Todd Spangler Ny Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor TikTok says it’s going to block accounts from appearing in its algorithmically generated For You feed if they repeatedly post content that runs afoul of its updated eligibility standards. As part of a larger update to its community guidelines, TikTok is updating its For You eligibility standards.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor YouTube keeps eating up more share of the advertising pie: The Google-owned video giant posted $8.1 billion in ad sales for the first quarter of 2024, its highest Q1 total to date. The figure for YouTube ad sales, up 21% year over year, was announced as part of parent company Alphabet’s Q1 earnings. Wall Street analysts expected YouTube’s ad revenue for Q1 to come in at $7.72 billion, according to StreetAccount.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Imax fans turned up in droves to see “Dune 2” on the really big screen, helping the company top analyst earnings estimates for the first quarter of 2024. Despite the sandworm bump, it was a tough compare with the year-ago period when Imax benefited from the blockbuster success of “Avatar: The Way of Water” in 2023 to deliver its highest-grossing Q1 to date.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Ari Emanuel, in his capacity as CEO of TKO Group Holdings — the parent company of UFC and WWE — had a compensation package last year that hit nearly $65 million. TKO granted Emanuel, who also is CEO of Endeavor, a base salary of $911,538, plus a $24 million cash bonus and stock awards worth $40 million in 2023, per a regulatory filing by TKO. All told, the exec’s pay package totaled $64.91 million.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor TikTok could be banned in the U.S. as soon as January 2025. Here’s what the new law means for users of the popular short-form video app.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor The U.S. Senate voted Tuesday to approve a bill that would ban TikTok nationwide unless Chinese parent company ByteDance sells its stake in the popular app. The development will likely result in a court battle between the U.S.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Spotify reeled in fewer new users overall than it expected in the first quarter of 2024, but the audio-streaming giant touted “record strength” in profitability. Total monthly active users (free and paid) grew 19% year over year to 615 million, a gain of 13 million from the previous quarter — which missed its guidance by 3 million. Spotify said “moderated marketing activity” led to “more normalized growth” following 2023’s record performance (when it added 26 million new MAUs in Q1).

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor A bill that would ban TikTok — unless its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, divests its ownership stake — could soon become a U.S. law. TikTok is gearing up a legal fight against the measure if that happens, with plans to challenge it in court on First Amendment grounds.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Netflix made a surprise announcement in reporting its (very good) first-quarter 2024 results this week: The streaming TV powerhouse will stop reporting quarterly subscriber figures starting in 2025. In response, Netflix shares have taken a hit: The stock is down 8.7% Friday on the news, as investors fret that the lack of visibility into the streamer’s customer numbers signals a looming slowdown in the company’s growth.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor A media consultant sued Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, alleging he is owed “at least several million dollars” for work he did related to the company’s $370 million acquisition in 2022 of Redbox, the DVD kiosk and streaming company. Keith Knee, described in his legal complaint as an advisory and consulting services professional in the media industry, filed suit against Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment on Friday, April 19, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Netflix will no longer report subscriber numbers — which has been a key metric for streaming services for years — beginning with the first quarter of 2025. The company made the announcement in releasing its first-quarter 2024 earnings Thursday. Netflix handily topped expectations for subscribers net adds, gaining 9.33 million in the period, to reach nearly 270 million globally.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos earned a bit less in 2023 than the year before — but he still had pay package worth $49.8 million. That was down from $50.3 million for Sarandos in 2022, according to Netflix’s proxy statement filed Thursday.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor U.S. lawmakers have moved closer to enacting a countrywide ban on TikTok. Last month, the House of Representatives passed a bill by a wide margin that would ban distribution of TikTok in U.S.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Wall Street is betting that Netflix‘s stream machine continued to fire on all cylinders coming into 2024. After netting a whopping 13.1 million new subs in Q4, Netflix is riding a wave of momentum that continues to be buoyed by the paid-sharing strategy, as it converts password borrowers into paying members, according to analysts.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Max Cutler sold Parcast Studios, his scripted-audio entertainment start-up, to Spotify in 2019 under a deal in which Spotify ultimately paid nearly $90 million. Cutler went on to become Spotify’s VP, head of talk creator content and partnerships — inking exclusive licensing deals with podcasters including Alex Cooper, Emma Chamberlain and Markiplier, and managing the company’s partnership with “The Joe Rogan Experience” — before exiting last year. Now Cutler is back in the game with the launch of Pave Studios.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor David Porter, an ad industry veteran and former Turner exec, is joining Warner Bros. Discovery as head of ad sales research, data and insights. Porter reports to Jon Steinlauf, Warner Bros.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor TikTok inked a partnership with ticketing provider AXS to let users of the popular video app discover and buy tickets to live events. The feature is going live initially in the U.S., U.K., Sweden and Australia, with additional markets to follow at an undetermined date. Now, any certified artist on TikTok can use the in-app ticketing feature to promote their AXS live dates, according to the company.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Wonya Lucas, former president and CEO of Hallmark Media Networks, has joined Comcast‘s board as an independent director. Comcast announced Lucas’s addition to the board, effective as of April 15, in an SEC filing Monday. She has not yet been appointed to serve as a member of any board committee, according to the filing.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor CAA has signed Sarah Lugor, the multihyphenate content creator, model, host, fashion influencer and musician who posts on TikTok under the handle “@shreksdumpster,” for representation. Lugor, 23, is known for her comedic videos and fashion sense. She has built a following of more than 3 million followers across platforms — including 2.5 million on TikTok — helping her gain recognition as an LGBTQ TikTok trailblazer and landing her features in Vogue and the Huffington Post.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor DoubleVerify, which provides brand-safety measurement ratings for digital platforms to major advertisers, incorrectly displayed X‘s Brand Safety Rate — a measure of how frequently ads appeared adjacent to content that met advertiser-approved criteria — on the DoubleVerify dashboard for nearly five months. From Oct. 24, 2023, to March 14, 2024, DoubleVerify’s dashboard provided the wrong data for X to advertisers.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Ben Sherwood and Joanna Coles inked a deal to lead IAC’s The Daily Beast, under which the media veterans have been granted a minority stake in the news and opinion site. Effective immediately, Sherwood — one-time president of the Disney ABC Television Group — will serve as The Daily Beast’s publisher and CEO. Coles, previously Hearst Magazines’ chief content officer, is the site’s chief creative and content officer.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Spotter, which provides capital, services and software aimed at helping creators and brands grow their online businesses, hired former Adobe Systems and Microsoft exec Ivo Manolov as chief technology officer. In the CTO role, Manolov will be responsible for leading all technology with a focus on launching Spotter’s suite of AI-powered software tailored to YouTubers.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Following a hack that exposed more than 15,000 Roku accounts last month, the company said Friday it discovered a second security incident that affected 576,000 additional user accounts. Roku said it reset the passwords for all affected accounts and are notifying those customers directly about the latest incident.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Four members of Paramount Global‘s current 11 board of directors will step down, the company disclosed, coming as the company has stepped up talks with Skydance Media about an M&A deal. The four directors — Dawn Ostroff, former chief content and advertising business officer of Spotify; Nicole Seligman, former president of Sony Entertainment; Frederick Terrell, vice chairman of investment banking at Wells Fargo; and Rob Klieger, partner at Hueston Hennigan LLP, who had served as legal counsel to Sumner Redstone — will not stand for reelection at Paramount Global’s annual meeting, set for June 4.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor After nearly nine years, Showtime‘s streaming apps are fading to black. The Showtime standalone service will be shut down on April 30, according to notices sent to subscribers. The end of Showtime’s streaming apps comes just less than a year after parent company Paramount Global integrated Showtime’s programming into the top-tier Paramount+ plan.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Meta, which has faced ongoing political pressure amid criticism that its apps don’t take enough measures to ensure the safety of children, announced new steps it’s taking to protect users from “sextortion” and “other forms of intimate image abuse.” Among the new measures: Instagram is introducing a new nudity-protection feature in direct messages, which blurs images detected as containing nudity and will prompt users “to think twice before sending nude images.” On Instagram, nudity protection will be turned on by default for teens under 18 globally, and the app will also show a notification to adults encouraging them to turn it on. According to Meta, the feature is designed to not only protect people from seeing unwanted nudity in their DMs but also to protect them from scammers who may send nude images to trick people into sending their own images in return.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor YouTube is advising viewer discretion with the newly dropped trailer for Warner Bros.’ “Joker: Folie à Deux” — warning users that it “may contain suicide or self-harm topics.” As of Wednesday morning, a new message appeared before the trailer is playable on YouTube: “The following content may contain suicide or self-harm topics. Viewer discretion is advised.” Before they can watch the “Joker 2” trailer, users must click on a button that says, “I understand and wish to proceed.” The warning label did not initially appear on the trailer when it was released Tuesday evening.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Disney released the official vote counts from its 2024 meeting of shareholders held April 3 — in which investors decisively defeated a campaign by activist investor Nelson Peltz to win a seat on its board. According to the votes disclosed in an SEC filing Tuesday, nine of the Disney-backed director candidates received more than 90% of the shares voted in their favor.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Ubisoft, in collaboration with Lucasfilm Games, announced the launch date for “Star Wars Outlaws” — the first open-world Star Wars game — and released the official trailer as well as new details for the much-anticipated title. “Star Wars Outlaws” will launch Aug. 30 on Xbox Series X|S consoles, PlayStation 5, Amazon Luna and PC through Ubisoft Connect, at a suggested retail price of $69.99 for the base game.