Media Landscape Insights: February 2024
What’s been happening in the media world: Digest vol. February 2024
?? 32 European media organizations filed a €2.1 billion lawsuit against Google. The media companies accuse Google of abusing its dominant position in the digital advertising market. Google's actions allegedly led to lower advertising revenue and higher fees for the media companies.
?? SimilarWeb launches Backlinks Analytics to challenge Ahrefs. SimilarWeb's Backlinks Analytics has a larger database (360 trillion backlinks vs. Ahrefs' 35 trillion) and more frequent updates (daily vs. Ahrefs' less frequent updates). SimilarWeb Backlinks Analytics is free for SimilarWeb account-managed customers.
?? People are shifting away from news in social media, preferring passive video consumption and live chat in messengers, according to The Economist.
?? News companies are shifting away from strict subscription models, experimenting with flexible paid services, memberships, and increased advertising.
New monetization models allow news outlets to earn reader revenue while reaching wider audiences.
?? LinkedIn report reveals three categories of B2B companies based on their understanding of customer needs: deep sellers, average sellers, and superficial sellers.
Only 18% of B2B companies are "deep sellers," who have a deep understanding of customer needs and build long-term relationships.
?? Startups are the first victims of high interest rates and economic stagnation: the number of their bankruptcies in 2022-2023 has increased 2-3 times.
?? Seven tech giants have earned more than almost all countries in the world. The rapid growth of profits and market capitalization of Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia and Tesla surpasses the performance of all listed companies in almost all G20 countries. Only the US, China and Japan have higher profits from their companies' shares.
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?? Several news outlets including The Intercept, Raw Story and AlterNet are suing OpenAI, claiming their journalistic work was used to train ChatGPT, a generative AI tool, without proper attribution, and thus infringing copyright.
?? A small Iowa newspaper's website reportedly used artificial intelligence to create clickbait headlines and articles, raising concerns about the ethics and potential consequences of using AI in journalism. The practice was discontinued after it was discovered.
?? A study shows Gen Z and Millennials are more likely to pay for or donate to news than older generations, and social media is their preferred news source.?
?? The BBC believes Gen AI could be a valuable tool to deliver its public mission.
?? Media company Vice Media is shutting down publishing content on its flagship website Vice.com and plans to lay off hundreds of employees. These decisions were made by owners Fortress Investment Group after a failed attempt to sell Vice and its brands.
?? Major news publishers are taking steps to prevent AI bots from accessing their content. This is due to concerns that AI bots are using their content for training, which could lead to a loss of traffic and revenue.
?? Instagram is making changes to political content recommendations. They will no longer recommend political content from accounts you don't follow, but you will have the option to opt back in if you wish. These changes are also coming to Facebook in the future.
?? YouTube is allowing creators to integrate music videos into their Shorts using tools like Collab, Green Screen, Cut, and Sound. This feature is aimed at helping creators compete with TikTok, which currently has more daily views than YouTube Shorts.
?? Reach, a big UK publisher, is using AI to basically rewrite articles from their other websites to save time and squeeze more views out of the same content. Some journalists aren't happy, worried it hurts quality and confuses readers, but Reach says it's just helping journalists, not taking their jobs.
?? Instagram just launched a fancy tool to connect brands with creators for paid partnerships and ads. Basically, it's like Tinder for influencers and businesses, now available in 8 new countries including Canada, India, and Brazil.
?? Google's AI tool, "Gemini," is in hot water for messing up history! It's supposed to generate images, but folks are calling them out for being inaccurate, especially concerning historical stuff. Some people think it's just not getting diversity right, while others are worried it's straight-up making stuff up. Not a good look!