Today's Media Pulse
Online video subscriptions top 2.2 bn, revenue eclipses pay‑TV
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, overtaking pay‑TV's $170 billion for the first time. Growth is expected to slow to single‑digit in 2026 as operators shift focus from acquiring new users to monetising existing ones.
Google News Now Prominently Featuring Polymarket Bets
Google News has begun surfacing Polymarket prediction‑market bets alongside traditional headlines, often in the personalized “For you” feed and even as top results. The change follows a November partnership that lets Google pull Polymarket data into its finance products, suggesting the platform is now treated as a news source. The bets cover topics from app rankings to geopolitical events, appearing as large blocks with multiple links. Critics argue this blurs the line between journalism and gambling, raising concerns about misinformation and the credibility of Google’s news ecosystem.
YouTube Denies Existence of 90‑second Unskippable Ads
YouTube says it does not have 90-second unskippable ads despite user reports YouTube denies its running 90-second unskippable ads despite widespread user reports Users have shared screenshots showing “skip in 90+ seconds” prompts on TV YouTube says the feature isn’t live or in...
WunderKIND Ads Partners with Attain
WunderKIND Ads and Attain announced a partnership to launch a commerce data solution that injects live, permissioned purchase information into digital advertising. The offering blends Attain’s verified transaction data with WunderKIND’s ad inventory, enabling precision segmentation, spend‑triggered activation, and real‑time...
NIQ Partners with Adsquare
NIQ has teamed up with Adsquare to embed its GeoPurchase audience segments into Adsquare’s location‑intelligence platform, covering Europe, Canada and the United States. The partnership lets advertisers activate anonymized, purchase‑based segments across programmatic, cross‑screen and digital out‑of‑home (DOOH) campaigns. Marketers...
The Boys Season 5 Parodies DC's Teen Titans With A Takedown Of Influencer Culture
Amazon Prime’s “The Boys” season 5 episode “Teenage Kix” lampoons DC’s Teen Titans by turning the team into TikTok‑obsessed influencers. The four members—Jetstreak, Sheline, Countess Crow and Rock Hard—sport costumes plastered with brand stickers and earn roughly $50,000 per pulse from sponsorships. The episode...
Netflix's 'Most-Viewed' Series Wednesday Announces Exciting New Guest Stars for Season 3
Netflix confirmed three high‑profile guest stars for Wednesday season 3: Lena Headey, Andrew McCarthy and James Lance. They join returning talent such as Jenna Ortega, Eva Green, Winona Ryder and others, with Green set to portray Wednesday’s aunt Ophelia Frump. Season 1 remains Netflix’s most‑watched English‑language series, and the...
‘Ghosts’ Star Utkarsh Ambudkar Reveals the One Thing He Forgot to Do for His Directorial Debut
Utkarsh Ambudkar, known for playing Jay Arondekar on CBS's "Ghosts," made his directorial debut with Season 5, Episode 15, "Michael Jackson Goes to HR." He admitted he forgot to learn his own lines, forcing him to improvise on set. Inspired by co‑star...
Harmonic To Showcase Newly Enhanced Hybrid Streaming Solutions At 2026 NAB Show
Harmonic will demonstrate its newly enhanced hybrid streaming solutions at the 2026 NAB Show in Las Vegas, featuring Model Context Protocol (MCP) support for AI-driven operations. The platform runs on Red Hat OpenShift, using containerized microservices to deliver broadcast and...
NEWstalgia: How the Return of the NBA on NBC Was Driven by a Bold and ‘Ownable’ Graphics Package
After a 20‑year hiatus, NBC Sports relaunched its NBA broadcast under an 11‑year deal, debuting a graphics package dubbed “NEWstalgia.” The system fuses 1990s visual DNA with modern motion and flat‑color design, delivering a medallion‑based scorebug with over 120 team‑specific...
Exhibitor Viewpoint: OBSBOT at NAB Show 2026
OBSBOT, the AI‑camera specialist, is headlining the 2026 NAB Show with its flagship Tail 2 4K live‑production camera and a preview of the upcoming Talent 2 all‑in‑one production system. The company will demonstrate a hands‑on podcast studio, a green‑screen zone for virtual...
I Use ChatGPT's New Tubi App to Find Free Movies and TV Shows to Watch - Here's How
ChatGPT has added Tubi TV as a native app, enabling users to locate movies and TV shows through conversational prompts. The integration is available to all ChatGPT users, regardless of subscription tier, and taps Tubi’s catalog of more than 300,000...
Financial TV Oversimplifies; Real Investing Requires Multifactor Analysis
Fin TV is remarkably unsophisticated as they (day in and day out) solely, simply and confidentally look at the markets in a linear way. Nearly every discussion in projecting stock prices is the observation of S and P (and...
Great American Family Selects CTS For Channel Origination, Playout, Transmission
Comcast Technology Solutions (CTS) announced a multi‑year agreement with Great American Media to provide end‑to‑end channel origination, playout and transmission services for the Great American Family network. The partnership will run the linear channels Great American Family East, West and...
Google Ads Drops Display and Video Planning From Performance Planner
Google Ads has removed Display and Video campaign planning from its Performance Planner, ending support for impression‑share based forecasts. The change also eliminates metrics such as impression share, top impression share, and absolute top impression share from the tool. Advertisers...
OpenAI Targets $102 B in Ad Revenue by 2030.
$102B in ad revenue by 2030. We'll see -> Docs: OpenAI expects ads to generate ~$2.4B in 2026 revenue, to quadruple to nearly $11B in 2027, and to hit ~$102B in 2030, or 36% of its total revenue then "If it...
Frank Oz Returns to Puppetry with Judge Boing Boing Shorts
Frank Oz, the legendary puppeteer behind Bert, Grover and Fozzie Bear, has returned to hands‑on puppetry after more than a decade by co‑creating the YouTube short series "Judge Boing Boing." The parody courtroom sketches feature a clueless puppet judge and...
‘Miraculous’ Season 5 and Another Special Hitting Netflix in April & May 2026
Netflix confirmed a double‑header for the French animated hit Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir. A new Miraculous World special, "Paris, Tales of Shadybug and Claw Noir," lands on April 30, 2026, with Brazil as the sole exception. The full...
Bill Ackman Tries to Make Music and Money Mix with €55bn Universal Bid
Activist investor Bill Ackman is spearheading a €55 billion (≈$59 billion) takeover bid for Universal Music Group, the world’s largest recorded‑music company. The consortium, backed by private‑equity firms and sovereign wealth funds, argues the deal will unlock value by pairing Universal’s catalog...
June Osborne Is Back in the Testaments, but for How Long?
June Osborne, the protagonist of The Handmaid’s Tale, reappears in The Testaments episode 3 through Daisy’s flashbacks, confirming she remains active in the resistance. The episode reveals June’s role in smuggling Daisy to safety and her iconic slogan, “Don’t let the...
‘Saturday Night Live’ Unveils May Musical Guests: Paul McCartney, Noah Kahan and Olivia Rodrigo
Saturday Night Live announced its May 2024 lineup, featuring Olivia Rodrigo as both host and musical guest on May 2, Matt Damon hosting on May 9 with Noah Kahan performing, and a season‑51 finale on May 16 starring Will Ferrell alongside Sir Paul...
YouTube Says It Does Not Have 90-Second Unskippable Ads Despite User Reports
YouTube users streaming to televisions reported seeing 90‑second unskippable ad breaks, a possible extension of the platform’s 30‑second non‑skippable ads introduced last year. In response, Team YouTube confirmed that the service does not currently offer a 90‑second non‑skippable format and...
Tubi Strikes ChatGPT Deal that Cuts Out Human Movie Recommendations
Tubi, the ad‑supported streaming service owned by Fox, has launched a new app in the ChatGPT marketplace that lets users ask the chatbot for movie recommendations from Tubi’s catalog. The integration leverages Tubi’s personalization engine, trained on more than one billion...
"Live with Kelly and Mark" Builds on Momentum From "Countdown to the Oscars" - Scores Big with Show's Post-Oscars Week
"Live with Kelly and Mark" leveraged its "Countdown to the Oscars" lead‑in to post its strongest ratings in seven weeks, with total viewers rising 6% to 2.71 million and a 5% lift in household ratings. The after‑Oscars episode delivered double‑digit gains...
Seedance 2.0: The Most Controversial AI Video Model in the World Just Landed in the US
ByteDance's Dreamina Seedance 2.0 AI video model, once paused amid controversy, is now live for U.S. users through CapCut. The rollout follows a brief global pause and promises integration across CapCut's Video Studio. CapCut emphasizes safeguards, including limits on real‑face...
BTS’s ‘ARIRANG’ Debuts at No. 1 on Billboard 200, Sets New K‑Pop Records
South Korea’s BTS released ‘ARIRANG’ after a four‑year hiatus, landing at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 for a second straight week and topping the Hot 100 with its lead single “Swim.” The achievement marks the group’s seventh chart‑topping album and a...
Meta Removes Ads Helping Link Users to Attorneys for Social Media Cases
Meta is removing attorney ads that target users who claim harm from social media use before age 18. The step follows a California negligence trial that awarded $3 million to a plaintiff who said Meta and YouTube fostered her addiction. Meta...
Show Up Daily: Consistency Beats Quality
Counterintuitive content truth: consistency beats quality in the short run. A good post published daily outperforms a great post published whenever you feel ready. Algorithms reward frequency. Audiences reward familiarity. You don't need to go viral. You need to show up.
Patreon’s Podcast Revenue Jumps 33% to $629 Million in 2025
Patreon announced that podcast creators earned $629 million on the platform in 2025, a 33% increase from the prior year. The surge makes podcasts the largest revenue‑generating category, highlighting the effectiveness of Patreon’s creator‑focused monetization tools.
Scheduling Posts Won’t Damage Instagram Reach, Says Mosseri
Adam Mosseri confirmed what I have been telling you for YEARS... scheduling your content does not hurt your reach on Instagram. 👏
Colorado Public Radio Wins First Amendment Victory for Transparency
Proud to see Colorado Public Radio and partners win a First Amendment case — a win for transparency, accountability, and independent journalism. Supporting local and independent news is essential to keeping our communities informed and our democracy strong. LocalNewsDay https://www.cpr.org/press-release/colorado-public-radio-and-partners-win-federal-first-amendment-case-against-trump-administration/
Scientific Journals Need Dedicated Fact-Checkers
A team led by chemist Brett Pollard uncovered about 20 scientific papers that cite nonexistent WHO and EPA standards for drinking‑water metal concentrations. The fabricated values have been repeated across multiple studies, some predating the rise of generative AI, suggesting...
Earn $1M on YouTube with Just 1K Subscribers
How do you actually make significant money on YouTube? @TintinSmith is the ex-manager of Ali Abdaal. In this YouTube business masterclass we cover: - How you can hit $1M with just 1,000 subscribers - The exact system you should use - Who to hire and...
Boost LinkedIn Engagement with AI-Powered Post Optimization
Trying to get more involved with the @LinkedIn community, but are finding that your posts don't get engagement? Use AI to make 'em more engaging. Here's how to give it a try: https://t.co/y53idal1Jb #linkedin #chatgpt #ai #socialmedia https://t.co/ZOLyMg2fJg
Sullivan's Crossing Season 4 First Look: Liam's Arrival Brings 'Tension' For Maggie And Cal (Exclusive)
The CW will launch Season 4 of "Sullivan's Crossing" on April 20 at 8/7c, picking up the cliffhanger from the previous season’s shocking return of Maggie’s husband, Liam. The premiere centers on Maggie’s effort to secure paperwork for Liam while Cal questions...
Last Year’s WNBA Draft Ranks Second‑Highest Viewership
Below: TV viewership info on ESPN's coverage of the @WNBA Draft. Last year's Draft averaged 1.25 million viewers, the second most-watched WNBA Draft in history, only behind the 2.4 million viewers who watched Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese etc.. in 2024....
Written Interviews Foster Trust and Genuine Conversation
As a journalist, my favorite way to interview is for a written piece. It's not about the soundbite or what clip is gonna get circulated. You got the time and space to build trust, rapport, and have a real conversation...
Rooster Renewed For Season 2 At HBO
HBO announced that the Steve Carell‑led comedy “Rooster” has been renewed for a second season. The decision came midway through the series’ first run, which continues to air Sundays at 10 p.m. through May 10. Created by Bill Lawrence and Matt Tarses,...
NYC Continues FTC Push, Industry Blocks Negative Option Updates
Interesting to see NYC picking up where the @FTC left off. Advertising & media industry orgs like @iab and @NCTAitv fought hard to stop prevent updates to the Negative Option Rule.
Documented Named Deadline Club Finalist for Climate Migration Reporting
Documented is a finalist for a Deadline Club award for our reporting on how climate change is driving migration https://t.co/oLaQR6A46M
Harry Potter Star’s Best Actor Oscar Winning Movie To Leave Netflix
The Academy‑Award‑winning political drama "Darkest Hour" will leave Netflix’s library on May 1, 2026. The 2017 film, starring Gary Oldman as Winston Churchill, earned $158.8 million worldwide and secured two Oscars, including Best Actor. It holds an 84% Rotten Tomatoes rating and remains...
Euphoria Returns After Four Years, Everything’s Changed
“Euphoria,” HBO’s teenage wasteland, is back after four years. Everything has changed. W/@thesimonetti https://t.co/WMtYs6mAKo via @WSJ
Warner Revives TNT Boxing with Monthly DAZN Partnership
HBO got out of the TV-boxing arena in 2018, but Warner Bros. Discovery is putting TNT back into the ring with a monthly boxing showcase under a new partnership with DAZN https://t.co/TelewKL1dV via @variety
Malcolm In The Middle Review: Hulu's Messy Family Reunion Struggles To Recapture The Original's Zing
Hulu launched a four‑episode revival titled “Malcolm in the Middle: Life’s Unfair,” reuniting the original cast a quarter‑century after the Fox hit. While Frankie Muniz, Bryan Cranston and Jane Kaczmarek return, the show leans heavily on new characters—Malcolm’s teenage daughter...
Most Europeans Want Minors Off Social Media
A new POLITICO European Pulse survey of 6,698 adults across six EU nations finds that three‑quarters of Europeans support government‑mandated minimum ages for social media. Half of respondents favor age 16, another quarter prefer 13‑15. Italy and Poland show the...
The Boys Fans Slam “Unwatchable” Censorship in India After Unexpected Season 5 Cuts
Fans in India have condemned Prime Video’s censorship of *The Boys* Season 5, where a line referencing the Christian God was completely bleeped out. The backlash follows earlier cuts, including a graphic sauna scene removed in Season 4, highlighting the country’s strict...
Origins of Efficiency Joins Rare 20‑30% Earning Out Advance
Origins of Efficiency officially one of the 20-30% of books to earn out its advance.
Juno Temple Assembles Avengers of Grooms for Apple TV's The Husbands
Apple TV announced the star‑studded series "The Husbands," starring Juno Temple alongside seven well‑known actors, produced by A24. Lionsgate revealed its action thriller "Mutiny," featuring Jason Statham, slated for an August 21, 2026 theatrical debut. A watchdog group urged shareholders to reject...
Amazon Prime Video Joins Elite Masters Broadcast Partners
We’re about an hour away from Amazon Prime Video’s debut as a live Masters broadcast partner. Amazon is just the fourth media partner ever in the Masters’ history. https://t.co/qUkOz2jivs
Jason Bateman's Emmy Category Strategy Sparks Debate
Emmy Predictions: Lead Actor (Limited/Movie) — Jason Bateman vs. Himself? Waiting on How He Will Navigate Category Strategy https://t.co/zG6I6T2gLo via @variety
Martin Short Poised for Historic Emmy Lead Actor Win
Emmy Predictions: Lead Actor (Comedy) — Martin Short Eyes Historic Win at 76 for ‘Only Murders in the Building’ https://t.co/xGMsePFTiv via @variety