I was called a pamplemousse last week. It’s French for grapefruit. I took it as a compliment. Some links to consider:
There’s been a lot of talk of Apple’s plans to “revolutionize” TV, but without access to content, that’s a near impossibility. The problem is most TV content is owned by a small group of companies that have little incentive to change what they’re already doing, because although the user interface experience is poor, it monetizes just fine. (Fortune)
FourSquare now has 135 employees, but revenue for the company remains elusive and its actual active user base is relatively small. So what exactly do 135 people do all day? The company’s VP of engineering, Harry Heymann, felt it necessary to explain. (Business Insider)
Hulu was designed as a catch-up service for U.S. content, but it’s picking up more and more high-quality content from places like the U.K., Canada and Israel. That’s a smart strategy and could help it package some compelling niche audiences for advertisers. (Slate)
Comparisons between Facebook’s ad products and Google’s AdWords are made frequently, but the fact remains that they are, and always will be, very different beasts. Searches on Google are inherently intent-focused and, therefore, easy to monetize, while searches on Facebook are not. Comparisons abound but, even the sponsored results search ads the social network launched last week really aren’t much like AdWords at all. (SearchEngineLand)
Entrepreneurs can learn a lot from Jay-Z, according to Jason Hirschhorn. Most notably, how to confront critics and piss off Noel Gallagher. (Hypebot)
More in Media
The Rundown: Google has drawn its AI payment lines — and publishers’ leverage is narrow
For publishers trying to navigate AI licensing, the message was blunt: Google is willing to pay for access, but not for training – and it remains unwilling to define AI Overviews as a compensable use of journalism.
Media Briefing: Google’s latest core update a reminder that pageviews can’t remain the primary metric
Google’s latest core update signals pageviews can no longer be the primary metric, favoring intent-solving publishers over scale.
After an oversaturation of AI-generated content, creators’ authenticity and ‘messiness’ are in high demand
Content creators and brand marketing specialists on how 2026 will be the year creator authenticity becomes even more crucial in the face of rampant AI-generated “slop” flooding social media platforms.