Ofcom publishes an open letter to social media platforms raising concerns about the use of their tools to incite violence, following days of rioting in the UK (Natasha Lomas/TechCrunch)

Mediagazer: Ofcom publishes an open letter to social media platforms raising concerns about the use of their tools to incite violence, following days of rioting in the UK (Natasha Lomas/TechCrunch)

Top News:

The Verge:

Disney CEO Bob Iger says the company's password sharing crackdown will kick off “in earnest” in September, after announcing paid sharing in February 2024— Disney Plus will soon no longer let you share your password with people outside your household.
Discussion: Business Insider, Wired, PhoneArena, TVNewsCheck, TechRadar, 9to5Mac, @2xaught7.bsky.social, Deadline, Digital Trends, @billbrasky2620 and BGR, more at Techmeme »

Discussion:

Lauren Edmonds /
Business Insider: Disney's full crackdown on password sharing is coming

Angela Watercutter /
Wired: A Disney+ Password-Sharing Crackdown Is Coming in September

Tom Power /
TechRadar: The Disney Plus password crackdown is coming in September, and I'm fed up of streaming services taking me for a ride

Dade Hayes /
Deadline: Bob Iger On ESPN Partnership Talks, “Tremendous Value” In NBA Rights Extension Despite Price Tag

Phil Nickinson /
Digital Trends: Disney's password-sharing crackdown goes big in September

Bill Brasky /
@billbrasky2620: Disney+ finally went into profit, but boy did they have to suffer through a lot of bad PR to get there.

RELATED:

Variety:

Disney reports Q3 revenue up 4% YoY to $23.2B, operating income up 19% YoY to $4.2B, DTC revenue up 15% YoY to $6.4B, and a $47M DTC profit as Disney+ grows— Company warns weak theme park demand could extend into the ‘next few quarters’ … That said, there were some mixed emotions …

Discussion:

Alex Weprin /
The Hollywood Reporter: Disney Turns a Profit in Streaming as Entertainment Income Soars Business Wire: The Walt Disney Company Reports Third Quarter and Nine Months Earnings for Fiscal 2024

Brendan Schema /
@brendanschema: $DIS Disney's combined streaming business turned a profit this quarter - with the help of ESPN+. Interestingly in the previous quarter, ESPN+ was a drag on streaming profitability. Q2: ($19m) combined streaming loss Q3: $47m combined streaming profit @scottgustin: NEW: Disney's overall streaming business turned a profit for the first time - but the parks segment income slipped 3% (YOY) due to “moderation of consumer demand” that exceeded the company's expectations. Disney says weak Q3 demand could hurt results for “the next few quarters.” [image]

Erik Gruenwedel /
Media Play News: Disney Posts First-Ever DTC Streaming Profit Despite Mixed Q3 Subscriber Results

Jill Goldsmith /
Deadline: Ka-ching! Disney Turns Streaming Profit For First Time And Ahead Of Schedule

Alex Sherman /
@sherman4949: Disney says it is still having conversations with strategic partners for ESPN. These conversations have been going on for more a year now.

Alex Sherman /
@sherman4949: Disney CEO Bob Iger says the Disney streaming password sharing crackdown will begin in earnest in September.

Tony Maglio /
IndieWire: Disney Finally Turns a Profit at Streaming

Peter Kafka /
@pkafka: “The good news is the Olympics are over in a couple weeks” says Disney CFO. (Disneyland Paris business has been slow, which Disney blames on the games.)

CNBC:

Disney reports Disney+ Core subscribers up 1% YoY to 118.3M and its combined streaming business turned a profit, a first, but without ESPN+ reported a $19M loss— WATCH NOW — Disney reported its fiscal third-quarter earnings Wednesday, topping analyst estimates as its combined streaming …

Discussion:
AdExchanger, Adweek, CNBC, Business Insider, Yahoo Finance, UPI, Front Office Sports, The Wrap and The Verge

Discussion:

Alyssa Boyle /
AdExchanger: ESPN Is Making Disney+ Profitable

Mark Stenberg /
Adweek: Disney Streaming Turns First Profit, Driven By Ad Growth and ESPN+

Alex Sherman /
CNBC: In a reversal, Disney's media assets are starting to generate more excitement than its parks

Tom Carter /
Business Insider: Disney's theme parks are struggling, and it's another warning sign for the economy

Alexandra Canal /
Yahoo Finance: Disney earnings: Streaming unit turns first profit while parks business lags

Jessica Inman /
UPI: Disney streaming services become profitable for first time

David Rumsey /
Front Office Sports: ESPN+ Leads Disney's Streaming to First-Time Profit Despite High Costs

Lucas Manfredi /
The Wrap: Disney Swings to First-Ever Combined Streaming Profit of $47 Million in Q3

Variety:
Disney says the “outcome of the Hulu deal arbitration is uncertain” and it might have to pay up to $5B more to complete the buyout of NBCUniversal's 33% stake

Discussion:
Reuters, Next TV, Chris Heatherly on LinkedIn, @tvgrimreaper, Deadline, The Wrap and The Information

Discussion:

Daniel Frankel /
Next TV: Disney Could Owe an Additional $5 Billion for Hulu if 3rd-Party Appraisal Jibes with NBCU's Valuation

Chris Heatherly /
Chris Heatherly on LinkedIn: Big bet. Disney is banking on the bundle reducing churn considerably and making them into the next Netflix. … @tvgrimreaper: We're approaching the one year anniversary of the start of this process (October). Imagine the investment banker's fees! [image]

Jill Goldsmith /
Deadline: No Surprise, Disney & NBCUniversal Disagree On Hulu Valuation With $5 Billion In The Balance

Lucas Manfredi /
The Wrap: Disney Could Pay Up to $5 Billion More for Comcast's Hulu Stake

New York Times:

The NYT reports adding 300K digital subscribers in Q2, for 10.8M in total, and digital ad revenue up 7.8% YoY to $79.6M; The Athletic losses fell to $2.4M— The publisher added about 300,000 digital subscribers in the latest quarter, and now has more than 10.8 million subscribers.

Discussion:

Simon Owens /
@simondowens@threads.net: The New York Times keeps adding more subscribers in a single quarter than 99% of publications do through the entire lifetime of their digital subscription products. — https://www.nytimes.com/...

Katie Robertson /
@katie_robertson: New: The New York Times added another 300,000 subscribers in the last quarter, now has almost 11 million total https://www.nytimes.com/...

Peter Kafka /
@pkafka: The New York Times has spent $3 million in legal fees suing Microsoft and OpenAI this year. For context: last year the paper earned $232 million in profits.

Natalie Korach /
The Wrap: The New York Times Adds 300,000 Digital Subs in Q2 as Total Revenues Rise 6% to $625 Million

Noah Kulwin /
@nkulw: Monopolist paper that killed the competition and is rearranging its innards to be more stupid and facile all the time

Claudio E. Cabrera /
Claudio E. Cabrera on LinkedIn: A few highlights but starting off with my beloved The Athletic: — Revenue at The Athletic grew to $40.5m which is up 33% from last year. …

Shannon Busta Riches /
Shannon Busta Riches on LinkedIn: Delighted to see The New York Times finding continued success in such a turbulent media landscape. Nearly half of our 10.8 million subscribers …

RELATED:
The New York Times Company: The NYT reports Q2 revenue up 5.8% YoY to $625.1M, subscription revenue up 7.3% YoY to $439.3M, and operating profit up 13.6% YoY to $104.7M

Discussion:
Nieman Lab and @tvgrimreaper

TechCrunch:

Ofcom publishes an open letter to social media platforms raising concerns about the use of their tools to incite violence, following days of rioting in the UK— The U.K.'s internet regulator, Ofcom, has published an open letter to social media platforms raising concerns about the use of their tools being used to incite violence.

Discussion:
Financial Times, ofcom.org.uk, Reuters, New York Times, Bloomberg, Wired and Bloomberg, more at Techmeme »

Discussion:

Gill Whitehead /
ofcom.org.uk: Open letter to UK online service providers

Martin Coulter /
Reuters: Musk stirs UK divisions, sparks calls for faster rollout of online safety laws

New York Times:

Netflix is filming three documentary projects at the Paris Olympics, focusing on running, gymnastics, and basketball, as the streamer grows into sports content— New seasons of documentaries about running, gymnastics and basketball are being filmed this summer as part of a partnership with the International Olympic Committee.

Wired:

NBC's fragmented-yet-seamless coverage of the 2024 Paris Olympics, offering live events on Peacock plus primetime recaps, leads to strong viewership numbers— With a big assist from Peacock, the 2024 Summer Olympics broadcast is fragmented in all the right ways.

Discussion:

Richard Deitsch /
New York Times: Will Snoop Dogg return to NBC for future Olympics? 'I think we'd be really thrilled'

Abby Marks /
Abby Marks on LinkedIn: Beyond amazed with what the entire NBCUniversal Peacock and Comcast organization has put together across every Olympics touchpoint, that includes TODAY …

Jason Weitzel /
Jason Weitzel on LinkedIn: What an incredible three weeks for Peacock. The Olympics are a defining moment for the platform and suddenly there's focus on all Peacock has to offer. …

Derin Basden /
Derin Basden on LinkedIn: Yet another stellar review of the Olympics on Peacock, this time from Wired. Never thought the work I directly worked on would be called …

Peter Sblendorio /
New York Daily News: NBC would be ‘really thrilled’ to have Snoop Dogg back for future Olympics

TechCrunch:

Meta says Facebook creators who violate Community Standards for the first time will be given the option to take a training course to remove their warning— Facebook creators are being given a new option that will help them avoid jail — “Facebook jail,” that is — upon their first violation, and at various times after.

Discussion:
Facebook for Creators, Engadget and @michaelbishop.me

Discussion:

Karissa Bell /
Engadget: Facebook will let creators remove account warnings if they complete ‘educational training’

Michael Bishop /
@michaelbishop.me: driving school for Facebook [embedded post]

The Verge:

Instagram is making views the primary metric across all of its formats, letting creators track the same metric across Reels, Stories, photos, and more— Instagram is making “views” the primary metric across all of its formats, meaning that creators will be able to track the same metric across Reels, Stories, photos, and more.

TechCrunch:

Reddit says it plans to test AI-powered search result pages later in 2024, using a combination of first-party and third-party tech to power the feature— Reddit users will soon see AI-generated summaries at the top of search results. — Reddit co-founder and CEO Steve Huffman told investors during …

Discussion:
PhoneArena, 9to5Mac, Reddit, Inc., @karissabe@threads.net and Engadget, more at Techmeme »

Discussion:

Tsveta Ermenkova /
PhoneArena: Reddit to experiment with AI-powered search results and paid subreddits

Ben Lovejoy /
9to5Mac: Some subreddits could be paywalled, hints Reddit CEO

Karissa /
@karissabe@threads.net: On reddit's earnings call just now, Steve Huffman says the company will begin testing new AI-powered search results later this year. “Later this year, we will begin testing new search result pages powered by AI to summarize and recommend content, helping users dive deeper into product, shows, games and discover new communities on Reddit.”

Karissa Bell /
Engadget: Reddit CEO teases AI search features and paid subreddits

RELATED:

CNBC:
Reddit reports Q2 revenue up 54% YoY to $281.2M, vs. $254M est., Daily Active Uniques up 51% YoY to 91.2M, and net loss down from $41.1M in Q2 2023 to $10.1M

Discussion:
Quartz, The Media Leader, AdExchanger, @jonathan_vanian_1@threads.net, Gordy H. on LinkedIn, The Information, Reuters and Bloomberg

Discussion:

Sabrina Quagliozzi /
The Media Leader: Reddit's ad revenue fuels earnings beat

Anthony Vargas /
AdExchanger: Reddit's Ads Biz Is Surging, But It's Still The Runt Of The Social Media Litter @jonathan_vanian_1@threads.net: Reddit COO Jen Wong says Ad market is “stable.” But, “there are real election jitters. We did see some pauses in the UK around the [recent] election. We saw pauses around times of Trump rally shooting. So I think there's a lot of caution. …

Gordy H. /
Gordy H. on LinkedIn: Reddit, Inc. announced Q2 Earnings today and the results were stellar! 🚀 — Highlights Include: —Both users and revenue grew over 50% …

Martin Peers /
The Information: Reddit Reports 54% Revenue Growth in Q2

Press Gazette:

GB News says it now has 10,000 paying members, after soft launching its membership scheme with £5, £10, or £20 per month tiers in November 2023— More than 10,000 people have signed up as paying members of GB News, according to the broadcaster.

Deadline:

Sony Pictures reports Q1 revenue down 7% YoY to $2.2B and operating income down 36% YoY to $73M, despite strong movie debuts and streaming subscriber growth— Sony Pictures Entertainment posted first quarter operating income of $73M, down over 36% year-on-year on a U.S. dollar basis.

Discussion:
CNBC, The Wrap, Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg, more at Techmeme »

Discussion:

Kosaku Narioka /
Wall Street Journal: Sony Boosts Guidance as Profit Rises on Strength of Game, Music, Sensor Businesses

CNBC:

Sony says the company has no plans to submit a revised offer for Paramount Global as the deal “does not fit well with our strategy”— Sony's finance chief on Wednesday said the Japanese technology and media giant will not reconsider a fresh bid for film and TV production group Paramount Global.

Discussion:
New York Post, The Wrap, Variety and The Hollywood Reporter

Discussion:

Ariel Zilber /
New York Post: Sony says it won't submit another bid for Paramount: ‘Does not fit well with our strategy’

Lucas Manfredi /
The Wrap: Sony Won't Submit Counter Bid for Paramount Global

Todd Spangler /
Variety: Sony Officially Says It Won't Bid for Paramount Global to Counter Skydance Deal

Wall Street Journal:

Sources: the NBA's deal with Amazon has several provisions that WBD can't match, including promotion of the NBA during Amazon's NFL streaming telecasts— League's media deal with tech giant included provisions Warner couldn't match, setting stage for legal fight

Discussion:
TVNewsCheck, Sports Media Watch and USA Today

Discussion:

Blake Schuster /
USA Today: Charles Barkley won't retire from TV after all, because of course he never was going to

RELATED:

Variety:
Charles Barkley, a mainstay of TNT's Inside the NBA, reverses plans to retire and says he will keep working with WBD, which is fighting to keep NBA media rights

Discussion:
The Desk, Pressroom, Fox News, Brian Steinberg on LinkedIn, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Awful Announcing, USA Today, New York Times, Sportico, CNN, Deadline, Associated Press, Awful Announcing, TVLine, Front Office Sports, New York Post, The Wrap, CNBC, Barrett Media, New York Daily News and The Hollywood Reporter

Discussion:

Matthew Keys /
The Desk: TNT keeping Charles Barkely, getting Savannah Bananas games Fox News: Charles Barkley reverses retirement decision, vows to stay with TNT long-term: ‘This is the only place for me’

Brian Steinberg /
Brian Steinberg on LinkedIn: NEW: Charles Barkley backs off retirement plans, says he will stay with Warner Bros. Discovery and looks beyond looming loss of NBA rights.... …

Andrew Marchand /
New York Times: The eye-popping $77 billion haul that shook up the NBA landscape — and the future of media

Chuck Schilken /
Los Angeles Times: Charles Barkley isn't retiring or joining another network. TNT ‘is the only place’ for him

Mike D. Sykes /
USA Today: 5 things (NHL!) Charles Barkley can still do with TNT when Inside the NBA leaves the network

Andrew Marchand /
New York Times: Charles Barkley not retiring, staying with TNT Sports long term: ‘This is the only place for me’

Jason Clinkscales /
Sportico: Charles Barkley ‘Reaffirms’ Long-Term Commitment to WBD

Liam Reilly /
CNN: Charles Barkley cancels his retirement plans, says he'll stay with TNT Sports for long term

Nellie Andreeva /
Deadline: Charles Barkley Will Stay With TNT Sports “For Years To Come” In Retirement Plans Reversal

Ben Axelrod /
Awful Announcing: Charles Barkley cancels retirement to remain with TNT Sports long-term

Dave Nemetz /
TVLine: Charles Barkley Walks Back Retirement Decision as Warner Bros. Discovery Fights to Retain NBA Games

Michael McCarthy /
Front Office Sports: Charles Barkley Un-Retires From TV, Says He's Staying With TNT

Ryan Glasspiegel /
New York Post: Charles Barkley does about-face on TV retirement with TNT commitment

Lucas Manfredi /
The Wrap: Charles Barkley Cancels Retirement, Commits to TNT Sports for ‘Years to Come’

Alex Sherman /
CNBC: Charles Barkley commits to staying at Warner Bros. Discovery's TNT Sports no matter what happens to NBA

Peter Sblendorio /