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
Taylor Swift Is Most-Streamed Artist Of All Time, Says Spotify; Bad Bunny, Drake Also Make Grade
Spotify marked its 20th anniversary by publishing its first ever all‑time most‑streamed rankings across music, podcasts and audiobooks. Taylor Swift emerged as the platform’s most‑streamed artist, while Bad Bunny’s 2022 album *Un Verano Sin Ti* claimed the top album spot and The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights” remains the most‑streamed song. The Joe Rogan Experience leads podcasts, and Sarah J. Maas’s *A Court of Thorns and Roses* tops premium audiobooks, underscoring the breadth of Spotify’s content ecosystem.
How a Tiny Change in a Facebook Ad Doubled Donations
A Canadian Bible distribution agency ran a Facebook‑ad A/B test that swapped the call‑to‑action from "Click to Learn More" to "Click to Give Bibles." The change left traffic unchanged but boosted the donation conversion rate by 117.6%, cutting the cost...
Sun Merges Features Desk and Fabulous Team
The Sun has merged its features desk with the Fabulous lifestyle team, forming a single 27‑person features department led by Jessica Wilson and Veronica Lorraine. The restructuring follows a 45‑day consultation, aims to future‑proof the business and aligns with the...
Sara Cox to Host Radio 2 Breakfast Show
BBC Radio 2 announced that Sara Cox will replace Scott Mills as the Breakfast Show host, moving from her long‑running Teatime slot. The station said a new presenter for the 4 pm‑7 pm slot will be named later. Cox highlighted the role as...
Home Depot Helps Advertisers Reach DIY Audiences on Reddit and Pinterest
Home Depot’s Orange Apron Media (OAM) network is expanding its retail‑media capabilities with two off‑site partnerships. An industry‑first integration will feed OAM’s first‑party shopper data into Reddit’s ad inventory, allowing brands to launch campaigns through the Orange Access portal. A...
Pediatrician Brands AI‑Generated Toddler Videos ‘Garbage’ as New Threat to Early Learning
Dr. Michelle Ponti, chair of the Canadian Pediatric Society’s digital health task force, labeled AI‑generated toddler videos on YouTube as “garbage,” warning they undermine early learning. The surge of low‑quality AI content, dubbed “AI slop,” has triggered a letter from...
What Marketers Need to Know as Branded Films Return to Screens
Branded films are making a strong comeback in 2024, with major marketers such as Heineken, e.l.f., L’Oréal, Tecovas and Texas Pete allocating sizable budgets to long‑form documentaries, mock‑documentaries and western‑style shorts that debut at festivals and on digital platforms. These productions...
Fixated Acquires Studio71 to Launch Global End‑to‑End Creator Platform
Fixated announced the acquisition of Studio71's North American creator business, creating a combined network of over 1,000 creators and billions of monthly video views. The deal gives Fixated a full‑stack infrastructure—from talent representation to direct‑to‑fan monetization—positioning it as the only...
What’s the Key to Unlocking Retail Media?
PI LIVE Europe is expanding its agenda with a new Retail Media & Commerce Summit, aimed at helping brands and agencies integrate retail media with affiliate and performance marketing. The retail media channel is projected to reach $300 billion by 2030,...
Meta's AI Pixel Blurs Line Between Ads and Data
Meta’s AI pixel and the vanishing ad-product divide Last week, Meta introduced automation updates to its two keystone data ingestion features for advertisers: its pixel and its Conversions API (CAPI). These updates are less significant as product enhancements than as evidence...
Survival Lessons From the Edge: Preorder My New Book
Today is World Book Day, a reminder that ideas matter and that books still shape how we understand the world. My next book, "Twenty Times I Almost Died: Life Lessons from the Edge of Survival," comes out this August. It...
ChatGPT Ads Have Begun Showing Up For Logged-Out Users
OpenAI has begun serving ads to ChatGPT users who are not logged in, expanding the platform's ad inventory. The move follows advertiser complaints about limited ad frequency and a high spend minimum, which was recently reduced from $200,000 to $50,000....
ChatGPT Ads Have Begun Showing Up For Logged-Out Users
OpenAI has begun serving ads to ChatGPT users who are not logged in, expanding inventory beyond the pilot’s logged‑in audience. The move follows advertiser complaints that the $200,000 spend minimum (now reduced to $50,000) left too little inventory to exhaust...
Overwolf Ads Expands Global Brand Partnerships Team with Senior Hires Across EMEA & US
Overwolf Ads announced a major expansion of its global Brand Partnerships team, adding senior leaders in EMEA and the US. Mike Edwards joins as Director of Brand Partnerships, EMEA, while Dennis Ronneberger becomes Director for the DACH region, complementing recent US...
XR Extreme Reach Expands Celebrity Payments To Support Ai Performers In Advertising
XR Extreme Reach unveiled a pioneering payment solution that aligns AI‑generated advertising talent with SAG‑AFTRA’s Commercials Contract. The platform now supports two new performer categories—Digital Replicas, which are AI‑enhanced versions of real celebrities, and Synthetic Performers, wholly AI‑created characters. Payments...
Viaplay Leans on Streaming Growth as Allente Integration Lifts Q1 Sales
Viaplay Group posted Q1 net sales of SEK 5.279 billion (≈ $580 million), driven by its fully consolidated Allente business. Core streaming subscriptions grew 7.9% organically to SEK 2.12 billion ($233 million), representing 40% of sales, while non‑streaming revenues fell 4.6% to SEK 2.179 billion ($240 million)...
Thank You - Plus Supercompanies, Storytelling, and More
Scott Galloway’s No Mercy / No Malice newsletter earned the 2026 Webby Award in the Newsletter or Written Series category, highlighting its global reach across 200 countries. The post thanks readers and showcases popular past editions while warning against over‑reliance...
Banijay Kids & Family to Manage Care Bears YouTube Channels
Banijay Kids & Family has signed a global agreement with Cloudco Entertainment to manage the Care Bears YouTube channels in English, Brazilian Portuguese, Spanish and French. The partnership gives Banijay stewardship over the brand’s extensive library of series, specials, movies and...
UK TV News Offers Limited Coverage of May Elections, Cardiff Study Finds
A Cardiff University study of BBC News at Ten, ITV News at Ten and Channel 4 News between 2 March and 20 April 2026 finds UK‑wide TV election coverage to be sporadic and shallow. Channel 4 stands out for more consistent reporting, while BBC segments...
It's Fast-Moving Tech, Stupid
The World Federation of Advertisers’ Global Risk Barometer shows fast‑moving technology – especially artificial intelligence – has become the fastest‑rising risk for marketers, overtaking tightening regulations. The study, fielded in early 2024, surveyed 46 respondents representing 39 firms that collectively...
TCWD Podcast: AI Losers
The New York Times terminated a freelance book reviewer after discovering he used AI to help write a review. The incident sparked a backlash that questioned whether the problem lies with underpaid writers turning to technology or with a formulaic editorial process...
Lawmakers Push Streaming, Privacy, and Age‑verification Reforms
Policyband Headlines ■ Ohio Democrat Ready to Regulate TV Sports on Streaming Platforms ■ @Comcast Lost 65,000 Broadband Sub But Added 435,000 Wireless Lines In Q1 ■ @FCC Grants John Malone Legal Control of @GCIAK Liberty Despite Owning Less than 7% of...
Your Notes Performance Just Fell Off a Cliff. Here's the 5-Point Diagnostic to Fix It.
Substack creators experiencing sudden drops in Notes performance can diagnose the cause with a five‑point framework. The guide distinguishes platform throttles, content‑mix shifts, trust dips, posting‑window mismatches, and recommendation‑surface issues. Each symptom has a specific, low‑effort remedy—often simply waiting or...
How I Follow 20 YouTube Channels Without Watching a Single Video
The author built an AI‑driven workflow that pulls each new YouTube video’s transcript via the channel’s RSS feed, creates a 90‑second plain‑text summary, and posts it to a Slack channel. This replaces a 200‑item "watch later" list with readable digests,...
How Mobile Became The Foundation Of Omnichannel Identity
Marketers are shifting identity strategies from third‑party cookies to mobile‑driven signals. Mobile devices, especially app environments, deliver deterministic identifiers and contextual data that serve as a reliable anchor across channels such as CTV, web, and emerging platforms. By integrating these...
Silicon Valley Finally Has Its “Succession”
In this episode of Access, host Alex Heath and co‑host Ellis Hamburger sit down with Jonathan Glatzer, the showrunner of the new satire series The Audacity, which dramatizes Silicon Valley’s power dynamics in a "Succession‑style" format. Glatzer discusses the challenges...
Pixalate Releases Q1 2026 Mobile SDKs Market Share Report
Pixalate released its Q1 2026 Global Mobile App Ad SDK Market Share Report, analyzing roughly 1,100 Android and iOS apps and about 19 billion programmatic ad impressions. The study finds Meta Audience Network, Vungle (Liftoff) and AppLovin dominate both Google Play and...
Netflix: Future Content Wasn't About WBD - What About Other Video?
Netflix’s decision to pass on a Warner Bros. Discovery acquisition signals a shift toward internal content strategies. Reed Hastings warns that YouTube, with its rapid growth in both user‑generated and premium video, poses the most immediate competitive threat. Netflix is testing video...
Raising the Bar: Redefining Inclusion and Authenticity in Unscripted Storytelling
Karina Holden, co‑creator of Netflix’s “Love on the Spectrum,” argues that inclusive unscripted TV must feel authentic rather than merely check diversity boxes. She describes a production model that prioritises participants’ schedules, duty of care, and long‑term agency, turning the...
ITPro NAB Best of Show 2026 Awards Winners Unveiled
ITPro announced the 2026 Best of Show Awards at the NAB Show in Las Vegas, naming six winners across display, CDN analytics, AI‑driven engineering, data storage, video routing and enterprise NAS. The panel of industry experts evaluated entries on ease...
The Authenticity Collapse: Why Nothing Online Feels Real to Young Adults
A University of Missouri study of more than 700 adults aged 18‑24 finds a growing authenticity gap online. While 79% are comfortable with AI‑generated images and over half accept AI video, only 10% approve AI‑enhanced self‑presentation, and 63% feel social...
YouTube Extends Deepfake Detection Tool Access to Celebrities and Talent Agencies
YouTube has opened its AI likeness‑detection system to celebrities and the talent agencies that represent them, extending access beyond the creator‑only rollout that began in October 2023. The tool performs a one‑time scan of newly uploaded videos to flag facial...
What A Producer Does: The Part No One Explained To Me
Film and TV producer Dorez Douglas explains that a producer’s job is far more than raising money or hiring talent – it is the function that keeps a project from falling apart. He describes how creative producers use industry connections,...
Build Linked Post Clusters for Authority
Stop publishing random posts. Start building link clusters. Create 5–7 related posts, and link them together. Now you’re not just publishing, you’re building authority.
NYC Mayor Opposes Warner Bros-Paramount Merger
JUST IN: NYC Mayor Mamdani says NYC is formally opposing the Warner Bros and Paramount merger
Can Journalists Really Make a Living on Substack?
Journalists are increasingly turning to Substack and other newsletter platforms to replace newsroom jobs, but only a minority achieve sustainable six‑figure incomes. While a few, like Marisa Kabas and Isaac Saul, generate $300,000‑$4 million in revenue by combining subscriptions, sponsorships and...
Pittsburgh's Film Trail
TV Talk: Film locations trail debuts along with Pittsburgh entertainment industry timeline in windows Downtown + director talks filming thriller #BasicPsych locally + #ThePitt finale rates, via @TribLIVE - https://t.co/u47BLYMGhI https://t.co/ojnhL59Xry
Nashville Media Market Climbs, NBA Eyes Grizzlies Relocation
Nashville definitely on the rise as a media market. Currently ranks No. 25 overall in the U.S.. It was No. 30 five years ago. Memphis is the No. 51 media market. Five years ago, was No. 53
What Mapping Charlotte Can Teach Us About Local News
When Hurricane Helene struck North Carolina in September 2024, residents turned to a patchwork of local news outlets, schools, libraries, and faith groups for urgent information. A new report, funded by the North Carolina Local News Lab Fund, mapped Charlotte’s...
House Majority PAC Spends $272M on Ads Targeting Florida, Philly
JUST IN: House Majority PAC allocated $272 million for TV & digital ads aimed at helping Democrats gain House control in November’s midterms This targets ~$20 million in Florida and ~$13 million in Philadelphia
Peacock Gains 2 Million Subscribers Yet Remains Unprofitable
With February's Super Bowl/Olympics/NBA All-Star Game run, Peacock added 2 million subscribers to 46 million total. It's still losing money. (charts via @THR) https://t.co/bkeeUKzYCy
Mapping Local News in Charlotte
The Columbia Journalism Review released a proof‑of‑concept study that uses AI‑driven tools to map Charlotte’s local news ecosystem, expanding the definition of local information providers to include civil‑society organizations. The analysis identified more than 60 outlets—both for‑profit and nonprofit—covering a...
Unbiased Tesla Earnings Call Transcript Cuts Through Media Spin
I'm so sick of legacy media spinning the Tesla stories just as they see fit to fool people. So we created this: https://t.co/ptXSOrCDOg The full earnings call transcript, zero bias, with actual table of contents & accurate (!) descriptions of who...
Goodell Joins Disney's Push for 2027 Super Bowl
Now even NFL boss Roger Goodell is getting in on Disney's months-long bid to promote the 2027 Super Bowl (of course, the NFL is now a 10% owner of Disney's ESPN).... https://t.co/Bs6iVSzFJI via @variety
Drake Sets May 15 Release for Ninth Album 'ICEMAN' After Ice Sculpture Stunt
Drake announced that his ninth studio album, ICEMAN, will be released on May 15. The date was revealed through a 25‑foot ice sculpture in downtown Toronto that a Twitch streamer shattered, uncovering a bag with the official announcement and a...
Google Tests AI-Generated Podcast‑style Audio Search Results
Whoa, this is creepy. Google is testing a new AI-powered audio section in search results that sounds just like a podcast. Can't imagine publishers will be too happy to stumble across this, even when their content is cited (along with many...
Survive Google: AI for Drafts, Humans Edit Final
Most Google updates are clapping AI-generated sites. The survivors had one thing in common: they used AI for research/briefs/drafts and humans for final editing. Do with that what you will.
Free‑market Stance Leads to Pro‑cigarette Editorial Bias
The #BrokenPost editorial mission to focus on personal liberties and free markets means editorializing in favor of cigarettes, cancer, and death. Butt out, cigarette banners https://t.co/a27hplhu0X
One Influencer Drives 50+ New Subscribers Instantly
Nothing more exciting than seeing like 50 new newsletter subscribers all land within a couple of days from the same company domain. It means someone important shared it and told them to read...
Bluesky’s Lofty Goals Hit Familiar Social Media Woes
Bluesky set out to fix social media. Now it’s running into familiar problems https://t.co/VKwcj7AU75 via @FastCompany Not enough "normies"?