DIS Walt Disney Co

By Mike Shields 

DISNEY DITCHES PEWDIEPIE : If you're a marketer thinking about putting your brand in the hands of a social-media influencer, you just took a deep breath. And if you're a big media company that's invested a lot in the untamed world of YouTube talent, you might be looking to rethink your deals. That's because Felix Kjellberg, aka PewDiePie--the videogame-loving creator who boasts 53 million YouTube subscribers, has been posting anti-Semitic videos to the web of late. PewDiePie had become the face of Walt Disney's $500 million-plus deal in 2014 to acquire Maker Studios, the web video network/content company that included Mr. Kjellberg on its roster of talent. After The Wall Street Journal brought nine of these clips to Disney's attention, the media giant dumped PewDiePie. Mr. Kjellberg couldn't be reached for comment but did express regret over the weekend in a Tumblr post. It's doubtful a marketer will want to work with him any time soon. More broadly, the question is whether advertisers overall will become even more wary of working with influencers, many of whom don't adhere to the same level of "professional" standards common among more Hollywood talent.

EXPANDED ACCESS: More than 26 million people watched the Grammy Awards on Sunday night, Variety reports, marking a slight uptick from last year and providing CBS with an opportunity to remind advertisers of the old-fashioned power of network TV. Yet that doesn't mean CBS is standing pat. CBS All Access, the company's direct-to-consumer subscription product, is nearing 1.5 million subscribers, according to CBS CEO Les Moonves, who spoke Friday at an industry conference, Variety reports. That would represent a solid jump for All Access, which Mr. Moonves said reached the million-subscriber mark in July. Keep in mind that growth is coming well before CBS debuts the latest "Star Trek" series, which was once billed as the service's carrot to entice cord cutters. But since that "Star Trek" deal was announced, CBS has secured streaming rights to the NFL and "The Good Fight," the sequel to "The Good Wife"--perhaps providing the service a broader appeal than originally expected. Mr. Moonves said Showtime also has reached the 1.5 million subscriber threshold, but that's perhaps less surprising given that the premium movie channel is available free over the air like CBS. What's surprising is that more of CBS's broadcast rivals haven't followed suit.

TRUMP OUT OF VOGUE: The Trump administration has been pretty clear in declaring the mainstream media the opposition party. You might expect that to refer mainly to battles between President Donald Trump and CNN, a network the president has referred to more than once as "fake news." But did you think Mr. Trump would find himself entangled with Teen Vogue? Lifestyle publisher Conde Nast, known for fawning celebrity and fashion content, has taken to challenging the president in a fashion--pun intended--that's rarely been seen of late, Bloomberg reports. Not only are Conde titles such as the eggheady New Yorker calling the Trump administration a "tragedy," but a recent Teen Vogue tweet said Mr. Trump is "deliberately undermining the very foundation of our freedom." That's some heady stuff for a title known for breaking down Bieber haircuts. You might wonder whether Conde executives are worried about alienating the Trump electorate and the advertisers looking to reach them, though both the New Yorker and Teen Vogue saw an uptick in online readership after the election. The publisher also may be studying events such as the recent Women's March and seeing an opening to speak to that highly energized constituency.

PIGSKIN PUCKER UP: Let's be honest: Despite its massive popularity (as evidenced by a mammoth audience for last week's Super Bowl), the NFL could use some help with its image. The league has faced accusations it has been slow to acknowledge former players' battles with concussions as well as criticism of the commissioner's slow, inconsistent reaction to a string of embarrassing domestic-violence incidents. There's also the decision by some athletes during the past season not to stand for the national anthem as a sign of protest, which some Americans supported and others took great offense to. Thus, the timing is good for the NFL's new public-service announcements, created in conjunction with ad agency R/GA and nonprofit group the Ad Council, centered on the theme "Love has no Labels," CMO Today reports. The ads celebrate diversity and inclusiveness at a time of contentious politics in the U.S. Who could object to snippets of couples, including same-sex and mixed-race pairings, being caught by a kiss cam at the Pro Bowl last month? Have you been on social media lately?

Elsewhere

WSJ Editor in Chief Gerry Baker defended the newspaper's reporting on President Donald Trump at an internal town hall, saying the coverage has been tough without being "oppositional." [ WSJ]

Former "Good Morning America" anchor Josh Elliott is leaving CBS News after less than a year. Mr. Elliott was said to be in line for a bigger job at the network but thwarted that plan after prematurely announcing that he was leaving the network's digital-streaming service, CBSN, on the air before coordinating this news with CBS News executives. [ Variety]

After 33 seasons of "The Bachelor" and "The Bachelorette," ABC has cast its first African-American lead, Texas lawyer Rachel Lindsay. [ Hollywood Reporter]

Nick Cannon said in a Facebook post that he's leaving "America's Got Talent" after getting into hot water over a racially charged joke he told on a comedy special. The joke used the initials NBC, the network that airs the talent show and employed Mr. Cannon as host. [ Variety]

John Oliver, host of the HBO comedy series "Last Week Tonight," is running ads in Washington D.C. directly aimed at President Trump, running on news networks such as MSNBC, Fox News and CNN that Mr. Trump is known to watch. [ CNN]

Brian Robbins, CEO of the teen-aimed digital-media company AwesomenessTV, said that finding premium content on YouTube is still too hard for consumers, and he urged the Alphabet-owned platform to consider better showcasing top series and creators. [ Recode]

Meanwhile YouTube is planning to roll out original children's programming to its monthly subscription service, YouTube Red. [ Los Angeles Times]

After removing nudity from its pages for the first time last year, Playboy magazine is reversing course under its new chief creative officer, Cooper Heffner. [ Huffington Post]

Three movie studios and director Steven Spielberg are backing a new venture aimed at bringing virtual-reality experiences to malls. [ WSJ]

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Write to Mike Shields at mike.shields@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 14, 2017 07:56 ET (12:56 GMT)

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