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Monday, June 10, 2019
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Micropayments-for-news pioneer Blendle is pivoting from micropayments“I have to be honest: We are still not making a profit.” By Christine Schmidt. |
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Be smart: How Axios drives engagement with its email newsletters through user-level dataSome of your email audience is engaged, and some of it isn’t. So why do we treat them all the same? By Aleks Smechov. |
What We’re Reading
Wall Street Journal / Benjamin Mullin
Viacom is launching a BET streaming service with Tyler Perry →
“This is not about replacing a Netflix or replacing a Hulu or replacing an Amazon”: Research showed most popular shows for African-American Netflix users were shows targeted for general audiences, “suggesting untapped demand for African-American-focused streaming content.”
The Daily Beast / Gideon Resnick and Sam Stein
Progressive site ThinkProgress is bleeding cash and staffers →
It didn’t quite get a Trump bump: “As with many other digital media organizations, 2017 and 2018 were particularly challenging years in this regard, as ThinkProgress experienced a 40 percent drop in ad revenue over just one year, creating an inevitable budgetary strain.”
The Hollywood Reporter / Natalie Jarvey
More changes at Vice: HBO cancels Vice News Tonight, ending its seven year relationship →
“[CEO Nancy] Dubuc has been putting her mark at Vice in recent months, laying off 10 percent of staff in February in an effort to reduce costs and put the company on a path to profitability. She’s also made a number of editorial hires, including bringing on Katie Drummond as senior vp digital, and overseen some exits, among them those of Vice.com Editor-in-Chief Jonathan Smith and Managing Editor Rachel Schallom.”
Bloomberg / Rob Golum and Josh Eidelson
Vox Media reached a tentative labor agreement with management on Friday →
“The accord culminates an effort that began almost two years ago, when employees at Vox's websites went public in November 2017 with an organizing campaign. The company agreed two months later to recognize the union, but the parties failed to reach a collective-bargaining agreement over 14 months of negotiations.”
Digiday / Lucinda Southern
The New York Times is adding global issues to The Daily to grow its non-U.S. audience →
“According to the New York Times, 20% of the podcast's 2 million daily listeners are outside the U.S., while the U.K. is its second-biggest international market after Canada. Over half of its U.K. audience is British, as opposed to U.S. expats living in the U.K., which is a common assumption made about U.S. publishers' international audiences.”
Baltimore Sun / David Zurawik
Axios on HBO, New York Times on FX: Can journalism find new audiences on Sunday night TV? →
“‘The Weekly’ has tremendous potential to become a Sunday night TV staple. But the people calling the shots for the show need to decide whether they are going to celebrate journalism and the role it plays in democracy first and foremost — or mostly just promote the Times.”
Columbia Journalism Review / the Chinese Storytellers
What international coverage of Tiananmen got wrong →
“I was in shock seeing some of the street interviews about Tiananmen this year. The reporters did not create a safe space for people to speak. The journalists did not make any efforts to contextualize their questions.”
Politico / Michael Calderone
In the 2020 race, no podcast is too small for candidates trying to reach a fragmented voting public →
“A lot of people just consume an entirely different set of media than a lot of the people in Washington and New York who are making political news.”
Reynolds Journalism Institute / Nico Gendron
Rural teens seek (but rarely find) themselves in local news coverage →
“Gendron worked with five high schools, spanning four counties. The 15 juniors and seniors who participated in Gendron's fellowship project were given the opportunity to produce an original, local news story about their community which they felt hadn't been explored by legacy, regional and-or local media.”