• Amazon Cracks Down On "Incentivized" reviews
    Keeping an earlier promise, Amazon appears to being rapidly deleting “incentivized” reviews. “The ban was meant to address the growing problem of less trustworthy reviews that had been plaguing the retailer’s site, leading to products with higher ratings than they would otherwise deserve,” TechCrunch notes. “Incentivized reviews are those where the vendor offers free or discounted products to reviewers, in exchange for recipients writing their ‘honest opinion’ of the item in an Amazon review.”
  • Warner Bros. Buying Machinima For $100M
    Warner Brothers is buying digital programming giant Machinima for nearly $100 million, Variety reports, citing sources. “Machinima will operate as a wholly-owned part of the recently formed Warner Bros. Digital Networks group, housing the studio’s digital and over-the-top businesses,” it writes. “Warner Bros. sees an opportunity to forge more synergies between Machinima and its DC Entertainment properties, as well as with its portfolio of video games.”
  • AOL To Cut 500 Jobs
    Doing what he does best, AOL CEO Tim Armstrong plans to cut about 500 job -- or about 5% of the unit’s workforce. “Armstrong said that most of the cuts will come in its corporate units, while resources will be shifted more at mobile, video and data offerings going forward,” Recode reports. Said Armstrong: “The layoffs are related to a 2017 strategy where we will add to our business.”
  • Wall Street Journal Sees Digital Revenues Rise
    During the third quarter, digital ad revenue accounted for 24% of all revenue for The Wall Street Journal -- up from 20%, year-over-year -- CNBC reports. “While we invest in high quality, premium content, this will be balanced with ongoing cost initiatives, as is evident from Dow Jones’ planned strategic reduction in spending and its focus on growing digital subscribers,” said Chief Executive Robert Thomson.
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