Cookie U-turn 'another meteor' | NYT v OpenAI gets dirty | BBC loses 500,000 licence fees
Plus Informa has bought B2B events business Ascential and revealed its significant AI earnings
Welcome to your daily newsletter from Press Gazette on Wednesday 24 July, 2024.
Put away the Champagne, I'm afraid Google's cookie announcement does not look like quite such good news for publishers as we might have hoped.
We will no longer be corralled into its closed Privacy Sandbox technology in order to serve advertising to readers. But the tech giant could still be planning to kill off cookies by stealth under the guise of consumer choice, thereby sending another meteor heading for the news business, industry insiders have warned.
That explains why share prices for big ad-funded news publishers were unmoved by the cookies announcement yesterday.
Today we have expert reaction to Google's cookies news and useful advice for publishers on what they should do next.
Yesterday's BBC annual report includes a full list of the 54 BBC journalists who are paid more than Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
And it reveals that the corporation is facing a familiar challenge: declining legacy income. Paying for the BBC is a legal requirement, but only if you watch live TV or content on BBC iPlayer. Despite a growing UK population, the BBC saw falling licence fee income, with 500,000 fewer households paying. With commercial revenue also falling the BBC says it has to cut 500 jobs by March 2026.
The answer for the BBC is to grow its commercial revenue and find new ways to persuade the streaming generation that iPlayer services are worth £169.50 per year (more than the cost of a standard Netflix subscription).
We report on an outrageous attack on press freedom from OpenAI. The technology company has already stolen vast amounts of copyrighted news material in order to feed its question-answering technology. The New York Times has taken a legal stand against the firm and is now facing a demand from OpenAI to release confidential journalistic material in order to prove that its work is original.
It's a dirty move and one that we should all hope is thrown out of court.
And business information giant Informa has announced a major UK media deal, buying Cannes Lions owner Ascential for £1.2bn.
Formerly known as Emap and Top Right Group, Ascential is today largely focused around B2B events and the deal is evidence that this sector has properly bounced back from its coronavirus slump.
And finally: Press Gazette’s daily newsletter is taking a summer break. We’ll be back in your inboxes daily from Monday 12 August, but until then you can continue to get the biggest media stories from us every Thursday via our Future of Media newsletter (sign up here) and news updates on our homepage and on Twitter.
New from Press Gazette
Huw Edwards tops 2024 list of BBC’s highest-paid journalists despite departure
Edwards’ salary was somewhere between £475,000 to £479,999 for the year to 31 March 2024. That was a 6% rise from £435,000 to £439,999 in 2022/23.
BBC to cut 500 more jobs as revenue falls 6% to £5.4bn
Director general Tim Davie said the 500 cuts will be a net reduction, meaning some jobs will be created as well as those cut. He declined to share any specifics about whether BBC News is likely to be hard hit.
Google cookie U-turn could be another meteor heading for publishers
“We need another two or three weeks to find out what the fallout really is. However, my concern is this is another meteor hitting the publisher ecosystem of the internet.”
OpenAI asks New York Times to disclose reporters’ notes in ‘vindictive’ legal move
“Permitting OpenAI to investigate The Times’s privileged newsgathering process… would entail the disclosure of The Times’s confidential reporters’ files on investigative reporting into highly sensitive matters, including those related to the defendants themselves.”
Informa to buy Cannes Lions owner Ascential as it reveals price of AI deals
The cash deal values specialist events business Ascential, which also owns fintech conference brand Money 20/20, at £1.2bn.
News in brief
Google parent Alphabet's quarterly profit rose 28% year-on-year to $23.6bn in the second quarter of 2024. Youtube's ad revenue missed estimates but nonetheless grew 13% to $8.66bn, and overall ad revenue was up 11% to $64.62bn. (CNBC)
Ladbible owner LBG Media has reported organic revenue up 29% in the first half of 2024, with growth of 55% to £42.3m when the acquisition of Betches Media is included. It said its global audience was up from 410 million in HY 2023 to 493 million. (City AM)
Our latest podcast
Bonnier News CEO on power of bundles and personalisation
Sweden’s biggest news publisher Bonnier News has more than tripled profits in the past eight years and doubled revenue.
It now believes a subscription bundle, putting together all of its Swedish brands and harnessing AI to better personalise what users see, will be the way forward for continued revenue growth.
Bonnier News chief executive Anders Eriksson told Press Gazette UK editor Charlotte Tobitt about the business transformation he has overseen and the internal culture change needed to do so, why Nordic countries are ahead on subscriptions, and the thinking behind the bundle subscription strategy.
Previously on Press Gazette
B2B newsletter publisher without journalists exceeds one million subs
Why Guardian has expanded paid content offering with launch of recipe app Feast
Who’s suing AI and who’s signing: Mumsnet launches lawsuit against OpenAI
Telegraph sale: Mail owner exits race, Nadhim Zahawi ‘plots £600m bid’
‘The hardest thing to put together’: Inside election night at the UK’s biggest broadcasters
City AM signs content sharing deal with Reach and brings back familiar face as editor
Press Gazette live
Our flagship event the Future of Media Technology Conference and Awards takes place on 12 September on the Hilton Bankside hotel in London. It provides publishers with a masterclass on the big technology themes impacting our business and is also an unrivalled networking opportunity.
Full agenda and booking details here.