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:
Threads Introduces 'Live Chats' For Following Live Events
Meta has added a "live chats" feature to Threads, allowing real‑time two‑way conversations within its Communities spaces. The rollout begins in the NBAThreads community during the playoffs, with prominent hosts such as Malika Andrews and Rachel Nichols. Participants can post text, photos, videos, links and emoji, while capacity‑limited chats still permit viewing, reactions, and poll voting. Meta says additional tools like co‑hosting, lock‑screen widgets and message quoting will arrive in later phases.
Alicia Keys Joins ‘American Idol’ As Guest Mentor; Will Perform In Season Finale
Seventeen‑time Grammy winner Alicia Keys will appear as a guest mentor on the American Idol season finale, guiding the Top 3 contestants and performing twice to mark the 25th anniversary of her debut album Songs in A Minor. The three‑hour live event airs on...
Zach Galifianakis’ New Netflix TV Show Streams Today
Netflix launched Zach Galifianakis’s six‑episode docuseries “This Is a Gardening Show” today, timed with Earth Day. The Emmy‑winning actor hosts, exploring gardening with kids and eccentric experts while mixing humor and education. Galifianakis also acts as executive producer, and the...
A TV Advertiser Breakout For 2025 Arrives From VAB
The Video Advertising Bureau released the seventh "Welcome to TV" report, spotlighting first‑time television advertisers poised to reshape the 2025 media landscape. The analysis ranks newcomers by ad spend, identifies top categories such as consumer packaged goods, automotive and fintech,...
The Vampire Lestat Seeks God Status In Official Trailer For Interview With The Vampire Season 3
AMC released the official trailer for Season 3 of Interview With the Vampire, titled “The Vampire Lestat.” The new season follows Sam Reid’s Lestat as he pursues rock‑god status on a multi‑city tour, featuring a cover of Billy Idol’s “Dancing With...
The Character Without an Author: Character Copyright Protection in the Age of Generative AI
Courts are still defining when a fictional figure qualifies for standalone copyright protection, applying a three‑part test that looks for physical and conceptual traits, consistent delineation, and distinctiveness. The Ninth Circuit’s 2025 ruling in *Carroll Shelby Licensing v. Halicki* found...
BossaNova Takes Unscripted Slate to Content Europe
International distributor BossaNova presented a fresh slate of unscripted series at Content Europe in Lisbon, targeting global broadcasters. The lineup includes "Guy Martin: Proper Jobs," "Classic Car Kings," "Heist: Robbing the Bank of England," "Red River Gold," and "Roman Empire...
Colorado Time Systems Introduces CTS AquaSync for Real-Time Aquatic Live Streaming
Colorado Time Systems, a PlayCore company, launched CTS AquaSync, a software that integrates real‑time timing and scoring data into live‑streamed aquatic events. The solution works with existing CTS timing platforms like Gen7 and System 6 and outputs graphics via NDI, compatible...
PBS Distribution Takes Unscripted Slate to Content Europe
PBS Distribution used this week’s Content Europe market in Lisbon to debut a new unscripted catalog, featuring five documentary titles across science, wellness, and current affairs. The science slate includes "Rain Bomb," which investigates sudden, destructive downpours, "The Real Truth,"...
Stop Begging Big Tech To Fix Your Social Media Experience. You Can Do It Yourself.
Bluesky has rolled out an advanced beta of its Attie AI tool, letting users craft highly personalized feed aggregators that pull from their Bluesky timeline, external RSS sources, and contextual cues. The author demonstrates how a single prompt generated a...
PGA Tour Signature Event Ratings Momentum Slows After 2025 Surge
The PGA Tour’s $20 million signature events posted a modest 2% viewership gain in 2026, averaging 3.55 million viewers, after a 10% surge the prior year. Only the Arnold Palmer Invitational bucked the trend, rising 17.8%, while the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro‑Am,...
Ad Operations and Compliance Manager
North Station Media, a fast‑growing sports‑focused digital network with over 75 podcasts and YouTube shows, is hiring an Ad Operations & Compliance Manager. The role will own end‑to‑end ad campaign execution, ensuring host‑read spots, mid‑rolls and pre‑rolls meet advertiser specs...
Apple TV+ Confirms July 2026 Premiere for Jessica Chastain Thriller “The Savant”
Apple TV+ has confirmed that the Jessica Chastain‑led miniseries “The Savant” will launch in July 2026, ending a 10‑month hiatus that began after the series was pulled from a September 2025 schedule. The announcement, made by Chastain at the 2026 Breakthrough Prize ceremony,...
Anna’s Archive Hit with $322 Million Default Judgment: What the Spotify Piracy Ruling Means for Copyright Enforcement
On April 14, 2026, U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff issued a $322 million default judgment against the shadow library Anna’s Archive for massive copyright infringement of Spotify and the three major record labels. The court awarded $300 million to Spotify and roughly...
Deutsche Telekom, T‑Mobile Discuss Merger to Form World's Largest Telecom‑Media Holding
Deutsche Telekom and its U.S. arm T‑Mobile US are in preliminary talks to create a new holding company that would combine their assets. Valued at roughly $384 billion together, the merger would become the largest public telecom‑media deal ever and could...
NYT's New Fashion Newsletter.
The New York Times has launched “The Fashions,” a twice‑weekly fashion newsletter written by Jacob Gallagher. It expands the paper’s nearly‑100‑newsletter portfolio beyond the existing Open Thread, delivering a more conversational, bite‑size take on style. The launch taps a broader industry shift...
Roku Selling Peacock Subscriptions Directly to Consumers
Roku announced it will sell NBCUniversal’s Peacock subscriptions directly to consumers at $16.99 per month or $169.99 per year, marking the first time the streaming service can be purchased without a third‑party billing partner. Peacock, which now has 44 million paid...
A Community Spin For Great Eastern Radio
Great Eastern Radio is set to relinquish ownership of four FM stations and two FM translators serving New Hampshire and Vermont. The transaction awaits final approval from the Federal Communications Commission. Once completed, the company’s New England‑centric portfolio will shrink,...
Small Press Insights: Bestseller Tracking Site
Jim Hanas has launched Small Press Insights, a website that tracks Amazon sales for small‑press titles. The platform offers real‑time bestseller data that was previously unavailable to indie publishers and authors. Access is bundled with Jane Friedman’s premium newsletter, which...
A Wild Ghost Blog Appears
After a decade on WordPress, the author migrated over 800 blog posts to Ghost, tackling a 13 MB XML export and extensive image assets. The migration required splitting imports, rewriting 667 footnotes into Markdown, and normalizing image folders with help from...
Amazon Partnering With Jason and Travis Kelce’s ‘New Heights’ Podcast for World Cup Soccer in LA
Amazon is partnering with the "New Heights With Jason and Travis Kelce" podcast to stage a live event, "New Heights Live in LA," at the Orpheum Theatre on June 15, coinciding with the 2026 FIFA World Cup kickoff in Los Angeles....
Creator Economy Briefing: IAB Defines Creator Content as Media Channel, David’s Bridal Shifts Budget, Fixated Acquires Studio71
The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) now classifies creator‑generated content as a core media channel, coinciding with digital ad revenue projected at $294.6 billion in 2025. Retailer David’s Bridal redirected roughly one‑third of its marketing spend to a creator‑first strategy, launching a...
New Study Reveals Power of Contextual in CTV: Content Adjacency Drives 4X Brand Lift for High-Consideration Categories
Video Elephant’s new study, "The Power of Context: Driving Lift Through Video," finds that aligning ads with surrounding content can generate up to four times the typical brand lift. A national survey of 2,000 U.S. adults shows 41% develop a...
EXCLUSIVE: The Trade Desk Is Quietly Phasing Out Its Signature Periodic Table
The Trade Desk is quietly phasing out the signature periodic‑table interface in its Kokai platform, replacing it with a more spreadsheet‑like, customizable layout. The change introduces a new tile‑filter feature that lets advertisers tailor the view to their workflow. While...
NAB Is Full of Big Ideas?Live Sports Need Ideas That Work
The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) show continues to showcase cutting‑edge sports‑broadcast technology, but the author argues that the industry now prioritizes production‑ready solutions over flashy demos. Live sports demand integrated, reliable, and scalable workflows that can handle multiple venues,...
Netflix Picks Winner of EMEA Media Review
Netflix announced the selection of a broadcast network to handle its advertising inventory across the EMEA region after a competitive pitch process involving Dentsu, Omnicom and WPP. The chosen partner will coordinate ad placements for Netflix’s ad‑supported tier, which is...
35 Years Ago Today in TV History: Johnny Carson Announced the End of an Era with Final Season of ‘The...
On April 22, 1991 NBC announced that Johnny Carson had signed a one‑year contract extension, confirming he would step down after September 1992. The move marked the impending end of his 29‑year run as host of The Tonight Show, a...
How AI Agents Can Sweep Fragmentation, Frustration, and Fraud Out of CTV
Agentic AI could resolve CTV programmatic fragmentation, fraud, and data inconsistency. The article outlines how fragmented inventory definitions and fraudulent reselling waste ad spend. AI agents trained to verify content, audience, and environment can enable direct buyer‑seller transactions, reducing reliance...
Parents Demand Transparency as FCC Reviews Kids TV Ratings
Years ago, Congress passed a law that empowers parents to decide the types of TV programs that are appropriate for their kids by standing up a TV show ratings system. But recently, parents have raised concerns with the industry’s approach—including with...
FAST Complements, but Won’t Replace Paywalled Live Sports
There’s nuance to “FAST’s booming popularity” and live sports economics IMHO — so let’s summarize the nuances before unpacking them further below: • FAST is best understood today as a complementary distribution and monetization layer, but not a replacement for premium...
Cineverse Launching Ad-Free Gorilla Comedy+ Streaming Service on May 5
Cineverse is set to launch Gorilla Comedy+, an ad‑free streaming service, on May 5. The platform, built with Nashville‑based 800 Pound Gorilla, will cost $9.99 per month or $99.99 annually and will feature the Gorilla catalog of more than 250 comedy titles plus...
Katie Couric Slams Media Capitulation and Truth Distortion
Katie Couric on Media Companies’ ‘Capitulation’ to Trump, Network News ‘Blurring the Truth’ and Her Wild Threads Feed https://t.co/HIGqcA0Daa
Substack's New Translation Tools Boost Global Earnings
Starting with Notes and moving to Posts. Eager to see how this works... Will it be like Reddit or the way X does it? -> Substack adds translation tools, and says ~100K publishers earn on the platform, including ~30K outside...
How Would Proposed Age Restrictions on Social Media Use Actually Work?
Massachusetts lawmakers and Governor Maura Healey introduced a bill that would ban social‑media accounts for children 13 and younger and require parental consent for 14‑ and 15‑year‑olds. The proposal also bars platforms from sending notifications to minors between midnight and...
NHL Hits Highest U.S. Regular-Season Ratings in 14 Years
The @NHL scored its best regular-season viewership in the U.S. in 14 seasons....that dates back to 2012-13, according to my colleague @AustinKarp. That also makes it the best under the current rights deals with ESPN and TNT. https://t.co/OpvNt1craU
Parks: Roku, Samsung Dominate Connected TV Platforms Streaming Access
Parks Associates’ Streaming Video Tracker shows Roku (28%) and Samsung’s Tizen (23%) together control the majority of U.S. broadband households’ connected‑TV usage. Amazon Fire TV, LG webOS and Vizio SmartCast sit in mid‑tier positions, while Apple tvOS, gaming consoles and...
Rebuilding The Etsy Brand Around The Moments Of Your Life
Etsy is reshaping its brand around "milestones and mini stones," leveraging spontaneous cultural moments like breakup parties to fuel social‑first advertising. The new Festival Shop, launched this month, pairs musical artists such as Laufey, PinkPantheress and Willow Avalon with independent...
Alabama Public Television Governing Board to Survey State on PBS Attitudes
The Alabama Educational Television Commission (AETC) voted to commission a $47,500 public opinion poll of 600 residents about the state’s relationship with PBS. The poll will be run by McLaughlin & Associates, a firm known for work with Republican candidates,...
Chilling True-Crime Series Text Me When You Get Home Is Trending in Channel 5's Streaming Chart
The true‑crime documentary #TextMeWhenYouGetHome has surged to the top of Channel 5’s streaming chart. The series dramatizes real cases, including the 19‑year‑old Kenia Monge who was abducted, assaulted and murdered after a night out. All ten episodes of season 1 are offered...
Something Has Happened to My Blog
A personal blog administrator noticed a dramatic shift in traffic patterns, with visits now occurring around the clock instead of the usual daytime peak. Analysis revealed that the surge is driven by AI agents and automated bots, which have more...
Survival Thriller ‘Send Help’ Streaming on Hulu Beginning May 7
Disney’s 20th Century Studios thriller *Send Help* will debut on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+ on May 7, targeting U.S. bundle subscribers. The film, directed by Sam Raimi and starring Rachel McAdams and Dylan O’Brien, follows two office colleagues stranded on a deserted island after...
Why Live Streaming Is the Borderless $4 Billion Global Opportunity Publishers Can’t Ignore
Live streaming is reshaping the TV ecosystem, with programmatic ad spend on live CTV projected to reach $4 billion by 2028. Publishers must adopt edge‑based ad insertion to handle millions of simultaneous requests without latency. Google Ad Manager’s Dynamic Ad Insertion...
The YouTube (and Reels/Shorts) Retention Iceberg
Manish Pandey’s post breaks down YouTube, Reels, and Shorts retention into three layers—surface, below, and critical—highlighting the first 60 seconds as the decisive moment for audience stay‑or‑go. He outlines concrete tactics such as storytelling arcs, rapid visual changes, on‑screen graphics,...
AT News: The Ethical Minefield of AI-Generated Journalism
The post examines two pressing issues: the ethical gray area of AI‑generated journalism and the recent Senate vote that lifted a ban on copper mining near Minnesota’s Boundary Waters. It highlights the lack of disclosure in AI‑written articles, high‑volume AI‑assisted...
Turning the NFL Draft Into a Profitable Business
Plus, I'll also be speaking with @dpbrugler about his annual The Beast and how he's helped make a business around the NFL Draft.
SiriusXM Media Becomes Exclusive Audio Advertising Representative for YouTube in the United States
SiriusXM Media announced it will serve as the exclusive audio advertising sales representative for YouTube in the United States. The deal integrates YouTube’s audio‑first inventory—podcasts, music and talk content—into SiriusXM’s ad‑supported portfolio, which includes Pandora and a broad podcast network....
Fox News Ran 5X More Headlines on Trans Policy Than Epstein Files—Here's Why That Matters
The episode highlights a stark media imbalance, revealing that Fox News published nearly five times more headlines about transgender policy than about the Jeffrey Epstein scandal in 2025, with over 4,000 trans‑related stories versus 610 Epstein pieces. It connects this coverage...
Cathy Newman Steps Into Primetime with New Sky News Flagship Show
Sky News is launching a new primetime programme, The Cathy Newman Show, which debuts on 27 April at 7 pm and runs Monday‑Thursday. The show blends political interviews, investigations and debate, and will also stream live on YouTube as part of Sky’s...
NAB Show: AI in Action — What Radio Must Know Now
At the NAB Show, broadcasters warned that AI can boost radio efficiency while creating legal pitfalls. Lenawee Broadcasting president Julie Koen highlighted competitors stealing content and urged stations to enforce guardrails. Attorney David Oxenford stressed that AI‑generated verbatim copy can trigger copyright...
Chicago News Legend Faces Life without CBS News
Audacy’s Chicago news stations WBBM‑AM and WCFS‑FM will lose the CBS top‑of‑hour news feed in May 2026, ending a partnership that many of the nation’s 700 affiliates have long respected. Station brand manager Craig Schwalb says the company is weighing...