On Valentine’s Day, Justin Bieber is showing the love to fans with the TikTok’s first-ever full-length concert by a single artist — in which he’ll perform songs from his 2013 album “Journals.” The “#JournalsLive” event will stream live from the Drew House on Bieber’s TikTok account (@justinbieber) starting at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT on
Tech
After nearly 11 years at Facebook, Doug Frisbie has jumped to Snap to head up the Snapchat parent’s business marketing efforts. Frisbie joined Snap this week in the new role of VP of business marketing, reporting to CMO Kenny Mitchell. Frisbie will oversee global business marketing for Snap, working to drive awareness and adoption of
From the launch of television in the 1940s through the advent of MTV in 1981 and multiple threats from shiny new technologies, radio has survived many challenges to its business. But can the medium navigate competition from streaming? In an era when streams account for 85% of U.S. labels’ music revenue and other, newer media
A deal that would give Oracle and Walmart ownership stakes in TikTok is up in the air — and may not happen at all, as the Biden administration reviews Trump’s actions and policies against Chinese tech companies, according to a new report. Last summer, then-President Trump ordered Chinese internet giant ByteDance to sell TikTok, its
Podz, a startup whose app auto-generates highlight clips of podcasts to create what it touts as the industry’s first “audio newsfeed,” has enlisted a trio of female investors and advisers for its launch: former TV news host Katie Couric, influencer and entrepreneur Paris Hilton, and investigative journalist Mara Schiavocampo. In a nutshell, Podz works like
Universal Music Group (UMG) and K-pop giant YG Entertainment have invested an undisclosed sum in an up-and-coming global digital live-streaming platform established by BTS backer Big Hit Entertainment and cloud video tech firm Kiswe, the companies announced Tuesday. Leading K-pop firm and YG rival Big Hit first linked up with New Jersey-headquartered Kiswe in an
Twitter beat Wall Street earnings expectations for the fourth quarter of 2020 and netted a gain of 5 million daily users — less than analysts were projecting — to close out a tumultuous year. The social-networking company reported 192 million monetizable daily active users worldwide for Q4. That’s up from 187 million in Q3 and
Universal and Sony Music, the two largest music companies in the world, have inked licensing agreements with the music streaming and discovery service Audiomack. The company signed a deal with Warner Music in 2019. “Audiomack serves a unique listener base that is distinct from the audiences found on competing platforms,” said Vanessa Wilkins, Audiomack’s Director of
Reddit, the self-proclaimed “front page of the internet,” has banked $250 million in new growth funding — giving the online discussion site a $6 billion valuation. The company announced the funding round late Monday. The funding, led by VC firm Vy Capital with participation from existing investors, doubled its previous valuation, per the Wall Street
Netflix is on track to open its Italian base in Rome in the second quarter of 2021, and is committing to doubling down on its output of local original series by 2022. The streaming giant revealed plans to open a Rome office one year ago, just prior to the pandemic, but the crisis slowed down
Video-game giant Electronic Arts said it will acquire Glu Mobile, developer and publisher of mobile games including “Kim Kardashian: Hollywood,” “Design Home,” “Covet Fashion” and “MLB Tap Sports Baseball,” in a deal worth $2.1 billion. The boards of directors of both companies have approved the deal, under which Glu’s shareholders will receive $12.50 in cash
In a signal of things to come from the Biden administration, the Justice Department on Monday dropped out of a lawsuit that seeks to block California from enacting its own net neutrality law. The acting chair of the Federal Communications Commission, Democrat Jessica Rosenworcel, hailed the decision and said that the FCC is now “charting
ViacomCBS Networks International is launching Pluto TV, its free streaming service, in France today (Feb. 8) with 40 original channels featuring French and international titles spanning films, series and factual programs. The slate of channels in France comprises Pluto TV Ciné, Pluto TV Drama, Dossiers FBI, Pluto TV Crime, Tortue Ninja, People Are Awesome, Pluto
Kenny Beecham, best known as YouTube star KOT4Q, is set to premiere a new weekly talk show “Called Game.” Beecham, 24, has teamed with content studio and social media network MALKA and talent management and entertainment company Up North to produce the new series, which will focus on sports, sneaker culture, gaming and more which
The first two seasons of Nickelodeon’s hit teen comedy “iCarly” are now available on Netflix — ahead of a revival of the show on ViacomCBS’ Paramount Plus. The original “iCarly” ran from 2007-12 for six seasons and a total of 97 episodes on Nick. The series follows a group of best friends in Seattle creating
The Super Bowl LV game itself turned out to be a blowout — a runaway victory for Tom Brady’s Bucanneers and a dispiriting defeat for Patrick Mahomes’ Chiefs. But the ads once again jumped into the spotlight, hitting a range of emotional notes running from the somber to the silly. The No. 1 most-watched ad
Tyler Perry is teaming with LinkedIn for some real talk about race in the American workplace. The renowned director, actor, screenwriter, producer and philanthropist is joining LinkedIn as the lead-off guest editor of Conversations for Change, a new content and community discussion series the business social-networking site is launching to drive engagement. Starting Monday (Feb.
Social media app Clubhouse has been blocked in China from Monday evening following a series of chats that were deemed politically-sensitive. The app is a platform for uncensored audio conversations and allows thousands to listen in. Reports of mainland China users being unable to log began to emerge at about 7pm. Invitations to join the
The war of words between Ryan Kavanaugh’s Triller and Universal Music Group escalated Friday, after UMG pulled its catalog from the video-sharing app citing Triller’s failure to pay licensing fees for songs used on its service. Early Friday, Universal Music said it was removing its music from Triller — which positions itself as a rival
This year’s Super Bowl once again will be livestreamed for free online. And CBS, which has the broadcast rights to the 2021 NFL championship game, is expecting a record rushing record from the internet. “Every year I feel like we’re on the verge of breaking the internet,” says Jeff Gerttula, EVP and GM of CBS
European media giant RTL Group reached a deal to sells SpotX, its U.S. ad-tech subsidiary, to Magnite for $1.17 billion in cash and stock. Magnite said that with the acquisition of SpotX, the combined entity will “create the largest independent [connected TV] and video advertising platform in the programmatic marketplace.” The sale of SpotX to
Universal Music Group has removed its entire music library from video app Triller, a would-be TikTok competitor, alleging Triller has withheld payments to the music giant’s artists. “We will not work with platforms that do not value artists. Triller has shamefully withheld payments owed to our artists and refuses to negotiate a license going forward,”
In his review of Bryan Fogel’s “The Dissident,” about the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, Variety critic Owen Gleiberman notes that the investigative doc “has the shadow intrigue of cyber-warfare” including the hacking of Jeff Bezos’ cell phone and the army of trolls it exposes, allegedly hired to crush voices against the Saudi kingdom on Twitter.
UPDATED: Snapchat gained 16 million daily users to hit an average of 265 million in the fourth quarter of 2020, continuing its solid growth during the COVID pandemic. Snap beat revenue and adjusted earnings estimates for the quarter, but its Q1 guidance disappointed Wall Street. Snapchat’s daily active users were 265 million in Q4 2020,
Paris Hilton is jumping into the podcast biz in a three-year deal with iHeartMedia — and the influencer and entrepreneur is going to produce micro-podcasts for social media in addition to longer-form shows. Under the pact, Hilton and iHeartRadio will produce a new podcast/social media hybrid format, dubbed “PodPosts,” which will comprise short-form audio clips
Lilly Singh will star in a new animated musical short film — centering on the theme of LGBTQ pride — from Pocket.watch, part of the digital kids’ content studio’s expansive 2021 slate. In “Lilly Singh’s Proud Princess,” the YouTuber and host of NBC’s “A Little Late with Lilly Singh” will voice a young girl discovering
TikTok is getting into the Super Bowl swing with its first-ever “tailgate” two-hour pregame show — featuring a live concert performance by Miley Cyrus. The #TikTokTailgate, hosted by Steve Harvey and MJ Acosta, also will feature appearances by Rebel Wilson, Kane Brown, Ajani Huff, Dave Jorgenson, Adam Devine, Trace McSorley (“TikTok’s most popular QB”) and
Tubular Labs, a provider of video measurement on social media platforms, tapped Scott Ernst as its new CEO. Ernst has two decades of experience at the intersection of technology and market research. Most recently, he was CEO of Macromill, a Tokyo-based global marketing research business, which he took through an IPO with an enterprise value of
The chief executive of Parler said he was fired by the board of directors of the “free speech” social-media company — whose app was kicked off the internet for hosting violent content after the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol — after he advocated for stricter moderation policies. Former Parler CEO John Matze said
In advance of Spotify’s successful earnings report on Wednesday morning, cofounder and CEO Daniel Ek and CFO Paul Vogel did a round of brief phone interviews. The earnings report largely speaks for itself: The streaming giant reached 155 million paid subscribers in the fourth quarter of 2020, adding a record 30 million for the year,