Sony's anime streaming service Crunchyroll announces it has surpassed 15M monthly paid subscribers, up from 11M in July 2023 (Kayla Cobb/The Wrap)

Mediagazer: Sony's anime streaming service Crunchyroll announces it has surpassed 15M monthly paid subscribers, up from 11M in July 2023 (Kayla Cobb/The Wrap)

Top News:

New York Times:

Oliver Darcy leaves CNN to launch Status, a newsletter akin to Puck, for $15/month or $150/year; CNN says the Reliable Sources newsletter is going on on hiatus— Oliver Darcy is starting a subscription-based news site dedicated to covering the media industry, joining a crowded field.
Discussion: Variety, Mediaite, Status, Deadline, @donie, @bethanyshondark, @keitholbermann and @maxwelltani

Discussion:

Brian Steinberg /
Variety: Oliver Darcy, CNN's ‘Reliable Sources’ Critic, Exits

Oliver Darcy /
Status: Who We Are — Status is the new, definitive nightly briefing that informs readers …

Ted Johnson /
Deadline: Oliver Darcy Leaves CNN To Launch Newsletter “Status”

Donie O'Sullivan /
@donie: We are going to miss this guy. No media reporter has done more in recent years to hold power to account — especially at their own company — than @oliverdarcy. Sign up to his new venture: https://www.status.news/ https://www.nytimes.com/...

Donie O'Sullivan /
@donie: I had the privilege (and the headache) of sharing an office with @oliverdarcy some time back during a particularly rocky period for CNN. I can confirm he is the same absolute, unapologetic, pain-in-the-ass for all the right people in real life as he is in his newsletter.

Bethany S. Mandel /
@bethanyshondark: Did Oliver Darcy leave CNN and take the emails of everyone signed up for Reliable Sources with him? [image]

Keith Olbermann /
@keitholbermann: Well there goes one of the few useful reporters @cnn Oliver Darcy gone from Reliable Sources, starts own newsletter: https://variety.com/...

The Wrap:

WBD CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels says NBA talks were a “triggering event” to reevaluate the company and take a $9.1B impairment charge, but were not the only factor— However, CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels notes the reevaluation wasn't “a response to one individual factor”

Discussion:

Tim Baysinger /
@tim_bays: So far, none of the analysts buy that WBD isn't losing the NBA, despite their lawsuit WBD execs refusing to even entertain that possibility on this call, which could be interpreted as willful blindness

RELATED:
Deadline:

WBD reports Q2 revenue down 6% YoY to $9.7B, a $9.99B net loss, and takes a $9.1B impairment charge for networks; global streaming subs rose 3.6M to reach 103M— The value of the linear assets when Discovery and Warner Media merged two and half year ago was significantly higher …

Discussion:
CNN, Reuters, Variety, Advanced Television, Quartz, Yahoo Finance, CNBC, @billbrewstertbb, @michellef_davis, @heetermaria, @annaknicolaou, @firmreturns, @sherman4949, Sportico, Awful Announcing, Financial Times, Game Developer, Los Angeles Times, The Streamable, The Hollywood Reporter, Warner Bros. Discoverey, IndieWire and Variety

Discussion:

Oliver Darcy /
CNN: Warner Bros. Discovery signals rapid deterioration of television business, sending stock plummeting

Todd Spangler /
Variety: Warner Bros. Discovery Stock Crumples to Near All-Times Lows After Huge Q2 Impairment Charge

Rocio Fabbro /
Quartz: Warner Bros. Discovery stock plunged after revealing a $9.1 billion impairment charge

Alexandra Canal /
Yahoo Finance: Warner Bros. Discovery sinks after taking massive $9.1 billion impairment charge on its cable business

Lillian Rizzo /
CNBC: Warner Bros. Discovery stock falls as it writes down $9.1 billion, misses estimates

Bill Brewster /
@billbrewstertbb: WBD is, has been, and will always be uninvestable because Zaslav is a rent seeker. How did he lose the NBA? And how didn't he spend enough on House Of The Dragon?! HOD was good btw... The guy doesn't build. He buys and milks. Good game when you own distribution. Not so good

Michelle F. Davis /
@michellef_davis: Yikes. Warner Bros Discovery just said it's taking a $9.1 billion charge and writing off the value of its traditional TV networks after concluding that cable isn't worth what it was just 2 years after the $42 billion Discovery/WarnerMedia merger. $WBD

Maria Heeter /
@heetermaria: 🚨+📺+ 💸 = ☹️ Warner Bros Discovery reports nearly $10BN loss The co weighed a breakup in a bid to raise its sinking share price, but has since concluded that this is not the best option at this time, per @FT @annaknicolaou https://www.ft.com/... [image]

Anna Nicolaou /
@annaknicolaou: WBD says their TV channels are worth $9bn less than they were just 2 years ago. feels like a moment for the end of cable television @firmreturns: Couple of positive takeaways from $WBD Q2 earnings to offset the negatives: 1. They're not breaking it up despite the rumours. 2. DTC is growing nicely: ad revenue up nearly 100% yoy, 3.6m new subs, and $8.00 ARPU. Could be looking at double-digit DTC sub growth for full year.

Alex Sherman /
@sherman4949: Just your normal $10.2 billion quarterly operating loss for Warner Bros. Discovery. (To put that in perspective, the entire market cap of Warner Bros Discovery is about $18 billion).

Alex Sherman /
@sherman4949: “The consumer experience right now is not good,” WBD CEO David Zaslav says of streaming in general.

Anthony Crupi /
Sportico: WBD Takes $9.1B Impairment Charge as NBA Hopes Fade

Sean Keeley /
Awful Announcing: Warner Bros. Discovery stock freefalls over $9.1 billion charge, uncertainty around sports rights renewals

Justin Carter /
Game Developer: Report: WB Discovery looking to sell off games, other divisions to prevent total breakup

Meg James /
Los Angeles Times: Warner Bros. Discovery takes $9-billion write-down from TV networks amid struggles

Matt Tamanini /
The Streamable: Warner Bros. Discovery Climbs Over 103.3 Million Streaming Customers Amidst Disastrous Financial Quarter

Etan Vlessing /
The Hollywood Reporter: Warner Bros. Discovery Takes Major Impairment Charge Over Linear TV While Streaming Makes Minor Gains

Financial Times:

Sources: Google and Meta ran a pilot program in the US in May 2024 to target Instagram ads to teenagers on YouTube, which prohibits targeting ads to under-18s— Campaign on YouTube to boost Instagram's appeal to young people skirted search group's rules for marketing to under-18s

Discussion:
MEDIANAMA, The Verge, @riptari, @ariellesgarcia and Digiday, more at Techmeme »

Discussion:

Simone Lobo /
MEDIANAMA: Google monopolised search text ads, limited advertiser control: US Antitrust hearing

Jess Weatherbed /
The Verge: Meta and Google secretly targeted minors on YouTube with Instagram ads @riptari: Google has all the data it needs to create self-serving ad-targeting proxies like “unknown”. The choice of label is also quite the troll https://www.ft.com/... [image]

Arielle Garcia /
@ariellesgarcia: So, while @google adamantly denied serving targeted ads on kids' videos, they were secretly working with opioid-pushing @PublicisGroupe's @SparkFoundryWW to help @Meta target kids. “Embrace the unknown” is disgusting. https://www.ft.com/... [image]

The Wrap:

Sony's anime streaming service Crunchyroll announces it has surpassed 15M monthly paid subscribers, up from 11M in July 2023— The news comes after Sony reported a 10% increase in operating profit during its first fiscal quarter of 2024 — Crunchyroll, the Sony-backed streaming service dedicated …

Discussion:
Crunchyroll, TVNewsCheck, Next TV and The Streamable

Discussion:

Jack Reid /
TVNewsCheck: Crunchyroll Surpasses 15 Million Subscribers

Jack Reid /
Next TV: Crunchyroll Surpasses 15 Million Subscribers

Matt Tamanini /
The Streamable: Crunchyroll Eclipses 15 Million Monthly Paid Subscribers Just 7 Months After Hitting 13 Million

RELATED:

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

Discussion:
CNBC, Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg

Variety:

Nexstar reports Q2 net revenue up 2.3% YoY to $1.3B, net income up 41.3% YoY to $106M, ad sales up 2.2% YoY to $522M, CW quarterly losses down $33M from Q2 2023— Nexstar reported its second-quarter 2024 earnings Thursday, revealing that the CW Network has narrowed its losses by $33 million.

Discussion:
Deadline, Nexstar Media Group, Inc., Next TV and TVNewsCheck

Discussion:

Dade Hayes /
Deadline: Broadcast Giant Nexstar Misses Q2 Estimates, Says It Is “Executing” CW Plan As Network Losses Shrink Nexstar Media Group, Inc.: Nexstar Media Group Reports Record Second Quarter Net Revenue of $1.27 Billion

Jon Lafayette /
Next TV: Nexstar Profits Rises As Losses At The CW Shrink

Mark K. Miller /
TVNewsCheck: Nexstar's Q2 Net Revenue Rises 2.3%

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:
Fast Company, IGN, Awful Announcing, @billbrasky2620, Wired, PhoneArena, TechRadar, BGR, Business Insider, Digital Trends, 9to5Mac, @2xaught7.bsky.social and Deadline

Discussion:

Michael Grothaus /
Fast Company: Disney Plus password-sharing crackdown: New rules for U.S. households could come next month

Ryan Dinsdale /
IGN: Disney Plus Password Sharing Crackdown Kicks Off ‘In Earnest’ in September 2024

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

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

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

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

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

RELATED:

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

Discussion:

Robbie Whelan /
Wall Street Journal: Disney Raises Prices of Most Streaming Plans

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

Katie Hawkinson /
The Independent: Disney posts profit on streaming for first time but warns of downturn in theme park visits

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

Alyssa Boyle /
AdExchanger: ESPN Is Making Disney+ Profitable

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

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

Brooks Barnes /
New York Times: Disney's Parks Struggle, Exposing a New Trouble Spot

Sarah Little /
Screen Rant: Disney+'s New Price Hike Explained: Why Subscription Costs Are Going Up & What's Being Added

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

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

Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, @sherman4949, @brendanschema, @scottgustin, Business Wire, @pkafka, @sherman4949, Quartz and IndieWire

Discussion:

Robbie Whelan /
Wall Street Journal: Disney Posts First-Ever Streaming Profit, Warns of Pressure on Theme-Parks Business

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

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] Business Wire: The Walt Disney Company Reports Third Quarter and Nine Months Earnings for Fiscal 2024

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.)

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.

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

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

Discussion:

Anirban Sen /
Reuters: Disney May Have To Pay $5B More For Comcast's Hulu Stake @tvgrimreaper: We're approaching the one year anniversary of the start of this process (October). Imagine the investment banker's fees! [image]

Chris Heatherly /
Chris Heatherly on LinkedIn: Big bet. Disney is banking on the bundle reducing churn considerably and making them into the next Netflix. …

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

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

The Verge:

YouTube channels focusing on cars, like Car Throttle and Donut, have seen an exodus of popular on-camera talent, often after investors acquired their channels— From Car Throttle to Donut, countless YouTube creators are fleeing. But is this a new trend or a tale as old as venture capital?

Discussion:
@timstevens@mastodon.social and Boing Boing, more at Techmeme »

Discussion:

Tim Stevens /
@timstevens@mastodon.social: It's safe to say that the media landscape in general isn't exactly healthy right now, but automotive media in particular is going through a significant shift. While it's fun to do so, pointing the finger at private equity ignores many other significant factors. — https://www.theverge.com/...

Rob Beschizza /
Boing Boing: Why are so many Car YouTubers starting over?

Reuters:

AMET: Chadian police arrest Badour Oumar Ali, the editor-in-chief of major Chadian news website TchadInfos.com; he was taken away by “armed and hooded men”— Chadian police have arrested the editor-in-chief of a major Chadian news website, a group of online media outlets said late on Wednesday …

Nieman Lab:

A look at the ambitions of The Assembly, which has been buying and partnering with small NC outlets and envisions itself as a state-level The Atlantic magazine— “I was fixated on trying to build a place that could pay good writers good money to spend more time than normal on big stories.”

Discussion:
@anniema15, @joekilliannc, Robert Frederick on LinkedIn, Bill Horner III on LinkedIn and INDY Week

Discussion:

Annie Ma /
@anniema15: The Assembly is essential NC reading!! Been a subscriber since my days in Charlotte — local news deserves beautifully written, deeply reported pieces as much as any national story, and it's been so great to see this being fulfilled.

Joe Killian /
@joekilliannc: The Assembly aims to be a state-level, digital-first Atlantic Magazine for North Carolina https://www.niemanlab.org/...

Robert Frederick /
Robert Frederick on LinkedIn: So needed... “to spend more time than normal on big stories.”

Bill Horner III /
Bill Horner III on LinkedIn: Great reading from Nieman Lab... I've watched the evolution of our industry for 40+ years. The traditional business model is in disarray …

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'

Angela Tricarico /
New York Post: How to watch Sport Climbing Finals at the 2024 Olympics: What to know

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 /
Mercury News: NBC would be ‘really thrilled’ to have Snoop Dogg back for future Olympics

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:

Kayleigh Barber /
Digiday: Media Briefing: News publishers' AI ad tools show positive lift, but still have to prove themselves

Simon Owens /
@simondowens@threads.net: Takes like “The New York Times is a games company that subsidizes a news operation” are just so dumb. It's not like it's inventing state of the art video games. Any company can put out competent word puzzles. Its games products succeed because of its massive distribution and brand, both of which are heavily reliant on its news division.

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.

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

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/...

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 …

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/...

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. …

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

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:
Advanced Television, Broadband TV News, @tvgrimreaper and Nieman Lab

Discussion:
Advanced Television: ProSiebenSat.1 revenue up 5% — ProSiebenSat.1 Group continued its 2024 growth in the second quarter.

Jörn Krieger /
Broadband TV News: ProSiebenSat.1 increases revenues with Joyn

@tvgrimreaper:
If we're not already there, we'll soon get to a point where >100% of all US newspaper profits are from only @nytimes and @wsj.

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 to incite violence.

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

Discussion:

Gill Whitehead /
ofcom.org.uk: Open letter to UK online service providers The Sun: Social media bosses warned as Ofcom demands immediate action to tackle surge of online hate amid UK riots

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.

Discussion:
Gianina Thompson on LinkedIn and Screen Rant

Discussion:

Gianina Thompson /
Gianina Thompson on LinkedIn: “Just as “Drive to Survive” forged a deeper connection between fans and Formula 1 auto racing, the I.O.C. hopes these [Netflix Olympic docu-series] …

Kayla Laguerre-Lewis /