Today's Media Pulse
Online video subscriptions hit 2.24 billion in 2025, overtaking pay‑TV revenue
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, surpassing pay‑TV's $170 billion for the first time. Growth is expected to slow to single‑digit levels in 2026 as operators focus on monetising existing users.
Also developing:
Ex-Obama Aide Takes NYT PR Post
Katie Hill, former communications director for President Obama and SVP of communications at the NFL, has been appointed senior vice president and global head of communications and external affairs at The New York Times. In her new role, Hill will oversee corporate messaging, brand strategy, and external relations for the newspaper. Her résumé includes stints as White House assistant press secretary, HHS health‑care press secretary, and gun‑violence advocacy work. The hire reflects the Times’ push to reinforce its brand amid a volatile media environment.
Netflix's One Piece Anime Remake Debuts First Poster, Premiere Month Confirmed
Netflix announced an animated adaptation of the One Piece manga that will premiere in February 2027. The first season will consist of seven episodes covering roughly the initial 50 chapters, ending with Luffy’s encounter with Sanji. Concept art shows Luffy at...
The Full Agenda for NEM Dubrovnik 2026 Is Now Revealed
The NEM Dubrovnik 2026 conference unveiled a record‑breaking agenda, drawing more than 300 companies, 200 CEE buyers and 150 exhibitors—a 50% market growth over last year. Over 80 speakers will address structural shifts, new business models, AI‑driven discovery, hybrid distribution,...
Pulitzer Notes: A Message to Trump and Bezos; Julie K. Brown’s Overdue Win; and Honors for Jill Lepore
The Pulitzer Board awarded the Washington Post its Public Service Prize for reporting on Elon Musk’s DOGE‑driven federal chaos, a move seen as a signal to owner Jeff Bezos and former President Donald Trump. The Post’s coverage came amid a...
U.S. Digital Video Ad Spend to Surpass $80B in 2026; Growing 20% Faster Than the Total Ad Market, According to...
The Interactive Advertising Bureau projects U.S. digital video ad spend to top $80 billion in 2026, an 11% year‑over‑year increase that outpaces the broader ad market by roughly 20%. Digital video—encompassing CTV, online and social video—will claim more than 60% of...
Netflix Is Losing HBO’s Most Daring Sci-Fi Series Soon
Collider released an exclusive sci‑fi survival quiz that matches participants to one of five iconic universes—The Matrix, Mad Max, Blade Runner, Dune, or Star Wars. The eight‑question format probes how respondents react to systemic threats, scarce resources, and authority, then...
Social Video Ad Spending Is Set to Outpace CTV in Growth Rate This Year
The IAB projects social video ad spend to grow 13% year‑over‑year in 2026, surpassing CTV’s 11% growth. Total U.S. digital video investment is expected to reach $80 billion, with platforms like Instagram, YouTube, TikTok and Reddit capturing a larger share of...
Trans+ History Week Campaign Spotlights Trans+ Community Voices
Uncharted Studio has unveiled an outdoor advertising campaign for Trans+ History Week, spotlighting the voices of trans and non‑binary individuals across major UK cities. The campaign rolls out a series of billboards and transit posters featuring authentic stories and artwork...
AI Surge Triples Books, Halves Overall Quality
If you want to read the study this is from https://www.nber.org/papers/w34777 Their conclusion: "The diffusion of LLMs from 2022 to 2025 tripled new book releases. While average book quality, measured by usage, declined, the surge in releases raised the number of...
Automated Social Media Machine Generates 37 Brand Assets
Excited to share something I've been working hard on. Built a Social Media Machine to distribute and run your entire personal brand for you. 37 assets made from YOUR brand, voice, and systems It's the new marketing system for all our...
BioOne to Join Hopkins Press, Advancing Shared Vision for Scholarly Publishing
Johns Hopkins University Press will incorporate BioOne, a nonprofit aggregator of over 200 bioscience journals, into its organization. The merger links BioOne’s life‑science collection with the humanities‑focused Project MUSE platform, expanding the Press’s disciplinary reach. Both entities will continue using the...
Digest: OpenAI Lays Groundwork For ChatGPT Ads in EU; Blackstone, H&F, Goldman Back AI Venture; Musk Settles Twitter Lawsuit Paying...
OpenAI is preparing to launch ChatGPT advertising in the European Union by adding a consent‑management pixel and updating its privacy policy to permit sharing purchase data with advertisers. Blackstone, Hellman & Friedman and Goldman Sachs are backing a new Anthropic‑led...
Bravo’s Next Gen NYC Stars Still Want to Prove Themselves
Bravo’s reality series Next Gen NYC follows the offspring of established Bravo personalities—Brooks Marks and Riley Burruss—as they strive to forge independent entertainment careers in Manhattan. The pair discuss their early earnings, with Burruss splurging on a French bulldog and...
Do You Really Need 100,000 Influencers, Or Just the Right Few?
The article argues that brands achieve higher ROI by partnering with a curated group of influencers rather than casting a wide net of 100,000 creators. It highlights the growing role of influencer talent agencies that negotiate deals, manage contracts, and...
Brand Storytelling Is Evolving Into Micro-Dramas and Agencies Need to Keep Up
Brand storytelling is shifting from long‑form narratives to bite‑size "micro‑dramas"—15‑30 second video loops that dominate TikTok, Instagram Reels, and Snapchat. Agencies that once relied on traditional copywriters now face a talent gap as brands demand rapid pacing, cinematic visuals, and...
Meta's AI Scans Bone Structure, Not Faces, to Flag Kids
What could go wrong? :) -> Meta is using AI on Facebook and Instagram to detect under-13 users by analyzing bone structure, height, and visual cues, but says it's “not facial recognition” "We’re also adding visual analysis as a...
Local News Wins Over One-Third of 2026 Pulitzers
More than one-third of the 2026 @PulitzerPrizes for journalism were awarded to local news outlets yesterday https://t.co/ZFunqqfs9H
The Thessaloniki International Book Fair Kicks Off This Week, with Its Balkan Neighbor in the Spotlight
The Thessaloniki International Book Fair runs May 7‑10 and, for the first time, welcomes Bulgaria as guest of honor, underscoring the city’s role as a cultural bridge between Western and Southeast Europe. Organized by the Hellenic Foundation for Books and Culture,...
Gutenberg Parenthesis Explored: Print's Copy Power Transcends Digital
Delighted and grateful that Georg Fischer has translated his wonderful essay about my Gutenberg Parenthesis: Pressing Matters After Gutenberg: On the Power of the Copy From Print to Digital Media https://t.co/ExOYXUMF22
Gen Z Now Makes up over Half of Pinterest Users
While @Pinterest has long talked about Gen Z being its fastest growing demographic, what is NOT getting enough attention now is that Gen Z users represent over 50% of its 600 million monthly active users. $PINS aging down has meaningful...
NextGen Signage Drives The DSS 2026 Agenda and Speaker Line-Up
Digital signage leaders convene at the Digital Signage Summit (DSS) 2026 in Munich, marking the event’s 20th anniversary. The two‑day program, themed “NextGen Signage,” spotlights AI adoption, cybersecurity, green signage, and retail media through keynotes, panels, and tech dialogues. High‑profile...
Tempo Basketball Secures Canadian TV Deal with TSN, CTV, Crave
NEWS: @SBJ has learned that @TempoBasketball basketball games will broadcast and stream in Canada on @TSN_Sports. @CTV will air select games and Crave will stream select games as well during the season. Bell Media will be the official...
Ellison’s Paramount Opts for Volume over Profit per Film
Ellison's Paramount makes less per film but will release more films = Ellison's Paramount will make lots of cheap crap. Paramount Projects ‘Significantly’ Lower Theatrical Revenue; Ellison Reiterates Plan for 30-Film Annual Slate https://t.co/xjI9hiRjaB
Dacoit: Oka Prema Katha Locks May 8 for Its OTT Premiere; Adivi Sesh, Mrunal Thakur Starrer to Stream on Prime...
Prime Video will debut the Telugu action‑thriller Dacoit: Oka Prema Katha globally on May 8, 2026. The film, directed by Shaneil Deo and starring Adivi Sesh, Mrunal Thakur, Anurag Kashyap and Prakash Raj, will stream in the original Telugu plus...
Clipping Is the Next Click Farm. Sports Can Do It Right.
Clipping—shortening long‑form video into TikTok, Reels, and Shorts clips—is emerging as the next click‑farm model, with platforms like Vyro paying creators roughly $3 per 1,000 views. Unlike AI‑generated slop, these clip farms rely on real people, making detection difficult and...
Google Ads Adds Granular Data Retention Policy
Google Ads updates its data retention policy for more granular data https://t.co/XLNzzwX4Yz via @AnthonyHigman and @beXtremeArpan https://t.co/4swmvGKLWC
Google Ads Data Retention Policy Updated
Google announced that its Ads performance reporting data will have extended retention periods. Hourly, daily and weekly metrics will be kept for 37 months, while monthly, quarterly and annual data will be stored for 11 years. The change, communicated via...
AI Search Is Transforming Discovery and Media Economics
Publishers are losing click‑through traffic as AI‑driven search results deliver answers directly on the page. FT Strategies’ “Future of Discovery” report maps this shift into four strategic models—niche specialist, intelligence provider, voice‑led brand, and mass‑reach publisher—each balancing owned versus platform...
AI Is Giving Us Brain Damage
A recent Baillie Gifford paper argues that generative AI is rewiring human cognition, trading deep, effortful reasoning for skills like delegation, verification, and interface management. Studies show AI‑assisted learning boosts short‑term performance but harms long‑term retention, widening the gap between...
Principal Media and F.A.S.T: Agencies Are Rewriting the Economics of Advertising
The Myers Report argues that advertising agencies are abandoning the traditional media‑buying role and becoming principals that own, package, and monetize Free‑Advertising‑Supported Streaming Television (FAST) assets. This shift turns agencies into balance‑sheet businesses that generate profit through financial arbitrage rather...
Why Reddit Blocked My Daily Visit to Its Mobile Website
Reddit has begun testing an overlay that blocks its mobile website for frequent logged‑out users, forcing them to download the app. The pop‑up offers no skip option, only a button to install the app, and users can only regain access...
The Limits of Digital-First When Your Audience Is on the Farm
Farmers Guardian, the UK’s oldest ag‑media brand, is juggling a steep print decline—circulation fell 9% YoY and print now accounts for about 75% of revenue—with a rapid digital push. 2025 revenue was £7.6 million (≈$9.7 M) and EBITDA £2.1 million (≈$2.7 M), a 6.4%...
Brands Need to Pump Up the Volume With Creators. But There's a Catch.
At the Possible conference Gary Vaynerchuk urged brands to increase creator‑generated content, warning many are still under‑investing. CreativeX analyzed 1.4 million ads from 176 brands in 105 countries and found creator‑produced ads that omit core brand cues perform worse on recall...
Communiqué 116: The Product Thinking Creator
On April 28, 2024, Nigerian YouTube star Korty EO staged Dreamland, a live show in Lagos that translated her popular online formats into a ticketed experience, even raffling $500. The event highlighted the untapped potential of product thinking in Africa’s...
Behind the AI in the Newsroom: The Washington Post’s Vineet Khosla
Washington Post CTO Vineet Khosla explains the paper’s "AI everywhere" strategy, which embeds artificial intelligence across news production and consumer products. The newsroom has rolled out AI‑generated personalized podcasts, now exceeding 100,000 episodes, and internal tools like Haystacker that let...
Duncan Painter Quits Omnicom for Tech CEO Role
Duncan Painter has resigned as chief executive of Omnicom, ending a tenure of less than three years. His departure comes shortly after Omnicom completed the $1.2 billion sale of its data‑technology unit Flywheel in 2023. Painter is set to become chief...
Social Media Updates and New Features to Know This Week
Meta’s daily active users slipped to 3.56 billion in Q1, ending a streak of steady growth and highlighting the impact of external disruptions in Iran and Russia. The company is rolling out an AI‑driven chat interface that lets marketers manage campaigns...
What To Watch Tuesday: Will Trent, Daredevil, And NCIS: Origins Finales, And More
TVLine’s Tuesday lineup spotlights three major season finales—Daredevil: Born Again on Disney+, Will Trent on ABC, and NCIS: Origins on CBS—while the NBA Playoffs continue with Detroit vs. Cleveland and Oklahoma City vs. Los Angeles. The schedule also introduces Hulu’s...
Video: Sofia Receives a Visit From Rapunzel in Official Trailer for New Series "Sofia the First: Royal Magic," Debuting May...
Disney Branded Television unveiled the trailer for the new short‑form series *Sofia the First: Royal Magic*, set to debut on Disney Jr. Monday, May 25, with the first eight episodes streaming on Disney+ the following day. The premiere features a special cameo...
Why American Family Insurance Made a Reality Competition Series for Hulu
American Family Insurance partnered with Disney Advertising to launch “Designed To Last,” a four‑episode reality competition premiering May 5 on Hulu. The show pits architects, engineers and inventors against design challenges focused on home‑preparedness for threats like wind, fire and ice,...
Google: AI Makes Human Experience More Important For Content via @Sejournal, @Martinibuster
In a recent Search Off The Record episode, Google Search engineers Martin Splitt and Nikola Todorovic warned that AI is making basic factual content less valuable. As large language models can instantly retrieve specs and data sheets, the competitive edge...
Stop Picking Sides: Let ‘Living Data’ Power Total TV
Matt Bryan of Samsung Ads argues that CTV success hinges on "living data"—a continuously refreshed blend of first‑party screen signals and third‑party intent data. Samsung smart‑TV analytics show Europe’s viewing split 55 % streaming, 45 % linear, underscoring audience fragmentation. Research indicates...
ITV Unveils First-Look Trailer for Danny Dyer and Emily Atack's "Fiendish" New Series with "Big Twist"
ITV has released the first‑look trailer for *Nobody’s Fool*, a new quiz‑reality hybrid hosted by Danny Dyer and Emily Atack. The series pits ten contestants in a “Smart House” where success depends on convincing others of their intelligence rather than actual...
Zee Sues Nykaa over Alleged Copyright Misuse of Songs on Instagram Reels
Zee Entertainment has filed a Delhi High Court lawsuit against beauty retailer Nykaa, accusing the brand of using Zee‑owned songs in Instagram reels to market products. Zee claims its licensing agreement with Meta permits only non‑commercial use, while Nykaa allegedly...
Al-Futtaim Toyota Tugs Heartstrings Among UAE Locals, Residents with ‘The Accidental Icon’
Al‑Futtaim Toyota launched “The Accidental Icon,” a three‑month UAE campaign that revives the emotional bond with the iconic Toyota Building sign removed in 2018. The effort combines a five‑minute documentary on LinkedIn, Meta and TikTok, outdoor billboards on Sheikh Zayed...
Asia’s Book Market Generates $410 Billion in 2024, Forecasts 9% Annual Growth
New data from the International Federation of Reproduction Rights Organizations show Asia‑Pacific’s publishing market generated between $400 billion and $420 billion in 2024, dwarfing U.S. and European revenues. The region is projected to expand 8‑10% per year through 2030, driven by education,...
Skip Bayless Returns for One‑Time First Take Reunion as Ratings Slip
Skip Bayless is set to rejoin Stephen A. Smith on ESPN’s First Take for a one‑time episode on May 8, 2026, in an effort to boost the show’s modest 5% rating growth, which lags behind ESPN’s other daytime programs. The...
Go Fish Digital Adds Predictive AI to Barracuda Platform, Promising Pre‑launch Campaign Insights
Go Fish Digital unveiled new predictive capabilities for its Barracuda AI‑powered marketing intelligence platform, allowing brands to forecast SEO and paid‑media outcomes before campaigns go live. Early results show a 75% lift in clicks and over 50% rise in impressions...
The Atlantic’s $10K Gambling Immersion Sparks Ethical Outcry
The Atlantic gave staff writer McKay Coppins a $10,000 stipend to gamble on sports‑betting apps for a year, publishing the results in “Sucker: My Year as a Degenerate Gambler.” A former addiction reporter slammed the stunt as reckless, arguing it...
Samba TV Elevates Jaya Aswani to CTO, Names Ramzi Nasr VP of Engineering
Samba TV announced the promotion of Jaya Aswani to chief technology officer and the appointment of Ramzi Nasr, PhD, as vice president of engineering. The moves aim to sharpen the firm’s AI‑driven advertising platform as the industry shifts toward real‑time,...