Today's Media Pulse
Nexstar CEO warns big‑tech dominance threatens local broadcasters
Nexstar Media Group’s chief says platforms like YouTube now capture one‑eighth of U.S. TV viewing and TikTok delivers news to a quarter of young adults, eroding local TV audiences. He notes that five digital firms are projected to control 65% of a $260 billion advertising market by 2026, and points to the Nexstar‑TEGNA merger covering over 130 communities as a defensive move.
MENA Music Market Embraces Multilingual Content As TikTok Accelerates Track Virality, Per Report
TikTok continues to dominate music discovery in the MENA region, with 84 % of songs that entered the Billboard Global 200 in 2024 first going viral on the platform. The time to reach 100,000 TikTok posts fell dramatically from roughly 340 days in 2020 to just 48 days in 2025, accelerating the path from launch to chart success. Multilingual tracks—spanning Hindi, Arabic, Russian, English, Korean pop and Brazilian funk—are gaining strong streaming traction across Spotify and Shazam in the UAE. Hit cycles have compressed, as most tracks peak within a month before streams tumble 80‑90 % after six months.
David Begnaud Launches Media Company, But Will Continue At CBS News
CBS News contributor David Begnaud has founded an independent media company called Do Good Crew, which will produce a weekly newsletter, a podcast, and live events spotlighting everyday heroes. The venture’s inaugural podcast episode features an interview with Oprah Winfrey....
How Adidas Built A Loyalty Infrastructure That Blends Commerce, Fitness, And Content
Adidas has transformed its adiClub loyalty program into a multi‑dimensional ecosystem that blends commerce, fitness tracking, and user‑generated content. Members earn points not only for purchases but also for workouts, reviews, and outfit photos, with points serving both as tier...
You Can Still Rent DVDs & Blu-Rays By Mail in 2026 Almost 3 Years After Netflix Shut Down Its DVD...
GameFly continues to rent DVDs, Blu‑rays and 4K discs by mail, positioning itself as the sole major survivor after Netflix ended its DVD‑by‑mail service in 2023. The company’s movie catalog includes roughly 292 DVD titles and a growing Blu‑ray selection,...
The Boston Globe’s Print Edition Gets Snowed Out, Invoking Memories of the Blizzard of ’78
The Boston Globe announced it will not print today’s edition because a February 2026 blizzard made its Taunton printing plant inaccessible, opting instead to bundle the missed issue with Wednesday’s paper. The move mirrors the 1978 Blizzard, when the Globe...
Policyband Roundup: Tech, Regulation, Media Headlines
Policyband Headlines ■ @elonmusk: @Starlink Price Cuts Have Nothing to Do with @Amazonleo ■ @gigibsohn: @StephenAtHome Colbert ‘Got Some Things Very Wrong’ ■ U.S. Chamber Opposed to Jamming Cell Phones in State Prisons ■ Fire Fighters Want @FCC Progress on Location Monitoring Inside...
A Major Satellite TV Service Is Shutting Down & Going Streaming Only
The American Forces Network (AFN) will cease its eight‑channel direct‑to‑home satellite service on March 22, 2026, moving all overseas viewers to the AFN Now streaming app. The shift affects hundreds of thousands of service members, families, retirees and civilians living off‑base in Europe...
The Post-Scale Media Model Is Taking Shape in Gaming Journalism
Gaming journalism is pivoting from large, ad‑driven operations to lean, subscription‑focused models. Mothership reached 2,000 paying subscribers within a week of launch, while worker‑owned sites like Jank and Aftermath are gaining traction with modest fees. The contraction of legacy outlets...
Distinctive and Engaging – Zetland Hoping to Hit the Right Tone with Its Expansion Strategy
Zetland, Denmark’s audio‑first news publisher with over 40,000 paying members, is scaling its mission‑driven, ambassador‑campaign model across Europe. After a successful Finnish launch, Uusi Juttu, the company reached 20,000 members and is now rolling out Demo in Norway, hitting its...
The Voice of the Uyghur Post
The Uyghur Post, launched by activist Tahir Imin last November, is one of the few Uyghur‑language news sites, delivering daily stories and a weekly podcast to a diaspora audience of roughly 30,000 monthly readers. It was created to fill the...
YouTube ‘in Talks’ to Stream Four More Live NFL Games
YouTube is in advanced talks to add four live NFL games to its platform, a package previously carried by the NFL Network and now part of the league’s broader media‑rights reshuffle following the $3 billion sale of its media division to...
ITV and Disney Expand Partnership with Primetime Hulu Originals Window
ITV and Disney have deepened their UK partnership by adding an exclusive primetime linear window for two Hulu Original dramas on ITV1. The arrangement builds on the Disney+‑ITVX content‑sharing deal launched in July 2025 and introduces a branded slot called...
NEM Dubrovnik Gears Up for a New Edition
NEM Dubrovnik, the largest TV market in Central and Eastern Europe, will take place from June 8‑11 2026 in Dubrovnik. The four‑day event features panel room sessions with industry experts, case studies, special presentations, and exclusive screenings. Three market areas – Sunset,...
Sporticast 530: How ESPN Unlimited Impacts You, Existing Subscribers
ESPN launched ESPN Unlimited in 2025, bundling its traditional TV networks with ESPN+ and the newer ESPN Select service into a single direct‑to‑consumer offering. The tiered structure has confused many users, especially as some content that was previously free on...
Future Boosts Creator Content, Personal Buying Advice and Registrations
Future plc unveiled three new initiatives—Signal, Collab, and Future+—to revamp affiliate e‑commerce, creator content, and membership registration. Signal shifts buying advice to personal “collections” that drive up to three‑fold social and email traffic, while Collab lets vetted creators publish directly...
Advertisers Must Seize Initiative to Make Most of Once‑in‑a‑generation Change
The International Society of Brand Advertisers (ISBA) has announced that brands must act collectively to capitalize on a once‑in‑a‑generation market shift driven by digital transformation, AI, and evolving consumer expectations. In his first 100 days, the new ISBA chief highlighted...
Free Country, Big Money: Maryland Radiothon Scores for St. Jude
Maryland’s 99.9 Free Country (WFRE) held its 2026 “Free Country Cares for St. Jude Kids Radiothon,” raising a record $640,320 in two days. The haul pushes the station’s cumulative contributions past the $10 million milestone after two decades of annual fundraisers. Station leaders...
Building On A Successful Career and Becoming a Brand
Mike McVay addressed the Intercollegiate Broadcast System conference, urging broadcasters and media professionals to treat their careers as evolving brands. He emphasized continuous education, self‑assessment, and a clear vision to stay relevant across expanding platforms. The talk highlighted that personal...
‘Keep Hope Alive’ Enters New Chapter After Jesse Jackson’s Death
Following Rev. Jesse Jackson’s death, Premiere Networks announced that his nationally syndicated Sunday program Keep Hope Alive will continue under the leadership of his eldest daughter, Santita Jackson. Santita, a Howard University graduate with a career in radio hosting and...
![[Guest Post] Are Gaming Publishers Maximising Revenue From Programmatic Advertising?](/cdn-cgi/image/width=1200,quality=75,format=auto,fit=cover/https://mcvuk.com/wp-content/uploads/PHOTO-2026-01-13-15-01-58.jpg)
[Guest Post] Are Gaming Publishers Maximising Revenue From Programmatic Advertising?
Gaming publishers have upgraded to modern programmatic stacks—rewarded video, mediation, and in‑app bidding—but many still see flat or declining revenue. The article argues that the bottleneck is not demand scarcity but a lack of systematic monetisation governance, leading to static...
Ofcom to Regulate Major UK VoD Services
The UK government is moving to bring the most popular video‑on‑demand services under Ofcom’s regulatory umbrella through secondary legislation to the Media Act 2024. Platforms with more than 500,000 UK users—including Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+, ITVX and Channel 4—will be classified...
Streaming, AI, and Affluence: The New Case for Sports Radio
Sports radio is experiencing a resurgence, with AM/FM sports stations growing 14% and adding over 100 outlets in the past decade. Revenue share climbed from 9.3% in 2016 to 12.8% in 2025, a 38% increase, while streaming dominance places sports...
HBO Max Launching in 12 New APAC Markets in March
Warner Bros Discovery will launch HBO Max direct‑to‑consumer in twelve Asia‑Pacific island markets on March 26, 2026. The rollout follows recent European launches in Italy and Germany and precedes the UK and Ireland debut. The service will bundle HBO, Harry Potter, DC, Cartoon Network, Max Originals...
Samsung Ads’ Smart TV Carousel Delivers for Non-Endemic Brands
Samsung Ads introduced an Immersive Carousel ad unit on its European Smart TV home screens, supporting up to five rotating tiles per placement. The format appears on more than 70 million Samsung TVs, auto‑rotating every five seconds and also navigable via...
1023. Emily Nemens
Emily Nemens, author of the Tin House novel Clutch, gained early acclaim with her debut The Cactus League, which was a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice and featured on NPR and Lit Hub’s 2020 favorites lists. Her short fiction...
ITV, Disney Expand Relationship with Primetime Linear Deal
ITV and Disney have extended their UK partnership by bringing two Hulu Original series to ITV1’s primetime linear schedule. The first, “The Stolen Girl,” premieres on February 25, followed later by “The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox.” The titles will air under...
A Resource for AVP News
A Reddit‑based weekly roundup, Last Week in AVP #107, aggregates the most compelling Apple Vision Pro (AVP) news, reviews, and videos into a single, ad‑free page. The edition highlights Apple’s potential immersive Formula 1 demo at the March 4 event, teases the...
FOX 12 Plus Will Become The Home of the Portland Fire and Portland Thorns With New Focus On Women?s...
Portland’s WNBA expansion team, the Fire, and NWSL club, the Thorns, have signed a multi‑year media partnership with Gray Media’s KPDX (FOX 12 Plus). All Fire games will air on FOX 12 Plus with select simulcasts on FOX 12, while the Thorns continue their expanded...
What Live Sports Still Do Better Than Anything Else
Live sports remain the last true appointment viewing in an on‑demand world, delivering real‑time, unscripted emotional moments that cannot be paused or replayed. Over the past decade, cloud production, remote workflows and hyper‑personalized streams have broadened access and lowered costs....
Congo-Kinshasa: Journalists Investigating Fatal Mining Disaster Denied Access
Journalists probing the Rubaya coltan landslide that killed more than 200 miners were barred by M23 rebels on Jan. 28, highlighting a tightening media blackout in eastern DRC. The disaster, tied to unsafe artisanal mining, underscores the mineral‑fuelled conflict between rebel...
DMG Media’s Danny Groom on How AI Is Changing Content and Talent Strategy
DMG Media CEO Danny Groom told The Definitive AI Forum that AI is reshaping the Mail’s content model, moving from mass‑reach to targeted, personalized output. The company is piloting an AI‑powered dynamic paywall in Australia and has cut article volume...
BBC Radio 2 and Radio 4 Feature in BPG Nominations
BBC Radio 2 and Radio 4 presenters dominate the audio categories at the 52nd Broadcasting Press Guild Awards. The shortlist includes Sara Cox, Trevor Nelson, Anna Foster, Sue Mitchell and Jamie Theakston for Audio Presenter of the Year. Radio 4’s...
GoWit Announces Partnership with Publicis Media Middle East to Scale Commerce & Retail Media Across MENA & Türkiye
GoWit, a commerce‑enablement platform, has entered a strategic partnership with Publicis Media Middle East to expand its retail‑media solutions across the MENA region and Turkey. The collaboration will combine GoWit's AI‑driven shopping tools with Publicis' extensive media network, enabling brands...
Move over Music: Audiobooks Power Australia’s Workouts
Audible Australia’s new research shows audiobooks are eclipsing music as the preferred soundtrack for morning routines and workouts. Thirty‑two percent of Australians consider audio essential for setting the day’s tone, while 34% specifically choose audiobooks over playlists during exercise. Among...
Why some Creators Are Now Back Auditing Their Brand Deals
In this episode, Digiday hosts Tamika Baziel, a B2B creator, who explains why she audited and ultimately severed her partnership with Hootsuite after learning of its collaboration with ICE and concerns about surveillance culture. She details her systematic audit process—using...
Samsung Ads Launches Immersive Carousel Home Screen Ad Unit
Samsung Ads has introduced an Immersive Carousel ad unit for Samsung Smart TV home screens across Europe, allowing up to five interactive tiles that rotate automatically or can be navigated with the remote. The format appears on the home screen,...
Menarini Consolidates APAC Media Mandate with Agency Appointment
Menarini Asia‑Pacific has appointed Omnicom Media’s PHD as its regional media agency, expanding the partnership to seven additional markets—India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Taiwan, Vietnam and Korea—effective January 1 2026. The new remit consolidates media planning and buying across Menarini’s pharmaceutical and consumer‑health...
Conan O’Brien Says He Reaches “More People Now” After Leaving Late-Night
Conan O'Brien says his podcast "Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend" and HBO Max travel series now reach more people than his former TBS late‑night show, which ended in 2021. He argues the traditional late‑night talk‑show format is fading, replaced by...
Senator Blumenthal Demands FCC Records Over Colbert Censorship Claim
Scoop: Sen. Richard Blumenthal has written a letter to David Ellison demanding answers and records pertaining to Stephen Colbert's claim of FCC censorship. Details in @get_status: https://www.status.news/p/stephen-colbert-blumenthal-letter-david-ellison-fcc
Investigations Weaponized to Silence Media Under Trump
Exactly. Strong and important from NYT Editorial Board: “The investigation becomes the punishment, forcing media companies to spend millions on legal defenses and deterring them from publishing material that the Trump administration does not like.” 1/2
IKEA Returns to Australian Survivor: Redemption as Major Brand Sponsor
IKEA is returning as the principal sponsor for Australian Survivor: Redemption, extending its partnership with Network 10 and Paramount+. The renewed deal deepens in‑show integration, featuring IKEA‑branded food rewards, sleep solutions, and daily gift‑card competitions during pivotal moments. The brand cites...
Google Experiments With Date‑Less Articles in Discover
Google is testing removing dates from articles in the Google Discover feed https://t.co/TB90cdSZ4z via @AndellDam confirmed by Google's @rajanpatel https://t.co/khavzoWVeu
Trump’s Plan Threatens Press Freedom, Editorial Board Reacts
...and then they came for the journalists, and The Times Editorial Board chooses to speak up. Legally Creative, Democratically Dangerous: Trump’s Plan to Twist the News https://t.co/Fg0GBHE3WB
Meta Keeps Finding New Ways to Not Pay Its Creators
Meta’s new Facebook creator monetization program has exploded to 12 million participants, yet the platform still distributes only about $2 billion to creators each year. By contrast, YouTube shares more than $30 billion, and Instagram Reels generate $50 billion in revenue with minimal payouts....
First Daily Paper Halt Since 1872 Marks Historic Shift
“…The decision marks the first time that management has called off production of a daily paper since the organization’s founding in 1872.”
Site Ranks #25, Exploring Generative Media Frontiers
My site hit #25 in rising tech publications. I'm mapping the frontier of creation & computing. Written + video deep dives on generative media, spatial intelligence and world models. Check it out https://t.co/p2pWlEprPm https://t.co/flKQxCFmnz
NAACP Image Awards: Michelle Obama, Will Packer, Kendrick Lamar Among Night 1 Winners
The NAACP Image Awards kicked off their 57th ceremony with Night 1 winners, highlighting achievements across literature, short‑form media and digital creation. Michelle Obama captured the Outstanding Literary Work – Biography/Autobiography award for her fashion‑focused book *The Look*, while producer Will Packer...
Maksim Chmerkovskiy To Lead Vertical Series ‘Wild Silence’ For Holywater Microdrama Platform My Drama
Maksim Chmerkovskiy, former *Dancing with the Stars* pro, headlines the vertical drama *Wild Silence* on Holywater Tech’s My Drama platform. The series marks the first U.S. vertical production to feature a reality‑TV star in a leading role and follows two...
Mallory Elevated, Miller Hired in JVC Fort Walton Update
JVC Broadcasting has promoted Scott Mallory to Operations Manager of its Fort Walton Beach radio cluster, formalizing his expanded duties overseeing programming, team coordination, and brand execution. The company also hired Brad Miller as Production and Promotions Lead, adding a veteran with...
FBI: Season Eight Ratings + Viewer Votes
CBS has renewed the flagship FBI series for a ninth season while cancelling its two spin‑offs, FBI: Most Wanted and FBI: International. Season 8 posted a 0.38 rating in the 18‑49 demographic and attracted 6.14 million live‑plus‑same‑day viewers, a solid performance by...