Digital

A look at some of the ventures that have sprung up, fueled by a new sense of mission in American journalism and by the sheer quantities of money available.

TV’s digital businesses are in a strong position to withstand Google’s eventual phase-out of third-party cookies in 2023, says Joe Weir, Cox Media Groups SVP of digital, but that means cultivating its own walled gardens in the process. Note: This story is available to TVNewsCheck Premium members only. If you would like to upgrade your free TVNewsCheck membership to Premium now, you can visit your Member Home Page, available when you log in at the very top right corner of the site or in the Stay Connected Box that appears in the right column of virtually every page on the site. If you don’t see Member Home, you will need to click Log In or Subscribe.

The order also seeks to take aim at tech giants Facebook, Google, Apple and Amazon by calling for greater scrutiny of mergers, “especially by dominant internet platforms, with particular attention to the acquisition of nascent competitors, serial mergers, the accumulation of data, competition by ‘free’ products, and the effect on user privacy.”

How TV and radio journalists handle it when history is suddenly thrust upon them is the subject of a new podcast based on Joe Garner’s 1998 book, We Interrupt This Broadcast. The 12-episode series, which MSNBC’s Brian Williams narrates, becomes available on July 20, and new seasons are already in the works.

Apple is interested in streaming rights for the National Football League’s Sunday Ticket package. Apple has had discussions with NFL executives, but the NFL is also speaking with TV networks and other tech firms as well.

News Corp. shuttered its the aggregation site Knewz today, just 18 months after its launch. Users who navigated to the site found an announcement declaring, “Knewz is no more.”

The Sinclair-owned streamer features local news from more than 275 TV stations, giving consumers access to live and on-demand local newscasts and local news clips from 165-plus markets covering more than 75% of the U.S.

Netflix’s Sweet Tooth was the most watched program on the four biggest domestic SVOD services for the week of June 7-13, attracting 1.434 billion viewing minutes in the U.S., according to Nielsen. It’s a big number but, 404 million fewer viewing minutes than Lucifer tallied the previous week, May 31-June 6.

Analyst Michael Nathanson of MoffettNathanson, working with measurement and analytics company has come up with what he called effective RPU, a number that takes into account promotions and discount offers through distributors and aggregators, as well as revenue on ad supported tiers. Bottom line, Nathanson said Netflix leads the industry in effective RPU at $14.88. He attributed Netflix’s strong RPU to its high percentage of direct-to-consumer relationships and the maturity of its business model.

Oracle Advertising said it is collaborating with Dish Media to target addressable advertising campaigns reaching Dish TV and Sling TV subscribers. Oracle also said it has created 110 new connected TV-specific audience segments to help marketers reach consumers based on over-the-top streaming viewership and CTV device ownership.

Ryan Lowerre has joined Lionsgate as president of domestic television and digital distribution, the company announced today. The former Amazon Prime exec’s appointment completes the reconfiguration of the company’s Worldwide Television and Digital Distribution Operations across streaming, broadcast and cable platforms.

Trump announced the action against Facebook, Twitter and Google’s YouTube, along with the companies’ CEOs, at a press conference in New Jersey on Wednesday. He was joined by other plaintiffs in the suits, which were filed in federal court in Miami.

More people are streaming their TV programming, but increasingly they are choosing ad supported services rather than opting to avoid commercials, according to a new survey. Piplsay found that 83% of consumers said they’re watching content on streaming platforms, with 31% watching a mix of paid and free services. It said 19% had an ad-free premium subscription, 18% had a paid ad-supported subscription and 14% used a free-ad supported service.

The companies said Tuesday that starting in 2022 all Universal films, including the new Jurassic World and Minions movies, will become available exclusively on Peacock no later than four months after their theatrical premieres. Both companies are subsidiaries of Comcast’s NBCUniversal.

Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy have reinvigorated a once-storied Hollywood institution. Now it needs to figure out its place in a streaming company.

Starting on Wednesday, the entertainment news show will expand its reach to the Snapchat Discover audience. Rachel Lindsay, who currently is a correspondent on the syndicated newsmagazine, will run down the headlines on the new platform.

On July 29, technologists will share perspectives on how long-term remote work and a growing focus on the cloud are creating opportunities for innovation in television workflows and facilities design. Speakers, (clockwise from left) will be Kevin Brosnan, solutions architect, Teradici; Tim Murphy, principal program manager for media and entertainment, Microsoft Azure; Ray Thompson, senior director, partner and industry marketing, Avid; Mike Kralec, VP technical operations and deputy CTO, Sinclair Broadcast Group and moderator Glen Dickson, contributing editor, TVNewsCheck. Register to attend the webinar here.

Pinterest has announced a new global policy banning weight-loss ads, making it the first major social media platform to do so, according to the company. The policy is an expansion of its rules banning body-shaming and dangerous weight-loss products and claims, including pills and supplements, before and after imagery and weight-loss procedures.

The new sites further the group’s mission of collaboration, defining common language and providing educational resources on technical topics.

In a bid to go head-on against TikTok and YouTube, Facebook’s Instagram will soon begin showing full-screen recommended videos in users’ feeds. “We’re no longer a photo-sharing app or a square photo-sharing app,” declared Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram (above), in a video posted to Twitter on Wednesday.