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By Mike Shields 

MASHED UP: Last week, Mashable announced it had raised $15 million in a new funding round led by Time Warner's Turner unit, and the digital publisher seemed poised to embark on a possible TV adventure. Yesterday, Mashable announced that its top sales and content executives were departing, and that it plans to give up on hard news to focus on video, including over-the-top TV, reports The New York Times. (Politico says 30 staffers were let go). Competing in the emerging world of OTT will not be easy, considering that so many established TV players are all pumping money into that nascent sector. In the meantime, what does this say about Mashable's digital publishing business? Ten years into its history, it's hard to pin down what the brand stands for, other than "viral" content of some sort.

BLOOMBERG: Speaking of the challenges facing digital media, columnist Michael Wolff reflects on the question, "Why exactly does Bloomberg need a website?" But the real question being asked in this provocative piece is, will Mayor Michael Bloomberg continue to pump money into his money-losing media operation when Bloomberg at its core is a financial information company -- and a successful one at that? Mr. Wolff lays out a case that the company seriously drifted from the "Bloomberg values" of straightforward wire-service content during the years Mr. Bloomberg was running New York City, and now the restless billionaire isn't sure what to do next. According to Mr. Wolff, an expected reorganization could be right around the corner.

SEACREST OUT FOREVER: Remember when "American Idol" towered over the TV landscape? It's hard to remember in this binge-happy era, but broadcast networks used to build their schedules around the show, trying to avoid going head-the-head because of its staggering popularity. The show, which aired its finale Thursday after 15 seasons, brought in 30 million live viewers in its heyday in 2006, and was a profit-making machine, reports CMO Today. But it has fallen steadily -- it has drawn 9 million viewers an episode this year, and ad dollars have dropped as well. Some industry executives paid tribute to 'Idol' for its impact -- it wasn't just a major cultural force but an influence on a generation of reality TV shows from "The Voice" to "Dancing with the Stars."

NEWSPAPERS VS. MOZILLA: What happens when you create a Web browser with ad blocking functionality built right in, and then you sell your own ads that replace those delivered by Web publishers? You get the newspaper industry--which is already cranky--really mad. That's what the startup Brave found out on Thursday, when 17 newspaper publishing companies, including News Corp's Dow Jones and the New York Times, sent a cease-and-desist letter to Brave, reports The Wall Street Journal. Brave says it shares a large portion of ad revenue with newspapers, but the newspapers are arguing that the Brave business model violates copyrights and publishers' terms of use and is basically altogether illegal. Brave said it will fight for Web denizens who "demand a better deal than they are getting from today's increasingly abusive approach to Web advertising."

Elsewhere

Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman has been alerted that he has been replaced as Sumner Redstone's healthcare agent by the mogul's daughter, Shari Redstone. [ WSJ]

Reebok has signed on as the first advertiser for Bkstg, a mobile music-centric social network launched by two former top AOL executives. [ CMO Today]

Verizon is moving ahead with a bid for Yahoo's core business and will add its Yahoo Japan stake to the mix to sweeten the offer, Bloomberg reports. [ Bloomberg]

Meanwhile, companies that are interested in acquiring Yahoo have been given an extra week to submit their bids, which are now due on April 18. [ Re/code].

Freeform--formerly ABC Family--has ordered a new live action series, "Cloak and Dagger," which is based on a popular Marvel comic. [ TVLine.com]

As Americans rethink their long love affair with soda, the sparkling water brand LaCroix is on fire with the help of a buzzy social media marketing effort. [ CMO Today]

Some publishers that have embraced distributing their content directly to Facebook via its Instant Articles product say they've seen traffic drop significantly on their own websites. [ Digiday]

Cablevision subscribers can now get Hulu through their set-top boxes--just like any other cable network. [ Variety]

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 08, 2016 07:55 ET (11:55 GMT)

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