• Fox Corp. agreed to pay Dominion Voting Systems $787.5 million to settle a defamation lawsuit over false claims from Fox’s cable news network that Dominion’s voting machines impacted the results of the 2020 presidential election. Dominion CEO John Poulos called the settlement “historic” and noted that Fox has “admitted to telling lies.” (CNBC)
• Southwest Airlines Co. requested the Federal Aviation Administration order a nationwide halt of its flights Tuesday morning as it worked to resolve “intermittent technology issues.” Though the official ground stop lasted just 16 minutes, thousands of delays followed throughout the day, marking Southwest’s second significant operations snafu in four months. (Bloomberg)
• Netflix Inc. announced a series of major changes on its earnings call Tuesday, including plans to roll out password-sharing restrictions by the end of June and to sunset its DVD rental business in September. The streaming giant also said it added 1.75 million subscribers globally during the first quarter, continuing a trend of slower growth compared with what the company saw in the pandemic’s early months. (The Wall Street Journal)
• Meta Platforms Inc.’s next round of layoffs will begin today and impact approximately 4,000 roles across a wide range of products including Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp and Reality Labs, according to several employee sources and an internal memo viewed by Vox. (Vox) Meanwhile, The Walt Disney Co. will also reportedly begin thousands of job cuts this week, which are expected to affect 15% of staff in its entertainment division. (Bloomberg)

Musk tries media blitz to win back Twitter advertisers

Axios

Google Tests AI To Optimize Ad Targeting Without Third-Party Cookies

Laurie Sullivan, MediaPost

Developers of Google Ads and Display & Video 360 have been experimenting with interest-based audience (IBA) solutions. This also includes affinity, in-market, custom audiences and demographic segments on Google’s display network, using a combination of privacy-preserving signals.

Amazon lays off some employees in its advertising unit

Annie Palmer, CNBC

Amazon on Tuesday began laying off some employees in its advertising as part of CEO Andy Jassy’s effort to rein in costs, the company confirmed.

‘We have too much volume’: The open programmatic market may be down, but it’s definitely not out

Kayleigh Barber and Seb Joseph, Digiday

Supply-path optimization, the growth of direct deals in CTV and the death of third-party tracking are just some of the issues that have stirred debate over the perennial topic in the past.

Writers strike looms after members vote to shut down film and TV production

Chris Isidore and Vanessa Yurkevich, CNN

Writers for television, movies and streaming shows have voted overwhelmingly to go on strike if no labor deal can be reached before a May 1 deadline.

‘Outer Banks’ & ‘The Mandalorian’ Were Most-Streamed Shows In March; March Madness Boosted Cable Viewership, Nielsen Says

Katie Campione, Deadline

The company released its monthly streaming report, The Gauge, on Tuesday, which reported that viewers watched 4.6B minutes of Outer Banks following the release of Season 3 in February — more than any other streaming program. Also on Netflix, You tallied 3.6B viewing minutes for the month. As always, Nielsen didn’t break down viewing by season.

NewsNation plans multimillion-dollar expansion in D.C. and NYC

Sara Fischer, Axios

NewsNation will debut a new daytime block of news programming next Monday that will bring the network to 24 hours of news, five days a week, president of news Michael Corn told Axios. The expansion includes a multimillion-dollar investment in studios and talent in Washington, D.C., and New York City.

Founded by actors, Mansa brings its free streaming service for global Black culture out of stealth

Lauren Forristal, TechCrunch

Mansa, a free ad-supported streaming service and content aggregator that offers a curated selection of Black cultural content, launched out of stealth today. Mansa offers a wide variety of content, from on-demand titles and digital linear (FAST) channels to short-form videos and user-generated content. 

Kim Kardashian Hires Wall Street Talent to Bulk Up Buyout Firm

Sonali Basak, Bloomberg

SKKY Partners now has almost a dozen employees and expects to surpass 15 by the end of this year, according to former Carlyle Group Inc. partner Jay Sammons, 47, who co-founded the firm with Kardashian last year.

WWE taps Fanatics to sell merchandise at live events like WrestleMania, SummerSlam

Ian Thomas, CNBC

Vince McMahon’s World Wrestling Entertainment is expanding its partnership with Fanatics, as the growing sports platform will now take over the global event merchandise business for the professional wrestling company.

Streaming is re-creating TV, rather than replacing it

Tim Baysinger, Axios

Streaming rose to prominence by providing a refuge from all the things consumers hated about the cable TV bundle. But as it matures, consumers are feeling the same pains they sought to avoid.

Musk In Miami: Twitter Is ‘A Trainwreck Sometimes’

Allison Schiff, AdExchanger

In conversation with Linda Yaccarino, NBCU’s chair of global advertising and partnerships, Musk nonchalantly defended his stance on “free speech,” the rise of citizen journalism (concurrent with the demise of traditional publishers) and Twitter’s supposed dedication to trust and transparency.

Instagram takes on Linktree and others with support for up to 5 ‘links in bio’

Sarah Perez, TechCrunch

Instagram is rolling out a new feature for adding links to user profiles that challenges Linktree, Beacons and numerous other “link in bio” solution providers. The company announced on Tuesday it will now allow users to add up to five links to their Instagram profile bios, which can direct their followers to other content — like their online businesses, brands they want to promote, causes they care about, or even their profiles on competing social platforms, among other things.

Microsoft Readies AI Chip as Machine Learning Costs Surge

Anissa Gardizzy and Wayne Ma, The Information

After placing an early bet on OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, Microsoft has another secret weapon in its arsenal: its own artificial intelligence chip for powering the large-language models responsible for understanding and generating humanlike language.

Elon Musk plans ‘TruthGPT’ A.I. to rival OpenAI, DeepMind

Laura Colodny, CNBC

Tesla, SpaceX and Twitter CEO Elon Musk called for federal regulation of AI technology during a taped interview on Fox News Channel’s “Tucker Carlson Tonight.”

Meta Opens Horizon Worlds VR App to Teens as Company Seeks More Metaverse Users

Salvador Rodriguez, The Wall Street Journal

The company announced on Tuesday that the service will open up to teens ages 13 to 17 in the U.S. and Canada over the coming weeks.

Beyond Bud Light, beauty and fashion brands have been subject to anti-trans vitriol

Liz Flora, Glossy

After sponsoring a short video post by transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney, Bud Light has become the latest target of the right-wing cancel culture machine. It’s an online pile-on that fashion and beauty brands already know well.

Dick’s Sporting Goods Hires New CMO

Adrianne Pasqaurelli, Ad Age

Dick’s Sporting Goods has a new marketing leader. Longtime Chief Marketing Officer Ed Plummer is retiring after more than 13 years with the retailer. He’ll be replaced by Emily Silver, who was most recently senior VP, portfolio marketing at PepsiCo. She takes over later this month following a transition period.

After layoffs and warehouse closures, Walmart and Chewy are accelerating investments in automated fulfillment centers

Maria Monteros, Modern Retail

In recent weeks, Walmart and Chewy are taking drastic measures to rapidly deploy their automated warehouses.

Amazon tops LinkedIn’s list of best places to work, jobseeker priorities shift to workplace culture

Ingrid Lunden, TechCrunch

There have been more than 171,000 people in the tech industry laid off so far this year, according to data tracked by layoffs.fyi, but those looking for work are not in a ‘beggars can’t be choosers’ mindset. According to new data from LinkedIn, people are gravitating to workplaces that align with their values, and their values include a range of factors like diversity and skills growth, not just how much money they’ll make.

Timeout Days and Respite Rooms: The New Trends in Mental Health at the Office

Tara Weiss, The Wall Street Journal

More companies believe these initiatives are a crucial way to retain and attract employees in a tight labor market.

Want More Out of Generative AI? Here Are 9 Useful Resources

David Nield, Wired

Boost your knowledge and your skills with this transformational tech.

ChatGPT Poised to Expose Corporate Secrets, Cyber Firm Warns

Marissa Newman, Bloomberg 

Companies using generative artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT could be putting confidential customer information and trade secrets at risk, according to a report from Team8, an Israel-based venture firm. 

Omnicom to Reduce Global Real-Estate Space Even as Employees Return to the Office

Patrick Coffee, The Wall Street Journal

The owner of ad agencies including BBDO and TBWA predicts continued growth throughout 2023 as clients spend on performance- and event-based marketing services.