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.
Inside Expedia’s Year-Long Partnership with Mega Creator IShowSpeed
Expedia has signed a year‑long partnership with mega‑creator IShowSpeed, whose 150 million followers span YouTube, TikTok and Instagram. The deal, estimated at $250,000, includes a Caribbean livestream, an interactive travel‑site and a dedicated TikTok account, and gives Speed full creative control. Expedia treats the creator as an always‑on channel rather than a one‑off media buy, aiming to embed the brand in Gen Z cultural conversation. The campaign prioritises authenticity and fan‑driven engagement over immediate ROI metrics.
‘Google Doesn’t Care that It’s Terrible’: Brand, Agency Execs Air Frustrations with The Trade Desk, Google’s Performance Max, Meta’s Advantage+
Agency leaders say The Trade Desk has stepped up rep outreach after a March advisory from Dentsu, Publicis and WPP warned clients about spending on its platform and OpenPath. While the DSP claims its data is transparent, users must stitch...
Media Alarmism and the Space Industry: What It Is, Which Topics Attract It, and Why It Happens
Media alarmism turns legitimate space risks—debris, asteroids, solar storms, launches, and defense—into sensational headlines that outpace scientific nuance. The article explains how uncertainty, visual drama, and commercial hype combine to amplify fear, using the 2024 YR4 asteroid episode as a case...
Biozet Attack Shows How a ‘Cleverer Clean’ Frees You to Be ‘Not so Clever’ with Your Clothes in New Brand...
Biozet Attack, a KAO Australia laundry brand, has launched a new “Cleverer Clean” campaign developed by Communicado. The multi‑platform effort, featuring a 3‑D brain visual and a hero film about an over‑confident waiter, runs on CTV, BVOD, SVOD, cinema, OOH,...
Weekend Ratings (8–10/05/2026): Aussies Game-Obsessed As Nine’s The Floor & Seven’s The 1% Club Drive Big Boom
Australian TV audiences gravitated toward game‑show entertainment over the weekend, with Nine’s “The Floor” posting a 1.93 million reach and a 965 000 average audience, while Seven’s “The 1% Club” logged a 1.69 million reach and 901 000 average viewers. Both shows also attracted sizable BVOD...
Behind The Success Of Selleys Billboard Stunt That Almost Didn’t Stick
Howatson+Company’s “If you can take it, it’s yours” campaign turned a Sydney roadside billboard into an interactive adhesive challenge, letting the public pull down glued items ranging from kayaks to arcade machines. Budget cuts forced all objects onto a single...
Zenith Reveals Australians Still See Cathy Freeman As A National Treasure
Zenith Australia’s nationally representative study finds 68.7% of adults consider Olympic champion Cathy Freeman a national treasure, the highest recognition among all figures surveyed. Support for Freeman is remarkably uniform across generations, with 61% of Gen Z and over 70% of...
Substack Tax Triggers Writer Exodus Even as UK Paid Subscriptions Top 500,000
A newly imposed UK tax on Substack subscriptions has accelerated a wave of writers moving to rival platforms such as Ghost and Beehiiv. At the same time, Substack announced it now hosts more than 500,000 paid subscriptions from British readers,...
Riot Games Defends 31‑Day Valorant Ban of Streamer Trainwreck Over Multi‑Account Boosting
Riot Games upheld a 31‑day ban on Kick co‑founder Tyler "Trainwreck" Nikam after an anti‑cheat investigation linked his Valorant five‑stack to an Immortal player swapping smurf accounts. Riot said the behavior violated its Terms of Service, while Trainwreck and fans...
FIFA's $100 Million Bid Stalls in India and China, Threatening 2026 World Cup Reach
FIFA remains without broadcast agreements for the 2026 World Cup in India and China, two of the planet's biggest markets. The governing body sought roughly $100 million in rights fees, while India's Jio Hotstar reportedly counters with $20 million, and China’s state broadcaster...
WWE Cracks Down on Streamers and Reaction Videos with Automated Takedowns
WWE announced a sweeping copyright enforcement campaign that uses automated detection tools to issue takedown notices against streamers and reaction‑video creators. The move threatens a vibrant fan‑generated ecosystem and pits the company’s broadcast‑rights strategy against established fair‑use doctrine.
Instagram Can Now Read All Users’ Private Messages. Will This Make Kids Safer or Just Boost Ad Targeting?
Meta has removed end‑to‑end encryption from Instagram direct messages as of May 8, saying few users opted in to the feature. The change means all private chats are now readable by Meta and could be leveraged for ad personalization, AI model...
Monks Brings AI-Led ‘Creative Intelligence’ to APAC Market via Monks.Flow Ecosystem
Monks, the AI arm of S4Capital, launched its Creative Intelligence engine across APAC as part of the Monks.Flow ecosystem. The cloud‑native solution fingerprints video and static assets, attaching granular metadata to performance data so marketers can pinpoint which creative elements...
Filming Underway on NCIS: Sydney S4
Paramount+ has begun filming season 4 of the Australian spin‑off NCIS: Sydney, produced by Endemol Shine Australia for CBS Studios. The joint U.S.‑Australian task force returns to chase mermaid masterminds, gold heists and secret‑trade conspiracies, building on a 20‑episode third season...
Marshals Season 1, Episode 11 Recap, “On Thin Ice”
Episode 11, “On Thin Ice,” brings the first season of Marshals to a tense climax as Kayce, Cal and escaped convict Lamb battle a winter storm on the Madison range. The episode reveals Cal’s long‑held secret that he blamed himself...
The Trade Desk Study Reveals Flaw In How The Industry Defines Advertising Efficiency
The Trade Desk and PA Consulting released the "Premium Media Payoff" study, showing that ads in premium environments outperform lower‑cost placements on core brand metrics. Premium media delivered 4.3% higher purchase consideration, a 37% lift in purchase intent, a 22%...
Chinese Publishing Delegation Showcases 600 Titles at 2026 Buenos Aires Book Fair
The China National Publications Import and Export Group led a delegation that displayed more than 600 Chinese titles and staged 11 literary events at the 2026 Buenos Aires International Book Fair. The high‑profile presence underscores Beijing's push to expand Chinese...
Kyle and Jackie O’s ‘Intern Pete’ Joins Christian O’Connell
Peter Deppeler, known as “Intern Pete,” is leaving the Kyle and Jackie O Show after more than 12 years to become senior producer and roving reporter on Christian O’Connell’s national breakfast program on ARN’s Gold network. His departure comes as...
ABC Files FCC Complaint Claiming Trump Administration Is Targeting ‘The View’
ABC, owned by Disney, lodged a formal complaint with the FCC accusing the Trump administration of trying to chill free speech by forcing its daytime talk show “The View” under equal‑time rules. The filing argues the show has long qualified...
Amazon Ads unBoxed 2026 Unveils Four AI‑Driven Marketing Trends
Amazon Ads hosted its flagship unBoxed 2026 conference in Shenzhen, announcing four AI‑driven marketing trends that span audience targeting, creative production, campaign orchestration and performance measurement. Yeahmobi’s William Liu emphasized the shift toward AI‑centric growth infrastructure, signaling new opportunities for...
SNL's Weekend Update Takes Aim at Hegseth, Kavanaugh and Patel in Provocative Cold Open
Saturday Night Live aired a politically charged cold open on its Weekend Update segment, with Colin Jost portraying Pete Hegseth, Matt Damon as Brett Kavanaugh and Aziz Ansari as Kash Patel. The sketch’s barroom jokes about drinking culture and policy...
Airdate: Leonard and Hungry Paul
Irish comedy series Leonard and Hungry Paul, starring Alex Lawther, Laurie Kynaston and Jamie‑Lee O’Donnell, debuts on ABC Entertains on May 12, 2026. The show is narrated by Oscar‑winner Julia Roberts and follows two board‑gaming friends navigating personal loss, family events, and budding...
Huge Investment, Tiny Audience: Just 182 Subscribers
"So far, the investment has produced an astonishingly small audience: just 182 YouTube subscribers, with many videos attracting only a few dozen views." More from @nataliekorach: https://www.status.news/p/washington-post-opinion-video-adam-oneal
Jan 2020 Listicle Update Triggered Massive SEO Bloodbath
One of the casualties of the Jan ~20 "listicle" and low-quality-content unconfirmed Google update. It was a total bloodbath. More impactful than the March 26 Core Update, IMO. https://t.co/8d3zmKfZwT
News Corp Posts 9% Revenue Rise to $2.2 B, Citing Digital Ad Gains and AI Deals
News Corp announced third‑quarter fiscal 2026 revenue of $2.2 billion, up 9% year‑over‑year, with segment EBITDA climbing 18% to $343 million. The growth stemmed from digital advertising, AI licensing agreements with Meta and OpenAI, and a $193 million share repurchase program.
May 10 Marks Anniversary of Two Beloved Sitcom Endings
📺 Two family sitcoms concluded on this day (May 10): “Roc” starring Charles S. Dutton and Rocky Carroll after a three-season run on Fox in 1994; and “The Parkers”, the “Moesha” spinoff starring Mo’Nique and Countess Vaughn, in 2004. “The...
TikTok Food Reviews Rife with Hyperbole and Hidden Sponsorships, Analysis Finds
A recent Slate analysis of TikTok food‑review content uncovered pervasive hyperbolic language and potential undisclosed sponsorships, prompting brands to question the credibility of influencer marketing on the platform. The piece highlights a staggering 200th use of the adjective “fire” in...
Trump Media Posts $405.9 Million Q1 Loss Tied to Crypto Holdings
Trump Media & Technology Group posted a $405.9 million net loss for Q1 2026, largely from unrealized crypto losses. The company still generated $17.9 million of operating cash flow and holds $2.1 billion in financial assets, three times its level a year earlier.
I’m (Re-)starting a Newsletter
On May 11, 2026 the author of ontestautomation.com announced the relaunch of a weekly newsletter, with the first issue sent that day and subsequent issues scheduled for Monday mornings at 11 AM CET. The move follows frustration with LinkedIn’s unpredictable algorithm, prompting a shift...
Anti‑Science Disinformation Thrives on Politics, Media, and Money
Hard to say, but as we detailed in our book #ScienceUnderSiege @MichaelEMann @PeterHotez @public_affairs the anti-science disinformation machine has become quite powerful backed politically by multiple petrostates, it’s been the bread and butter of the disgusting Murdoch media empire and...
AI Films Prioritize Cheapness over Viewer Enjoyment
The problem with all of these AI generated "films" is they exclusively optimize for "would be expensive to do without AI" and not "make something people actually want to watch" That's why they're all shit. They are boring as fuck...
India’s Cricket Cash Machine Faces a Slower Run Rate
India’s cricket governing body, the BCCI, is seeing its once‑explosive revenue engine slow down. After a decade of double‑digit growth driven by the Indian Premier League (IPL) and lucrative broadcast deals, the 2023‑24 fiscal year recorded a modest increase in...
Apple TV’s “The Studio” Breaks Records After BAFTA Win
Apple TV’s ‘The Studio’ Sets Record for a Freshman Comedy After BAFTA TV Win and Awards Season Sweep https://t.co/m8BgDirfgR via @variety
Amazon's New Fire TV Operating System Closes the Loopholes that Made Fire TV Worth Buying in the First Place
Amazon is replacing the Android‑based Fire OS on new 2026 Fire TV devices with a proprietary Linux platform called VegaOS. The change eliminates sideloading of Android APKs, ending the long‑standing openness that attracted power users. Existing Fire TV units will...
‘Resident Alien’ Season 4 Finally Sets Netflix Release, But Won’t Return for Season 5
Netflix US will launch the fourth and final season of the sci‑fi comedy *Resident Alien* on June 6, 2026, after a two‑year gap since season 3’s debut. The series amassed 403.2 million viewing hours and roughly 45.8 million views in 2024‑25, making it one of...
The Unlikely Local Media Giant You’ve Probably Never Heard Of
Schneps Media, a privately‑held New York‑based publisher, now operates dozens of hyperlocal newspapers, websites, newsletters and event brands across the five boroughs, Long Island, Philadelphia, the Hamptons and Palm Beach. It still prints roughly 600,000 copies each week while running...
The Nonprofit News Playbook that Starts with Major Donors, Not Memberships
Brookline.News launched as a nonprofit newsroom in the affluent Boston suburb, securing a $100,000 major‑gift pledge before publishing its first story. With a $400,000 annual budget, three full‑time staff and over 1,000 donors, it aims to fill the local news...
Substack
"The reporting seems to indicate Substack hasn’t yet hit 6 million paid subscribers... the company announced 5 million paid subscriptions in March 2025 — a shocking jump at the time, since it had revealed just a few months earlier that...
This Former Disney Exec's Podcast Company Generates 100 Million Monthly Downloads
Former Disney executive Joshua Weinstein launched Sonoro in 2020 as a media‑company‑as‑a‑service focused on Latino audiences. By building production hubs in Mexico and treating podcasts as low‑cost IP experiments, the firm now generates over 100 million monthly downloads and video views....
The Only Bones Cold Open The Show's Creator Regrets (For A Reason You'd Never Guess)
In 2011 Fox moved *American Idol* into a Thursday slot directly before *Bones*, prompting the procedural’s Season 6 opener to feature a graphic head‑explosion cold‑open. Creator Hart Hanson later admitted the violent prologue was a regret, noting the mismatch between a...
Josh Heuston Joins Prime Video’s OFF CAMPUS Sydney Fan Event
Prime Video is promoting its new YA series Off Campus with a week‑long immersive fan event at Romancing The Novel bookstore in Sydney. Australian actor Josh Heuston will appear for a Q&A on May 19, and fans can earn tickets...
Is Meta Really Dying?
Meta’s daily active users fell by 20 million in Q1 2026, the first quarterly decline in its history, prompting headlines that the company is dying. Despite the dip, the platform still serves 3.56 billion users—about half the world’s population—and its 2025 revenue rose...
Instagram Eyes Long-Form Content on CTV
Instagram is planning to add long‑form video to its connected‑TV (CTV) app, according to Vice President of Product Tessa Lyons at the Scalable Summit. The move is intended to complement the platform’s short‑form focus and give creators tools for podcasts, live...
Policing the Bots: How New Rules Could Save the Web From AI Scrapers
Australia ranks among the most AI‑anxious nations, fearing misuse and un‑compensated data scraping. AI firms routinely crawl the open web, pulling content from news sites, Reddit, and academic repositories to train models. With the Australian government rejecting a new text‑and‑data‑mining...
Pinterest Updates Ad Relevance
Pinterest has upgraded its ad relevance engine by incorporating users' offline conversion data and real‑time search behavior. The new architecture uses a hybrid serving flow and novel training approach, boosting median relevance by roughly 275‑300% in tests. It also doubled...
2026 Edgar Awards Honor 13 Crime Writing Winners at Times Square Ceremony
The Mystery Writers of America presented 13 winners at the 80th Annual Edgar Allan Poe Awards on April 29, 2026, at New York’s Marriott Marquis Times Square. Highlights include the 20th Elvis Cole thriller “The Big Empty,” the Washington Post‑selected “Dead...
Marvel Confirms Daredevil: Born Again Season 3, Filming Set for Early 2027 Release
Marvel Studios has officially greenlit a third season of Daredevil: Born Again for Disney+, confirming that principal photography began in mid‑March and will wrap by early July. The show is slated for an early‑2027 debut, likely March, as the franchise...
Microsoft Advertising Adds Conversions, Clicks, and Spend to Performance Max Placement Reports
Microsoft Advertising announced on May 7, 2026 that its Performance Max campaigns will now surface conversion, click and spend metrics in the Website URL placement report. The move gives advertisers granular visibility beyond impressions, aiming to improve budget allocation and...
Adolescence Makes History at Bafta TV Awards
Netflix’s limited‑series Adolescence dominated the BAFTA Television Awards, capturing four trophies – the most any show has won in a single year – including best limited series. Sixteen‑year‑old Owen Cooper became the youngest ever recipient of the best supporting actor award...
Lux OOH Advertising Declares Out‑of‑Home the Premier World Cup 2026 Brand Play
Lux OOH Advertising says out‑of‑home (OOH) advertising will be the most effective channel for brands during the 2026 World Cup, a six‑week tournament spanning 16 U.S., Canadian and Mexican cities, 48 teams and 104 matches. The agency warns digital‑only campaigns...