new discovery : tv media giants have spent the better part of the last two years linking up with digital media companies, from disney and vice to nbcuniversal and vox media to turner and refinery29 . now discovery is making a big play, investing $100 million into a newly-formed holding company made up of digital properties in the lerer family<u+2019>s digital media empire, the wall street journal reports. the new company, called group nine media, will include thrillist (started by ben lerer, the son of venture capitalist kenneth lerer), the dodo (founded by mr. lerer<u+2019>s daughter izzie lerer) nowthis (founded by the elder mr. lerer and his vc partner eric hippeau) and two of discovery<u+2019>s digital ventures. the deal valued the new company, which will be run by ben lerer, at around $550 million, and discovery will have the option to buy a controlling stake in two years. david zaslav, discovery<u+2019>s ceo, said the investment in the social-media geared company is a part of discovery<u+2019>s efforts to <u+201c>accelerate our presence in short-form content.<u+201d> night of buzz : on election night, viewers will have their choice of networks to follow along with the action, but just like with the conventions and presidential debates, twitter is hoping young viewers will use its platform to tune in instead. as cmo today reports, buzzfeed will live stream an election night special on twitter , where reporters will deliver and analyze incoming news throughout the evening. the move is the latest in a growing list of sports and politics live-streaming deals for twitter. but it<u+2019>s perhaps a more surprising move from buzzfeed, which was the highest-paid publisher on facebook<u+2019>s list of media companies getting compensated to produce facebook live videos. ben smith, buzzfeed<u+2019>s editor in chief, said that twitter is still <u+201c>the heart of this giant american conversation<u+201d> surrounding the election. the two companies will split advertising revenue generated from the event, which will include typical mid-roll video ads and sponsored news clips promoted across twitter. trumped up ads : donald trump<u+2019>s entire campaign has been a lesson in the power of free media (that is, publicity that you don<u+2019>t have to pay for). but as wsj reports, that strategy might be catching up with mr. trump as he and hillary clinton flood the airwaves in swing states with ads in the campaign<u+2019>s final stretch. mrs. clinton<u+2019>s team booked her ads earlier, meaning she can command a better price than mr. trump, at least at first. fcc filings show that the trump campaign initially pays higher rates in key states than clinton, though the trump campaign sometimes will receive rebates from the stations. the trump campaign said last month that it would spend $100 million on tv ads before election day, but so far it has booked about half of that. it<u+2019>s twitchy : twitch, the video game streaming service acquired by amazon in 2014 for a staggering $1 billion, is well-known among gamers and gaming advertisers. but as cmo today reports, the company is landing ad deals outside of its category in the hopes of winning a bigger share of the web video ad dollar pool. brands that have recently advertised on twitch include coke, pepsi, old spice and pizza hut <u+2013> all marketers that want to tap into twitch<u+2019>s command of the hard-to-reach young male demographic. twitch says it averages close to 10 million daily active users across the globe, through platforms like youtube and facebook have more mammoth reach. also, ad buyers are often jumpy about placing their brands in newer, riskier spaces. twitch says this isn<u+2019>t a problem anymore. <u+201c>we<u+2019>ve disproven or blown away stereotypes. our conversations are no longer around <u+2018>is this audience safe?<u+2019><u+201d> said anthony danzi, twitch<u+2019>s senior vice president of client strategy. wpp<u+2019>s xaxis has acquired triad retail media for roughly $300 million. the company helps retailers like wal-mart sell ads on their e-commerce sites. [ cmo today ] pinterest said that it has 150 million monthly users worldwide, increasing its users by half since september of last year. the company said about 80 million of its users are overseas. [ wsj ] billy bush is still negotiating his exit from nbc, with one possibility being that the network buys him out of his contract, reported to be close to $3 million a year. he has hired a top litigator to help iron out a deal [ the hollywood reporter ] bloomberg has a deep dive on haim saban, the billionaire chairman of univision and one of hillary clinton<u+2019>s biggest boosters. mr. saban is on a quest to take univision public, but the process has been delayed. [ bloomberg ] verizon<u+2019>s top lawyer said that yahoo<u+2019>s data breach may be a material change that could affect its purchase of the company, opening the door for a possible renegotiation. [ wsj ] nearly 30% of sky voting shareholders oppose james murdoch<u+2019>s chairmanship. [ reuters ] the new york times<u+2019> lawyer david mccraw responded to donald trump<u+2019>s threat to sue the paper for libel over an article interviewing two women who accused the candidate of inappropriately touching them years ago. mr. mccraw said the paper will not retract or apologize. [ nyt ] texas monthly was sold for $25 million by its owner of nearly two decades. [ poynter ] donald trump is planning to step up his attacks on the media and hillary clinton by taking on mexican billionaire carlos slim, a new york times shareholder and donor to the clinton foundation. [ wsj ] follow us on twitter: @wsjcmo , @digitalshields , @vranicawsj , @jackmarshall , @perlberg , @alexbruell , @srabil , @asharma subscribe to our morning newsletter, delivered straight to your inbox, at http://on.wsj.com/cmotodaysignup . write to steven perlberg at steven.perlberg@wsj.com
cmo today: discovery makes $100 million digital media play - wsj
steven perlberg