Fox News Expat Bill O’Reilly Plays to Empty Seats on Tour
Baltimore Sun: Bill O’Reilly’s “The Spin Stops Here” tour stopped in Baltimore on Friday, and the former Fox News host played to thousands of empty seats at Royal Farms Arena. Tickets were available for a third of their value in resale the past...
Nielsen Sues comScore to Block New TV Ratings Service
Reuters: Nielsen filed a lawsuit on Friday to stop comScore from using its technology to launch a competing service for measuring television audiences. In a complaint filed with the U.S. District Court in Manhattan, Nielsen is seeking an injunction to stop the launch...
Disney’s ESPN to Count TV, Digital Viewership Together
Business Insider: ESPN said it plans to start reporting a single audience number when it airs games – one that encompasses people who watch on TV, on digital devices, and in bars. ESPN is the first media company to sign on to report on and transact using Nielsen...
CBS Explores Digital Video Frontier with New ‘Star Trek’
Los Angeles Times: CBS is, to borrow a Trekkie phrase, boldly going where no broadcast network has gone before by placing one of its highest profile and most expensive programs on a digital platform that reaches just a fraction of the network’s audience. The gambit...
Viacom’s MTV to Hire YouTube Stars for Reboot of ‘TRL’
Hollywood Reporter: MTV's "Total Request Live" reboot is adding two to its on-air team. Twin brothers Ethan and Grayson Dolan have joined "TRL" as correspondents as part of an overall deal with the Viacom-owned cable network. The Dolan twins rose to fame as digital...
Report: Social Media Influencer Industry is Big Business
CBS News: Beyoncé can earn $1 million for a sponsored social media post. Selena Gomez can earn more than half a million. But you don't have to be a household name to be a social media influencer. The influencer category is a $1 billion industry and it's projected to...
Essay: Amazon Poised to Eclipse Apple, Facebook, Google
Wall Street Journal: Amazon will come to dominate search, hardware and cloud computing, writes Scott Galloway, professor at NYU Stern School of Business. "Don't be misled" by the current successes of Apple, Facebook and Google. "They are falling behind as Amazon...
Time Inc Looks to Sell Assets Including British Magazines
Reuters: Time Inc said on Friday it was looking to sell several assets, including Time Inc UK, and warned it experienced more-than-anticipated softness in both print and advertising revenue. The publisher, which said in April that it would not sell itself, said...
Meredith: We’re Looking at Buying Assets in Print, Digital
Mr Magazine: Meredith president Tom Harty: "You're going to see us continue to make organic investments, especially in our digital products into next year. We’re also on the acquisition trail, and we’re looking for both organic growth, and we’re also looking at...
Hearst Content Chief Predicts Mags Will Become ‘Printier’
Business Insider: Joanna Coles, the chief content officer at Hearst, doesn't believe that print media is going to die. "Oh God no. I think print is going to get printier, I think it's going to get richer, and I think people are going to appreciate it more. ... There...
Analysis: Magazine Industry Faces Not-So-Glossy Future
New York Times: Magazines have sputtered for years, their monopoly on readers and advertising erased by Facebook, Google and more nimble online competitors. But editors and executives said the abrupt churn in the senior leadership ranks signaled that the romance of...
News Corp Execs See New London Play About Murdoch
Associated Press: A new play in London explores the roots of Rupert Murdoch's success and his divisiveness. “Ink” shows how Murdoch revolutionized British journalism at the end of the 1960s. Murdoch, now 86, has not been to see “Ink,” but many of his executives and...
Daily Mail Explores Sale of Free British Newspaper Metro
Financial Times: Metro, the Daily Mail and General Trust-owned daily free sheet for commuters that was once the disrupter of Fleet Street, is being lined up for a sale as the UK publisher reorganizes its sprawling portfolio to combat growing competition from online...
New York Times Appoints Windolf Editor of Media Desk
WWD: Jim Windolf has been appointed editor of The New York Times’ media desk. Windolf — editor of The Times’ Men’s Style section since February 2015 — was announced to the new post Friday afternoon. He begins his new role on Sept....
Tronc’s LA Times Exceeds 100,000 Digital Subscriptions
TheStreet: While The New York Times and The Washington Post, as well as The New Yorker and The Atlantic, have won the big Trump Bump digital subscription headlines in the first half of the year, the Los Angeles Times has quietly assumed the leadership in digital...
Study: Free Remains King as Newspapers Shun Paywalls
CJR: The majority of America’s largest newspapers continue to employ digital subscription strategies that prioritize traffic, ad revenues and promotion. Even as they’ve added paying web subscribers by the hundreds of thousands, daily newspapers have decisively...
Mashable Pursues Sale After Stake Talks End with Viacom
Wall Street Journal: Mashable, known for its mix of technology and pop-culture stories, has for months been looking to raise capital from a strategic investor but is now leaning toward an all-out sale. The new-media company has had extensive discussions with German...
Crain’s Advertising Age Unveils Major Overhaul, Rebrand
New York Post: This week, Advertising Age officially becomes Ad Age, marking a comprehensive print, digital and brand-extensions overhaul that editor Brian Braiker says will transform the publication from a mere trade to a bona fide cultural must-read. “Everything is...
Advertising Week New York Opens Amid Industry Change
New York Times: Marketers and advertising types will gather this week in New York — mostly in the Times Square area — for the annual industry event known as Advertising Week. Panels and presentations will aim to provide insights to an industry grappling with...
Disney: Should Media Giant Sell ABC and Go Full Stream?
Financial Times: If Disney wants to create a streaming service that can compete with Netflix and Amazon, bold action and selling ABC would fit the bill, writes Matthew Garrahan. "Some analysts believe that the growth of broadcast television has come to an end. If that...
Google’s YouTube Strategizes to Pull Ad Dollars from TV
Digiday: YouTube is hoping to pull from TV ad budgets by offering advertisers sponsorship and custom brand-integration opportunities for its growing slate of free-to-watch video series. The video site has been busy selling advertisers on sponsorships and brand...
Netflix, Hulu Cited Among Reasons Viewers Cut the Cord
TheStreet: Price isn't the main factor motivating consumers to cancel their pay-TV contracts, according to a study by Frank N. Magid Associates. The attractions of video-on-demand programming combined with a general decline in television watching among 18- to...
Fox Unveils New ‘TV Everywhere’ Experience in Web Redo
Hollywood Reporter: Fox has revamped its TV Everywhere experience ahead of the fall television season. The broadcaster has relaunched Fox.com to feature new and returning programming from across its networks, including Fox, FX and National Geographic....
CBS’s ‘Star Trek’ Digital Series to Debut Facing Challenges
New York Times: Space, in the “Star Trek” universe, may be an alluring and infinite frontier, but time is a much rarer and more vexing commodity. On this planet, swaths of time pass between installments of the “Star Trek” film franchise, and 12 years have elapsed...
Disney Names Chief to Oversee Europe, Middle East, Africa
World Screen: Rebecca Campbell, the president of the ABC Owned Television Station Group and ABC Daytime, will assume the role of president of Disney in Europe, Middle East and Africa. She succeeds Diego Lerner, who will return to his home in Buenos Aires and take on a...
Fox’s Murdoch Pays $29 Million for 45-Acre Home in Aspen
Wall Street Journal: Lachlan Murdoch has paid $29 million for a large equestrian property in Aspen. The Colorado home was first listed for $49 million in 2015, and the price dropped to $44 million in...
Comcast’s NBC Touts Megyn Kelly’s Softer Side for Debut
Variety: As NBC prepares to launch a new morning show led by the much-scrutinized Megyn Kelly, it has unleashed a promotional salvo that speaks less about her news chops and instead tries to unveil other facets of her...
Fox News Expands Lineup with Live 11 pm Show ‘@ Night’
Los Angeles Times: Fox News is expanding its program lineup with a new live 11 p.m. ET broadcast anchored by Shannon Bream. Fox announced that it plans to launch “Fox News @ Night” on Oct. 30, the same night the cable news channel is kicking off its new prime-time...
Comcast’s MSNBC Meltdown Video Leaked for ‘Retaliation’
New York Post: TV insiders believe that senior NBC staffers leaked the instantly infamous tape of Lawrence O’Donnell’s meltdown in retaliation for his antics during contract negotiations this spring. O’Donnell angered NBC honcho Andy Lack in May by tweeting to fans...
Vice Video Workers Unionize Amid Push to Organize Digital
Wall Street Journal: Organized labor has announced a significant victory in its push into digital media with the completion of a drive to unionize hundreds of writers and production staff working on video and television content at Vice...