Journalists at Nine newspapers Sydney Morning Herald and the Age plan to strike during Olympics if their demands, including a higher pay rise, aren't met (Amanda Meade/The Guardian)

Mediagazer: Journalists at Nine newspapers Sydney Morning Herald and the Age plan to strike during Olympics if their demands, including a higher pay rise, aren't met (Amanda Meade/The Guardian)

Top News:

The Verge:

Daniel Ek says Spotify is working on a deluxe Spotify tier, costing around $17 to $18, that has “a lot more control, a lot higher quality across the board”— The saga of Spotify HiFi has many twists and turns. First announced over three years ago, the music service's higher …
Discussion: Billboard, Neowin, TechCrunch, Music Business Worldwide, 9to5Mac, The Media Leader, Digital Trends and RAIN News, more at Techmeme »

Discussion:

Sagar Naresh Bhavsar /
Neowin: Spotify confirms a Deluxe plan with higher audio quality and enhanced controls

Daniel Tencer /
Music Business Worldwide: Daniel Ek talks new Spotify ‘deluxe’ tier, price hikes, the company's relationship with the music business, and more on Q2 earnings call

Ryan Christoffel /
9to5Mac: Spotify in ‘early days’ of hi-fi audio plans that will bring subscription to nearly $20/month

Phil Nickinson /
Digital Trends: ‘A much better version of Spotify’ is coming, CEO says

RELATED:
Bloomberg: Spotify reports Q2 revenue up 20% YoY to €3.8B, MAUs up 14% YoY to 626M, subscribers up 12% YoY to 246M, above est., and €266M operating income; SPOT jumps 12%+

Discussion:
Music Ally, Simon Owens's Media Newsletter, Chris Walton on LinkedIn, The Information, @alexweprin, @thetranscript_, @sarafischer, @eldsjal, @natetharp@threads.net, @carnage4life@threads.net, Spotify, Neowin, Benzinga, MarketWatch, Wall Street Journal, Proactive, The Verge, Tech Xplore, Investor's Business Daily, Axios, Fast Company, Quartz, Billboard, Music Ally, The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline, The Wrap, Music Business Worldwide, Variety and Reuters

Discussion:

Stuart Dredge /
Music Ally: Daniel Ek signals plans for ‘a much better version of Spotify’

Chris Walton /
Chris Walton on LinkedIn: The latest chapter in the Spotify story is a positive one for the business: — subscriber numbers continue to grow, despite price rises …

Julia Hornstein /
The Information: Spotify Reports Record Revenue in Second Quarter

Alex Weprin /
@alexweprin: Pretty clear that Spotify is officially the Netflix of the music space. Everyone else is playing catch up. @thetranscript_: Spotify CEO @eldsjal: “We keep on innovating & showing that we aren't just a great product, but increasingly also a great business. We are doing so on a timeline that has exceeded even our own expectations” $SPOT: +15% Pre-Market More details: https://finchat.io/... [image]

Sara Fischer /
@sarafischer: Big, big quarter for @Spotify — Company posted record gross margin, profit and cash flow for Q2 — Music & pod margins increasing (pod biz soon expected profitable) — Ad biz still growing double digits despite macro slowdown — On track to hit gross margin goal ahead of schedule [image]

Daniel Ek /
@eldsjal: Q2 results are out and it was a strong quarter. Lots of reasons why it's such an exciting time for us. Here's a sneak peek, but I'll share more in a few minutes on our investor call. Congrats to the team and huge thanks to all the Spotify listeners around the world. [video]

Nate Tharp /
@natetharp@threads.net: It is kind of interesting how competing video streaming services have exclusive content libraries but we never got that with music streaming. I can understand why it didn't happen, but in hindsight it's a little surprising that none of the big music houses ever tried to create a competing streaming service.

Dare Obasanjo /
@carnage4life@threads.net: Between Spotify and Netflix, streaming services are looking like a winner-takes-all markets. Despite price increases, paying subscribers are up 12% to 246M users. This is 1M more than expected. The company also plans to add a $5 more expensive tier soon.

Anusuya Lahiri /
Benzinga: Spotify's Q2 Earnings: Revenue Grows 20% As Premium Revenue Surge Drives Higher Average Revenue Per User

Emily Jarvie /
Proactive: Spotify set to report profit turnaround for Q2

Jess Weatherbed /
The Verge: Spotify's growth continues its upward crawl.Monthly active users increased by 14 percent year-over-year to 626 million, but 5 million short of Spotify's expectations for the quarter.

Patrick Seitz /
Investor's Business Daily: Streaming Music Giant Spotify Beats Q2 Subscriber, Profit Targets

Sara Fischer /
Axios: Spotify posts record gross margin, profit and cash flow for Q2

Michael Grothaus /
Fast Company: Spotify stock price: SPOT soars ahead of price hikes; streaming giant sees double-digit growth

Rocio Fabbro /
Quartz: Spotify's price hikes didn't stop it from scoring more subscribers — and record profits

Elizabeth Dilts Marshall /
Billboard: Spotify's 7 Million New Subscribers Bumps Revenue Up 20%

Stuart Dredge /
Music Ally: Spotify posts record quarterly profit... but user growth misses guidance

Caitlin Huston /
The Hollywood Reporter: Spotify Beats Expectations for Paid Subscribers After Price Hikes to Hit 246M

Jill Goldsmith /
Deadline: Spotify Stock Pops On Quarterly Numbers As Music Streamer Adds Premium Subscribers, Lowers Costs

Natalie Korach /
The Wrap: Spotify Sees Record Profit in Q2 Following Subscription Price Hike and Layoffs

Murray Stassen /
Music Business Worldwide: Spotify subscriber base grew by 7m to 246m in Q2, as streaming company posts ‘record high’ quarterly profit

Todd Spangler /
Variety: Spotify Turns in Record Profit in Q2, Grows Premium Subscribers to 246 Million

The Hollywood Reporter:

YouTube Q2 ad revenue grew 13% YoY to $8.66B, vs. $8.93B est.; Google's subscriptions, platforms, and devices unit that includes YouTube TV had revenue of $9.3B— The Google-owned video platform still saw its ad haul rise by 13 percent compared to last year.

Discussion:

Peter Adams /
Marketing Dive: Google ad revenue resilient as company contends with cookie, AI transitions

Jennifer Elias /
CNBC: Alphabet meets earnings expectations but misses on YouTube ad revenue

Stuart Dredge /
Music Ally: YouTube ad revenues up 13% in Q2 but missed analyst estimates

Vinamrata Chaturvedi /
Quartz: The Nasdaq plunges 300 points as Google and Tesla earnings drag down stocks

Richard Speed /
The Register: Microsoft: Our licensing terms do not meaningfully raise cloud rivals' costs

Christian Grece /
Christian Grece on LinkedIn: From THR: — Even with overall video advertising market struggling, YouTube is still seeing its ad business grow. …

Matthew Keys /
The Desk: YouTube Q2 advertising revenue misses Wall Street estimates

John Callaham /
Neowin: Google parent company Alphabet brought in $84.74 billion in revenues for Q2 2024

Laurie Sullivan /
MediaPost: Alphabet Takes In $64.6B In Q2 Ad Revenue

Lucas Manfredi /
The Wrap: YouTube Ad Revenue Rises 13% to $8.66 Billion in Q2

Dade Hayes /
Deadline: YouTube Posted “Healthy Watch Time Growth” In Q2, Boosting Advertising Returns, Top Alphabet Exec Ruth Porat Says

Todd Spangler /
Variety: YouTube Q2 Ad Revenue Hits $8.66 Billion, up 13%, Short of Wall Street Expectations

Daniel Frankel /
Next TV: YouTube Ad Revenue Up 13% to $8.66 Billion in Q2

The Information:

Internal messages: Meta staff complained about Threads' algorithm limiting political posts, after the For You page was slow to show news of Biden dropping out— Shortly after Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential election Sunday, an employee at Meta Platforms posted in the company's internal forum …

Discussion:
@theinformation: Meta Employees Debate Merits of Threads' No-Politics Policy Meta staffers are questioning the company's policy of not promoting political content on Threads, as political chatter rises ahead of the election. https://www.theinformation.com/ ... From @SylviaVarnham and @KalleyHuang @georgescriban@threads.net: Threads can't divorce itself from Instagram's content moderation systems fast enough.

Kevin Kruse /
@kevinmkruse@threads.net: Threads deleted this post as hate speech and locked me out of my account for a day. If I just stop posting here for good someday, it's because they've done this again.

Drew Harwell /
@drewharwell@threads.net: Policy going as well as expected https://www.theinformation.com/ ...

Frida Ghitis /
@fridaghitis@threads.net: Biden's weekend earthquake could make Threads reconsider its light-on-politics policy: Threads' head of product Emily Dalton Smith, was dissatisfied with how Biden dropping out news didn't show up in her ‘for you’ page, thanks to the no politics be promoted policy

Katie Harbath /
@katieharbath@threads.net: 👀👀👀 https://www.theinformation.com/ ...

Hadas /
@_hadasgold@threads.net: The Information reports that Threads' head of product Emily Dalton Smith, was dissatisfied with how Biden dropping out news didn't show up in her ‘for you’ page, thanks to the no politics be promoted policy. “It feels broken that a topic overwhelming my following feed doesn't show up at all in [For You],” she said in an internal message. https://www.theinformation.com/ ...

Wall Street Journal:

Former Marvel chairman Ike Perlmutter, who backed Nelson Peltz in a failed proxy fight for two Disney board seats, sells his stake of nearly 26M Disney shares— Isaac “Ike” Perlmutter, the former Marvel Entertainment executive, who for the last decade and a half has been one of Disney's …

Discussion:
Variety, Gizmodo, Deadline, New York Post, The Hollywood Reporter and Reuters

Discussion:

Todd Spangler /
Variety: Marvel Ex-Chairman Ike Perlmutter Reportedly Sold His Entire Disney Stake for Nearly $3 Billion After Unsuccessful Board Fight

Sabina Graves /
Gizmodo: Former Marvel Entertainment Chairman Ike Perlmutter Finally Sells Disney Shares

Jill Goldsmith /
Deadline: Ike Perlmutter Has Sold His Entire Disney Stake

Alexandra Steigrad /
New York Post: Ike Perlmutter reportedly dumps entire Disney stake after proxy loss, expects stock to keep plunging

Caitlin Huston /
The Hollywood Reporter: Ike Perlmutter Sells Entire Stake in Disney After Proxy Fight

Reuters:

A Moscow court finds Russian journalist Mikhail Zygar guilty in absentia of distributing false information about the Russian army and sentences him to 8.5 years— A court in Moscow said on Tuesday it had found Russian journalist Mikhail Zygar guilty in absentia of knowingly distributing false information …

Discussion:
International Center … and Committee to Protect …

Discussion:

Sharon Moshavi /
International Center for Journalists: Exiled Journalists Provide Vital Reporting to Russian Audiences, Even As Kremlin Cracks Down Committee to Protect Journalists: Russia sentences journalist Mikhail Zygar to 8½ years in absentia on ‘fake’ news charges

RELATED:

Reuters:
The US calls on Russia to free Russian-American RFE/RL journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, who was jailed last week in what RFE/RL said was “a mockery of justice”

Discussion:

Ed Holt /
Inter Press Service: Rights Groups Demand Governments Protect Exiled Journalists, Dissidents @newshour@threads.net: After a trial shrouded in secrecy, Russian-American citizen and journalist Alsu Kurmasheva was convicted and sentenced for spreading “falsehoods about the Russian army.” Amna Nawaz spoke with Kurmasheva's husband and daughter. https://www.pbs.org/...

Ivan Nechepurenko /
TVNewsCheck: Russia Sentences Alsu Kurmasheva, American Editor, To A Penal Colony

Dasha Litvinova /
Associated Press: US-Russian journalist convicted in a rapid, secret trial, gets 6 1/2 years in prison, court says

TechCrunch:

Though the UK's ICO says it's “disappointed” with Google's not deprecating third-party cookies, the regulator has only weakly enforced data protection laws— In a material development that will likely have a big impact on online business models, Google is no longer proposing …

Discussion:
Street Fight, Beet.TV, @LukaszOlejnik@mastodon.social, Digital Trends, Digiday, Privacy Sandbox, Security, Privacy & …, AdExchanger, Bloomberg, Criteo, Neowin, @Privacymatters@mastodon …, MarTech, RTÉ, Gizmodo, Press Gazette, Inside Radio, Electronic Frontier Foundation, The Register, The Verge, Reuters, Axios, W Media Research, The Drum, The Media Leader, Adweek, MediaPost and 9to5Google

Discussion:

George Wolf /
Street Fight: Google's Privacy Shift: Balancing User Privacy, Ad Utility, and Industry Concerns

Robert Andrews /
Beet.TV: Beyond Hyper-Personalization: Digitas' Nadeau On Finding A Role For Cookies And IDs

Lukasz Olejnik /
@LukaszOlejnik@mastodon.social: My comment in TechCrunch about Google's gambit to offer users a choice to be tracked with third-party cookies. A third way to satisfy regulatora and parts of AdTech? — Welcome to privacy strategy chess. https://techcrunch.com/... [images]

Kayleigh Barber /
Digiday: Why Google's cookie deprecation reversal isn't actually a reprieve for publishers

Anthony Chavez /
Privacy Sandbox: A new path for Privacy Sandbox on the web

Allison Schiff /
AdExchanger: What Does Google's Plan To Keep Cookies Mean For Its Relationship With Regulators?

John Callaham /
Neowin: Google does a 180 as it will keep supporting third party cookies in Chrome after all @Privacymatters@mastodon.social: @riptari 🔥 “The [@ICOnews] has been infamously weak at standing up to tracking by the ads industry, despite the regulator's public acknowledgement (since 2019) that cookie-based tracking and profiling violates privacy laws.” 👏 (ICO did take the IAB for dinner though) …

Kim Davis /
MarTech: Google's Privacy Sandbox: What you need to know

Matt Novak /
Gizmodo: Google Won't Kill Third-Party Cookies After All

Dominic Ponsford /
Press Gazette: Google scraps plan to ditch cookies on Chrome

Lena Cohen /
Electronic Frontier Foundation: Why Privacy Badger Opts You Out of Google's “Privacy Sandbox”

Thomas Claburn /
The Register: Google's plan to drop third-party cookies in Chrome crumbles

Richard Lawler /
The Verge: Google's plan to turn off third-party cookies in Chrome is dying

Kendra Barnett /
The Drum: UK data privacy regulators ‘disappointed’ in Google's decision to keep third-party cookies

Sabrina Quagliozzi /
The Media Leader: Google backtracks on killing third-party cookies, focuses on user choice

Laurie Sullivan /
MediaPost: Google To Keep Cookies

Deadline:

France's Arcom regulator will not renew the TNT frequencies of Canal+ Group's controversial channel C8, which was fined €7.6M for lack of political plurality— Controversial French free-to-air channel C8, a subsidiary of Vivendi's Canal Plus Group, is set to lose its TNT frequency …

Discussion:
Variety, Reporters Without Borders and GB News

Discussion:

Elsa Keslassy /
Variety: Canal+ Group's French Channel C8, Which Airs Controversial Talk Show, to Be Discontinued by Broadcasting Regulatory Body Reporters Without Borders: French broadcast regulator makes bold TV licensing decision — but more must be done

The Guardian:

Some of News Corp's most experienced journalists in Australia, including Sue Dunlevy, have been made redundant, as the outlet cuts its national reporting team— Murdoch's Australian arm has quietly slashed tens of millions of dollars in costs to counter a slow advertising market and loss of revenue from Meta deal

Discussion:
@mark_melbin@mastodon.online

The Guardian:

Journalists at Nine newspapers Sydney Morning Herald and the Age plan to strike during Olympics if their demands, including a higher pay rise, aren't met— Reporters will walk off job from Friday - affecting Paris Games coverage - unless union demands are met during Wednesday afternoon meeting

Discussion:
Sydney Morning Herald and Australian Financial Review

Discussion:

Marta Pascual Juanola /
Sydney Morning Herald: Nine CEO carries Olympic torch as journalists' strike looms

The Guardian:

BBC reports UK households paying the £169.50 licence fee fell by 500K to 23.9M in 2023/2024; 69% of Britons under 16 consume any BBC content in an average week— Corporation faces stark challenge as it struggles to reach younger audiences who are watching Netflix and YouTube

Discussion:
Alex Blundell Jones on LinkedIn, The Sun, Financial Times, The Business Times and GB News

Discussion:

Alex Blundell Jones /
Alex Blundell Jones on LinkedIn: *Disclaimer* This article is not about Cookies/Google , I would argue more interesting and something the consumers of the UK will actually relate to and care about! …

Jonathan Rose /
The Sun: Half a MILLION households cancelled BBC licence fee in the past year - preferring Netflix and YouTube instead

Daniel Thomas /
Financial Times: BBC plans 500 job cuts in push for more cost savings

The Verge:

Twitch introduces new policy and moderation updates to curb sexual harassment, including making its policy “easier to understand” and adding moderation tools— Twitch has introduced new policy and moderation updates that aim to help curb sexual harassment.

Financial Times:

The EU raises concerns over the independence of Italy's public broadcaster Rai after budget cuts and alleged “intimidation” by Giorgia Meloni's government— European Commission raises alarm over independence of public broadcaster Rai after budget cuts and ‘intimidation’

Discussion:
The Guardian and Agenzia ANSA

Discussion:

Jennifer Rankin /
The Guardian: Freedom safeguards for Italy's public service media ‘urgently needed’

City A.M.:

LADbible owner LBG Media reports H1 2024 revenue up 55% YoY to £42.3M, adjusted earnings up 240% YoY to £10.2M, and a global audience of 493M; LBG jumps 11%+— Shares in LBG Media soared 12 per cent after the company behind popular entertainment channel LAD Bible posted strong revenue …

Discussion:
LBG Media

The Hollywood Reporter:

Comcast reports Peacock Q2 revenue up 28% YoY to $1B, and a $348M loss, down from $651M in Q2 2023; paying subs were up 38% YoY to 33M but down from 33.5M in Q1— Comcast and its entertainment unit NBCUniversal report second-quarter results, including the “best year-over-year improvement” …

Discussion:

Andrew Bucholtz /
Awful Announcing: Peacock lost 500,000 subscribers in Q2, increasing focus on Olympics coverage and price hikes

Alex Weprin /
@alexweprin: Comcast CEO Brian Roberts indicated to Wall St today that his company is not interested in buying WBD. “Instead of engaging in a process to buy content companies, we are focused primarily on organic opportunities like the NBA...” https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/ ...

Lucas Manfredi /
The Wrap: Peacock Sheds 500,000 Subscribers, Comcast Earnings Dragged Down by Revenue Drop at Studios and Parks

Wayne Friedman /
MediaPost: NBCU Posts Mixed Q2 Results, Peacock Cuts Losses

Martin Peers /
The Information: Peacock's Losses Fall Sharply

James Guttman /
Cord Cutters News: Peacock's Subscriber Decline Amidst Revenue Growth: A Mixed Quarter for NBCUniversal

Matthew Keys /
The Desk: Peacock subscriptions slide to 33 million in Q2

David Satin /
The Streamable: Peacock Loses 500,000 Subscribers, But Boosts Revenue and Continues to Narrow Losses

Erik Gruenwedel /
Media Play News: Peacock Loses 1 Million Q2 Subscribers, Cuts Fiscal Loss Nearly 50%

Jon Lafayette /
Next TV: Comcast Earnings Dip Despite Trimming Losses at Peacock

Dade Hayes /
Deadline: Comcast Q2 Revenue Dips On Studio And Theme Park Wobbles; Peacock Sheds 500K Subscribers But Trims Losses And Hits $1B In Revenue

Brian Steinberg /
Variety: Comcast Q2 Upset by Shortfalls at Theme Parks, Movie Studios

Bloomberg:
A look at Comcast's bet on the Paris Olympics, which executives hope will greatly elevate Peacock against Netflix and Disney+; Peacock has exclusive US rights

RELATED:

Deadline:
Comcast President Mike Cavanagh says NBCUniversal expects an 11-year rights deal with the NBA, starting with the 2025-26 season, will be announced “soon”

Discussion:
Variety, TVNewsCheck, The Hollywood Reporter, Reuters, Sportico, Next TV and The Wrap

Discussion:

Brian Steinberg /
Variety: Comcast Says NBC Has 11-Year Deal in Place With NBA

Jon Lafayette /
TVNewsCheck: Comcast's Mike Cavanagh Expects NBA Deal To Score With Advertising & Subscription Revenue

Alex Weprin /
The Hollywood Reporter: Comcast President Touts NBA Rights: Will Put “Weight of Our Entire Company” Behind Deal

Deborah Sophia /
Reuters: Comcast expects to carry 100 NBA games each season in new broadcast rights deal

Anthony Crupi /
Sportico: Comcast Heralds NBA's Return to NBC as TNT Drama Unfolds

Jon Lafayette /