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.
Beeler.Tech Expands How Its Community Can Access Publishing Intelligence with Admiral Visitor Copilot™
Beeler.Tech launched Admiral Visitor Copilot™, an AI‑powered conversational interface that lets community members search and retrieve insights from both public and private publishing content. The low‑code integration builds on Beeler.Tech’s existing use of Admiral’s platform for subscriptions and visitor management, expanding its editorial offering with deeper analysis and feature‑length reporting. Visitor Copilot delivers instant, grounded answers and aggregates information across multiple reports, helping users make faster, data‑driven decisions. Early feedback shows improved discovery, richer engagement metrics, and a feedback loop to shape future coverage.
Eccho Rights Closes New CEE Deals for Winds of Love
Eccho Rights has sealed new distribution agreements for the Turkish daily drama *Winds of Love* in Bosnia, Lithuania, Serbia and Montenegro, adding to earlier sales in Poland, Israel, Romania, Georgia and North Macedonia. The series, produced by Unik Film &...
Use Bonus Scenes to Grow Your Author Newsletter
How to build a newsletter when you’re just starting as an author… I will always suggest adding bonus scenes to the end of your books to newsletter build. It builds your list with organic, already invested readers… But what if...
Sell-Side Decisioning for Media Owners: How To Create More Value in Programmatic
Sell-side decisioning is reshaping programmatic advertising by giving media owners direct control over inventory, data and pricing at the moment an impression is generated. Index Exchange’s recent Live event highlighted that the top 100 owners using its Index Marketplaces saw...
Segura Named OM for WMAL-FM, Washington
Cumulus Media announced Luis Segura will serve as operations manager for its Washington, D.C. news/talk station WMAL-FM, effective May 4, following the retirement of longtime program director Bill Hess. Segura most recently led programming at KSFO in San Francisco. Cumulus...
Dad’s Viral PSA Calls for Egg‑Hunt Rule Change After Toddler’s Tears
Hank, a father from Illinois, posted a public‑service announcement urging parents to avoid name‑labeled Easter eggs after his toddlers cried at two family hunts. The Reddit‑fueled video has amassed 24,000 upvotes, igniting a broader conversation about safe, inclusive holiday traditions...
Telos to Show New Flagship Processor at NAB
Telos Alliance will unveil its Omnia XII flagship audio processor at the NAB Show, targeting FM, HD Radio and DAB broadcasters. The 2RU unit combines a wideband AGC, five‑band multiband AGC/compressor, six‑band limiter, smart dynamic EQ and a new “Clemenza”...
Happydemics Launches ‘In-Flight Mode’ to Optimise Brand Outcomes While Campaigns Are Still Airborne
Happydemics has introduced “In‑Flight Mode,” a real‑time brand‑lift measurement tool that embeds outcome tracking directly into live campaigns. Marketers can now monitor consideration, purchase intent and other brand KPIs as ads run, and instantly tweak creative, targeting or media mix....
Streaming Giants Broadcast Artemis II Lunar Flyby, Marking New TV Era
NASA partnered with Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+, Hulu, HBO Max, Roku and its own NASA+ service to livestream the Artemis II lunar flyby on April 6. The multi‑platform rollout follows an 18.1 million‑viewer broadcast of the launch and signals a...
Associated Press Offers Buyouts to over 120 U.S. Journalists as It Pivots From Print
The Associated Press announced Monday that it is offering buyouts to over 120 U.S. journalists, part of a broader strategy to shift away from its historic newspaper focus toward visual content and AI‑powered services. The move follows a 25% drop...
Centre Moves to Tighten IT Rules, Seeks Industry Feedback on Online Content Regulation
India's Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has issued draft amendments to the 2021 IT Rules, seeking to tighten regulation of online news and current‑affairs content. The proposals introduce clearer definitions, data‑retention mandates, and a shared oversight model with the...
Manager, Marketing and Audience Development
The Podglomerate, a fast‑growing podcast production and marketing agency, is hiring a Manager of Marketing and Audience Development. The role offers a $60‑75k base salary, a 10% performance bonus, and a suite of benefits including phantom equity, 401(k) matching, and...
Social Media Editor
The Axis, a podcast production agency serving aesthetic medicine, plastic surgery, and addiction‑recovery clients, is hiring a freelance Social Media Clip Editor for $50 per episode. The remote‑US role focuses solely on editing 1‑3 short‑form clips per episode for YouTube...
AMC’s “The Audacity” Keeps Aiming for Big-Tech Mockery, But Mostly Bums Us Out
AMC’s new drama “The Audacity,” created by Jonathan Glatzer, debuts on April 12 as a darkly comic look at Silicon Valley’s excesses. The series follows tech‑bro CEO Duncan Park (Billy Magnussen) as his company flounders and his personal life unravels,...
Dairy-Free Creamer Brand Nutpods Is Cracking Fragmentation With AI-Powered Insights
AI Digital launched Elevate, an AI‑powered marketing intelligence platform to combat ad tech fragmentation. Nutpods, a dairy‑free creamer brand, used Elevate to unify data across channels and receive near‑real‑time insights. The platform revealed audio ads outperformed other placements, allowing Nutpods...
Dairy-Free Creamer Brand Nutpods Is Cracking Fragmentation With AI-Powered Insights
Nutpods, a non‑dairy creamer brand, partnered with AI Digital to use its new Elevate platform, an AI‑powered marketing intelligence suite designed to dissolve ad‑tech fragmentation. The tool slashed Nutpods’ reporting lag from weeks to roughly one day, delivering real‑time performance...
Billionaires Owning The Media - But Do They Rename The Media?
OpenAI announced the acquisition of TBPN, a tech‑focused video podcast network, signaling another billionaire‑backed entry into digital media. The move follows a long history of wealthy owners buying news outlets, from Jeff Bezos’s Washington Post purchase to Microsoft’s 1996 stake...
Source Media Group Launches YouTube Golf Network With Bryson DeChambeau, Grant Horvat
Source Media Group has launched Source Golf, a YouTube‑based network that bundles existing content from top golf creators such as Bryson DeChambeau (2.6 million subscribers), Grant Horvat (1.6 million), and the Bryan Bros (800 k). The platform sells advertising against these pre‑existing videos, eliminating the...
KFC Drops Its 1st Single ‘Finger Lickin' Machine'
KFC has launched its first musical single, “Finger Lickin' Machine,” marking a shift from traditional jingles to a full‑length track. The song supports the rollout of the new Box Feasts, priced at $7, $9 and $11, under the Value Feast...
Instagram Now Lets Creators Tag Affiliate Links Directly in Reels
Instagram is rolling out a new feature that lets creators tag shoppable products directly in Reels, supporting up to 30 items per video. Creators can add products by pasting affiliate URLs or selecting items from a brand’s Meta commerce catalog,...
YouTube’s Coachella 2026 Coverage Includes a 24/7 TV Station
YouTube is expanding its Coachella 2026 partnership by launching a 24/7 linear TV channel, Coachella TV, alongside its traditional livestream. The platform will stream seven stages, offering 4K feeds for three main stages and a vertical video feed for the Quasar stage....
Affiliates, To Stay Relevant, Move Beyond Mere Execution
Artificial intelligence is rapidly automating routine tasks in affiliate marketing, from matching affiliates to offers to generating performance dashboards. While AI boosts efficiency, it also exposes limits, requiring human oversight to correct errors and prevent fraud. The article argues that...
How Reuters Unlocked 58% More Suitable Inventory with IAS Context Control
Reuters partnered with Integral Ad Science to replace traditional keyword blocklists with IAS’s Context Control semantic solution. By analyzing meaning, sentiment, and entity relationships, the platform identified safe articles previously flagged by keywords, especially on the Lifestyle subdomain where 13.4%...
Work Shift and New America Launch Reporting Fellowship
Work Shift and New America’s Future of Work & Innovation Economy initiative have launched the Future of Work Reporting Fellowship, a year‑long program for early‑ and mid‑career journalists. Fellows receive a $5,000 stipend, expense budget, editorial coaching, data access and...
SunLife Aims to Strike Gold with Frontman Martin Kemp
SunLife, the UK specialist for consumers over 50, has named former Spandau Ballet frontman Martin Kemp as its new brand ambassador. The move reinforces the insurer’s “Everyday Confidence” platform launched in 2025, which uses humour and warm storytelling to encourage...
Gen Z Values News, but Expects Clarity and Relevance
Reuters Institute’s latest report reveals that Gen Z’s news consumption is dominated by social platforms, with TikTok, Instagram and YouTube eclipsing traditional sites. Only 14% of 18‑24‑year‑olds go straight to news websites, while 40% discover stories through social feeds, prompting...
Mid‑funnel Nurturing Cuts CPA 38% in 60 Days
Lately, more businesses are coming with ₹3L+ ad spend but declining ROI. There’s a silent doubt — “Are ads just getting expensive now?” They assume rising CPMs are the problem. But deeper inside, it’s poor funnel depth — no mid-stage nurturing, only cold-to-sale...
Fox Embeds Betting Data, Blurring News and Prediction Markets
When I wrote this in November about the logical conclusion of prediction markets in media—ie, Fox News hosts doing branded segments about how viewers could make money on political bets—I was joking. But these days, the line between parody and...
El Reino Infantil Expands Global Presence Through Strategic Alliances
El Reino Infantil has deepened its global footprint by renewing its strategic partnership with Netflix and signing a distribution deal with Directv Latin America. The Netflix agreement adds Italian to its existing Spanish, Portuguese, and English offerings and introduces new...
AI Agents and Content Slop Could Kill Social Media
There's a very real chance that social media dies because of AI agents and an overwhelming amount of SLOP.
Scrubs S10 Penultimate Episode Airs This Week
Scrubs season 10's penultimate episode will be released later this week — here's when and where you can watch it. https://t.co/R1Pt253GVc
Book City, Iran’s Largest Book Chain, Suffers War Damage
Iran’s largest book‑shop chain, Book City, has seen six of its Tehran locations damaged or destroyed in recent U.S.–Israeli strikes. The nonprofit operates nearly 100 stores across the country, many with cafés and cultural programming, and reinvests all profits into...
Rome Court Orders Netflix to Refund Illegal Price Hikes
A Rome court has ruled that Netflix's price increases in Italy between 2017-2024 were illegal and that it must refund customers and roll back its price adjustments. Customers on the Premium plan continuously from 2017 are entitled to €500 in...
AI Engines Heavily Cite Top Journalists and Outlets
The ranking is based on 15 million AI response citations gathered by Muckrack in what it calls “generative pulse data” -> Which journalists and news outlets are most cited by AI answer engines? https://t.co/FbjYIvK7H0 https://t.co/28XLOVzZ9t
The Future of Music Is Human-Generated
The article argues that AI‑generated music is driving the cost of generic songs toward zero, collapsing their market value. As a result, the industry’s durable asset is shifting from the song itself to the human performer who creates and lives...
Spotify Adds Podcast Episode Playlists for Any Topic
Are you a pop head or a weird science enthusiast? Spotify now lets you create playlists of podcast episodes on your favorite topics. https://t.co/iocZqkDrSP
More Evidence Short Form Video Is Rotting Your Brain
A new fMRI study published in *npj Science of Learning* compared memory retention after watching a single 10‑minute continuous video versus seven short‑form clips of the same content. Participants who viewed the continuous video recalled about 66% of the material,...
Kalshi Lands Major Partnership, Data to Power Fox News
NEW: After cutting deals with CNN and CNBC, the prediction market Kalshi has made arguably its biggest deal yet. It is getting into business with Fox, where its data will be baked into Fox News programming.
Could Gaming's 'Epic' Struggles Open the Door for More Advertisers?
Epic Games announced a layoff of roughly 1,000 employees as Fortnite’s player base and in‑game currency value decline, highlighting the title’s struggle to stay fresh. The broader gaming sector is experiencing a wave of cuts, prompting advertisers to wonder if...
Google Explains Why It Doesn’t Matter That Websites Are Getting Larger via @Sejournal, @Martinibuster
Google’s Gary Illyes and Martin Splitt clarified that growing page weight isn’t inherently harmful, emphasizing that page size depends on what’s measured—HTML alone or the full bundle of assets. They highlighted how compression, especially Brotli, can mask the true amount...
On the New ‘Beat the Press,’ We Look at War Coverage, Fetish Non-Coverage and CNN’s GenZ Ploy
The latest episode of “Beat the Press with Emily Rooney” dissected how the media is handling the war in Iran, drawing criticism from both the left and the right. The panel also highlighted mainstream outlets’ reluctance to publish fetish photos...
Lisa Kudrow Easily Shakes Off Her Friends Past as Valerie Cherish / Savannah Guthrie Return Was a Rare TV Example...
Lisa Kudrow demonstrates that her iconic Friends role no longer defines her acting range, weaving subtle nods to the sitcom into Season 3 of the HBO‑Max series The Comeback. The episode features two clever references that acknowledge her past without relying...
OpenAI Seems to Think It Can Acquire Authenticity and Trust
OpenAI announced the acquisition of the technology podcast network TBPN for a reported "hundreds of millions of dollars," aiming to integrate its editorial team into OpenAI's broader communications strategy. The company pledged to preserve TBPN's editorial independence, positioning the move...
BSW, Lawo Partner For U.S. Radio Offerings
Broadcast Supply Worldwide (BSW) has entered a distribution agreement with German‑based Lawo to bring the latter’s IP‑based radio production and broadcast infrastructure to U.S. stations. The partnership introduces BSW’s “Lawo crystal Radio Solution Packages,” which bundle pre‑configuration, remote commissioning, and...
He Started a Social Network Alone. Then 5 Million People Signed Up
Issam Hijazi launched UpScrolled in July 2025 as a privacy‑first, chronologically‑ordered social network that rejects algorithmic feeds and data‑selling practices. Within eight months the platform surged from a handful of users to over 5 million, driven by backlash against mainstream apps...
CBS Sells Late‑Night Slot to Byron Allen’s ‘Comics Unleashed’, Ending Colbert’s Run
CBS has transferred its 11:35 p.m. late‑night hour to Byron Allen’s Allen Media Group, replacing Stephen Colbert’s The Late Show with back‑to‑back episodes of Comics Unleashed and the game‑show Funny You Should Ask. The move, framed as a $40 million cost‑saving measure,...
OpenAI Buys TBPN for Low‑hundreds‑of‑millions, Bolstering AI‑driven Marketing Push
OpenAI has acquired the tech‑media podcast TBPN in a deal valued in the low hundreds of millions of dollars, placing the show under its communications and marketing division. The move signals a strategic push to control AI‑centric brand narratives ahead...
CBS Leases 11:35 P.m. Late‑Night Slot to Byron Allen’s Allen Media Group
CBS announced it will lease its 11:35 p.m. weekday slot to Byron Allen’s Allen Media Group, inserting back‑to‑back episodes of "Comics Unleashed" beginning May 22. The deal, in which Allen pays CBS for the airtime and retains most ad inventory, marks the...
Jean Smart's Deborah Reflects on Legacy in Hacks Finale
TV Talk: @hbomax comedy #Hacks returns this week as Deborah (Jean Smart) considers her legacy in the show's final season, via @TribLIVE - https://t.co/piyZ6XWyZz https://t.co/1BG7BzJDvI
Turning Engagement Data Into Content that Gets Results
St. Stephen’s Episcopal School’s communications team uses weekly engagement data to shape its editorial calendar, focusing on student‑centered stories that resonate with families. By tracking open rates, click‑throughs and social interactions, the team pivots content themes toward high‑performing topics such...