By David Farrell
ZoomerMedia reports Q2 results
For the six months ended February 29, the media firm generated revenues of $27.9M, operating expenses of $22.8M and adjusted EBITDA of $5.1M. Net income for the same period was $1.3M.
For the comparative six months ended February 28, 2019, the Company had revenues of $26.6M, operating expenses of $24.5M and Adjusted EBITDA of $2.2M. Net income for the three months was $0.5M. – Newswire
Stronger Together, by the numbers
Sunday night’s Stronger Together, Tous Ensemble broadcast has raised $6M for Food Banks Canada and earned itself the record as the most-watched non-sports broadcast ever in Canada, Bell Media reports.
The 92-minute show tracked 11.5M viewers overall across 44 TV, radio and digital streaming platforms. Bell estimates the entertainment fundraiser captured the attention of one in three Canadians.
Bell, CBC, Corus Entertainment and Rogers Media were among the 15 groups that broadcast or streamed the special, produced by Bell, CBC and Insight Productions.
Postmedia announces more layoffs
Postmedia Network Inc. will lay off about 80 employees and permanently close 15 community publications as the newspaper conglomerate navigates the financial fallout of the pandemic.
Remaining staff who earn $60,000 or more, except commissioned advertising sales representatives, will receive a salary reduction for at least three months and executive teams will see reductions in pay ranging between 20 and 30 percent. – CP
SiriusXM reports Q1 Net Income Up
SIRIUSXM has released its Q1 2020 operating and financial results, including revenue of US$1.95B, increasing 5% on a pro forma basis compared to the prior year period. The Company's net income was $293M in the quarter 2020, compared to $162M in the prior year period. Its music-streaming service Pandora added 51,000 net self-pay subscribers and ad revenue gained 4 percent, to $241M in the same time frame. – Jem Aswad, Variety
Scripps CEO Q&A: How the troubles affect its businesses in radio and TV
Adam Symson knows this is a transformative moment for local TV. The hard part is teasing out which threads will be long-lasting once the pandemic subsides.
Symson, president and CEO of The E.W. Scripps Co., is sure of some things enduring, such as the audience bump local TV has seen. “There is a renewed realization that local news is vital at this moment,” he says, adding an entire generation is coming to that realization for the first time as they tune in each day for essential information.
Scripps operates 60 television stations in 42 US markets. – Adam Symson, TV NewsCheck
Twin Cities media personalities find unexpected perks from anchoring at home
Don't underestimate the appeal of getting to know your favourite TV personalities in a more intimate way … People are checking out this unprecedented approach to broadcasting in droves. According to Nielsen, viewership for major local newscasts is up 45% from a year ago. – Neal Justin, StarTribune
Trust, familiarity are why national evening news viewership is peaking amid pandemic
More viewers than in recent memory are now giving the privilege of their time to national evening news shows on major networks, according to the latest ratings. The pandemic has prompted more Americans to rediscover the importance of network TV news. Factors include stay-at-home boredom, fear of future developments, and an insatiable appetite around dinner time for scraps of news about this public health emergency. – Jerry Davich, Chicago Tribune
Fox News cuts ties with Diamond & Silk, unofficial Trump ‘advisers’ who spread bonkers coronavirus claims
A day after Diamond and Silk sisters’ last Fox Nation episode was posted online, Twitter removed a post from the pro-Trump sisters calling for people to expose themselves to the virus that has now killed more than 55,000 Americans. “The only way we can become immune to the environment; we must be out in the environment,” the since-deleted tweet read. “Quarantining people inside of their houses for extended periods will make people sick!” – Lachlan Cartwright & Justin Baragona, Daily Beast
How the outbreak is affecting US public opinion
Morning Consult is conducting thousands of surveys to track the ways the outbreak is impacting politics, economy, culture, and daily life in the US. Every day, the global data company combs through the latest data and update this page with the key takeaways and trends you need to understand.
Bill Gates warned the world of a coming pandemic five years ago
Whether the WTO and WHO are criminally negligent in not foreseeing the need to create a response to the crisis today is a matter for The Hague. That the world’s democracies and tyrannies also failed to create emergency measures in the event of a pandemic (or some other viral attack) tells us that their pernicious and laser-sharp focus on trade agreements, arms deals, their shameless blustery rhetoric, and spendthrift ways have left these emperors without clothes. Yes, I’m angry at the myopic and too-often avaricious political-party puppets we have ruinously running our world, stomping on the environment, ignoring poverty and letting refugees pile up like so much rubbish – but what are we to do? One man of influence and a platform spoke of today’s troubles with clarity and conviction five years ago–but he was ignored. Here’s Bill Gates' Ted Talk from 2015 (thanks to Erin Benjamin for pointing this out to me).
