Conde Nast Elevates Anna Wintour in Big Shake-Up
New York Times: As part of a larger revamping, Conde Nast announced that Anna Wintour will have a pair of new titles — worldwide chief content officer and global editorial director of Vogue — giving her final say over publications in more than 30 markets around the...
Hearst Folds Ad Firm iCrossing Into Magazines Unit
Business Insider: Hearst plans to quietly fold digital marketing agency iCrossing into the rest of its magazine operation. Hearst acquired iCrossing for around $325 million in 2010 as print advertising was dropping and publishers were looking for new revenue streams,...
Penske to Restructure Rolling Stone, Billboard, Vibe
Axios: Penske Media Corp plans to merge the back end functions of three of the top music news publishers in the US. Over the past few years, PMC chief Jay Penske has quietly amassed more than 20 titles for his media empire across entertainment, music, fashion and...
Trusted Media Brands Thrives During the Pandemic
Mr Magazine: Bonnie Kintzer, CEO of Trusted Media Brands: "The magazine that is doing unbelievably well during this pandemic is Birds & Blooms. And that's been very cool to see. They've had a real boost. People are home and they're looking at their birds and their...
Gawker Veteran Drops Lawsuit Against Daily Beast
New York Post: An editor who got tapped to lead an ill-fated effort to revive Gawker last year has withdrawn a defamation suit against an ex-employee. Carson Griffith withdrew her complaint late last week against former underling Maya Kosoff, who Griffith alleges was...
Vox Media Eyes $100 Million in Revenue for Studios
Axios: Vox Media Studios, the video and audio production arm of Vox Media, plans to bring in $100 million in 2021 revenue while producing twice as many shows as 2020. Vox Media Studios, led by president Marty Moe and head of entertainment Chad Mumm, plans to double...
Survey: Publishers Predict Revenue Growth in 2021
Adweek: Despite ongoing hardships, the mood of media professionals is bordering on optimism, even as they realistically recognize that a rebound won't come until the middle of 2021. In particular, publishers who are able and willing to invest in their editorial teams...
Alphabet Eyes Flexible Work Week for Google Staff
New York Times: Google has pushed back the planned return to the office by a few months to September 2021. But even as it extends the remote work period for most of its staff, Google is laying out a series of proposed changes that may substantially alter how its...
Facebook, Twitter Among Tech in US Privacy Probe
Associated Press: Federal regulators are ordering Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, TikTok's parent and five other social media companies to provide detailed information on how they collect and use consumers' personal data and how their practices affect children and...
Netflix Girds for New Streaming War with Old Media
Bloomberg Opinion: Netflix dominates, but that may change in 2021 as Hollywood restarts productions with a focus on streaming content. Netflix should enjoy its lonely winter on top, because in 2021 the streaming wars are finally heating...
Disney: After Streaming, Now the Hard Part Begins
New York Post: Disney shares dipped more than 2 percent Monday after a Wall Street analyst cautioned that the company has a lot of work to do before it rebounds from the pandemic and its economic fallout. BMO analyst Daniel Salmon said streaming giant Netflix was his...
Comcast’s Sky Adds Amazon Prime Across Europe
Reuters: Pay-TV operator Sky has struck a deal with Amazon that will see the launch of Prime Video on its platforms across Europe, while Sky's NOW TV and Sky Ticket apps will also come to Amazon's Fire TV devices. Amazon Prime Video TV shows and movies will sit...
ViacomCBS Touts Worker Diversity with New Site
Variety: ViacomCBS launched a dedicated diversity and inclusion website that sheds light, for the first time, on the combined company's workforce demographics following the merger of Viacom and CBS. The portal is an effort to promote diverse hiring and long-term...
Comcast Confirms Peacock Paywall for ‘The Office’
Bloomberg: NBCUniversal confirmed plans to put "The Office" behind a paywall when the hit sitcom comes to Peacock next month, a bid to attract more paying customers to the fledgling streaming service. While the first two seasons will be free, customers will have to...
AT&T, Comcast News Channels Worry About Future
New York Times: CNN and MSNBC thrived during the Trump years, reaching new heights in ratings and revenue while devoting countless prime-time hours to criticizing a White House antagonist their viewers just could not quit. Now faced with a Trump-less future, their...
Discovery Adds BET Founder to Board of Directors
Deadline: Less than two weeks after unveiling its Discovery+ direct-to-consumer play, Discovery said Monday that it has appointed BET founder Robert L. Johnson to its board of directors. The move is effective January 1. Johnson was the founder and chairman of Black...
Disney-ABC TV Expat Joins New Youth-Sports App
TheWrap: After stepping down as the co-chair of Disney Media Networks last year, Ben Sherwood wasn't hurting for opportunities in Hollywood. But the longtime executive decided to tackle a project near and dear to his heart: coaching youth sports — with a tech and...
Pinterest Pays $22.5 Million to Settle Discrimination
Wall Street Journal: Pinterest agreed to pay $22.5 million to settle claims of gender discrimination and retaliation by former COO Francoise Brougher, as Silicon Valley grapples with growing pressure to address discrimination and diversity issues within its ranks....
ByteDance’s TikTok Kicks Out Blogger Perez Hilton
New York Times: Perez Hilton, the early gossip blogger turned media personality, has been permanently banned from TikTok for violating community guidelines. But Hilton believes it was pressure from TikTok's biggest stars that led to his ban, though the company...
DAZN Sells Sporting News to British Holding Group
Sportico: Sports streaming service DAZN has sold Sporting News, one of America's oldest sports publications, to British family office PAX Holdings. The sale continues DAZN's push to centralize its core business around live streaming. Terms of the deal were not...
News Corp Yanks Story in UK Tabloid After US Flap
TheWrap: On Monday, the Sun, a UK-based tabloid owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, pulled its version of a controversial story about a New York City paramedic with an OnlyFans account. The story originally ran on Saturday in the New York Post, also a News Corp...
New York Times Taps Magazine Veteran for Opinion
Talking Biz News: Siddhartha Mahanta has joined New York Times' Opinion as vertical editor for business, economics and technology. Most recently, Mahanta was managing editor of Rest of World, a digital magazine that covers tech, business and culture. He began his...
Los Angeles Times Top Editor Departs Amid Search
Los Angeles Times: The Los Angeles Times' leadership transition has accelerated with the departure of Norman Pearlstine, who served as executive editor for 2½ years. Pearlstine announced in October that he planned to retire, but the timetable for his exit had been...
Group Nine Media Eyes Acquisitions in Digital Media
Wall Street Journal: Group Nine Media, owner of websites such as The Dodo and NowThis, is considering using a blank-check company to acquire some of its competitors, as the digital-media sector continues to consolidate. It isn't clear which company or companies Group...
Vox Media Hints of Ambitious Multi-Platform Plans
Digiday: Vox Media publisher Melissa Bell: "We are going to produce simultaneously podcasts and TV shows when we know the idea is super strong. We're going to be starting to look into the OTT streaming platforms. So you'll see a lot of growth...
Apple Says Staff Won’t Return to Offices Until June
Bloomberg: Tim Cook has shared new details on Apple's plan to return to the office during a virtual town hall meeting with employees. The CEO said it "seems likely" that the majority of teams won’t be back before June 2021. Cook implied that the company’s success...
Facebook Says Staff Won’t Need Vaccine for Office
Daily Beast: Mark Zuckerberg has told tens of thousands of Facebook employees that they will not be required to get a coronavirus vaccine before returning to work in their offices. The issue came up during a company meeting when an employee asked about how the vaccine...
Microsoft Begins Testing Ads in LinkedIn ‘Stories’
Wall Street Journal: LinkedIn has begun testing advertisements within its fledgling "stories" format in the US and Canada as the Microsoft -owned professional networking platform seeks to boost ad revenue. Stories are ephemeral full-screen vertical videos, photos and...
Netflix Marketing Boss to Publish Memoir in 2022
Ad Age: Bozoma Saint John will publish a memoir in 2022. Titled "The Urgent Life," the Netflix chief marketing officer will tell the story of the photos of her husband that she took in his last few weeks and how loss taught her how to live life with urgency. The book...
Disney Enters League of Tech Giants on Streaming
Fast Company: MoffettNathanson said Disney stock should be seen as being in the same league as tech giants like Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, or Alphabet. "Given the meaningful opportunity ahead for Disney's streaming business, we believe the stock should be...