Vox Media has inked a deal to acquire Group Nine, a leading collection of multiplatform media brands including The Dodo, NowThis, PopSugar, Thrillist and Seeker. The portfolio will join Vox Media brands including SB Nation, New York Magazine, The Verge, Vox, Eater, The Cut, Vulture, Polygon and The Strategist, along with its rapidly growing podcast and studios business, and diversified revenue model across advertising, content distribution, commerce and subscriptions.
While advertisers and agencies can not by themselves eliminate dangerous and destructive content online, they do have a role to play as they also work to avoid misspending money and inviting regulations that could hurt business, GroupM said in a new report on brand safety.
YouTube TV’s carriage deal with The Walt Disney Co. expires Friday, and YouTube TV says that if a blackout occurs, it will give subscribers a $15 price cut while content such as Grey’s Anatomy and SportsCenter is unavailable. Disney began warning YouTube TV subscribers of a potential blackout Monday.
Veteran anchor Chris Wallace signed off his Fox News Sunday show after 18 years to join CNN’s new streaming service, dealing a blow to Fox’s news operation at a time when its opinion side has become preeminent. Wallace said he’s “ready for a new adventure.”
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As more people stream their television programming, the use of ad-supported video has surpassed the use of the higher profile subscription video services.
From Amazon’s successful expansion of Wheel of Time beyond just fantasy book readers to ViacomCBS’s explosive expansion of its Yellowstone audience through multiplatform exposure, a new Fandom report examines the new rules and best practices for marketing to hardcore enthusiasts.
Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) has called on Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan to immediately launch an investigation of “recent revelations and public documentation” that it had misled advertisers and the public in making claims about the “brand safety” and reach of its ads, which she said would violate the FTC’s prohibition on unfair and deceptive practices.
Following suit of its rivals, streamer Peacock said Thursday that most feature films from sister company Universal Filmed Entertainment Group could debut exclusively on Peacock as early as 45 days after their theatrical release. The big caveat: event pics including next year’s Jurassic World and Minions installments, or Christopher Nolan’s 2023 film, aren’t expected to be part of the 45-day crew.
It’s another case of the streaming wars making strange bedfellows: Comcast announced that starting today, Google’s YouTube TV is now available on Xfinity Flex, the cable giant’s video platform for broadband-only customers.
More than 200 newspapers are suing Facebook and Google, alleging that the tech titans have unfairly manipulated the advertising market, siphoning away their revenue and crippling their businesses. The lawsuits are being filed on behalf of some 30 different companies.
Lawmakers of both parties came out swinging in a hearing on Wednesday with Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, expressing deep skepticism and anger toward the company for not doing enough to protect young users.
As Discovery is poised to conclude a transformational merger with WarnerMedia by the middle of next year, it’s Zaslav’s job to make sure that company, Warner Bros. Discovery, will be well positioned to evolve and thrive amid a torrent of market disruption. Zaslav speaks about the business challenges ahead for the enlarged entity that he will lead as CEO, assuming the $43 billion merger secures regulatory approval.
Roku stock closed up 18% on Wednesday after it said it had reached a multiyear agreement with Google to keep YouTube and YouTube TV on its streaming platform. The deal will allow the 56.4 million active Roku accounts to continue to watch YouTube and YouTube TV, Google’s livestreaming service, without disruption.
Power of the Dog, the Western-themed romance-drama from Oscar-winning writer-director Jane Campion (The Piano), garnered 27.2 million viewing hours on Netflix to finish as the No. 1 English-language film on Netflix worldwide for the week of Nov. 29-Dec. 5.
Amazon Web Services suffered a major outage Tuesday according to users. The company provides cloud computing services to individuals, universities, governments and companies including The Associated Press. Amazon has yet to comment on the outage and few details are available. People trying to use Instacart, Venmo, Kindle, Roku and Disney+ are reporting issues.
A statement Monday from the Trump Media & Technology group said Nunes would serve as chief executive officer, beginning in January 2022. The company is preparing to launch a social media platform intended to rival competitors, including Twitter, which blocked Trump’s account in January following the deadly storming of the U.S. Capitol.
