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 Discover Performance Reporting Bug in Search Console
Google confirmed a data‑logging bug in the Discover report of Google Search Console that affected metrics for May 7‑8, 2026. The error caused an artificial drop in reported clicks and impressions, though actual Discover rankings remained unchanged. Google clarified the issue was reporting‑only and has since corrected the logs. Publishers are advised to disregard the affected data when analyzing performance.
Gen Z Influencer Walter Hits $1 Million Milestone on TikTok Shop Selling Top Beauty Brands
Walter, a 21‑year‑old TikTok creator, leveraged TikTok Shop to sell Medicube, Neutrogena and other beauty products, earning over $1 million in two years and $20,000‑plus per month. His rise underscores the power of influencer‑driven e‑commerce for brands targeting Gen Z shoppers.
Short‑Form Video Clippers Turn $2,500 Start‑up Into $40,000‑Strong Freelance Network
Emrah Bayraktar, a 25‑year‑old from Belgium, grew a $2,500 two‑week side hustle into a network of 40,000 freelance “clippers” who monetize bite‑size video snippets. Brands now pay anywhere from $0.50 to $25 per 1,000 views, turning short‑form clips into a...
Dashboard Debates Head to Frankfurt with WorldDAB
WorldDAB Automotive 2026 will unveil a new Car Buyer’s Research study by Fifty5Blue on June 11 in Frankfurt. The research examines how drivers use in‑car audio, focusing on dashboard prominence, discoverability, and listening habits. Senior figures from broadcasters, OEMs, and regulators...
Stephen Colbert Will Have Late-Night to Himself for Last Show
Stephen Colbert’s final episode of The Late Show will air on May 21, and his fellow late‑night hosts are stepping aside to give him an uninterrupted night. Jimmy Fallon and Jimmy Kimmel announced they will not air new episodes, while NBC...
Amazon Launches Dynamic TV Creative to Power AI‑Driven CTV Ad Optimization
Amazon Ads unveiled Dynamic TV Creative, an AI‑powered add‑on to its Interactive CTV suite that tailors interactive elements based on shopper data. The feature is live for U.S. advertisers now and will expand to live‑sports inventory in Q3, promising higher...
Paramount and NPR Exec Ainsley Rossitto Joins Beehiiv as Head of Podcasts
Ainsley Rossitto, former VP of Digital Strategy and Operations for podcasts at Paramount Global, has joined beehiiv as Head of Podcasts. Her hire underscores beehiiv’s ambition to embed audio as a core pillar of its “own your audience” creator platform,...
This Clever App Is the Shazam for Movies and TV Shows I Always Wanted
Voola is an Android app that uses visual fingerprinting to identify movies, TV shows, and actors from short video clips or links, functioning like a Shazam for visual media. Users can record, upload, or paste social‑media clips, receiving instant titles,...
CBS Stations Makes It A Full Dozen For AR/VR Studios
CBS’s local‑station rollout of augmented reality and virtual reality studios reached a dozen with the launch at KOVR‑TV in Sacramento. The AR/VR newsroom went live on May 11, integrating immersive graphics into news, weather and sports segments. CBS Sacramento’s President...
TelevisaUnivision’s Upfront Pitch To Advertisers: ‘We Get Hispanics’
TelevisaUnivision’s new head of ad sales, John Kozco, is steering the company’s 2024 upfront with a clear message: it understands Hispanic audiences, a $4 trillion economic force in the U.S. The pitch centers on three pillars—sports, streaming and culture—highlighting exclusive Spanish‑language...
From Twitch to $7.5M: Maya Higa’s Global Impact
Maya Higa's TED Talk is now available. The 10-minute talk covers how she got started on Twitch, has raised over $7.5M, reached millions globally, and how @alveussanctuary is the wildlife sanctuary you can visit from anywhere.
Broadcasters Must React to Threat From ‘Creator Journalism’, Says Ex-Head of BBC News
Former BBC News chief Deborah Turness warned that "creator journalism" is eroding traditional television news audiences, with roughly 4 million fewer viewers in the last five years. She highlighted a three‑fold rise in news consumption on YouTube and a ten‑fold surge...
The Fourth Wing Is Coming To TV — Produced By An Oscar-Winner
Amazon MGM Studios announced a Prime Video series adaptation of Rebecca Yarros' bestselling fantasy novel Fourth Wing. Oscar‑winner Michael B. Jordan will executive produce through Outlier Society, with Lisa Joy directing the pilot and Jonathan Nolan also on the executive...
‘Euphoria’ Season 3 Will Set A Record Matched Only By ‘The Wire’
HBO’s teen drama *Euphoria* will close its third season with a 93‑minute finale, tying the record set by *The Wire*. The hour‑and‑half episode arrives after a four‑year hiatus and follows a 44% jump in viewership for the season’s return. Its...
Is AI the Biggest Threat to Social Platforms?
The article argues that generative AI is emerging as the biggest threat to social platforms, as users increasingly turn to AI for entertainment and companionship instead of human interaction. Platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, Meta, and Snapchat are shifting toward...
Kevin Hart’s $650 Million Media Empire Is Shrinking — Here’s What Went Wrong
Kevin Hart’s media venture Hartbeat, once valued at $650 million in 2022, is now being bought out by the comedian as investors exit. The company expanded to New York, Atlanta and a 40,000‑square‑foot West Hollywood office, but a slump in Hollywood...
Program 'Attention'? What About Media Buyers 'Attention'?
NBC announced eight new scripted pilots, the most in four years, with four slated for the 2026‑27 schedule. The network’s broader slate reflects a push to capture fragmented audiences across broadcast, streaming and FAST platforms. Media‑buying executives now face pressure...
Advertisers Crave Broader Agentic Tools, Will Boost Spend
Performance advertisers are seeing results with Agentic advertising, but they want more. Advertisers want more agentic options outside of search and social, and they would invest a lot more if the right agentic tech existed. Great insight from a new study...
IHeartMedia Posts Q1 Revenue Increase of 9.6%
iHeartMedia reported a 9.6% rise in first‑quarter revenue to $884 million, turning a $1.5 million operating profit after a loss the previous year. Net loss narrowed sharply to $95.6 million from $280.8 million a year earlier. Digital Audio sales grew 18% YoY and podcasting...
fullthrottle.ai® Announces Strategic Audio Partnership With TuneIn to Power Outcome-Driven Campaigns
Fullthrottle.ai has integrated TuneIn’s live and on‑demand audio inventory into its ad‑tech operating system, letting advertisers plan, activate, and optimize audio alongside CTV, video, display and direct‑mail campaigns. The partnership gives marketers a single workflow to reach listeners on mobile,...
Horizon Broadcasting Launches Spokane News/Talker
Horizon Broadcasting has entered the Spokane‑Coeur d’Alene market with a new news/talk operation on 107.1 FM (KBNW) and 1230 AM (KSBN). The station will be overseen by Keith Shipman, longtime president of the Washington State Association of Broadcasters, and veteran Spokane broadcaster Roger Nelson....
Meta Tests Grok‑style AI on Threads in Select Markets
NEW: Meta is starting to test a version of Meta AI for Threads that will function a lot like how Grok does on X. People will be able to tag meta.ai in their posts and replies. Testing first in Malaysia,...
Queen Latifah Joins ‘The Voice’ As Coach For Season 30
NBC’s flagship singing competition The Voice is expanding its coaching panel for Season 30, adding Grammy‑winner Queen Latifah as the fourth coach. She joins returning veterans Kelly Clarkson and Adam Levine, alongside newcomer Riley Green, marking Latifah’s first regular coaching role after guest‑judge...
The TV Ad Market Is Being Taken Over by Streaming Platforms
Advertising dollars are rapidly moving from linear TV to streaming platforms. Madison and Wall estimate U.S. streaming ad spend will reach roughly $20 billion by 2029, closing the gap with traditional TV, which is projected to stay around $38 billion. The shift...
AI Is Becoming Part of Everyday Journalism in Nigerian Newsrooms, Report Says
Nigerian journalists are increasingly using AI tools such as ChatGPT, transcription software, and writing assistants, rating the technology’s impact on their daily work at 7‑8 out of 10. A new Carpe Diem Solutions report covering 17 media organisations reveals that...
LPTV Broadcasters Association Urges Carr to Approve 5G for Broadcast
The LPTV Broadcasters Association has written to FCC Chairman Brendan Carr urging the commission to fast‑track a rulemaking that would permit low‑power television stations to use the 3GPP 5G Broadcast standard. The request follows HC2 Broadcasting’s experimental licenses for 5G...
Mac Barnett Sparks Kidlit Outcry After Claim 94.7% of Children’s Books Are ‘Crud’
National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature Mac Barnett’s new nonfiction work, Make Believe, includes a line that 94.7% of children’s books are “crud.” The remark has provoked a swift backlash from peers and sparked a broader conversation about standards and...
Digg Relaunches as AI‑Focused News Aggregator, Targeting the Fastest‑Moving Online Space
Digg has re‑entered the web as an AI‑centric news‑aggregation platform, live in alpha at di.gg. CEO Kevin Rose says the site will sift through the “noisiest, fastest‑moving space on the internet” by following 1,000 AI researchers, investors and media figures....
Spotify Streams Drive 1.5x More Consumption Time Than YouTube for Podcasts, New Podstock Data Shows
Podstock’s benchmark reveals a Spotify stream generates 1.5× more consumption time than a YouTube view of the same podcast episode. The analysis of thousands of episodes released simultaneously on both platforms found 95% of them had higher average minutes per...
IHeartMedia Q1 Revenue Jumps 9.6% on Podcast Boom, Yet EBITDA Falls 11%
iHeartMedia posted $884 million in first‑quarter revenue, up 9.6% year‑over‑year, as podcast earnings surged 27%. However, adjusted EBITDA fell 11.4% to $93 million because advertising demand softened and marketing expenses accelerated.
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Q1 2026 Global Made for Advertising (MFA) Benchmarks Report for Mobile Apps
Pixalate released its Q1 2026 Global Made‑for‑Advertising (MFA) Mobile Apps Benchmarks Report, identifying 1,976 apps across Google Play and Apple App Store as likely MFA. Of those, 1,643 (about 83%) listed an anonymous country of registration, with the United States and China trailing. Games...
Fox Upfront: More Unscripted, 'Baywatch' Reboot Coming Midseason
Fox used its 2026 upfront to unveil a midseason reboot of the 1990s hit "Baywatch" and a new espionage drama, "The Interrogator," expanding its scripted Tuesday lineup. The network highlighted the strong advertising performance of its existing dramas, "Best Medicine"...
Global Ad Tech Player GumGum Expands Into France with Its Innovative Mindset Graph™ Technology
GumGum, a California‑based global SSP, is opening a Paris office to deepen its presence in France. The expansion is anchored by its proprietary Mindset Graph™ technology, an AI‑driven platform that gauges a user’s real‑time mindset to serve more relevant ads...
Spotify’s Launches a Wrapped-Style Recap of Your Entire Listening History
Spotify is rolling out a limited‑time, 20th‑anniversary feature that lets users explore their entire listening history, from the date they joined to the first song they ever streamed. The recap also generates a personalized playlist of the top 120 tracks,...
Spotify Launches Full-History Wrapped for All Users
Whoa, new Wrapped but for your entire music history. Just went through it. Very cool. I joined in 2011. 15 years ago... Damn. :) "Starting today, Spotify mobile app users can access a new Wrapped-like experience that features “never-before-shared data”...
Bloomberg Leads Financial Press in Uncomfortable Market Truths
Also time to acknowledge that @Bloomberg is genuinely miles ahead of the FT and most other financial press when it comes to speaking uncomfortable truths that markets understand but politically minded people refuse to acknowledge until too late. https://t.co/3ene6uoHC0
Cocie AI Launches CTV Autopilot, The First Agentic Contextual Intelligence Platform Built for Programmatic CTV
Cocie AI unveiled CTV Autopilot, an agentic contextual intelligence platform that transforms a single buyer brief into a live, show‑level targeted CTV campaign within minutes. The system ingests billions of bid‑stream and programming signals, enriches them with granular context, and...
Analyzing Upfronts, NFL Broadcast Push, and World Cup
I joined @PeterHamby's excellent The Powers That Be to dissect the upfronts, the NFL's broadcast push and the upcoming World Cup. #AmericasPodcastGuest https://t.co/IHDe5VRLRa
YouTube Premium Prices Rise, Lite Upgrade Makes It Viable
YouTube Premium keeps getting more expensive. But the cheaper option, Premium Lite, recently got a major upgrade that makes it worth a second look. https://t.co/zcv4A4jsTw
CTV Graduates, Definitions Still Matter. What’s in a Name?
Advanced TV has shifted from a semantic debate over OTT versus CTV to a mature, standards‑driven ecosystem. The IAB Tech Lab’s recent guidance and the adoption of OpenRTB 2.6, VAST 4.3, AdCOM, and OM SDK provide consistent definitions, ad formats, and measurement across...
AI Revives Plato’s Fear of Thought‑Detached Writing
Is AI making Plato’s old suspicion about writing feel new again? ✏️When Writing Becomes Detached From Thought https://t.co/XebP7NKNXe
Joining Dylan Byers' Newsletter to Cover New Media Business
Some exciting news: honored to join @DylanByers as a weekly contributor to his undeniable must-read newsletter, In The Room. It's been so fun yapping weekly with Dylan on his wonderful podcast, The Grill Room, so I'm stoked to dig more...
How Digital Fan Ecosystems Are Becoming Strategic Assets for Sports Organizations
Sports clubs are shifting from broad social‑media outreach to proprietary digital fan ecosystems powered by blockchain and fan tokens. These platforms let organizations treat fans as stakeholders, capturing high‑quality first‑party data and enabling personalized marketing. Revenue models are evolving from...
Bloomberg Interview with Scaramucci Highlights Footnoted Context
Interesting interview with Scaramucci on Bloomberg. I like how in the transcript they footnote to add context and show their work around some of the answers. https://t.co/pwTkn209uu https://t.co/OT5NTFiCL7
Write for Humans and Machines—Or Lose Both
Two readers visit your site: A human looking for an answer. A machine looking for an authority. If you only write for one, you lose both.
TikTok to Launch Paid, Ad-Free Tier in UK
TikTok announced it will roll out a paid, ad‑free subscription tier in the United Kingdom, letting users browse without targeted ads. The service will charge a monthly fee (price not disclosed) while the platform’s free, ad‑supported version continues. Creators can...
X Rebrand Flops: No Global Recognition, No Marketing
If I say “Twitter,” every person in the whole world knows what I’m talking about. If I say “X,” only the people on this app are sure to know what I’m talking about. As a rebrand, X has categorically failed, and largely...
Companies Face Lawsuits for Allegedly Addicting Users
Oh, FFS. These dolts will next sue Star Wars for addicting users. How about Dickens, folks? Not to mention Frito-Lay? Netflix sued by Texas for allegedly spying on children, addicting users https://t.co/qMiVieTu6o
Are Micro-Dramas the Future of Film Ads?
Micro‑dramas—short, story‑driven video ads lasting 15‑30 seconds—are gaining traction as brands chase mobile‑first audiences. Christine Jones of SirenXYZ argues that traditional storytelling approaches miss the intimacy that bite‑size narratives provide. Early adopters report higher engagement and recall, prompting agencies to...
Morning Joe Targets Gray‑haired White Men, Mocks Biden
Morning Joe's DEI for gray-haired white men this morning (and I say this as a gray-haired white man): Deutsch (who opened the crypt and let him out?), Matthews (again?), VandeHei (in full kids-get-off-my-yard #MoralPanic), Barnicle (still?). Then Deutsch has the...