Twitter is emphasizing the on-demand side of live for new shows ahead of NewFronts →

“The plan is not just to serve relevant content to subscribers and readers who have registered to the Times, but to ingest all customer data, including information on customers’ propensity to convert to subscribers, as well as churn propensity. Nine people from News UK’s data science team and from the publisher’s project partner, Belgian digital publishing company Twipe, will be dedicated to developing the algorithm. (It’s supported by a Google DNI grant.)”

“I tried to talk to someone in Alden Global Capital’s New York headquarters on Wednesday to ask about the apparently counterproductive strategy of endless cuts but was told no one was there to speak to the news media. When I asked to be connected to managing director Heath Freeman’s office, the receptionist hung up on me.”

“A cocktail of damaging circumstances—the decline of digital ad dollars, the increasing market share of Google and Facebook, the albatross of legacy costs associated with print publications, the contest for reader attention in the social media age, and new ownership looking for quick profits over long-term viability—has meant that fewer stories about fewer neighborhoods are being told.”

“Social scientists want to know why stories go viral, who holds political influence, what shapes political and social attitudes, and whether social media can change those attitudes. We want to understand echo chambers and fake news, and why users join groups like ISIS or domestic white supremacy organizations online. Access to the company’s enormous data sets for research purposes would offer unprecedented opportunities to understand more about online human interaction and behavior.”

“Thursday’s layoffs and the uncertainty surrounding them may help fortify an effort to unionize Tribune editorial employees. Last week a group of staffers met with representatives of the Chicago News Guild, longtime bargaining agent for the Sun-Times and numerous suburban papers. It’s the second round of layoffs in five months under publisher and editor-in-chief Bruce Dold.”

“Co-founders Carly Zakin and Danielle Weisberg have raised a $12 million round led by Google Ventures, along with Spanx founder Sara Blakely. Earlier investors, including 21st Century Fox, RRE and Homebrew, are in this round as well. The company says it will use some of the money from its new round to build more subscription services — a very 2018 idea in mediaworld — and that it hopes its Google connections can help it with some of its product plans.”

“Thanks to a $17 billion M&A deal in which private equity giant Blackstone is taking over the Thomson Reuters financial-terminal business, Reuters News (not part of the deal) has found itself in possession of an astonishing $10 billion lottery ticket. As part of the deal, Blackstone has agreed to pay Reuters at least $325 million a year for its news. Better yet, that payment is guaranteed for at least 30 years.’

Starting March 18, BuzzFeed will make the new season of ‘Worth It,’ its show where the hosts try versions of food at different price points, available at the same time across platforms. That means whether people are tuning in on BuzzFeed’s own property, YouTube, Facebook, Amazon, Hulu or Roku, they’ll be able to see the show at the same time. BuzzFeed is calling this a ‘universal window.'”

“We take this problem very seriously, and I want our users to be confident that the stories they see on Facebook are either true already or will be very soon.” —LO