Media News and Headlines
Media News and Headlines
Johnny and Iz Harris have launched Newpress, a production company and community platform designed to incubate creator‑journalists. The venture, built on the success of Johnny Harris’s 7.5 million‑subscriber YouTube channel, already backs three flagship shows that blend deep‑dive reporting with high‑production visuals. Newpress retains intellectual property, manages hiring, sponsorships and ad sales, and offers a $60‑per‑year membership tier for exclusive content. The founders plan to add up to eight more creator‑journalist channels, scaling a sustainable model for video news.
Publishers are abandoning reliance on social platforms and rented traffic as Google’s zero‑click search results erode referral visits. The article argues that participation‑driven experiences—embedded comment streams, community tools, and real‑time interaction—create a defensible moat. By shifting engagement to owned properties,...
Eight out of ten Performance Max advertisers are now seeing connected‑TV impressions on YouTube, a shift driven by Google’s expanded CTV capabilities. Since Q2 2025 the platform has auto‑generated TV ads from product‑feed images, and in January 2026 introduced shoppable CTV formats...
Coors Banquet has logged five straight years of volume growth, driven largely by Gen Z and younger drinkers. To capitalize on this momentum, Molson Coors is boosting its media budget with a double‑digit increase and re‑entering live‑sports advertising during the 2026 MLB...
The United States Trade Representative released its 2025 Notorious Markets report, highlighting $40 billion in annual losses from music and sports piracy. The 61‑page document catalogs dozens of high‑profile piracy sites such as DHgate, MegaCloud, Private Layer and The Pirate Bay,...
NextAud.io has signed an exclusive agreement with AdsWizz to become the sole sales representative for streaming and podcast inventory across Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, while also acting as AdsWizz’s preferred reseller in...
FreeWheel unveiled an AI agent infrastructure built on its Model Context Protocol (MCP) Server and a suite of Intelligence tools, embedding artificial intelligence directly into premium video ad transactions. The platform enables real‑time workflow automation, performance monitoring, and decision‑making for...
CBS Sports partnered with the University of Cincinnati to produce two Big 12 men’s basketball games from the school’s on‑campus control rooms, marking the second university‑based linear broadcast after Kansas State. CBS supplied its front‑bench producers and directors while Cincinnati...
U.S. streaming services now account for about 75% of online video viewing across Europe, according to Mediavision and the Digital Production Partnership. Local platforms collectively hold only around 25% of the market, with notable variation—Finland’s domestic services capture 43% while...
Rebel Audio, a Nashville‑based AI podcasting start‑up, has emerged from stealth mode with a $3.8 million seed round and the addition of TV legend Mark Burnett as its first adviser. The company unveiled an invitation‑only beta of its AI‑driven platform at SXSW,...
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has left independent reporting from the Russian side virtually nonexistent, prompting a surge of pro‑war “voenkory” military bloggers on Telegram. These channels, some with millions of followers, range from state‑embedded correspondents to active soldiers, veterans, volunteers,...
OpenX and TVision have introduced OpenX Attention Targeting, the first supply‑side solution that lets advertisers bid on CTV inventory based on real‑time viewer attention scores. The offering merges TVision’s passive, person‑level panel data with OpenX’s bid‑stream signals, delivering predictive engagement...
Detroit native Amanda Habrowski is returning to Audacy’s ALT 98.7 (WDZH) to host the morning show, "Amanda in the AM." After two decades in markets like Fort Wayne, Portland and Las Vegas, she most recently served as Content Director and afternoon host at...
Google has made its Merchant Center for Agencies generally available across the United States and Canada, delivering a unified command‑center interface for managing multiple client product feeds. The redesign, shaped by agency feedback, replaces the legacy Multi‑Client Account system with...
At the Generative AI Summit Austin, Ramkumar Shanker warned that the death of third‑party cookies forces publishers to monetize first‑party signals, not identifiers. He advocated using large language models combined with Retrieval‑Augmented Generation (RAG) to infer reader intent and provide...
Kossi Tchenawou, a former RE/MAX franchise consultant, turned his TikTok hobby of houseplants into a 400,000‑plus follower creator brand known as “Plant Daddy.” Leveraging a three‑E framework—education, engagement, entertainment—he launched OnlyPlants, a Denver storefront that opened in just 14 days...
The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) welcomed the FCC’s Media Bureau public notice seeking comment on the state of sports television, with a comment deadline of March 27, 2026. The inquiry, supported by FCC Chair Brandon Carr and Senator Mike Lee, aims...
Gold Studios, founded by former ad‑agency exec Eddie Gold in 2020, now supports over 400 comedy and sports creators across London and New York. The company operates five divisions—Talent, Live, Originals, a creative agency, and the newly added Arena—blending talent...
The FCC has approved Connoisseur Media’s acquisition of four Bakersfield radio stations from Alpha Media, finalizing a debt‑assumption merger announced in November 2025. The regulatory clearance removes the final hurdle for Connoisseur to integrate the assets into its portfolio. This...
Greg Berlanti’s early drama series Everwood featured future Marvel stars Emily VanCamp and Chris Pratt. The WB show ran from 2002‑2006, following a neurosurgeon’s family adjusting to small‑town life. Both VanCamp and Pratt later headlined major Marvel projects—Sharon Carter in...
ESPN senior writer and SEC Network host Ryan McGee will deliver the keynote address at the 2026 Sports Video Group (SVG) College Summit in Atlanta on May 27, followed by his role as master of ceremonies for the SVG College Sports Media...
New York lawmakers have introduced the SAFE Platforms Act, which would require social‑media companies to strengthen fraud‑reporting tools, disclose advertisers' legal identities and implement a know‑your‑customer (KYC) verification for advertisers and payment methods. The bill aims to curb online scams...
West Virginia is poised to pass the First Amendment Preservation Act, which would bar state contracts with advertising agencies that rely on media trust‑rating services such as NewsGuard. The measure cleared the House Judiciary Committee and now moves to the...
As the NCAA tournament approaches, major sponsors are already rolling out fresh creative. State Farm debuted a commercial featuring Duke twins Cameron and Cayden Boozer on Selection Sunday, while Unilever’s Degree deodorant enlisted NBA star Chet Holmgren and WNBA legend...
Creator marketing has become a primary growth engine, with U.S. ad spend projected at nearly $44 billion this year, outpacing other digital media. However, the measurement infrastructure lags, relying on fragmented platform metrics, affiliate links, and isolated brand lift studies that...
The Victim, the four‑part courtroom drama starring Kelly Macdonald, has been added to Netflix after its 2019 BBC One run. The series follows Anna Dean, accused of conspiring to murder a man she believes killed her son, and delves into...
NumberEight, an ID‑less audience intelligence firm, has teamed up with audio monetization platform SoundCast to embed its predictive Affinity Audiences across SoundCast’s European podcast inventory. Early tests show a 132 % lift in addressability and a 78 % improvement in targeting accuracy...
Ahead of Kazakhstan’s March 15 constitutional referendum, social‑media platforms have systematically restricted journalists and independent media. A Meta account posing as a luxury brand flagged posts, leading Instagram to delete content from reporters like Murat Daniyar and Assem Zhapisheva, while YouTube blocked channels...
Lemonada Media has teamed with Charles Barkley’s Round Mound Media and Justin Hartley’s ChangeUp Productions to launch the original audio‑video podcast “So U Think U Can Sports?”. Hosted by comedian Eliot Glazer, the ten‑episode series will feature interviews with legendary...
Realtor.com has partnered with AI‑powered startup BrandComms.AI to automate ad creative generation, enabling faster campaign rollout across multiple channels. The platform draws on 30 years of proprietary data to predict which imagery and messaging will perform best. This capability lets...
Molson Coors has shifted its creative strategy from chasing awards to driving sales and brand health, led by North America CMO Sofia Colucci. The company introduced an internal framework called MUSCLE—magnetic, unexpected, crafted brilliantly, long‑term platform, essence of brand—to align...
Veteran journalist Bill Kurtis announced his retirement from NPR’s weekly news‑quiz program “Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me!” after a 12‑year tenure as judge and scorekeeper. His final episode is scheduled for May 23, 2026, concluding a broadcasting career that stretches over seven decades,...
Peer39’s latest research reveals that roughly 60% of open‑market CTV programmatic bid requests contain no program‑level metadata, while about one‑quarter are classified as fake content, primarily originating from concealed mobile‑app inventory. The remaining bids often feature shallow or inaccurate genre...
Israeli pay‑TV operator YES, part of the Bezeq Group, has chosen Synamedia Iris to power advanced advertising across its linear TV and streaming services. The Iris platform will enable addressable, server‑side ad insertion that unifies delivery on set‑top boxes and...
Media fought to name suspected Syrian war criminal Salem Al‑Salem, charged with murder and torture, after the Crown Prosecution Service and police sought anonymity. Westminster Magistrates’ Court judge rejected the defence’s reporting restriction, allowing his name to be published. The...
TAM Sports, the sports intelligence arm of TAM Media Research, has expanded its monitoring suite to track advertising on linear live broadcast as well as live streaming via Connected TV and mobile devices. The move broadens its cross‑platform analytics, which...
USA TODAY appointed former Washington Post deputy managing editor Jamie Stockwell as vice president of news, aiming to modernize its newsroom and drive sustainable growth. YouTube launched a pilot likeness‑detection tool for government officials, journalists and political candidates to combat...
Seedtag unveiled Liz Agent, an agentic AI platform that fuses its proprietary Neuro‑Contextual intelligence with large language models to automate media planning and campaign activation. The conversational interface lets brands move from brief to execution in a single dialogue, delivering...
New research from FMR Associates and Eastlan shows radio’s weekly reach among adults 25‑64 held steady at 84% in 2026, slipping only two points since 2024. Traditional AM/FM still delivers roughly two‑thirds of primary listening, while streaming and app‑based radio...
The FCC recently encouraged radio stations to broadcast patriotic programming in honor of the United States' 250th anniversary, suggesting content such as the national anthem, Sousa music, and pro‑America PSAs. The op‑ed argues that even well‑intentioned suggestions constitute compelled speech,...
The article argues that political ad buying still depends on a radio station’s community relevance, not just ratings. Candidates favor stations that demonstrate genuine local presence, active social‑media engagement, and visible community involvement. Generic, corporate‑style stations lose political ad dollars,...
NuVoodoo will unveil a nationwide country‑music research study at the Country Radio Seminar in Nashville on March 20, 2026. The study evaluated more than 400 titles spanning the 1990s to today with a panel of 600 country fans aged 18‑49. Findings...
Social Spider CIC, a nonprofit publisher of four free monthly London newspapers, posted a pre‑tax profit of £30,495 for the year to July 2025, reversing a loss from the previous year. The enterprise distributes about 52,500 print copies across Waltham...
Apple Podcasts is rolling out HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) support, enabling creators to publish identical video and audio versions of episodes that can be switched seamlessly on iPhone, iPad, Vision Pro and the web. HLS will handle video‑enabled podcasts while RSS...
Indiana journalists from the Indiana Capital Chronicle sued the state Department of Correction to obtain records on the cost of lethal‑injection drugs. After a year‑long legal battle, a Marion County Superior Court judge ordered the agency to release the data,...
The M+C Saatchi Group Cultural Power Report 2026 maps eight deep‑seated cultural shifts reshaping the GCC’s emerging trust economy. Influencer growth has exploded to over 263,000 creators, yet trust in influencers has fallen to the region’s lowest‑rated profession, prompting a...
Anthropic has filed two lawsuits against the U.S. Department of Defense after being labeled a “supply chain risk,” alleging the designation infringes its First Amendment rights. The company maintains its willingness to work with the government on national‑security AI projects...
Bestadsontv.com named Telstra’s “Wherever we go 2” the Best TV of the Week. The ad, created by Bear Meets Eagle On Fire with +61, continues the whistling duet narrative introduced in the original campaign. Guest judge Adam Bodfish of McCann Birmingham highlighted...
Primary research from Omdia shows that 52% of U.S. adults aged 45‑54 watched video clips on their mobile phones while viewing television in November 2025, up from 39% in 2022. The trend also accelerated among 55‑64‑year‑olds, rising to 35% from...
Australian radio giant ARN is on the brink of terminating Kyle Sandilands' $200 million Kyle & Jackie O contract after a belittling tirade that left Jackie “O” Henderson unable to work with him. Sandilands has six days to remedy the alleged...
