The Washington Post Amps Up Its App Strategy to Drive More Subscribers – “The flagship app of The Washington Post is the stuff of publishers’ dreams: It converts readers into subscribers and subscribers into repeat customers. To take advantage of this, The Post is investing more resources into its mobile strategy team, with the aim of shepherding new users onto the app and improving the app experience for existing users.” [Adweek]
Hollywood Producer Peter Chernin and Barstool Sports CEO Erika Nardini have formed a SPAC (special purpose acquisition company) to acquire “consumer-oriented internet businesses,” including companies in media, sports, gaming and wellness, among others. [Sportico]
The Era of Audio Creators Has Arrived – A new company called Audio Collective has launched to help build businesses on Clubhouse as brands rush to leverage the platform – “The company, which announced its formation on Thursday, will offer event planning, brand consulting, and support and community for creators working in the field. Its founders also plan to lobby Clubhouse for stronger moderation policies, better insights and performance metrics, and monetization tools.” [NY Times]
TikTik Rolls Out Q&A To All Creators – This is a new question and answer feature that gives viewers and creators new ways to connect. In videos, users will be able to designate their comments as Q&A questions, which are then labeled as questions in the comments section. This makes it easy for a creator to quickly identify and answer questions in their videos’ comments.
Apple orders “Dr. Brain” from visionary filmmaker Kim Jee-Woon and starring Lee Sun-Kyun – New Korean sci-fi thriller to debut globally later this year on Apple TV+ – “Dr. Brain” is an emotional journey that follows a brain scientist who is obsessive about figuring out new technologies to access the consciousness and memories of the brain. His life goes sideways when his family falls victim to a mysterious accident, and he uses his skills to access memories from his wife’s brain to piece together the mystery of what actually happened to his family and why. [Apple]
Square, Inc. Announces Plans To Acquire Majority Ownership Stake In TIDAL – In connection with the deal, Square plans to name Shawn “JAY-Z” Carter to Board of Directors. Square expects to pay a mix of cash and stock of $297 million for a significant majority ownership stake, and existing artist shareholders will be the remaining stakeholders. TIDAL will operate independently within Square, alongside the Seller and Cash App ecosystems.
The acquisition extends Square’s purpose of economic empowerment to a new vertical: musicians. [Square]
What happens to ad targeting if user tracking goes away? – Comscore explores the challenges ahead as third party cookies are phased out and Google declining to sign on to a hashed email centered solution.
Comscore’s Predictive Audiences product can provide an answer. It uses consumer behaviors from their classic Comscore opt-in panels as a predictor of defined consumer behavior. [Comscore]
