Media Roundup: Paramount cuts sales roles, UK tests social media limits, Threads overtakes X, and Netflix goes all cash

Media

Paramount cuts Adelaide roles as sales shift to Melbourne

Paramount is moving its entire Adelaide sales operation to Melbourne, a restructure the company says is designed to better support its broader business strategy.

According to David Simmons in InDaily, the shift is squarely about commercial consolidation.

Eight staff have been made redundant. The Adelaide newsroom is unaffected.

Social Media

UK study probes social media limits for children

The Guardian's Nicola Davis and Kiran Stacey report that the UK is edging closer to Australia’s playbook on children and social media, with a new large-scale study launched to test what happens when access is restricted.

Australia set the pace in December by banning under-16s from social platforms, instantly raising expectations that other governments would follow.

While experts agree some social media harms are real, there has been no population-level experiment on limiting use among healthy children.

Threads overtakes X as Meta plays the long game

According to Alys Key at UnHerd, fresh Similarweb data shows Meta’s app is now pulling in more daily mobile users than Elon Musk’s X, with Threads at about 141.5 million daily actives versus X at roughly 125 million.

Since its lacklustre launch, it has quietly stitched itself into Facebook and Instagram feeds, now becoming a priority for Meta.

Companies

Netflix goes all cash to lock in Warner Bros. deal

Variety's Todd Spangler writes that Netflix has sharpened its bid for Warner Bros Discovery, switching to an all-cash offer in a clear attempt to shut down Paramount Skydance’s competing play.

The revised agreement values the studios and HBO Max business at $27.75 a share, keeping the overall enterprise value at $82.7 billion.

Meanwhile...

Buried beneath the noise of Netflix’s blockbuster $83 billion play for Warner Bros. is a curious detail.

As The Hollywood Reporter's Alex Weprin reports, the streamer is about to own something it has never really wanted before. A basic cable channel.

That channel is Turner Classic Movies, and it carries far more cultural weight than its ratings might suggest.

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