 |
Friday, June 10, 2016
 |
Gawker Media has filed for bankruptcy and is putting itself up for sale (possibly to Ziff Davis)Gawker Media has filed for bankruptcy, saying it cannot pay the $140 million awarded to Hulk Hogan in a lawsuit funded by Peter Thiel. The company is putting itself up for sale. By Laura Hazard Owen. |
 |
The Washington Post is dabbling in translations to reach a growing non-English speaking audienceThat includes translating political explainers as “part of our attempt to reach new readers who are interested in American politics — but perhaps don’t speak English or understand how American government works.” By Shan Wang. |
 |
The Telegraph is trying to streamline soccer live blogging with an automated graphic systemThe British paper is unveiling the latest iteration of the tool, Roboblogger, for the European Championship, which kicks off Friday. By Joseph Lichterman. |
What We’re Reading
AdWeek / Christopher Heine
Snapchat is developing a metric that will measure time exposed to both video and audio →
The score is meant to guide advertisers as they weigh a campaign’s effectiveness. Snapchat’s default is sound on (Facebook’s default is sound off), and the company says more than two-thirds of its videos are viewed with sound.
Bloomberg / Dune Lawrence
Life in the People’s Republic of WeChat →
“My full (and mostly successful) immersion in China's everything app.”
AdWeek
MTV uses Twitter to gauge how well it’s doing on Snapchat →
In the case of Discover, Snapchat sends MTV a detailed daily email breaking down how many people open its edition, how many look at specific articles and videos and how many view the entire edition, said Cory Midgarden, MTV’s Snapchat Discover producer.
Digiday / Lucia Moses
Two years old, The Dodo now gets 500 million video views a month →
Like many publishers, The Dodo has put its focus on video, where eyeballs and ad dollars are going. Recently, it hit half a billion video views across platforms, up from 100 million six months ago. Today, half the site's heartwarming animal content takes the form of video, with a plan to get that to 70 percent.
Columbia Journalism Review / The Editors, CJR
In the race to win readers, which publisher will come out ahead? →
The Business of publishing has been turned on its head. News outlets are handing over their journalism to powerhouses like Facebook, betting that the increased traffic will be worth the loss of control. Audiences are fickle and demanding, constantly changing what they want. Advertisers are scrambling to gain leverage. News startups are demolishing the entire publishing model, sometimes with wild success.
Poynter / Rick Edmonds
NAA is getting ready to accept digital-only sites as members →
In a break with tradition, The Newspaper Association of America is looking to expand its membership to include digital-only news organizations, according to its top leaders.
Journalism.co.uk / Madalina Ciobanu
BBC unveils a collection of its first virtual reality experiments →
The new collection explores subjects including the refugee crisis, space-walking and taking viewers along on a tour of Rome’s Pantheon. Some of the experiences, including ‘Easter Rising: Voice of a rebel’, ‘We wait’ and ‘Home’ will be premiering at Sheffield DocFest in the UK on June 10.
Bloomberg.com / Kim McLaughlin
Axel Springer buys Marketer, extending U.S., digital push →
The EMarketer acquisition is the latest in a string of Axel Springer deals to win over readers in the U.S. and Britain and turn the publisher of the best-selling Bild tabloid into an operator of online news and classifieds portals. Chief Executive Officer Mathias Doepfner is pushing the publisher into English-speaking markets to drive growth after spending $343 million to buy online news site Business Insider in 2015.
Facebook / Bob Baldwin
Facebook now allows users to comment with videos →
You can upload them as replies to posts by people and pages, as well as within groups and events. It's supported on desktop web, iOS, and Android.
Politico / Ken Doctor
Macy’s recently cut back on print newspaper advertising by more than $100 million →
“In a large metro market, Macy's ROP — or run of press, the ads running with the newspaper pages — would generate $1 million to $1.5 million in ad revenue a year. Now, with that number cut 40-60%, depending on the market, a publisher would see a drop of as much as $900,000. Figure that's the equivalent of at least 10 newsroom jobs.”