Digital

The POTUS hit Twitter hard Friday morning with a salvo aimed at ESPN and its anchor Jemele Hill, who called Trump a white supremacist earlier on the platform. “ESPN is paying a really big price for its politics (and bad programming). People are dumping it in RECORD numbers,” Trump exclaimed. 

Facebook enabled advertisers to target users with an anti-Semitic bent, a ProPublica investigation has found. An algorithm — not people — created the anti-Semitic categories, and Facebook removed them as soon as they became aware of them. 

Hulu CEO Mike Hopkins says his service’s bid for an Emmy via “The Handmaid’s Tale” could help draw new subscribers and hold on to current ones. Hulu will spend about $2.5 billion on content this year, part of an arms race that includes fellow streaming services Netflix and Amazon. 

A new survey of nearly 50 WAN-IFRA members finds Facebook is responsible for an average of just 7% of their digital revenue, and a quarter of publishers queried said they received no direct revenue from the platform at all. The report estimates that puts Facebook lower than other platforms including Google, YouTube and Spotify in terms of how much revenue is shared back with publishers. 

There’s a growing push by traditional TV companies to launch direct-to-consumer apps and services, with Disney the latest to announce plans. The subscriber numbers for these services are growing nicely, but the contribution they’re making to overall revenues for their parent companies are still pretty marginal — for now.

CBS Corp. intends to launch a streaming-video sports outlet that will be more newsy and less focused on commentary programs, the company’s CEO Leslie Moonves said Thursday, while taking pains to demonstrate CBS’s business acumen compared to that of rivals like Walt Disney, Comcast, Netflix and 21st Century Fox.

Streamroot, a developer of OTT video optimization technologies, has secured an additional $3.2 million in funding from existing and new partners, bringing the company’s total financing to $6 million.

Although most people do not go to Facebook intentionally seeking their news, it’s inevitable that the average user will stumble upon an article. Whether it’s credible or fake, that’s another story. So the value of news stations and journalists using Facebook to reach viewers is obviously invaluable. But what about other non-newsy social media? Snapchat, Instagram and Pinterest should not be ignored.

Russia’s effort to influence U.S. voters through Facebook and other social media is a “red-hot” focus of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into the 2016 election and possible links to President Donald Trump’s associates, according to U.S. officials familiar with the matter.

As Facebook ramps up its new “in-stream” video advertising, the social media company is attempting to avoid the brand safety headaches that have plagued rivals such as YouTube in recent months.

With a price starting at $999 and a host of new features, the phone will be a big test for both Apple and consumers. Will people be willing to shell out really big bucks for a relatively fragile device that’s become an essential part of daily life? On Tuesday, CEO Tim Cook called the iPhone X “the biggest leap forward” since the first iPhone.

How is WDAF, Tribune’s Fox affiliate in Kansas City, able to lead the market with Facebook engagement? An aggressive use of Facebook Live, hyper-local content generated by Facebook users, and a mission of mercy by Taylor Swift.

On Tuesday, the New York Times Co. announced key appointments to product and design and the formation of a new products and ventures group, further defining the structure it announced in June. These changes, the company said, are designed to “streamline and raise the ambitions of the company’s digital operations in order to accelerate its rapidly growing […]

FuboTV announced today the launch of a new, national marketing endeavor that includes the company’s first TV commercials, premiering at the start of the new NFL season and introducing viewers to “Fubo Chávez: World’s Greatest Fan.” The multiplatform campaign includes three 15-second commercials to air during the NFL season on CBS, Fox and NBC; on top cable […]

Netflix Chief Financial Officer David Wells says $7 billion a year on content might just be a starting point — as long as the company can continue to add to its more than 100 million subscribers around the world.

The Wall Street Journal reports that people who are tired of paying for TV sports channels they don’t watch will soon have a new option. Cable channels owned by Discovery Communications, Viacom, AMC Networks, A+E Networks and Scripps Networks Interactive will be part of a new streaming service expected to have a “soft launch” in coming weeks, people familiar with the situation say. Subscriptions will cost less than $20 a month. Journal subscribers can read the full story here.

The San Francisco Chronicle has been profitable for four straight years, and is adding editorial and business staff. Revenue is growing at a rate of about 4% per year, says Publisher Jeff Johnson. That’s at a time when revenue at most of the major publicly traded newspaper companies has continued to drop. CJR recently visited the Chronicle to learn how the newspaper righted its ship and what lessons its comeback might have for other news organizations. 

Social networks have steadily and inexorably taken control of the broader internet, so it’s not surprising to see social begin to influence the programming agendas of conferences like IBC, which are steeped in internet video. Indeed, IBC 2017 attendees will be able to feel Facebook’s gravity right when they walk in this year, with Daniel Danker, product director for the social networking giant, tentpoling the keynote opening panel event, “Fans, Friends and the Future of Broadcasting.”

More than two-thirds of American adults — 67%, to be exact — “get at least some of their news on social media,” according to new data released by Pew Research Center. That’s up from 62% of American adults in 2016. Surprisingly, many of those new social media news consumers are not millennials. Pew found that 55% of Americans 50 or older reported getting news on social media sites, up from 45% in 2016.