VIDAA Takes on Nielsen, Comscore with V Index Measurement Solution
VIDAA, now rebranded as V, is set to launch its V Index measurement platform in Q2, blending traditional linear TV data with streaming‑app viewership. The solution will initially roll out across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, leveraging the company’s 30 million smart‑TV households. V Index promises advertisers a single, transparent metric that reflects real‑time audience behavior on the big screen. By targeting markets where Nielsen and Comscore have limited presence, VIDAA hopes to establish a foothold before expanding to the United States.
Roku Shares Climb. Is It Too Late to Buy the Stock?
Roku reported a robust Q4, with revenue rising 16% to $1.39 billion and EPS flipping to a profit of $0.53, beating expectations. Platform revenue surged 18% to $1.22 billion, driven by video ads and premium subscriptions, while device revenue barely grew. Adjusted...
Professional Women’s Hockey League Partners With Oak View Group For Sponsorship Sales
The Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) has appointed Oak View Group’s Global Partnerships division as its exclusive sponsorship sales partner. Within days, the league secured its first multiyear deal with Global Industrial, marking the inaugural partnership under the new commercial...
Indian Media Conglomerate Deploys Grass Valley Playout For Linear, OTT, Web
Network18 Media & Investments has rolled out Grass Valley’s Playout X, powered by the AMPP OS, across its linear TV, OTT, and web services. The unified platform replaces a patchwork of legacy vendor solutions, consolidating playout, ingest, ad‑replacement, watermarking and delivery under...
VALORANT VCT 2026 Season Capsule: Skins, Price, and Release Date
Riot Games announced the VALORANT VCT 2026 Season Capsule, dropping on Feb 19 at 1 pm CT and staying in the store until Masters Santiago concludes on Mar 15. The limited‑time bundle includes a VCT Sigil melee skin, four regional playercards, and a VCT‑themed Flex...
TV Viewing Hits 12-Month High
Television viewing in the United States rose to a 12‑month high in January 2026, with total TV usage up 3.7% from December. Cable captured the largest monthly gain, representing 21.2% of all TV consumption and adding a full share point....
Why UTA’s Agents Are Helping Its Top Crafts Clients Find Work Outside the Box
United Talent Agency’s Production Arts division is steering top crafts talent—cinematographers, production designers, costume artists—into non‑film projects such as hospitality design, international backlots, and publishing. Agents Pete Franciosa and Mike Rubi view these gigs as creative extensions that keep artists...
Sahai to Appear At Two Investor Conferences, Pitching Sinclair
Sinclair Inc. CFO Narinder Sahai will present at two investor conferences in March, using the platform to promote the company’s transition to ATSC 3.0 broadcast technology. The appearances aim to showcase Sinclair’s growth strategy, its portfolio of stations—including flagship WBFF‑TV in...
Henrik Berndtson Named Head of Nordics at AEG Ticketing Division AXS
AEG’s ticketing arm AXS has appointed Henrik Berndtson as Head of the Nordics, placing him in Stockholm to steer regional operations. The move aligns with AXS’s aggressive European rollout, complementing recent hires in Europe and a joint venture in Japan. Berndtson...
Monetisation, Player Retention and Communities on Discord: Top Tips Incoming at PGC San Francisco
Discord will showcase its Social SDK at Pocket Gamer Connects San Francisco on March 9, 2026, where senior developer Anthony Tešija will present strategies for acquiring, retaining, and monetising mobile gamers via Discord. He will outline how the platform’s community...
US Video Game Consumer Spending Predicted to Reach $62.8bn in 2026
U.S. video game consumer spending is projected to hit $62.8 billion in 2026, a 3% rise from the previous year, according to market‑research firm Circana. The growth is anchored by strong hardware demand for the Nintendo Switch 2 and the launch of...
How Inclusive Leadership Can Shape the Next Generation of Games
At Pocket Gamer Connects London 2026, Aurora UK Awards highlighted women and non‑binary leaders, featuring an interview with former Monument Valley director Jennifer Estaris. Estaris emphasizes designing inclusion into hiring, mentorship, and leadership culture, arguing it drives creative and commercial...
Mellow Launches Indie Launchpad to Support Game Studios
Contractor management platform Mellow has introduced Indie Launchpad, a support program for independent game studios. The initiative offers eligible teams of up to 15 developers six months of full access to Mellow’s platform and its AI Scout freelancer‑matching tool, with...
‘GAIM’ Grows Nashville Studio As Bronze Shines In Bigger Role
GAIM, a Nashville‑based operator of five digital multicast networks, announced a major expansion during its self‑described "transformative period." CEO Joel Wertman and Co‑President/COO Otto Padrón are guiding the growth, which includes a new studio in the Marathon Village district. The...
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Complete Edition Is Coming to Xbox Game Pass Premium and Ultimate on Thursday
CD Projekt Red announced that The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Complete Edition will arrive on Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and Premium this Thursday, covering both Xbox One and Series consoles. The bundle adds the Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine...
Apple Music’s iOS 26.4 Beta Introduces AI-Powered Playlist Tool
Apple Music is testing an AI‑powered playlist generator called Playlist Playground in the iOS 26.4 beta. The tool lets users type natural‑language prompts—such as “morning coffee music” or “disco songs that defined the 1970s”—to create 25‑track playlists with custom titles and...
Best AI Features for Enhancing UGC Video Quality
AI tools are reshaping how brands source and contract user‑generated video, shifting focus from pristine production to post‑production fixability. By leveraging AI for audio cleanup, stabilization, denoising, upscaling, color correction, masking, and reframing, marketers can scale UGC faster and at...
Pocket Gamer Connects Wishes You a Prosperous Lunar New Year
Pocket Gamer Connects announced the 2026 PG Connects Summit in Shanghai for July 30, positioning the event as a gateway to ChinaJoy and the Chinese games market. Early registrants receive a 10 % ticket discount and access to the MeetToMatch platform for...
Latuff Upped to Zeno’s Chief Growth Officer Role
Zeno Media announced the promotion of Nikols Latuff from Vice President to Chief Growth Officer. Latuff, praised for her market intelligence and relationships with broadcasters and creators, will steer the company’s next phase of growth. Zeno is concentrating on podcast...
Gaming’s Identity Crisis: Matthew Ball Highlights Industry Fragmentation in New Presentation
Analyst Matthew Ball released a new report describing a growing identity crisis in video games, noting that the industry has become increasingly fragmented over the past year. He points to divergent business models, platform silos, and shifting consumer habits as...
Warner Bros Rejects Paramount Takeover Bid, Sets Week Deadline; Netflix Vote on 20 March
Warner Bros. Discovery rejected Paramount Skydance's $30‑per‑share acquisition proposal, signaling that the current offer does not meet its valuation expectations. The studio gave Paramount a seven‑day window, until February 23, to submit a revised, best‑and‑final bid. Paramount has indicated it could...
Spinnaker Tower Searches for New Operator
Portsmouth City Council has engaged Colliers to locate a new leisure or visitor‑attraction operator for the 170‑metre Spinnaker Tower. The council aims to "unlock" the tower's untapped potential by bringing in a partner that will invest, innovate and enhance the...
Take That’s Gary Barlow Signs Global Publishing Deal With BMG
Gary Barlow has signed an exclusive global publishing agreement with BMG that brings his four‑decade songwriting catalogue—including Take That hits and collaborations with Elton John and Robbie Williams—under BMG’s administration. The deal expands BMG’s roster of legendary writers such as Mick...
China Introduces 30-Day Visa Waiver for UK and Canadian Nationals
China will allow UK and Canadian passport holders to enter visa‑free for up to 30 days. The waiver runs from 17 February to 31 December 2026 and covers business, tourism, family visits, exchanges and transit. It is expected to speed...
‘A Modern Collecting Society Needs the Pace and Resilience of a Modern Digital Service.’
PRS for Music announced a comprehensive digital‑first overhaul, redesigning its website and member tools to be mobile‑first and self‑service. The new platform reduces navigation steps, uses plain language, and treats data as a product, enabling faster royalty insights and payments....
Allegro Spatial Launches on Bouygues Telecom in France
Bouygues Telecom has added the premium classical music channel Allegro Spatial to its French TV lineup, delivering native 4K UHD video at 50 fps with Dolby Atmos immersive audio. The service, positioned on channel 164, offers concerts, ballets and operas alongside contextual...
X Partners with Real Madrid for New Original Series on Real Talks
X has struck an exclusive deal with Real Madrid to launch “Real talks,” a 10‑episode, player‑driven X Original series. The episodes will roll out throughout the 2025/26 season, aligning with the club’s key fixtures and allowing fans to submit questions...
A Practical Guide to Indie Comms: How Studios Can Build Visibility without Burning Out
Rebecca Attard‑Phillips, co‑founder of Boost, offers indie studios a practical communications roadmap that replaces noisy, omnichannel marketing with a realistic focus on clarity, consistency, and connection. The guide introduces three messaging pillars—emotional fantasy, signature mechanic, and world tone—and shows how...
Mewgenics Xbox Release Might Be in the Works After Wild PC Success
Mewgenics, the tactical cat‑breeding roguelite that recently topped Steam's most‑popular premium games chart, is being eyed for a multi‑platform launch. Co‑developer Edmund McMillen hinted the title could enter development for "all systems," including the current‑gen consoles such as Xbox Series...
New South Wales Prepares New Law to Support Music Venues
New South Wales has introduced the Music Bill 2026, a pioneering legislative package aimed at safeguarding grassroots music venues. The bill establishes a Sound NSW advisory board and an accreditation system that classifies venues as dedicated, significant or live‑music spaces....
Zillow for Warcraft Is a New Way to Explore World of Warcraft Homes
Zillow has teamed up with Blizzard Entertainment to launch "Zillow for Warcraft," a dedicated microsite that showcases a curated collection of player‑owned homes in World of Warcraft. The launch coincides with the long‑awaited player housing feature going live in the...
Filming with a Mission: Why Actor Chris Pine Turned to This Nonprofit Film Fund
Harbor Fund, a Utah‑based nonprofit, has raised $15 million from 82 high‑net‑worth donors and deployed $10 million into 22 socially conscious film and documentary projects, including Chris Pine’s upcoming documentary based on Matthew Desmond’s book *Evicted*. Pine, motivated by his own experience...
Sporticast 528: MLS at a Crossroads
MLS franchise values have surged to an average of $767 million, driven by Inter Miami’s $1.45 billion valuation and LAFC’s $1.4 billion mark. At the lower end, clubs like CF Montréal sit at $430 million, with San Jose Earthquakes and Vancouver Whitecaps seeing year‑over‑year declines. The...
Deutsche Telekom Expands MagentaTV FAST Line-Up with Seven New Channels
Deutsche Telekom has expanded its MagentaTV platform with seven new FAST (free‑ad‑supported streaming) channels, covering true‑crime, wildlife, political analysis, royalty, sci‑fi, anime and western genres. The rollout follows an initial launch of four FAST channels in December 2025 and a...
VideoWeek Article
Barb contributed to VideoWeek’s February 2026 piece outlining Europe’s TV Joint‑Innovation Centers (JICs) focus areas. The report highlights a surge in cross‑channel collaboration, new data partnership models, and advanced analytics integration across broadcasters. JICs are deploying AI‑driven tools and cloud...
Tom Keaveney Joins AMC Networks International as EVP and Managing Director of AMCNI-UK
AMC Networks International announced Tom Keaveney as executive vice president and managing director of AMCNI‑UK, effective immediately. Based in London, he will oversee programming, marketing, and the company’s fast‑growing FAST (Free‑Ad‑Supported Television) strategy. Keaveney reports to AMCNI president Eduardo Zulueta...
Operational Discipline in Streaming Is Now Non-Negotiable
Streaming operators are moving from growth‑focused strategies to strict cost discipline as subscriber acquisition slows and infrastructure expenses rise. Igor Oreper argues that profitability now depends on tightly controlled workflows, AI‑driven automation, and smarter cloud‑native architectures. He highlights concrete levers...
Telenet Integrates YouTube Premium Into TV Platform in Belgian First
Telenet has become the first Belgian telecom to embed YouTube Premium directly into its TV platform, allowing customers to add the service for €13.99 per month. The subscription is billed through Telenet, giving users a single payment point via the MyTelenet...
King and Yahoo Games: Filling a Bite-Sized "Appetite" With Candy Crush Crushable
King has launched Candy Crush Crushable, a daily bite‑sized puzzle exclusive to Yahoo Games in the United States, while international players can access it via a dedicated website. The game is designed around a single‑puzzle‑per‑day format that emphasizes clarity, fairness...
Ideastream Goes With Nautel For New Transmitter Needs
Ideastream Public Media has placed an order for four new Nautel transmitters to replace or augment equipment at its three full‑power FM stations and an FM translator in Northeast Ohio. The package includes two GV2‑30ND high‑power units, a GV2‑3.5 medium‑power...
Planning Beyond the C-Band Auction: How IP Distribution Is Shaping What Comes Next
The FCC is set to reclaim at least 100 MHz of Upper C‑band spectrum, further shrinking the bandwidth available for satellite video delivery. Broadcasters are accelerating migration to managed IP distribution platforms that offer SLA‑backed performance, flexibility, and cost efficiencies. Leading...
Designing the Shift to Software-Based Media Production
The broadcast industry is shifting from hardware‑centric production to software‑based Dynamic Media Facility (DMF) architectures. In September 2025, AMWA and the EBU launched the JT‑DMF task force and the open‑source Media eXchange Layer (MXL) to define standards for containerised media processing...
The Film and TV Charity’s Money Matters Survey Reveals Worrying Trend for the Industry
The Film and TV Charity’s second Money Matters report, based on 2,000 industry workers, reveals that 74 % are contemplating leaving the sector because of financial pressure and 43 % have already taken concrete steps to exit. Sustained worklessness affects 22 % of...
Silverpush and Epitaph Release Attention Study with Lumen Research to Prove Performance of YouTube and Context
Silverpush and agency Epitaph released the first attention study for YouTube ads, partnering with Lumen Research. Analyzing over 60 million impressions across more than 30 campaigns, the study found contextual video ads delivered via Silverpush generated 37% higher attention per mille,...
Fuse Media and Complex Introduce Complex TV
Fuse Media has teamed with youth‑culture leader Complex to launch Complex TV, a free‑ad‑supported streaming (FAST) channel debuting on April 1, 2026. The service will roll out on Amazon Prime, Plex, Roku, Samsung TV Plus, TCL TV+, TiVo, Vizio and Xumo, blending Fuse’s proven monetization engine with...
Future Leverages High Visibility on ChatGPT by Offering GEO as a Service
Future Media has launched Future Optic, a generative AI optimisation (GEO) service that packages LLM visibility as a commercial offering across its portfolio. The move builds on research showing Future’s TechRadar is the most cited domain on ChatGPT, and a...
Digest: Disney Takes On Bytedance Over AI Video App; Alliance of Independent Agencies Launches Middle East Chapter
ByteDance announced tighter safeguards for its AI video generator Seedance after Disney served a cease‑and‑desist alleging unauthorized use of Marvel and Star Wars characters. The move follows a surge of hyper‑realistic clips that raised copyright concerns across Hollywood. Meanwhile, the...
Sony Pictures Networks India Trims Workforce Amid Restructuring
Sony Pictures Networks India (SPNI) has trimmed its workforce by more than 100 employees, roughly ten percent of its staff, as part of a broader restructuring effort. The cuts span multiple functions, including middle‑ and senior‑management roles in distribution and...
Sneak Preview: Finder?s Feat: Optimizing Search & Discovery With Metadata & Machine Learning at Streaming Media Connect
At Streaming Media Connect, a panel titled “Finder’s Feat: Optimizing Search & Discovery With Metadata & Machine Learning” will examine how structured metadata and AI‑driven tools transform content discovery into a revenue engine. Panelists include Tom Gennari (Fabric), Jamie Mackinlay...
How Should Publishers Respond to AI Models ‘Hoovering up’ Copyrighted Content?
Publishers face mounting pressure as AI developers scrape copyrighted material to train large language models. At the Definitive AI Forum in London, leaders from The Guardian, Alvarez & Marsal, and the PPA argued that no single solution exists, but collective action,...