Today's Media Pulse
Online video subscriptions hit 2.24 billion in 2025, overtaking pay‑TV revenue
Omdia reports global online video subscriptions reached 2.24 billion at the end of 2025, a 17.6% year‑on‑year rise. Revenue grew 13.5% to $176 billion, surpassing pay‑TV's $170 billion for the first time. Growth is expected to slow to single‑digit levels in 2026 as operators focus on monetising existing users.
Also developing:
QMS Flips the Switch on 50 New Digital Screens in Sydney
QMS Media activated 50 new digital screens on its City of Sydney street‑furniture network, bringing the total to 600 panels. The expansion stretches beyond the CBD into precincts such as The Rocks, Surry Hills, Potts Point and Woolloomooloo, increasing reach to 3.9 million Sydneysiders over four weeks. The upgrade enhances programmatic out‑of‑home capabilities, allowing real‑time, data‑driven campaigns. QMS says the move meets growing demand for high‑impact, accountable outdoor advertising.
Get After It Media to Consolidate Two Multicast Networks
Get After It Media announced the merger of its two multicast networks, Rev’n and the Action Channel, into a single offering called Rev’n Action. The new channel blends automotive series, outdoor shows, and combat‑sports content, creating a unified schedule for...
Google Added Agentic Features to Ads Advisor that Automate Ad Policy Violation Troubleshooting, Security Monitoring, and Certification
Google rolled out three agentic safety features inside its Ads Advisor platform, automating policy compliance, security monitoring, and certification processes. The system now proactively scans ad campaigns for policy violations, offers real‑time reviews as marketers edit ads, and conducts daily...
Sydney Radio Ratings 2026 Survey 2: Post-Kyle & Jackie O, KIIS Holds
Sydney’s GfK Radio Survey 2 (Feb 8‑Apr 4 2026) shows KIIS 1065’s breakfast share slipped to 11.7%, down a point after the Kyle Sandilands‑Jackie O exit, but the decline was modest. 2GB reclaimed the top spot with a 13.3% cumulative audience, adding 84,000 listeners, while smooth FM matched...
Canadian Grocer Nominated for National Magazine Awards: B2B
Canadian Grocer earned three nominations for the eighth annual National Magazine Awards: B2B, covering its People series, Generation Next Thinking series, and the 2025 GroceryIQ Shopper Study. The People series is up for Best Editorial, Column or Regularly Featured Department,...
CinemaCon’s Quiet Wars: Fewer Movies, Bigger Screens — and TikTok in Charge
CinemaCon highlighted a post‑pandemic theater landscape defined by fewer releases, larger premium formats, and TikTok‑driven demand. Ticket sales remain about 20% below pre‑COVID levels, but studios are betting on blockbuster franchises and extended theatrical windows to revive revenues. New technologies...
FCC Media Bureau Launches Probe Into TV Ratings System
The FCC’s Media Bureau has opened a formal inquiry into the voluntary TV ratings system, seeking public comment on its effectiveness for modern audiences. The probe follows a wave of parental complaints that shows aimed at children increasingly include gender‑identity...
WNBA to Air Record 216 National Games This Season, Including All 44 Indiana Fever Games
The WNBA will broadcast a record 216 games this season across seven national partners, including every Indiana Fever matchup. The schedule spreads across ESPN/ABC, CBS, Prime Video, Ion, NBC/Peacock, USA Network, and NBA TV, reflecting the league’s hybrid broadcast‑streaming strategy....
Witty and Warm, James Valentine Lifted the Spirits of a City
James Valentine, the beloved Australian saxophonist‑turned‑radio host, died at 64 after a public battle with cancer. He spent 25 years anchoring ABC Radio 702’s “Afternoons” slot, where his jazz‑improv style turned talk‑back into a community‑driven performance. Earlier, he contributed sax...
Media Criticism Makes META Stock a Buying Opportunity
It's amazing how badly the media wants Zuck and Meta to fail. Journalists LOVE pointing to various flaws of social media and Meta's ad business as if they are so morally superior. These people are sad as they criticize all...
Snapchat Launches Loyalty Badges for Snap Map Locations
Snapchat introduced place‑loyalty badges that award gold, silver and bronze icons to users who rank in the top 25 % of visitors to a location over the past year. The badges appear only to the individual user on Snap Map, but can...
John Tesh Inducted Into NAB Hall of Fame
John Tesh was inducted into the National Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame as the 2026 radio honoree, sharing the spotlight with actor Rob Lowe, the television inductee. The honor celebrates Tesh’s enduring influence on broadcasting, highlighted by his innovative...
TNT Rides NHL’s Playoff Momentum After Shuffling Rights Portfolio
TNT Sports is leveraging its recent NCAA ratings high to dominate the 2025‑26 NHL playoff season, delivering an average of 381,000 viewers on its cable networks—up 21% year‑over‑year. The league’s overall ratings rose 23%, giving the NHL its best national...
ChatGPT Just Turned On the Pricing Model Travel Advertising Runs On
OpenAI has switched its ChatGPT advertising from an impression‑based model to a cost‑per‑click (CPC) pricing structure, mirroring Google’s search ad auction. The change lets travel marketers compare ChatGPT ad performance directly with familiar search metrics. Hotel listings are already appearing...
Hearst News All-In-One: Publisher Cuts Deal To Help Programmatic Advertisers
Hearst News has struck a deal with ad‑tech firm Magnite to create an all‑in‑one programmatic marketplace for its 80 million‑strong audience. The partnership will enable high‑impact formats such as web exit‑intent placements, CTV pause ads, and dynamic video through Magnite’s SpringServe...
X Introduces Topic-Based Custom Timelines
X has launched a Custom Timelines feature that lets users pin AI‑curated, topic‑based feeds to their home tab. The option offers 75 of the most discussed subjects, each personalized by X’s Grok system based on individual engagement. It replaces the...
Sam Raimi's "Entertaining and Twisted" Thriller Send Help Lands UK Streaming Release Date
Sam Raimi’s survival thriller Send Help will debut on Disney+ in the United Kingdom on Thursday, 7 May, after an initial digital‑rental window. The film stars Rachel McAdams and Dylan O’Brien as mismatched strangers stranded on a deserted island, delivering a darkly comic battle...
NBA Playoffs 2026: First-Round Matchups, TV Schedule, How to Watch Tonight's Games
The NBA’s 2026 playoffs are now split among Disney (ABC/ESPN), Comcast (NBC/Peacock) and Amazon (Prime Video) under a new media‑rights deal. NBC/Peacock will broadcast the most first‑round games—up to 23—and the Western Conference Finals, while ESPN/ABC carries the Eastern Conference...
Who The Pitt Star Katherine LaNasa Plays On Daredevil: Born Again
Katherine LaNasa, Emmy‑winning star of HBO Max’s *The Pitt*, appears in Disney+’s *Daredevil: Born Again* as Artemis Sledge, a wealthy New York socialite who confronts Mayor Wilson Fisk. Her two‑episode arc in season 1 highlights Fisk’s transition from mob boss to...
OpenAI Releases 'Thinking' Engine For Queries, Images
OpenAI unveiled ChatGPT Images 2.0, a "thinking" image engine that can browse the web, generate multiple distinct visuals from a single prompt, and self‑verify its output. The model is designed to handle complex visual tasks such as precise UI rendering, iconography,...
![‘Law & Order: SVU’ Officially Unveils New Episode Sneak Peek After Season 28 Renewal [Exclusive]](/cdn-cgi/image/width=1200,quality=75,format=auto,fit=cover/https://static0.colliderimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/svu-kelli-giddish.jpg?w=1600&h=900&fit=crop)
‘Law & Order: SVU’ Officially Unveils New Episode Sneak Peek After Season 28 Renewal [Exclusive]
The article presents an interactive Taylor Sheridan universe quiz that asks ten personality‑styled questions to match readers with one of four of Sheridan’s flagship series—Yellowstone, Landman, Tulsa King, or Mayor of Kingstown. Each question probes themes such as power sources, loyalty, handling...
Final Fantasy XIV Manga Chapters Free During 2026 US Fan Fest
Square Enix is offering free access to select chapters of two Final Fantasy XIV manga series on Manga Up during the 2026 US Fan Festival. The alternate‑universe slice‑of‑life title *Eorzea Academy* (chapters 1.1‑4.1) and the realistic mahjong‑club story *Saki &...
N3on Reveals He Paid Army of Clippers $1.4M over Five Weeks to Make Him Go Viral
Kick streamer N3on disclosed that he paid 33 clippers a total of $1.4 million over five weeks to produce and distribute short clips of his broadcasts. He compensates clippers $40 per 100,000 views, rising to $50 for higher‑priority content, and claims...
Why Your Instagram Strategy Stopped Working (and What to Do Instead)
Instagram reach drops in 2026 stem from changed user behavior, not a mysterious platform penalty. Users now scroll faster, follow fewer accounts, and demand immediate value, prompting the algorithm to prioritize watch time, likes per reach, and sends per reach....
Paramount+ Australia Sets Debut for Gripping Drama THE GRAY HOUSE
Paramount+ Australia will launch the eight‑episode limited series The Gray House on Thursday, 30 April. The drama, which debuted in the United States on Prime Video in February, dramatizes the true story of four women who built a covert espionage...
Ask LLMs to Verify Uncited Journalistic Beliefs
Journalists: if you ever have a thing you understand to be true, but cannot cite it or get it past editors due to commitments made to sources, describe your belief about the world to an LLM and ask the LLM...
Joan of Arcadia Ends After Two Seasons
📺 April 22, 2005: CBS fantasy family drama “Joan of Arcadia” with Amber Tamblyn, Mary Steenburgen, Joe Mantegna and Jason Ritter concluded its two-season run. https://t.co/OU3DXYVx6M https://t.co/hEHDxsnj6q
Our Newsroom AI Policy
Ars Technica has released a reader‑facing policy outlining how it employs generative AI in its editorial workflow. The policy emphasizes that all reporting, analysis, and commentary are authored by humans, with AI tools limited to assistance in editing, research, and...
Maude Canceled Despite Planned Political Washington Season
📺 April 22, 1978: “Maude,” led by Bea Arthur, wrapped up after six seasons. Although a seventh season had been planned — with Maude Findlay relocating to Washington, D.C., to enter politics — Arthur chose to step away from the...
John Coogan Mastered Media, Grew YouTube to 450k Subscribers
I don’t think people realize how much @johncoogan studied the media business before starting @TBPN. He didn’t just have a good take on where media was going… He literally built a YouTube channel from zero to 450k subs first. https://t.co/32bavCdvGZ
‘Zootopia 2’ Sets the Floor. ‘Avatar,’ ‘Hoppers,’ and ‘Star Wars’ Set the Ceiling'
Zootopia 2 generated 32 million global views in its first week and 28.6 million U.S. streaming hours, matching the performance of recent animated sequels like Moana 2 and Inside Out 2. Disney’s next slate—Avatar Fire & Ash, the original animated Hoppers, and Star Wars The Mandalorian & Grogu—shows divergent audience intent signals. Avatar leads...
Bezos and Washington Post Threaten American Democracy
Jeff Bezos is a bad actor and the Washington Post is now a font of disinformation and propaganda and a threat to American Democracy
Double Standards: NYT Content Free, Wordle Blocked?
OK… so it’s ok for everyone to republish the nyt and for us to vibecode a free wordle competitor? , @NYTimesPR?
NFL Defends Broadcasting Strategy as Regulators Probe Shift to Pay TV
The NFL defended its broadcast model to the FCC, emphasizing that more than 87% of its games still air on free over‑the‑air TV and that every local‑market game is broadcast locally. The league highlighted that 86 of the top 100...
Applovin Rescues Clients as Meta Experiences Major Outages
Applovin is my saving grace for all these bugs on Meta right now. Things are actually doing really decent for a number of clients while Meta is down bad.
Google AI Mode Shows Citations as Person Names
Look at this super weird way Google is changing title links / citations in AI Mode - just the name of the person, with a link to the place they were mentioned @glenngabe @rustybrick https://t.co/ihFss0tQvp
NAB Show Recap: The ‘74% Problem’ Facing Radio’s Digital Sales Teams
Radio’s digital revenue reached $2.3 billion in 2025, representing 24.4% of total ad sales and is projected to climb to $2.5 billion in 2026. Gordon Borrell highlighted that 74% of existing advertisers still aren’t purchasing digital products, a gap he calls the...
FBI Involved in First Amendment Press Violation
Agree. This is a blatant violation of first amendment rights and an attempt to chill a free and plural press consistent with other actions by administration. That it involves the FBI should be even more concerning. 1/2 https://t.co/pf61sFHLi7
Scale Proven Content Pillars with Dedicated Accounts
This will be the future of content pillars. Have a specific content pillar that’s proven to work. Test repeatable concepts around it. Create another account for it. Scale the show on that account.
BFOA Breakfast Sends NAB Show 2026 Out on a High Note
The Broadcasters Foundation of America (BFOA) closed NAB Show 2026 with its annual Leadership Class Breakfast, honoring eight broadcasters and underscoring the foundation’s charitable impact. Over the past decade the foundation has distributed more than $15 million in aid, with grant...
Families Prioritize Affordability Over Gender Identity TV Warnings
FCC commissioner Anna Gomez (the only Democrat on the commission): “American families are worried about affordability, access and rising costs, not whether the TV ratings system has enough warnings about gender identity” https://t.co/8WRHMkjv6S
Watch Founders Race to Real Revenue on Camera
If liked our Agent 3 documentary, this is next level, and focused on Replit Builders. It will be a series.
NAB Commissioner Warns Fans as Sports Move Behind Multiple Streaming Paywalls
NAB Commissioner Olivia Trusty told a Las Vegas conference that growing fan anger over sports moving behind multiple streaming paywalls could jeopardize broadcast policy. She highlighted more than 8,000 FCC comments—98% expressing frustration—and warned that the combined cost of services...
Wondery Podcast Service Ends After May 21
Wondery has a closing date: The podcast app and service will shut down after May 21.
Niall Official Joins Tomorrow's Apple Music Radio Interview
you guys have been asking... @NiallOfficial is calling into the show tomorrow to talk new music. hit the link to catch our chat in real time on @AppleMusic radio at 9am LA time tomorrow. gonna be great 👊https://t.co/4bdr4A5q06
Twenty Twenty Six Proves This Beloved BBC Comedy Hasn’t Lost Its Edge
BBC’s new mockumentary Twenty Twenty Six revives Hugh Bonneville’s Ian Fletcher, moving the satire from Olympic and BBC bureaucracy to the chaotic world of football administration in Miami. The six‑part series, narrated by David Tennant, follows a newly assembled team...
Hisense UR9 RGB Mini‑LED TV Hits 93% BT.2020 Coverage, Sets New Color Benchmark
Hisense unveiled its UR9 RGB Mini‑LED TV, which Tom's Guide measured at 93% BT.2020 color coverage, surpassing leading QD‑OLED and SQD Mini‑LED models. The launch coincides with Hisense's World Cup 2026 campaign, positioning the set as the most colorful consumer...
Legal Eagle’s YouTube Channel Hits 4 Million Subscribers, Redefining LegalTech Education
Devin Stone’s Legal Eagle YouTube channel now boasts almost 4 million subscribers and routinely draws over 500,000 viewers per episode. The former big‑law attorney turned professor produces three legal‑analysis videos a week, illustrating how digital platforms are reshaping public legal awareness...
RFK Jr. Says He Would Support a Potential Ban on Junk Food TV Ads
U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he would support a potential ban on junk‑food television advertisements, though he prefers a voluntary approach for food companies. The proposal follows similar arguments used to curb tobacco advertising and comes amid...
Cop Land Is Set to Become a TV Series / It’s up to Taylor Frankie Paul if She Returns to...
Oscar‑nominated director James Mangold is turning his 1997 crime drama Cop Land into a limited TV series, teaming with Paramount TV and producer Robert Levine. The adaptation will modernize the original’s gritty New Jersey setting for a streaming audience while...