OZY MEDIA INSTALLS REVNUE CHIEF AND BRANDED CONTENT EDITOR
Ozy Media which publishes the website of the same name Ozy.com has
brought in Michael Sadicario as its new VP of sales and head of revenue.
Mr. Sadicario joins the growing digital media company from Storyful
where he served as chief revenue officer.
TWITTER COULD SUSPEND DONALD TRUMP'S TWITTER ACCOUNT
If Twitter wanted to, it would be well within its rights to suspend
Donald J. Trump’s account. After the president-elect used Twitter last
week to criticize Chuck Jones, an Indiana union leader who represents
workers at the Carrier company, Mr. Jones reported receiving a series of
threatening phone calls from Mr. Trump’s supporters. Similarly, last
year, Mr. Trump used Twitter to attack a college student who asked him a
critical question at a rally; The Washington Post reported that the
woman has been barraged by obscene and deranged threats ever since.
IN THE BLOATED LIVE VIDEO MARKET, PUBLISHERS STILL SEE PROMISE IN 'INSTAGRAM LIVE'
On Monday,
Instagram rolled out its live video feature to all U.S. users.
Publishers told Digiday that they plan to use Instagram Live to give
followers a behind-the-scenes look at how their content is made and to
promote Facebook campaigns. Some publishers planned to create original
content for the new feature, while others have simply repurposed video
streams they were already using for Facebook Live.
TIME WARNER'S FILM STUDIO MAKES CHANGES TO ITS TOP EXECUTIVE RANKS
Toby Emmerich, a longtime manager at New Line Cinema, a Warner division
focused on low-to-mid budget releases, will take over as president and
chief content officer for Warner Bros. Pictures Group on Jan. 1,
the studio said. In that newly created position, Mr. Emmerich, 53, will
oversee an annual slate that includes five to eight films from New Line
and 10 to 12 films from Warner’s primary label. Stepping down as part
of the restructuring is Greg Silverman, who served as president of
creative development and production for Warner Bros. Pictures since
2013. Mr. Silverman will start a technology-related entertainment
venture with backing from Warner.
FORMER CONDE NAST PR BOSS JOINS STX ENTERTAINMENT
Patricia Rockenwagner, the former Condé Nast communications chief who
moved to the parent company Advance Publications, is leaving One World
Trade Center for STX Entertainment. Rockenwagner will join STX on Jan. 17 as the company’s chief communications officer,
HEARST'S COSMO IS TOO SEXY FOR SOME OHIO SUPERMARKETS
Cosmopolitan Magazine will be moved out of the direct sight of
consumers at 72 supermarkets in Indiana and Ohio due to what some say is
“sexually explicit” content. The stores, which are part of Marsh
Supermarkets, will remove the Hearst-owned glossy from checkout lanes.
HEARST DIGITAL, THE WASHINGTON POST, MIC AND OTHER PUBLISHERS ARE EXPERIMENTING WITH BRANDED GAMES
A few years after publishers fell in and out of love with games, they
are toying around with them again. In the past couple months, Hearst
Digital has begun producing branded puzzle games and quizzes for MSN;
both Mic and the Washington Post have begun experimenting with
non-branded game bots on platforms like Kik and Facebook Messenger,
respectively; The Outline, Josh Topolsky’s venture-backed “New Yorker
for millennials,” is going to be rolling out games starting in 2017.
HACKERS STOLE DATA FROM OVER ONE BILLION YAHOO ACCOUNTS
Yahoo on Wednesday
disclosed a second data breach — and it’s a biggie. The struggling Web
pioneer said a hack in August 2013 had compromised more than 1 billion
user accounts — twice the size of an already-huge hack it revealed in
September. The newly discovered breach — which looks like the largest
hack of all time, according to security experts — may have spilled an
unprecedented trove of stolen e-mail addresses, telephone numbers,
passwords and even security questions and answers.
VICE MEDIA EYEING IPO IN 2017?
Vice Media has long hinted at a possible IPO. But 2017 may be the year
his company finally takes the plunge. In an interview at Variety‘s
annual Dealmakers breakfast Wednesday
at Spago in Beverly Hills, Vice CEO Shane Smith told Variety co-editor
in chief Andrew Wallenstein that the brand’s leadership is taking a hard
look at going public. “We’re talking to some banks and we’re getting
ready,” Smith said, adding that executives would present the case for an
IPO at a scheduled company board meeting in January. “Next year is
going to be a banner year and now is the time to do it.”
FACEBOOK IS IN FACT A MEDIA COMPANY
Facebook, which has long relied on other people to provide it with
content, is going to start paying for its own stuff, too. Facebook is
starting to talk to TV studios and other video producers about licensing
shows, with the hope of boosting the social network’s video efforts.
YOU CAN NOW BROADCAST LIVE FROM THE TWITTER APP
Twitter released an update today that will let you broadcast live video
from within its app for iOS and Android. The feature is “powered by”
Periscope, Twitter’s live video app, but can be used regardless of
whether you have installed Periscope or created an account. The move
represents an attempt to blunt Facebook’s chief advantage over Twitter
in live video: everyone who has Facebook on their phone can go live
without downloading a separate app.
THE WASHINGTON POST SAID IT MADE MONEY IN 2016
The Washington Post “will finish this year as a profitable and growing
company,” Post Publisher Fred Ryan tells employees in a year-end memo.
Increased subscription revenue contributed to the paper’s hale balance
sheet: Digital subscription revenue has doubled, Ryan writes, and the
news organization has seen a 75 percent rise in subscriptions over all
since January.
AMAZON GOES GLOBAL WITH ITS VIDEO STREAMING SERVICE IN CHALLENGE TO NETFLIX
The e-commerce giant, led by Jeff Bezos, has now expanded its Amazon
Prime Video service to more than 200 countries and territories. Amazon
has rolled out its streaming video service worldwide to more than 200
countries in a challenge to Netflix. Prime Video is now available
bundled with Amazon Prime in countries where the two-day-shipping
subscription is offered, including Belgium, Canada, France, India, Italy
and Spain.
ANNA WINTOUR IS SAID TO HAVE HAD A PRIVATE MEETING WITH TRUMP
Anna Wintour had a sit-down with Donald Trump on Tuesday
as ABC’s Candace Smith reported the two met for a half-hour and
“discussed a range of issues.” There is no information as to the purpose
of Vogue’s longtime editor-in-chief meeting with Trump or specifics on
what the pair discussed.
-Good Morning
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