Newsonomics: Amid Screaming Alarms, Consolidation Mania Turns Feverish

Alden’s going to snatch Gannett! No, Gannett’s going to turn the tables and buy Alden’s Digital First Media! But wait, Gannett will reject Alden — is that a real offer? — and turn its attention to merging with Tribune! No, Tribune — having dispatched its CEO Justin Dearborn to clear the way for ...

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The DEAL Week That Was: Making Sense Of Fox, Time Inc., Buzzfeed, Mashable, the Kochs and the FCC

It was a day to remember. Media consolidation finally saw its big day in the news, Thursday, Nov. 16, as so many long-running storylines began to reach their climaxes. Fueled by the Koch brothers’ half-billion dollars or more, Midwest stalwart Meredith Corp. looks like it finally has the ...

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Newsonomics: Tronc & The Daily News, What To Make Of This Out-Of-The Blue Buy

For much of the winter and spring, Michael Ferro was uncharacteristically quiet. Once he’d defeated Gannett’s hostile takeover attempt of his newly named Tronc, Ferro seemed to cease being the center of the news industry storm. Some applauded; others privately told me they missed ...

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Newsonomics: Univision’s Big Bet on E-Commerce, Built on Gawker’s Ashes

What was Gawker? A trailblazing, piercer of pretense? A snarky, vestigial leftover of the early bloggy web? A company that early on understood the relationship between reader enthusiasm and selling stuff? Probably all three. It’s the last one though — Founder Nick Denton’s ...

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Newsonomics: Seven Foolish Media Questions For Foolish Times

Just swipe your phone these days and it feels as if The Onion’s done a hostile takeover of the known news world. Even Tronc’s escapades seem tame compared to the wider news of 2017. As April Fool’s Day approaches, I offer seven (real) questions in this springtime of the news business. What’s ...

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Did The Media Win The Election?

While the post-election press is awash in self-doubt, self-criticism, righteous recrimination and some rightful acceptance of blame, the news media have to be counted as big winners in one respect. 2016 rewarded them with huge audiences, intense readership – and the proving out of coverage and ...

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Newsonomics: Revenge of the Legacies, as Times, Post Pass Buzzfeed, HuffPost in Audience

For the first time in many years, both The New York Times and The Washington Post have passed both Buzzfeed and the Huffington Post in Comscore’s count of monthly digital audience. In July, both legacy news companies’ fast growth propelled them into new positions. The Times now moves into the ...

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Which Media Companies Are Winning the Battle for Millennials?

Last week marked the entry of still another new media entity into the Millennials market. What do the numbers tell us about the highly sought-after terrain? Josh Topolsky’s The Outline, launching in the fall, aims squarely at the market, even if he eschews that precise label [“Newsonomics: ...

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Newsonomics: In the Platform Wars, How Well Are You Armed?

Feel like you are in a social stupor? Facebook getting you down? Have that vague feeling that your website and your mobile apps just aren’t getting the job done. Perhaps, an old Polish proverb applies: When someone tells you that you’re drunk, she might be wrong. When three different people ...

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Newsonomics: With New Roadblocks for Digital News Sites, What Happens Next?

At BuzzFeed, a 32 percent miss in 2015 revenue and a halving of its 2016 revenue target, according to the Financial Times. At Mashable, a massive layoff after the company failed to sell itself. At Yahoo, an upcoming sale of its news-producing assets, portending great uncertainty for journalists ...

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