San Diego's Comic-Con, from July 25-July 28, is expected to draw more than 130,000, after back-to-back pandemic cancellations and the SAG-AFTRA strike (Adam B. Vary/Variety)

Mediagazer: San Diego's Comic-Con, from July 25-July 28, is expected to draw more than 130,000, after back-to-back pandemic cancellations and the SAG-AFTRA strike (Adam B. Vary/Variety)

Top News:

Bloomberg:

Informa agrees to buy Ascential, the owner of the Cannes Lions and Money20/20 conferences, for ~£1.2B in cash, or £5.68/share, a 53% premium on Monday's close— Informa Plc has agreed to buy Ascential Plc, the owner of the Money20/20 and Cannes Lions conferences …
Discussion: Reuters, MediaPost, PRWeek, MediaPost, Press Gazette, Nagib A. on LinkedIn, City A.M., Financial Times and Reuters

Discussion:

Paul Sandle /
Reuters: Informa to buy Cannes Lions owner Ascential for $1.6 bln

Joe Mandese /
MediaPost: Cannes Lions Operator Ascential Weighing $1.5B Bid

Joe Mandese /
MediaPost: Ascential, Informa Agree To Pay Shareholders Cash Dividend On Hudson MX Sale

Charlotte Tobitt /
Press Gazette: Informa to buy Cannes Lions owner Ascential as it reveals price of AI deals

Nagib A. /
Nagib A. on LinkedIn: Congratulations to the Informa team on its £1.2 billion recommended public offer for Ascential plc, which includes the world class Cannes Lions event to add to its global B2B platform. …

Raechel Thankam Job /
Reuters: UK's Ascential weighs $1.5 billion buyout offer from Informa

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

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

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

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

Vinamrata Chaturvedi /
Quartz: Nasdaq is down 600 points, heading for the worst day of the year due to disappointing Google and Tesla earnings

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

404 Media:

Reddit appears to be blocking search engines that don't rely on Google's indexing; Bing, DuckDuckGo, and others are not showing recent results from Reddit— DuckDuckGo, Bing, Mojeek, and other search engines are not returning full Reddit results any more.

Discussion:

Luke Larsen /
Digital Trends: Google just gained exclusive access to Reddit

Pranesh Prakash /
@pranesh: I had predicted this last year itself. It's foolish to think you can have exclusive licensing of content for “AI” without that harming #competition (and #FOSS) and encouraging oligopolies. That's the very purpose of exclusivity! @vxunderground: .@404mediaco is reporting Reddit is blocking ALL search engine crawls EXCEPT Google - which is currently paying $60,000,000/year for the right to scrape Reddit for AI training data. More information: https://www.404media.co/...

Aram Zucker-Scharff /
@chronotope: This is shitty and monopolistic of Google. In a way tho it is extremely exciting because it means that Google feels threatened in the one area it seemed to have a full lock on dominance. Alternative Search engines have become popular enough to cause Google to freak out like this.

Ori Zilbershtein /
@orizilbershtein: Timeline: - Google boosts Reddit in search by over 400% - Google announces a 60M deal with Reddit right after - Reddit announces it seeks to go public 48-72 hours after - Reddit blocks all scraping for competition search engines shortly after 👏Anti 👏Competitive👏Behavior

Emanuel Maiberg /
@emanuelmaiberg: AI is causing the internet the lock down. Reddit is blocking all search engines from crawling the site, except Google, which is paying Reddit $60 million a year to scrape it for training data https://www.404media.co/...

Megan Gray /
@megangra: Surprised that this hasn't generated anticompetitive complaints Google's Exclusive Reddit Access Google (is now the only search engine that can surface results from Reddit (well also Kagi) https://www.404media.co/...

Daniel Hanley /
@danielahanley: Exclusive deals like this one should be banned. Google could have paid Reddit for access, and Reddit could have offered those same terms to others. But Google is using a similar trick it has used with Apple: the company uses its financial firepower to knee cap its rivals.

Adam Demasi /
@hbkirb: This is shitty on Reddit's part. It makes complete sense now why they've been blocking my server. All Reddit links on The Apple Wiki have an archive. org link next to it, because every link seems “dead”. In fact, Reddit is blocking my server from confirming it's “up”.

Joseph Cox /
@josephfcox: New from 404 Media: Google is now the only search engine that works on Reddit thanks to its AI deal. Try to search for Reddit results with Bing, DuckDuckGo, or a bunch of others you won't get full results. Further monopoly on valuable information https://www.404media.co/...

Rani Molla /
Sherwood News: Google spent a mere $60 million to build the most important moat in search right now

Ryan Orban /
@ryanorban: I use DuckDuckGo and like many will add ‘Reddit’ to the end of a query if I'm looking for real product reviews, comparisons, etc. That stopped working a few weeks ago and now I know why!

Will Shanklin /
Engadget: Search engines that don't pay up can't index Reddit content

Emma Roth /
The Verge: Reddit is now blocking major search engines and AI bots — except the ones that pay

Tushar Mehta /
@thetymonbay: We know Reddit's owners are crap. But this is Google just sitting on top of yet another anti-competition lawsuit. Great reporting as always by @404mediaco https://www.404media.co/...

Berserk Du Soleil /
@aetataureate@gamedev.lgbt: wow — this is wild. reddit has deindexed itself from all search engines but google, in an effort to both stop AI scraping and force search engines to pay — https://www.404media.co/...

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:

Dylan Smith /
Digital Music News: Get Ready for ‘Spotify Deluxe’ — Daniel Ek Confirms $18-Per-Month Plan Offering ‘A Much Better Version of Spotify’

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

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 …

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

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.

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

Variety:

San Diego's Comic-Con, from July 25-July 28, is expected to draw more than 130,000, after back-to-back pandemic cancellations and the SAG-AFTRA strike— Last year, the organizers of San Diego Comic- Con were eager to put on their annual event sans pandemic cancellations or COVID protocols …

Discussion:
Forbes, @variety, AV Club and San Diego Union-Tribune

Discussion:

Rob Salkowitz /
Forbes: San Diego Comic-Con 2024: Hollywood Is Back, Baby! @variety: DC Studios is largely sitting out this year's Comic-Con as co-studio chief James Gunn couldn't fit in an appearance between his directing duties on “Superman” and “Peacemaker” Season 2. But an insider says DC Studios still plans to break some news. https://variety.com/...

Drew Gillis /
AV Club: Welcome to San Diego Comic-Con 2024

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/ ...

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, Financial Times, 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

Adrienne Klasa /
Financial Times: French regulator pulls licence for Vincent Bolloré's TV channel C8 Reporters Without Borders: French broadcast regulator makes bold TV licensing decision — but more must be done

Variety:

A Prime Video India-commissioned report finds that India is attracting ~$6B per year in local content investments, or $4 per head vs. $370 per head in the US— Indian streaming series such as Netflix's “Heeramandi,” Prime Video's “Mirzapur” or Disney+ Hotstar's “Bad Cop,” could soon be more influential than Bollywood.

Discussion:
Bloomberg, @lucas_shaw and Deadline

Discussion:

Lucas Shaw /
@lucas_shaw: The fastest-growing video market in the world is... India. @soheefication https://www.bloomberg.com/...

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

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

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 /