Tech

Last November when the Grammy nominations were revealed, the Recording Academy announced that it would be postponing the Immersive Audio award due to the pandemic — the committee that judges the award, which essentially recognizes superior sound quality, was unable to meet together in a suitable and safe environment with the appropriate high-end audio equipment

Don’t call Bretman Rock an influencer. Rock, who considers himself a digital celebrity, is described by his manager, Dru Sansenbach, as a comedian. “Everyone thinks he’s a beauty influencer,” Sansenbach said in an interview with Variety. “But this kid is a comedian. He’s a performer.” Rock, who lives in Hawaii, has 38.3 million combined followers

Netflix’s new test to verify subscription credentials of users — and convert password freeloaders into paying customers — could help the global streamer grow its subscriber count, according to a Wall Street analyst. “We view any potential password crackdowns as tailwind and Netflix is in a strong position to continue price increases in 2021,” Bank

A year ago, “Tiny Desk” creator Bob Boilen, producer Bobby Carter and senior Director of NPR Music Lauren Onkey looked ahead to an uncertain future for the beloved online concert series. “I believe NPR started to work from home on March 12,” says Onkey. “And I think we filmed our last ‘Tiny Desk’ concert in

Hailey Rhode Bieber is launching her own YouTube channel with OBB Pictures. The model and host’s channel launches Friday, and will feature a wide range of short-form content, including lifestyle tips, beauty tutorials, social causes and a talk show called “Who’s in My Bathroom?” — a show hosted from Bieber’s own bathroom in her home

Netflix may be finally getting serious about cracking down on password sharing. The streaming giant in the past week launched a new test that displays a warning to some users that says, “If you don’t live with the owner of this account, you need your own account to keep watching.” Per Netflix’s terms of service,

CAA announced that Josh Lindgren has been named head of its podcast department, steering the agency’s growth in the audio programming space. Lindgren’s roster of podcast properties, creators, and production companies includes iHeartRadio’s Stuff You Should Know, NPR correspondent Ari Shapiro, “Dr. Death” reporter Laura Beil, and producers Little Everywhere, Salt Audio, Lauren Bright Pacheco,

HBO Max next week will throw an exclusive fan watch party of “Zack Snyder’s Justice League,” the much-hyped, four-hour version of the DC superhero movie, featuring a live video discussion with Snyder himself. The special watch party will kick off at 4 p.m. PT/7 p.m. ET on March 18, the day the movie is slated

The hottest fad in digital commerce — NFTs, or “non-fungible tokens” — soared to new heights Thursday, after a piece of digital artwork was sold for a whopping $69.3 million by auction house Christie’s. It’s the biggest payout ever for an NFT. The piece in question is “Everydays: The First 5000 Days,” by Mike Winkelmann,

BuzzFeed Studios has signed with CAA for representation in all areas, as the digital-media company looks to expand its slate of projects across TV, film and subscription VOD platforms. BuzzFeed Studios previously was repped by WME. The division develops scripted and unscripted projects based on existing BuzzFeed intellectual property, including BuzzFeed News articles. The company

Song-lyrics and music media company Genius named Miki Toliver King, the Washington Post’s chief marketing officer, its new president. King will join Genius in the second quarter of 2021, overseeing revenue, content, audience operations and marketing working alongside co-founder and CEO Tom Lehman. Ilan Zechory, Genius’s co-founder who previously served as president, will remain on

The New York Times is defending reporter Taylor Lorenz after Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson mocked her during a lengthy segment in a Tuesday night broadcast. Carlson said Lorenz, a tech and internet culture reporter, was “at the top of journalism’s repulsive little food chain” and that she is “far younger” and “much less talented”

Facebook, the world’s biggest social media company, filed motions Wednesday to dismiss antitrust lawsuits brought by the Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general — claiming that, contrary to the government allegations, its megadeals for Instagram and WhatsApp have benefited consumers and boosted competition. In coordinated suits filed last December, the FTC and more than

Joe Trohman, the lead guitarist from Fall Out Boy and The Damned Things, will debut a new podcast called “I Hate Myself” on March 17. Focused on mental health, each episode will feature in-depth interviews with celebrities and creative talents speaking about leading a successful career while living with depression and anxiety. Television comedy writer

After a more than three-month search, Meredith announced that Mary Margaret is the new editor in chief of Entertainment Weekly, the 31-year-old consumer publication devoted to Hollywood and pop culture. Her appointment comes after the sudden exit last November of EW’s previous EIC, J.D. Heyman, amid reports that staffers had complained of a hostile workplace

Disney continues to tighten the bolts among its portfolio of streaming services. Starting Wednesday (March 10), Hulu now offers access to ESPN Plus sports programming directly in the Hulu app. And this summer, Hulu subscribers — who are also ESPN Plus customers — will be able to purchase and watch ESPN Plus pay-per-view events, including

CAA has signed Jessica Blevins, the wife and manager of Twitch’s biggest streamer, Tyler “Ninja” Blevins, for representation. Jessica Blevins streams on Twitch herself, and is also an activist, entrepreneur and digital personality. In addition to managing the Team Ninja brand, Blevins has personally accumulated more than 1.1 million followers on Instagram, 611,000 on Twitter

YouTube is again touting the living-room TV as the fastest-growing screen in its device matrix, angling to get more advertisers to spend money on the platform. In December 2020, more than 120 million Americans streamed YouTube and YouTube TV on their TVs — up over 20% from 100 million in March 2020, according to the

WarnerMedia, in another step forward to make HBO Max easier to access, announced that the streaming service’s app is now available to Cox Communications’ Contour customers on their set-top boxes. The AT&T-owned media conglomerate had a pact with Cox to offer the operator’s HBO customers access to HBO Max for no extra cost for the

Italy’s Nexo Digital, the company known internationally for co-producing and distributing theatrical event content for the global market, is launching an innovative subscription streaming platform in Italy dedicated to a mix of content comprising movies, opera, ballet and theater with long-term ambitions to expand the service beyond national confines. “We have acquired more than 1,500

Vudu, after coming under the wing of NBCUniversal’s Fandango last year, will be rolling out on Amazon Fire TV Edition smart TVs and Fire TV streaming devices at the end of March. It’s the latest effort by Fandango to boost the reach of Vudu, after closing the deal to buy the transactional VOD movie and

BuzzFeed is laying off at least 47 HuffPost employees and shutting down HuffPost Canada — among other cost-cutting moves — following the company’s acquisition of HuffPost from Verizon Media. Jonah Peretti, CEO and cofounder of BuzzFeed — who also cofounded HuffPost with Arianna Huffington in 2005 — announced the restructuring plans at an all-hands meeting

Peacock, NBCUniversal’s fledgling streaming service, was — unsurprisingly — drenched in red ink last year. Peacock had a $914 million adjusted loss for 2020, according to a Comcast filing with the SEC Monday. The streamer contributed $118 million in revenue to NBCU. In addition, Comcast recorded $989 million in “eliminations” for Peacock last year, which

While Jeffrey Katzenberg’s Quibi is dead and gone (except for a lingering legal dispute), his investment firm WndrCo is still actively funding other young startups. WndrCo co-led a $27 million Series A funding round in Wrapbook, a financial services startup catering to the gig economy initially focused on the entertainment industry. Also leading the funding

Verzuz, the popular livestream music platform created by Swizz Beatz and Timbaland, has been acquired by Triller Network, the parent company of the app. The agreement marks the end of Verzuz’s relationship with Apple Music. According to the terms of the agreement, the pair will join the Triller management team and become large shareholders in Triller Network. They

Over nearly eight years, YouTube stars Veronica and Vanessa Merrell have never missed a weekly video upload to their channel. That work ethic has helped the identical twins grow their fanbase to nearly 6 million followers on the platform for their comedy sketches, original songs, vlogs, and other light fare. And their tenure puts the

Pat Mitchell, a pioneering media executive and the first woman president and CEO of PBS, Is launching a new interview series about women changing the world. “Dangerous Women: Leading Onward” is coming from the Emmy winner via Finetch.TV, a tech platform for thought leadership and investment news with a combined global reach of 850 million

Veteran finance exec Drew Vollero, who shepherded Snapchat parent Snap’s initial public offering in 2017, has joined Reddit as its first CFO — as the internet discussion site is mulling an IPO of its own. Vollero, who has 30-plus years of industry experience including a 15-year stint at Mattel, will assume leadership of Reddit’s finance

An unidentified male exposed himself during an impromptu Instagram live session hosted by Bebe Rexha on the afternoon of March 4 around 2 p.m. PT, forcing the artist to shut down the livestream. Rexha, who releases a new song, “Sacrifice,” on streaming services tonight, often appears on the IG Live platform to talk about her

YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki said the internet video platform will lift its suspension of Donald Trump only after it determines that “the risk of violence has decreased.” On Jan. 12, YouTube determined that Trump’s channel violated the site’s policy against inciting violence, resulting in a suspension of least seven days. YouTube’s strike against the ex-president’s