Eight seats remain

Secure your place at the Digiday Publishing Summit in Vail, March 23-25

REGISTER

Apple Can’t Revolutionize TV Without Content

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

In graphic detail: Middle-tier creators are fueling the next phase of the creator economy

Facts and figures behind the growing middle tier of creators who make less than macro creators, but convert more.

How medical creator Nick Norwitz grew his Substack paid subscribers from 900 to 5,200 within 8 months

Creator Playbook: Unpacking the strategy behind medical YouTuber Nick Norwitz turning to Substack to significantly grow his brand.

Media Briefing: In the AI era, subscribers are the real prize — and the Telegraph proves it

In an era where AI is eroding referral traffic and third-party distribution, a subscriber who pays directly has become the most valuable reader a publisher can own. Springer just bought over a million of them.