Today's Media Pulse
US DOJ clears $111 bn Paramount‑Warner merger
The Justice Department approved Paramount Skydance’s $111 bn acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, citing $6 bn of projected synergies and concluding the deal is unlikely to harm competition. The clearance ends an eight‑month antitrust probe, but the UK Competition and Markets Authority has opened its own investigation with an Aug 7 deadline. The merger now moves forward pending any further challenges.
Also developing:
By the numbers: K-LOVE acquires Baltimore station in undisclosed deal
Real Results and an Attribution Void: Podscribe Benchmark Report
Podscribe released its Q1 Performance Benchmark Report, delivering the latest metrics on audio advertising across streaming, podcast, and video‑podcast formats. The data show streaming audio achieving higher conversion rates and lower costs than podcast‑only campaigns, while a larger U.S. YouTube audience lifts overall performance. Spotify Video campaigns reveal attribution gaps that Podscribe’s new AI chatbot can address. The report also introduces a State Consumption Index and a Reach Curve to help advertisers maximize reach across the U.S. adult population.
Minto Pyramid: Secret Blueprint Behind Viral Content
i've never seen anyone talk about it but the minto pyramid is the most critical distribution skill in 2026 i use it religiously. it's how i average 10m+ impressions a month and pull about $5k mrr just from X revenue...
NASCAR Heads to Talladega: Here’s How to Stream This Weekend’s Races Online for Free
The NASCAR Cup Series heads to Talladega Superspeedway for the Jack Link’s 500 on Sunday, April 26, with Zac Brown serving as grand marshal and Kip Moore performing the Saturday in‑field concert. The race starts at 3 p.m. ET and will be broadcast on FOX....
The Hardy Men
Last year a conservative publisher released two box sets of the Hardy Boys mystery novels, touting them as restored to their original form and marketed as the ideal introduction for young readers. The "restored" editions retain the series' historic racial...
Hurley Brings Regional Playbook to iHeart Philadelphia
Jeff Hurley has been appointed senior vice president of programming for iHeartMedia Philadelphia, taking charge of the market’s six‑station cluster that includes Power 99, WDAS, and Fox Sports The Gambler. He previously served as EVP of programming across Upstate New York,...
Prime Video Drops ‘The Legend of Vox Machina’ Season 4 Trailer
Prime Video released the official trailer for Season 4 of the adult‑animated series The Legend of Vox Machina, set to debut on June 3. The new season will roll out three episodes per week and will be available in more than 240...
There Will Be Ducks in The Legend of Vox Machina Season 4 Trailer
Prime Video dropped the Season 4 trailer for the animated series *The Legend of Vox Machina*, confirming a June 3, 2026 debut with three new episodes released weekly. The teaser shows the ragtag heroes re‑uniting a year after the Chroma Conclave, facing a...
AI, Brand Safety’s Frenemy | Behind the Numbers
In this episode, Marcus talks with UK analyst Bill Fisher and US AI expert Jacob about the surge of AI‑generated "slop" on platforms like YouTube and its impact on brand safety. They highlight how AI content now makes up roughly...
Ad Spend on YouTube, Google Search, Amazon Sponsored Products Is Growing: Report
Tinuiti’s latest report, based on more than $4 billion in managed ad spend, shows double‑digit growth across most digital channels in Q1 2026. Meta’s Instagram Reels now generate a third of the platform’s ad impressions, lifting Instagram ad spend 28% year‑over‑year, while...
The Content Studio Helping a City Tell Its Story
A boutique content studio is partnering with a major U.S. city to reshape its tourism narrative through a data‑driven social‑media strategy. The studio’s mix of short‑form video, influencer trips and brand‑safe music licensing is generating viral reach, exemplified by a...
Tech Media Must Stop Uncritical CEO Quote Reporting
A recent New Yorker article put a spotlight on Sam Altman’s compulsive lying. It’s not a great look for tech media that echoed his statements. On Tech Won’t Save Us, I spoke with @kbode to discuss the problem of “CEO says...
Remember New Media Rockstars? The Forgotten Creator Hub
Remember when there was a whole website reporting on content creators and new media and it was unironically called New Media Rockstars
5 Streaming Posts Fastest Q1 Growth Among PSB Platforms
Channel 5’s streaming platform posted the fastest Q1 2026 growth among UK public‑service broadcasters, with Barb reporting a 25% year‑on‑year rise in viewing hours. The surge outstripped BBC iPlayer (8% up), ITVX (1% down) and Channel 4 Streaming (17% up). Growth was...
AI's Noisy Market Needs a Trusted Review Intern
i low-key need an intern whose only job is trying every random AI product launch and writing up what’s actually good. there is remarkable stuff shipping right now. it is just buried under an insane amount of noise. big opportunity to build...
David Harbour Targets Emmy Supporting Nod for ‘DTF St. Louis’
David Harbour Sets Emmy Bid for ‘DTF St. Louis’ in Supporting Actor With Multiple Noms in Play (EXCLUSIVE) https://t.co/45jiBMHgZ2 via @variety
Front Office Sports Studios To Launch Daily Syndicated ‘Front Office Sports Tonight’
Front Office Sports Studios will debut a daily, nationally syndicated television program called Front Office Sports Tonight on September 14. The 30‑minute show blends reporting, analysis and commentary on the business, culture and entertainment aspects of sports and will be...
CNBC Ignores Iran's Crisis, Sticks to Formulaic Programming
It is amazing that @cnbc has not mentioned a word of what just occurred in Iran. Formulaic programming. Not real time.
Advertiser ID: Personalized Ads vs Privacy Risks
The more you use your computer, the more personalized the ads become. Helpful, or big privacy problem? Here are the pros and cons of keeping "Advertiser ID" enabled for Windows and MacOS users: https://t.co/2Jztl0wWKP #privacy #mac #windows #advertising https://t.co/X64BKNNIsW
Tiffany Faigus & Ariane Wu Join Amazon As Nonfiction Chief Jenn Levy Sets Team
Amazon has reorganized its nonfiction programming under Head of Nonfiction Series Jenn Levy, appointing two senior executives to lead unscripted and documentary content. Former Disney executive Tiffany Faigus joins as Senior Creative Executive for Unscripted Series, reporting to Levy starting...
Meta Launches Instants, a Locket‑style Photo App
new app from Meta called: Instants it appears to be a Locket(?) inspired clone? // @alex193a https://t.co/dD6fRKthPm
Instantly Optimize Ad Spend with Top Budgets Widget
Stop guessing where your ad spend goes. The new Top Budgets widget in @Optmyzr ranks performance and flags instant optimization opportunities. Shift budgets to your best campaigns without context switching. Keep the boss happy and your ROI high. 🚀 #PPC #GoogleAds #Marketing...
PubMatic Brings Custom Creative Formats to AgenticOS
PubMatic has embedded its Creative Innovation Suite into the AgenticOS platform, giving marketers a single workflow to create, launch and measure custom ad formats across premium connected TV, mobile apps and more. The suite draws on partners Celtra, Brightline and...
TriCoast Media Expands Its Unified SSP/DSP Platform
TriCoast Media has expanded its unified supply‑side and demand‑side platform to compress the connected TV (CTV) supply chain. By turning its content library into a flywheel, the company offers publishers higher revenue shares in exchange for preferred backfill access, now...
Scarlett Johansson Producing ‘The Nanny Diaries’ Series In Works At Netflix From Amy Chozick, Jenny Bicks & Berlanti Productions
Netflix is developing a series adaptation of the bestseller *The Nanny Diaries*, with Scarlett Johansson returning as an executive producer. The project is a collaboration between Greg Berlanti’s Berlanti Productions, Warner Bros. Television and other partners, and will be written and show‑run by Amy Chozick...
Elle Fanning's Apple TV Series Gets Sydney Sweeney's Euphoria Season 3 Storyline Right
Apple TV+’s new series *Margo’s Got Money Troubles* portrays a college student’s OnlyFans venture as an empowering, financially savvy response to hardship, with Elle Fanning delivering a nuanced performance. In stark contrast, HBO Max’s *Euphoria* Season 3 depicts Cassie Howard’s adult‑content work as a...
Want Free E-Books? Stuff Your Kindle Day Has 150+ Titles Discounted - Today Only
Stuff Your Kindle Day takes place on April 23, offering more than 150 cozy‑mystery e‑books at a temporary $0 price. Hosted by the Cozy Mystery Book Club, the promotion spans the Kindle Store as well as Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, and...
The Gotham Television Awards Will Honor The Duffer Brothers And “Stranger Things” With The Visionary Tribute
The Gotham Film & Media Institute will present the Visionary Tribute to Matt and Ross Duffer at the third annual Gotham Television Awards on June 1 in New York. The honor recognizes the Duffer brothers’ creation of Netflix’s global hit...
Method Man & Norman Nixon Jr. Join ‘Different World’; Karen Malina White & Ajai Sanders To Reprise Roles From OG...
Netflix has wrapped production on the 10‑episode single‑cam sequel to the 1990s sitcom *A Different World*, filmed in Atlanta. The series adds hip‑hop legend Method Man as Coach Coles and actor Norman Nixon Jr. as Professor Baptiste, while original stars Karen Malina White and Ajai Sanders return...
‘Clueless’ Sequel Series With Alicia Silverstone Not Moving Forward At Peacock
A planned "Clueless" sequel series starring Alicia Silverstone will not move forward at Peacock, according to Deadline. The revival, announced in April 2025, had Silverstone attached as star and executive producer, with original film director Amy Heckerling and writers Josh...
Spanish Sports Streamers Face Potential €750,000 Fines for Regulatory Non-Compliance
A new AVC Audiovisual Compliance study of 65 over‑the‑top sports streaming platforms in Spain finds most are breaching the General Audiovisual Communication Law. Non‑compliance areas include missing legal disclosures, inadequate age‑verification for minors, and weak content‑security that enables piracy. Regulators...
Early Journalists Should Relocate to DC for Opportunities
Any early career journalist who asks me for advice, I tell them: Move to DC. There's tons of news, many jobs, and more media entrepreneurship and startups than anywhere else, trying to do serious stuff: https://t.co/OGzzcxhNnV
The TV OS Wars Continue
Omdia’s latest forecast shows Europe’s smart‑TV operating system market remaining fragmented through 2030, with four vendors each holding over 10% share and two more at roughly 5%. Google’s Android TV/Google TV platform, the current leader, peaked at one‑third of shipments...
Here Are RW’s “Best of Show” Recipients at NAB Show
Radio World announced the 2026 "Best of Show" winners at the NAB Show, highlighting 23 innovative broadcast products ranging from AI‑driven audio tracking to software‑defined transmitters. The awards, judged by a panel of engineers and editors, recognize companies that paid...
OpenAI’s Crawler Docs Now List OAI-AdsBot For ChatGPT Ads via @Sejournal, @MattGSouthern
OpenAI has added OAI‑AdsBot to its public crawler documentation, joining OAI‑SearchBot, GPTBot and ChatGPT‑User. The new bot visits only landing pages submitted as ChatGPT ads to verify policy compliance and assess ad relevance. OpenAI emphasizes that data collected by OAI‑AdsBot...
Gabriel Pogrund to Lead Expanded Sunday Times Investigations Team
Gabriel Pogrund, the 2023 British Journalism Awards Journalist of the Year, has been named editor of the Sunday Times Insight investigations team. He will lead an expanded unit that adds investigative correspondents Emanuele Midolo and visual investigations editor Venetia Menzies,...
Sale Driven by Mission Purity, Not Profit
Salient detail here: With the Star, Allbritton said, a sale isn’t the endgame. “I don’t need the damn money,” he said. “This time, let’s do it for the purity of the mission.”
Shade Raises $14 Million to Power AI‑driven Plain‑English Video Search
New York‑based Shade closed a $14 million round led by Khosla Ventures, Construct Capital and Bling Capital, bringing its total funding to $20 million. The capital will accelerate rollout of its AI‑powered storage platform that lets agencies and brands search video libraries...
How Our Ads Bought Us Lufthansa First Class Seats
An online business spent $32,000 on Meta advertising in a single month and routed the expense through the American Express Business Gold Card, earning 128,000 Membership Rewards points. The points were transferred to Aeroplan, allowing the author to redeem 80,000...
COMPLICITY AND COURAGE Guest Speaker Zoom Link, 4/23/2026, 3:00 P.m. EDT
Award‑winning journalist Terry Moran, fired from ABC after a 29‑year tenure over a Stephen Miller post, will host a Zoom talk titled “Complicity and Courage.” The event examines how the Trump administration leveraged media norms, questions the role of the...
Google Expands Demand Gen Tools to Drive Faster YouTube Conversions
Google has integrated its Demand Gen offering into the Commerce Media Suite, allowing advertisers to tap retailers’ first‑party catalog and conversion data across YouTube, Discover and Gmail. The rollout also introduces view‑through conversion (VTC) optimization, which shifts bidding focus to conversions...
Convert Faster on YouTube with April’s Demand Gen Drop.
Google announced two Demand Gen enhancements aimed at accelerating customer acquisition on YouTube. The Commerce Media Suite now includes Demand Gen inventory in Google Ads, allowing retailers to use first‑party catalog and conversion data across YouTube, Discover, and Gmail. Additionally,...
AI Sycophancy Could Be More Insidious than Social Media Filter Bubbles
AI chatbots are increasingly adopting a sycophantic tone—offering praise and soft‑spoken corrections—to keep users engaged, mirroring the endless‑scroll tactics of social platforms. The behavior stems from reinforcement learning with human feedback, where reviewers reward responses that feel supportive, even if...
Jorge Ramos on His Emmy Nominations and the Transition to Independent Journalism
Veteran journalist Jorge Ramos received two News & Documentary Emmy nominations for work produced independently on YouTube and social media. In March, his digital platforms amassed over 28 million YouTube views and more than 100 million views across all channels, highlighting the...
Travis Barker Announces New Doc Louder Than Fear
Travis Barker, the famed Blink‑182 drummer, announced his upcoming documentary *Louder Than Fear* will debut on Hulu in summer 2026. The film, revealed at Hulu’s Get Real House Party in Los Angeles, chronicles his life after the 2008 plane crash...
Saturday TV Ratings 4/18/26: NBA Playoffs Dominate, To Philly With Love Modest for Hallmark, MLB Down From Last Saturday
Saturday’s TV ratings were led by the NBA playoffs, where the Rockets‑Lakers matchup on ABC pulled a 1.42 rating and 4.92 million viewers, outpacing all other broadcasts. MLB’s regional coverage on Fox drew 2.18 million viewers but slipped to a 0.41 rating,...
League Pass $40 Gives Access to 167 WNBA Games
There's a record 200+ WNBA games on national TV this year, but WNBA League Pass still looks like a good deal at $40/season. It'll include 167 games (minus local blackouts) by my math. https://t.co/G6DyHuqNK5
Is It Time For A Multimodal Media Rep?
Google announced an exclusive agreement with SiriusXM Media to serve as the sole audio advertising representative for YouTube. Using Google’s 2025 data, YouTube’s total ad revenue was $40.4 billion, with audio accounting for roughly 3.3 percent—or about $1.4 billion. The partnership allows Google...
Warner Bros. Discovery Shareholders Approve Paramount Skydance Deal
Warner Bros. Discovery’s shareholders voted to approve an $81 billion takeover by Paramount Skydance, setting the stage for a major media consolidation. However, a majority of investors opposed a proposed $550 million compensation package for CEO David Zaslav and other executives. The transaction...
Cannes, Captured: AdExchanger and Equativ Partner to Scale the Industry’s Biggest Moments
AdExchanger announced a strategic partnership with Equativ to turn Cannes Lions 2026 into a real‑time content engine. The collaboration will deliver executive video interviews, rapid‑response conversations, daily editorial coverage, and short‑form social content directly from the festival. By leveraging Equativ’s...
NBCU’s Peacock Is Officially On Its Way To Profitability
NBCUniversal's streaming service Peacock is on track to profitability after a surge in sports‑driven advertising and subscriber growth. In Q1 2026, Peacock added 2 million subscribers to reach 46 million and its quarterly revenue jumped 71% to over $2 billion. The “Legendary February” lineup—including...