Sahil Patel
The Information
New York, NY, United States
Contact Sahil
Discover and connect with journalists and influencers around the world, save time on email research, monitor the news, and more.
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Past articles by Sahil:
The Biggest Bet in Sports Gambling: The Ad Push to Grab Customers
Want to know the biggest bet in online gambling? It’s the multibillion dollar marketing gamble sports betting firms like DraftKings and FanDuel are taking as they try to sign up as many customers as possible, as fast as possible. The steady legalization of online sports betting in states across ... → Read More
Peacock Is Helping MSNBC Reach Younger Viewers, MSNBC Chief Rashida Jones Says
NBCUniversal’s streaming service, Peacock, is helping MSNBC reach viewers at least a decade younger than those watching on its traditional cable channel, according to MSNBC’s president, Rashida Jones. Peacock is helping broaden MSNBC’s audience by creating a platform for different content ... → Read More
The Athletic Hires LionTree to Find Buyer at Price of More Than $750 Million
If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. That appears to be the motto of The Athletic in its efforts to sell itself. After holding unsuccessful discussions for a sale with both Axios and the New York Times Co. over the past few months, the online sports news subscription site has hired ... → Read More
Just How Rich Was Hello Sunshine’s Sales Price? Five Times Public Media Stock Values
Since a Blackstone-led group agreed to buy Hello Sunshine at a valuation of $900 million this week, there’s been lots of talk about the rich prices Hollywood studios are fetching amid a shortage of quality programming for streaming. Just how rich, though, has remained murky—until now. The ... → Read More
Revenue Surges at Google, Snap as Shift to Digital Ads Accelerates
Dell is rethinking how it spends this year’s ad budget. The computer maker is likely to shift as much as 15% of the nearly $100 million it typically spends on TV advertising in the Americas to digital ads, according to a person familiar with the plans. The company and other large brands are ... → Read More
How Vice, Vox and BuzzFeed Are Cashing In on the Streaming Boom
“Land of the Giants” is a podcast series from Vox Media’s Recode covering the history of tech companies including Amazon and Netflix. It will soon be a TV show, made by Vox for a major cable network for a fee of several millions of dollars, according to people familiar with the matter. Digital ... → Read More
LeBron James’ Entertainment Firm Explores Sale at Valuation of Up to $750 Million
NBA superstar LeBron James’ entertainment firm, SpringHill Company, is exploring a possible sale at a valuation that could reach $750 million, according to people familiar with the situation. Among the companies said to be considering an offer is Nike, the people said. The sale discussions ... → Read More
BuzzFeed Confirms Merger Plans, Showing Advertising Remains Central to Future
When BuzzFeed confirmed its plan to go public on Thursday, it made the pitch that it can accelerate growth through newer, fast-growing businesses like commerce. Yet the details of its presentation to investors show BuzzFeed still expects to be heavily reliant on advertising, a business in which ... → Read More
YouTube’s Audience on TVs Soars, But TV Advertisers Go Slow
Viewers of YouTube, who have long watched the popular video service on their phones and computers, are now increasingly watching it on television sets, according to new data shared with The Information. But despite the shift, some traditional TV advertisers are still balking at moving their ad ... → Read More
Shopify Seeks to Challenge Amazon Through Deals With BuzzFeed, Other Sites
Shopify, which has become a major force in e-commerce by providing online tools to merchants, is rolling out a new service that will allow content publishers to link to merchants in the Shopify network in exchange for a cut of transaction revenue, according to people familiar with the situation. ... → Read More
The New York Times and The Athletic End Acquisition Talks
The New York Times and subscription sports news site The Athletic have ended their acquisition talks, according to people familiar with the matter. The demise of the deal—which would have united one of media’s best known legacy brands with a respected up-and-comer—came down to money. The people ... → Read More
Inside Jonah Peretti’s Rollup Playbook
In 2018, BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti issued a cri de coeur to the digital media industry, telling his fellow moguls that all of them, BuzzFeed included, needed to start merging so they could more effectively stand up to Google and Facebook, the internet’s advertising powerhouses. But then a funny ... → Read More
BuzzFeed To Raise $200 Million in Bonds As SPAC Deal Nears
BuzzFeed is in discussions to raise about $200 million in convertible bonds to supplement cash it will raise by merging with a special purpose acquisition company, say people familiar with the situation. The financing will help BuzzFeed fund the acquisition of digital lifestyle publisher Complex ... → Read More
Discovery Deal Deepens Uncertainty Over WarnerMedia’s Bleacher Report
Shortly after Jason Kilar took over WarnerMedia a year ago, he met with executives at Bleacher Report to discuss the future of the scrappy digital sports business, according to people familiar with the discussions. In the meeting, Kilar and the team discussed how Bleacher Report could play a ... → Read More
Axel Springer Is in Talks to Buy Axios
German media conglomerate Axel Springer is in talks to acquire Axios, according to people familiar with the matter, continuing a consolidation of the digital media sector. Axel Springer already owns Business Insider and is an investor in Group Nine Media, owner of digital sites such as The Dodo ... → Read More
Ad Giants IPG, WPP Report Return to Organic Revenue Growth
The companies followed rival ad giants Omnicom and Publicis in reporting signs of recovery from the impact of the pandemic. → Read More
Overtime Raises $80 Million From Jeff Bezos, Drake, NBA Stars and Others
Overtime Sports, which targets younger fans on digital and social platforms, has raised $80 million in funding to pursue plans including the launch of its own high-school basketball league. → Read More
You & Mr Jones Forms New Media Division Led by Former Mindshare CEO Nick Emery
Nick Emery, the former global chief executive of Mindshare, part of WPP’s GroupM ad-buying unit, is joining You & Mr Jones as a founding partner of the marketing firm’s newly launched media division. → Read More
NBCUniversal Hires Nielsen Executive to Expand Its Measurement Work
The media giant named Kelly Abcarian to be executive vice president of measurement and impact. → Read More
GumGum Raises $75 Million From Goldman Sachs
The adtech company focuses on contextual advertising, as opposed to ads that target people based on identifiable information. → Read More