I hope you all had a great weekend. As you’ll be able to inform, I didn’t get eaten by a shark, although that’s as a result of my husband forgot to register for a seaside move. Subsequent time’s the appeal, Evan!!
On faucet for right this moment: cable information rogues flip to podcasting, pornographic content material on Spotify, and earnings previews (that final one is rather less spicy than the primary two).
Chris Cuomo and Keith Olbermann return from cable information exile with new podcasts
Why attempt to purpose with cable information execs when you’ll be able to simply launch your individual podcast? Prior to now week, each Keith Olbermann and Chris Cuomo introduced new reveals that may put them again within the limelight (possibly).
Olbermann, who was fired from MSNBC in 2011 for donating to some Democratic campaigns (2010 scandals have been so quaint), is partnering with iHeartMedia for a each day information present. Countdown with Keith Olbermann will cowl sports activities, politics, and whoever the worst individual on the planet is at that given second. Phrases of the deal weren’t disclosed, however Olbermann instructed The Wall Avenue Journal that the funds for his present is “extraordinarily large.” That tracks!
Cuomo, in the meantime, goes solo. And he actually desires you to comprehend it. Cuomo was fired from CNN final yr after serving to his brother, former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, navigate the sexual harassment allegations towards him. Now he’s a #FreeAgent and urges listeners of his newly launched present, The Chris Cuomo Challenge, to consider themselves in these phrases. “A free agent to me is somebody who will not be tied to any celebration, group, or tribe; you’re not burdened by any affiliation, agenda, or dogma,” he mentioned in his first episode. He doesn’t want CNN anymore, although he would very very like $125 million in money, please.
Olbermann’s present will launch on August 1st. Cuomo’s present launched its first episode final week and is ranked forty second on Apple’s high podcast chart. It’s, nevertheless, no match for Again to the Seaside with Kristin and Stephen, which has in some way managed to high even Rogan. Cable by no means died — it simply began a podcast.
Earnings preview: Spotify and SiriusXM
It’s that point once more, when Wall Avenue loses its shit, and I’ve to get up for Spotify’s investor name. I hate waking up early, however I like a 10Q, so it mainly evens out.
When Spotify drops tomorrow, buyers and analysts are going to be searching for premium subscription numbers and revenue margins. Wells Fargo analyst Steven Cahall wrote in a observe to buyers that he expects Spotify so as to add a wholesome 5 million paid subscribers (final quarter, it added 2 million). Cahall barely lowered his estimate for Spotify’s revenue margin from 26.2 % to 25.6 %. Spotify’s margins have lagged behind what analysts would love partly due to its $1 billion value of investments in podcasting tech and expertise. Podcasting will not be but worthwhile for Spotify (and definitely received’t be in tomorrow’s earnings), however the firm is betting that long run, it is going to produce higher margins than music. One shiny spot that Cahall mentions, although, is that Spotify is much less more likely to be affected by the cratering digital advert enterprise that despatched Snap and Twitter tumbling final week.
SiriusXM will drop Thursday afternoon, and which may be a bit of rougher. The flagship service may undergo much more subscription losses as a result of the automotive market is so tight (fewer new vehicles bought means fewer new SiriusXM subs). Pandora, Cahall notes, will doubtless be affected by the weak advert market. I’m personally going to be looking out for a point out of the mounting comic lawsuits towards Pandora. Lewis Black, Andrew Cube Clay, and others are suing for greater than $70 million for copyright infringement.
Fb offers you advert income for placing Submit Malone’s music in your movies
Meta launched a brand new characteristic on Monday that enables creators to monetize Fb movies that characteristic music from main artists like Submit Malone and Tove Lo. By incentivizing creators to remain throughout the authorized bounds of music use on its platforms, Meta could possibly reassure the music business that it takes copyright infringement significantly. I wrote all about it yesterday.
Porn on Spotify
As Spotify ramps up its content material moderation protocol, the corporate has its work minimize out. Motherboard experiences that customers have been posting podcasts to the platform with sexually specific content material and album artwork. After Motherboard flagged it for Spotify, the corporate took the reveals down and reiterated that content material that breaks the foundations shall be eliminated.
As a result of Spotify bans sexually specific content material, a few of the porn Motherboard discovered was hiding beneath nonsense titles composed of durations and commas as a substitute of key phrases in order to not get caught by any of Spotify’s moderation instruments. Motherboard additionally discovered that a lot of the audio porn is from podcasts that have been began and deserted years in the past. Feels like a job for the Spotify Advisory Council!
That’s all I received. See you subsequent week!
