Vevo has a huge audience, and third-party data from ComScore proves. Videos from the major-label owned streaming service were watched by 97 million Americans, or 25% of the U.S. population,  during the month of October, according to new data from comScore. Variety says 56% of that audience only accessed Vevo via phone or tablet.  (ComScore formerly only measured viewing data from desktop PCs.) And 43% of Vevo watchers also watched YouTube in October. 

However, YouTube claims the problem would not have skewed total view numbers very much. The system overcounted views only on 21 days over the course of the six-month period from August 2016 to January 2017, a YouTube rep told Variety's Todd Spangler

DirecTV Now streaming service that can be a replacement for cable, says it got 200,000 subscribers in its first month but it would be hard to imagine those are 200,000 satisfied customers.

Snap was sued earlier this month by a former employee claiming the company lied about its user growth to investors.Now Snap is pushing back, claiming that the former employee, Anthony Pompliano, is not only lying about Snap’s growth, but violated his employment contract with the company by filing the lawsuit at all.

On Thursday, CNN Media posted a job listing looking to hire a senior writer whose entire job would be to chase down stories like the one that aide to a Maryland lawmaker planted about Hillary Clinton buying fraudulent ballots in Ohio or the one about her being involved with a pedophile ring in the basement of a DC pizza restaurant.

Microsoft just updated it video-stream service Beam. As TechCrunch writes: “A major update was just launched globally for the service which highlights a new faster video player, Xbox Live sign-ins, and a redesigned home page that makes the service’s various communities more visible to users.” Of note, “These features had previously only been available to Beam Pro users as a beta.”

In the last three months of 2016, Deutsche Bank analyst Brian Kraft, usually bearish on the stock, believes Netflix added 4.35 million international subscribers, nearly 30% more than the company's guidance for 3.35 million subscribers. For all of 2017, Deutsche Bank predicts Netlix could add another 14.9 million subscribers globally. Netflix reports earnings Wednesday after the market closes. 

Amazon will pay $100,000 to filmmakers whose works are official selections at the 2017 Sundance Festival if they agree to give Amazon a two-year exclusive window.i  

Facebook spent $50 million for publishers and celebs to make live videos, but lots of publishers tell Recode that Facebook is de-emphasizing live now in favor of getting publishers to do longer, premium-like video. 

 AOL has been investing in new initiatives like the new Greenwich Village-located Build Studio, which had an open house recently. But it also whacked 500 jobs in its fourth quarter, more than 5% of its workplace. CEO Tim Armstrong says the cuts were mainly among display sales workers, because AOL is going toward more programmatic selling and toward sponsored content.  i