WBD and All Elite Wrestling sign a multiyear deal, sources say worth $150M+ per year; AEW shows remain on TBS and TNT and stream live on Max in the US in 2025 (Joe Otterson/Variety)

Mediagazer: WBD and All Elite Wrestling sign a multiyear deal, sources say worth $150M+ per year; AEW shows remain on TBS and TNT and stream live on Max in the US in 2025 (Joe Otterson/Variety)

Top News:

Bloomberg:

YouTube channel Dude Perfect hires former NBA executive Andrew Yaffe as CEO; Yaffe had been the NBA's head of social, digital, and original content— - Ex-NBA executive Andrew Yaffe to lead digital media company — The channel has more than 60 million followers on YouTube
Discussion: Variety, Chad Coleman on LinkedIn, Andrew Yaffe on LinkedIn, @danprimack, The Wrap and The Hollywood Reporter

Discussion:

Todd Spangler /
Variety: YouTube's Dude Perfect Taps NBA Exec Andrew Yaffe as CEO

Chad Coleman /
Chad Coleman on LinkedIn: Big time! Welcome to the crew, Andrew 🚀

Andrew Yaffe /
Andrew Yaffe on LinkedIn: I am so excited to join Dude Perfect as its first-ever CEO. What they've built over the last 15 years is an unbelievable platform …

Dan Primack /
@danprimack: Andrew Yaffe has spent the last decade expanding the audience for the NBA across digital and social platforms. Now he's tackling a company with an even larger online fan base on YouTube: Dude Perfect. https://www.bloomberg.com/...

Lucas Manfredi /
The Wrap: Disney to Combine Hulu, ABC's Scripted Drama and Comedy Teams Under Simran Sethi

Variety:

WBD and All Elite Wrestling sign a multiyear deal, sources say worth $150M+ per year; AEW shows remain on TBS and TNT and stream live on Max in the US in 2025— All Elite Wrestling (AEW) has officially signed a new multi-year multimedia rights deal with Warner Bros. Discovery.

Discussion:
Awful Announcing, The Wrap, Bloomberg, New York Post, The Verge, UPROXX, All Elite Wrestling, The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline and POST Wrestling

Discussion:

Lucas Manfredi /
The Wrap: Warner Bros. Discovery Strikes Multi-Year Renewal With All Elite Wrestling

Hannah Miller /
Bloomberg: Warner Bros., AEW Wrestling Deal Includes Max Streaming

Joseph Staszewski /
New York Post: AEW's new TV rights deal with Warner Bros. Discovery comes with intriguing Max twist All Elite Wrestling: Warner Bros. Discovery & AEW to Establish New Era of Professional Wrestling with Multi-Year, Multi-Platform Media Rights Renewal

Alex Weprin /
The Hollywood Reporter: AEW and Warner Bros. Discovery Ink New Rights Deal, Including Pay-Per-View Events on Max

Dade Hayes /
Deadline: Warner Bros. Discovery And All Elite Wrestling Reach Multi-Year Renewal, Shoring Up TNT And TBS Lineups And Adding Max Simulcasts

New York Times:

Diamond Sports Group, which is in Chapter 11 bankruptcy, says in 2025 it will stop carrying all but one of the 12 MLB teams it now televises— Embattled broadcaster Diamond Sports Group says in 2025 it will stop carrying all but one of the 12 MLB teams it now televises …

Discussion:
CNBC, TVNewsCheck, Awful Announcing, KSTP-TV, The Desk, Sportico, Front Office Sports, Orange County Register, The Streamable, @vtuss, @jluckhaupt.bsky.social, Streaming Better, Cord Cutters News, @crupicrupicrupi, @matthewkeyslive, @2xaught7.bsky.social, @jasoncollette.bsky.social and Radio & Television …

Discussion:

Matthew Keys /
TVNewsCheck: Diamond Sports To Drop Most MLB TV Deals

Daniel Kaplan /
Awful Announcing: Bally Sports rejects all of its MLB team contracts, except for Atlanta Braves

Matthew Keys /
The Desk: Diamond Sports to drop most Major League Baseball TV deals

Anthony Crupi /
Sportico: Diamond Sports Group Plans to Drop All MLB Teams Except Braves

Eric Fisher /
Front Office Sports: DSG Could Drop Seven MLB Teams, Paving Way for Manfred's Media Plan

Jeff Fletcher /
Orange County Register: Angels say they don't expect Diamond Group bankruptcy to disrupt broadcast experience for fans

Vince Tuss /
@vtuss: MLB sandbagged by a broadcaster? Quelle surprise ...

Joel Luckhaupt /
@jluckhaupt.bsky.social: Welp. Looks like we'll probably have a different sports book name next year on the Reds broadcast or something. [embedded post]

John Finn /
Streaming Better: Bally Sports Set To Drop All Remaining MLB Teams Except Atlanta Braves

Luke Bouma /
Cord Cutters News: Bally Sports Will Drop TV Rights to 11 MLB Teams As Its Bankruptcy Continues

Anthony Crupi /
@crupicrupicrupi: Diamond Sports counsel tells the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas that it plans to drop nearly all of its remaining MLB contracts, with a plan to retain only the Atlanta Braves.

Matthew Keys /
@matthewkeyslive: Diamond Sports Group plans to drop all Major League Baseball telecast agreements, except for its contract with the Atlanta Braves. https://thedesk.net/... @2xaught7.bsky.social: And there it is, Cardinals fans: no more Bally's for your club. Only the Braves will remain on the DIamond Sports entity. [embedded post]

Jason Collette /
@jasoncollette.bsky.social: If you thought last winter's free agency market was slow and boring, this winter shall be a blast as 11 teams look to recalibrate their tv revenue stream [embedded post]

New York Times:

Q&A with The New York Times media reporter Ben Mullin about building relationships with sources, challenges of the media beat, social media, and more— To report on the business of media, the journalist Ben Mullin says he is “endlessly curious” about the people populating his own industry.

Discussion:
@benmullin and @semaforcomms

Variety:

Memo: Disney's ABC News and local TV stations cut staff; source: about 75 staffers will be let go, split about evenly between national news and the TV stations— Employees were notified Wednesday of the staff reductions, according to a person familiar with the matter …

Discussion:
Adweek, Los Angeles Times, The Hollywood Reporter, New York Post, @jbflint, The Desk, The Wrap, Bloomberg, TVNewsCheck and Deadline

Discussion:

Kevin Eck /
Adweek: Layoffs Reported at ABC Stations

Stephen Battaglio /
Los Angeles Times: More cuts at Disney as ABC News and TV stations shed 75 jobs

Alexandra Steigrad /
New York Post: ABC News hit with 75 layoffs as corporate parent Disney slashes costs: ‘Tough decisions’

Joe Flint /
@jbflint: Layoffs at ABC News and station group. New president Almin Karmehmedovic says in staff email that “we must occasionally make tough decisions, adding that the unit is challenged to shape a team that “embraces the new media landscape and evolves along with it.” 75 people let go.

Lucas Manfredi /
The Wrap: Disney Lays Off Roughly 75 Staffers Across ABC News, Owned Stations

Ted Johnson /
Deadline: ABC News And Stations Job Cuts Impact 75 Employees

MediaPost:

Sources: ad-tech startup Hudson MX, controlled by UK holding company Ascential, discontinues operations; Ascential had been trying to find a buyer for Hudson MX— Editor's Note: An initial version of this story incorrectly reported that Comcast's FreeWheel division had acquired certain assets …

Wired:

Q&A with Bobbi Althoff about The Really Good Podcast, her rise to fame as part of “Mommy TikTok”, chaos after her Drake interview, brand deals, and more— From Mommy TikTok to that Drake interview and beyond, the podcast host is proof you can brute-force your way to online fame …

Discussion:
WIRED on LinkedIn, Simon Owens on LinkedIn, Vanity Fair, @laurengoode@threads.net and @katiedrumm

Discussion:
WIRED on LinkedIn: From Mommy #TikTok to that #Drake interview and beyond, Bobbi Althoff, podcast host of ‘The Really Good Podcast’, is proof you can brute-force …

Simon Owens /
Simon Owens on LinkedIn: This is interview is a great case study on how to capitalize on viral moments: Bobbie Althoff was able to leverage some early success on TikTok …

Arimeta Diop /
Vanity Fair: Bobbi Althoff Talks Divorce and Big Influencer Money—and a Little Bit of Drake

Lauren Goode /
@laurengoode@threads.net: This interview between @katiedrumm and @bobbi is incredible and you must read it, just trust me https://www.wired.com/...

TechCrunch:

TechCrunch unveils a redesign with a better UI, fresh color palette, more modern aesthetic, and new ways to show breaking news, after its last redesign in 2018— Sometimes, you have to start from scratch to make something amazing. Sometimes, you already have most of the ingredients …

Discussion:
@zeffmax

Discussion:

Max Zeff /
@zeffmax: New site new site new site

Business Insider:

Q&A with Matthew Yglesias about leaving Vox, launching his own Substack, and more; Yglesias says Slow Boring has ~18,000 subscribers paying ~$80 per year— - Matthew Yglesias, a prolific political writer, co-founded Vox in 2014. Six years later, he left to run his own Substack newsletter.

Discussion:

Manuel Roig-Franzia /
Washington Post: Technology columnist Taylor Lorenz leaves The Washington Post

Peter Kafka /
@pkafka@threads.net: Not sure about “has to” happen. A great thing about the internet is that it's really good about connecting people passionate about their niche. And there are still free/affordable options for generalists. I think the two can coexist quite nicely. Also don't know you put it back in the bottle: how do convince matt to forgoe that revenue? …

Renee DiResta /
@renee.diresta@threads.net: “There's an incredible niche-ification of media writ large. And this is kind of an example of that — that by unbundling, a certain number of us have been able to unlock a lot of economic value. And now some people like Bari Weiss are re-bundling.” …

Peter Kafka /
@pkafka: Two versions of my chat with @mattyglesias: Here's an excerpt about running a small, lucrative ($1.4mm) business on substack: https://www.businessinsider.com/ ...

Peter Kafka /
@pkafka: And here's the whole megillah, where we talk about being a policy person in Trump times, why everyone hates the media, and the age-old Big Media Reach vs Substack $ question. https://podcasts.apple.com/...

Peter Kafka /
@pkafka@threads.net: I pay for a couple news subscriptions - substack or otherwise - and my employer pays for a few more. I'm lucky - and it's also my job to consume this stuff. But I think it's wrong to lump matt and most substackers in the “news” category. I think for most people it's something they feel passionate about, for better and for worse. …

Nieman Lab:

The New York Times launches its biggest app overhaul since 2008, adding personalized recommendations and content from The Athletic, The Wirecutter, and others— It's the first major redesign since the app launched in 2008. — I've had the New York Times app on my phone for pretty …

Discussion:
The Hollywood Reporter, @michaelsocolow, @duncanwc and Fast Company

Discussion:

Alex Weprin /
The Hollywood Reporter: The New York Times launches its biggest app overhaul since 2008, adding personalized recommendations and content from The Athletic, The Wirecutter, and others

Michael Socolow /
@michaelsocolow: “The redesign takes inspiration from social media...” Saddens me to learn that, like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, & Tik Tok, @nytimes redesigned mobile app algorithmically downgrades news reporting. It feels like a surrender. https://www.niemanlab.org/...

Duncan W Craig /
@duncanwc: The New York Times redesigns its app to highlight a universe beyond just news | Nieman Journalism Lab https://www.niemanlab.org/...

Financial Times:

Amazon plans to increase the number of ads on Prime Video in 2025 after not seeing a sharp drop in subscribers since adding advertisements in January 2024— Ecommerce group attempting to win over more brands as it steps up push into ad-funded streaming services in 2025

Discussion:
The Information, Quartz, Digiday, Engadget, Deadline, The Media Leader and @raydouglasuk, more at Techmeme »

Discussion:

Bruce Gil /
Quartz: Expect more ads on Amazon Prime Video

Seb Joseph /
Digiday: With 19 million viewers in its ad tier, Amazon makes a case for Prime Video's ad business in the U.K.

Lawrence Bonk /
Engadget: More ads are coming to Amazon Prime Video

Jesse Whittock /
Deadline: Prime Video Reveals Ad-Supported UK Reach Of 19 Million In First Disclosure Of Its Kind

Jack Benjamin /
The Media Leader: Amazon Prime Video now reaches 19m in the UK

Ray Douglas /
@raydouglasuk: Amazon to increase number of advertisements on Prime Video, writes @DanielThomasLDN Revenues from its digital advertising business rose a fifth year on year to $12.8bn during the second quarter of 2024 FT https://www.ft.com/...

TechCrunch:

Livestream marketplace Whatnot says its GMV passed $2B+ in 2024 and its top 500 sellers each sold $1M+ on the platform; 66% of its sellers earn $10K+ per month— Whatnot, the livestream marketplace platform for trading card collectors and sneakerheads alike, is offering a bit of positive news …

Discussion:
News & Whatnot

Discussion: