession,’ ” he said. “Not even a peek. Why would...
Viacom CEO Talks Up Streaming Plans, Merger Deal with CBS
Barron's: Viacom has a strategy to let the media giant participate in all segments, said CEO Bob Bakish. "We provide linear programming plus on-demand for big bundles. In skinny bundles, we’re very well represented. In subscription video-on-demand, we make originals...
AT&T CEO’s Exit Plan Sets Off Challenge by Activist Investor
Wall Street Journal: AT&T boss Randall Stephenson got an unexpected phone call from a hedge-fund manager at Elliott Management. The call was cordial, but behind it was a rebuke of Stephenson’s mission to turn the telecom into a media giant and leave a top...
Disney CEO Departs Apple Board Ahead of Streaming Battle
New York Times: Disney CEO Bob Iger has resigned from the board of Apple, whose growing Hollywood operation would have made it harder for him to fully engage as one of its directors. Iger, 68, resigned on Tuesday. Also on Tuesday, Apple CEO Tim Cook discussed Apple...
Apple TV+ Premieres First Show ‘Dickinson’ at Tribeca Fest
Reuters: Apple TV+ premiered its first show at the Tribeca TV Festival on Saturday, flaunting feminist snark, lavish period costumes and a star-studded cast in “Dickinson,” a series that sheds a modern light on the life of an iconic American...
Facebook Readies Streaming TV Device in Time for Holidays
Variety: Facebook is getting ready to launch a TV streaming device in time for the holiday season. The new streaming hardware will be part of the company’s Portal family of devices, featuring a camera and combining video chatting with TV viewing and augmented...