PGA Tour Signature Event Ratings Momentum Slows After 2025 Surge
The PGA Tour’s $20 million signature events posted a modest 2% viewership gain in 2026, averaging 3.55 million viewers, after a 10% surge the prior year. Only the Arnold Palmer Invitational bucked the trend, rising 17.8%, while the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro‑Am, Genesis Invitational and RBC Heritage all slipped. CBS’s overall weekend golf audience rose 15% to 2.85 million, and the Players Championship saw a 15% increase, but the Sentry event was cancelled and will not return until after 2027. CEO Brian Rolapp says the Tour plans to add more signature events in coming seasons.
Ad Operations and Compliance Manager
North Station Media, a fast‑growing sports‑focused digital network with over 75 podcasts and YouTube shows, is hiring an Ad Operations & Compliance Manager. The role will own end‑to‑end ad campaign execution, ensuring host‑read spots, mid‑rolls and pre‑rolls meet advertiser specs...
Roku Selling Peacock Subscriptions Directly to Consumers
Roku announced it will sell NBCUniversal’s Peacock subscriptions directly to consumers at $16.99 per month or $169.99 per year, marking the first time the streaming service can be purchased without a third‑party billing partner. Peacock, which now has 44 million paid...
A Community Spin For Great Eastern Radio
Great Eastern Radio is set to relinquish ownership of four FM stations and two FM translators serving New Hampshire and Vermont. The transaction awaits final approval from the Federal Communications Commission. Once completed, the company’s New England‑centric portfolio will shrink,...
Amazon Partnering With Jason and Travis Kelce’s ‘New Heights’ Podcast for World Cup Soccer in LA
Amazon is partnering with the "New Heights With Jason and Travis Kelce" podcast to stage a live event, "New Heights Live in LA," at the Orpheum Theatre on June 15, coinciding with the 2026 FIFA World Cup kickoff in Los Angeles....
New Study Reveals Power of Contextual in CTV: Content Adjacency Drives 4X Brand Lift for High-Consideration Categories
Video Elephant’s new study, "The Power of Context: Driving Lift Through Video," finds that aligning ads with surrounding content can generate up to four times the typical brand lift. A national survey of 2,000 U.S. adults shows 41% develop a...
EXCLUSIVE: The Trade Desk Is Quietly Phasing Out Its Signature Periodic Table
The Trade Desk is quietly phasing out the signature periodic‑table interface in its Kokai platform, replacing it with a more spreadsheet‑like, customizable layout. The change introduces a new tile‑filter feature that lets advertisers tailor the view to their workflow. While...
NAB Is Full of Big Ideas?Live Sports Need Ideas That Work
The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) show continues to showcase cutting‑edge sports‑broadcast technology, but the author argues that the industry now prioritizes production‑ready solutions over flashy demos. Live sports demand integrated, reliable, and scalable workflows that can handle multiple venues,...
Netflix Picks Winner of EMEA Media Review
Netflix announced the selection of a broadcast network to handle its advertising inventory across the EMEA region after a competitive pitch process involving Dentsu, Omnicom and WPP. The chosen partner will coordinate ad placements for Netflix’s ad‑supported tier, which is...
35 Years Ago Today in TV History: Johnny Carson Announced the End of an Era with Final Season of ‘The...
On April 22, 1991 NBC announced that Johnny Carson had signed a one‑year contract extension, confirming he would step down after September 1992. The move marked the impending end of his 29‑year run as host of The Tonight Show, a...
How AI Agents Can Sweep Fragmentation, Frustration, and Fraud Out of CTV
Agentic AI could resolve CTV programmatic fragmentation, fraud, and data inconsistency. The article outlines how fragmented inventory definitions and fraudulent reselling waste ad spend. AI agents trained to verify content, audience, and environment can enable direct buyer‑seller transactions, reducing reliance...
Cineverse Launching Ad-Free Gorilla Comedy+ Streaming Service on May 5
Cineverse is set to launch Gorilla Comedy+, an ad‑free streaming service, on May 5. The platform, built with Nashville‑based 800 Pound Gorilla, will cost $9.99 per month or $99.99 annually and will feature the Gorilla catalog of more than 250 comedy titles plus...
How Would Proposed Age Restrictions on Social Media Use Actually Work?
Massachusetts lawmakers and Governor Maura Healey introduced a bill that would ban social‑media accounts for children 13 and younger and require parental consent for 14‑ and 15‑year‑olds. The proposal also bars platforms from sending notifications to minors between midnight and...
Parks: Roku, Samsung Dominate Connected TV Platforms Streaming Access
Parks Associates’ Streaming Video Tracker shows Roku (28%) and Samsung’s Tizen (23%) together control the majority of U.S. broadband households’ connected‑TV usage. Amazon Fire TV, LG webOS and Vizio SmartCast sit in mid‑tier positions, while Apple tvOS, gaming consoles and...
Rebuilding The Etsy Brand Around The Moments Of Your Life
Etsy is reshaping its brand around "milestones and mini stones," leveraging spontaneous cultural moments like breakup parties to fuel social‑first advertising. The new Festival Shop, launched this month, pairs musical artists such as Laufey, PinkPantheress and Willow Avalon with independent...
Alabama Public Television Governing Board to Survey State on PBS Attitudes
The Alabama Educational Television Commission (AETC) voted to commission a $47,500 public opinion poll of 600 residents about the state’s relationship with PBS. The poll will be run by McLaughlin & Associates, a firm known for work with Republican candidates,...
Chilling True-Crime Series Text Me When You Get Home Is Trending in Channel 5's Streaming Chart
The true‑crime documentary #TextMeWhenYouGetHome has surged to the top of Channel 5’s streaming chart. The series dramatizes real cases, including the 19‑year‑old Kenia Monge who was abducted, assaulted and murdered after a night out. All ten episodes of season 1 are offered...
Survival Thriller ‘Send Help’ Streaming on Hulu Beginning May 7
Disney’s 20th Century Studios thriller *Send Help* will debut on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+ on May 7, targeting U.S. bundle subscribers. The film, directed by Sam Raimi and starring Rachel McAdams and Dylan O’Brien, follows two office colleagues stranded on a deserted island after...
Why Live Streaming Is the Borderless $4 Billion Global Opportunity Publishers Can’t Ignore
Live streaming is reshaping the TV ecosystem, with programmatic ad spend on live CTV projected to reach $4 billion by 2028. Publishers must adopt edge‑based ad insertion to handle millions of simultaneous requests without latency. Google Ad Manager’s Dynamic Ad Insertion...
SiriusXM Media Becomes Exclusive Audio Advertising Representative for YouTube in the United States
SiriusXM Media announced it will serve as the exclusive audio advertising sales representative for YouTube in the United States. The deal integrates YouTube’s audio‑first inventory—podcasts, music and talk content—into SiriusXM’s ad‑supported portfolio, which includes Pandora and a broad podcast network....
NAB Show: AI in Action — What Radio Must Know Now
At the NAB Show, broadcasters warned that AI can boost radio efficiency while creating legal pitfalls. Lenawee Broadcasting president Julie Koen highlighted competitors stealing content and urged stations to enforce guardrails. Attorney David Oxenford stressed that AI‑generated verbatim copy can trigger copyright...
Chicago News Legend Faces Life without CBS News
Audacy’s Chicago news stations WBBM‑AM and WCFS‑FM will lose the CBS top‑of‑hour news feed in May 2026, ending a partnership that many of the nation’s 700 affiliates have long respected. Station brand manager Craig Schwalb says the company is weighing...
Mike McVay to Receive MIW Honor
Mike McVay, president of McVay Media, was honored with the 3rd Annual MIW Erica Farber Impact Award on April 20 at the MIW Lipstick & Lobster Dinner in New York. The award, presented by Erica Farber, recognizes individuals who drive...
Yesterday’s Top News/Talk Media Stories (4/21)
Talkers' daily roundup highlighted five stories dominating news/talk radio on April 21. President Trump announced an extension of the cease‑fire while the Strait of Hormuz blockade remained in place, and the Senate held the Warsh FCC confirmation hearing. Virginia voters approved...
Arkansas TV Receives Three-Year, $3M Pledge to Keep PBS in State
An anonymous donor has pledged a three‑year, $3 million challenge grant to Arkansas TV, contingent on the network retaining its PBS membership and the foundation matching each dollar with other contributions. The grant provides $1 million per year, helping cover the roughly...
Everybody Knows But Me: A New Sitcom-Style Narrative Series Unravels a Family’s Secret
Everybody Knows But Me, a dark‑comedy narrative podcast, launches on April 22, 2026, produced by Next Chapter Podcasts and Companion. Hosted by comedian Holly Anabel Brown, the series explores her family’s hidden twin brothers through sitcom‑style reenactments and personal interviews....
X Makes It More Expensive to Post Links Through Its API
X has raised the cost of posting links through its API from $0.01 to $0.20 and increased the general post fee to $0.15 per tweet. The price hike is presented as a measure against spam and misuse. Publications such as...
Ruth Wilson's "Impressive" British Drama Will Be Removed From BBC iPlayer Very Soon
British drama *True Things*, starring Ruth Wilson and Tom Burke, will disappear from BBC iPlayer in just under three weeks, with a final deadline of May 12, 2024. The 2021 film, directed by Harry Wootliff and adapted from Deborah Kay Davies’ 2010 novel, follows...
Video Podcast Users Rise, YouTube Leads
Video podcast consumption is accelerating, with 62% of all podcast listeners tuning in on YouTube and 80% of the 160 million U.S. podcast audience regularly watching video versions. Spotify now commands a 45% share of the overall podcast market, while YouTube...
Introducing the Video & TV Advertising Buyer’s Guide 2026
VideoWeek has released the inaugural Video & TV Advertising Buyer’s Guide 2026, available as a free download. The guide tackles the escalating complexity of video advertising, from fragmented channel mixes to brand‑safety concerns, and offers practical solutions for buy‑side professionals....
Unity And Index Exchange Unite Behind Gaming Data In Non-Gaming Channels
Unity and Index Exchange announced an integration that makes Unity’s in‑game audience data available for targeting on CTV, mobile web and other non‑gaming channels. The partnership pairs Unity’s behavioral insights with Index’s curated Marketplace deals, allowing advertisers to reach gamers...
Amazon Music Partners with Bandsintown for Concert Listings
Amazon Music announced a partnership with live‑event platform Bandsintown to embed concert listings directly within its streaming app. The integration, called Bandsintown for Artists, lets users view upcoming shows on artist pages and purchase tickets through Bandsintown. Amazon Music will...
Snap Map’s New ‘Place Loyalty’ Badges Will Show the Spots You Visit Most Often
Snapchat has launched a "Place Loyalty" feature on Snap Map that ranks users by how often they visit a location over the past year. Users in the top 25% see a badge, with gold for the top 1%, silver for...
DAZN to Keep Belgian Pro League Coverage
DAZN announced it will continue broadcasting the Belgian Pro League until the end of the 2026‑27 season, despite earlier attempts to walk away from the five‑year deal. The streaming service faced a Brussels court hearing where its lawyers confirmed the...
The Measurement Blind Spot
The article highlights a fundamental flaw in audio‑visual (AV) planning: reliance on measurement systems that don’t reflect how audiences actually consume content. YouTube’s recent withdrawal from the UK’s BARB ratings underscores the growing gap between linear TV’s well‑tracked metrics and...
I’m Growing on Instagram After 10 Years — Here’s What I‘m Doing Differently
After a spontaneous cross‑post, a LinkedIn video garnered 110,000 views on Instagram, prompting the author to pivot from a Threads growth experiment to an Instagram‑focused Proof of Concept. The creator, who has maintained a personal Instagram account since 2016, now...
Publicis Groupe Acquires UK Social Agency Fabric Social
Publicis Groupe has acquired UK‑based social‑first agency Fabric Social for an undisclosed sum, making it the flagship social agency within Publicis’ UK PR, social and influencer division. Fabric, founded in 2021, employs over 110 staff and reported roughly £13 million (about...
Does AI Actually Reward Quality Content?
The article questions whether high‑quality, original content reliably drives better rankings in both Google search and AI‑generated answers. A small study of B2B SaaS queries scored URLs on originality, depth, and insight, finding a weak but positive link between original...
‘If the World only Remembers Our World Cup Sponsorship, We've Failed’: Lenovo’s Fifa Play
Lenovo has signed a multi‑year partnership with FIFA for the 2026 World Cup, positioning the deal as a technology platform rather than a traditional media buy. Jeff Shafer, the company’s global executive, says the goal is to embed Lenovo’s AI,...
From a Facebook Page to a Billion-Strong Audience: How LADbible Outgrew Its Origins
LADbible launched in 2012 as a Facebook page for young men and now claims a cross‑platform audience approaching one billion. The company has built a multi‑brand portfolio—including SPORTbible, GAMINGbible, Tyla and acquisitions like UNILAD—driven by an audience‑first feedback loop. Over the...
Quiet Luxury Dominates Taiwan Influencer Marketing as Tod’s, Bottega Veneta, and Loro Piana Lead Q1 2026
Kolr’s Brand Aura Index shows Tod’s, Bottega Veneta and Loro Piana leading Taiwan’s luxury influencer marketing in Q1 2026, while YSL Beauty tops the beauty segment. The rankings draw on more than 6 billion data points across Facebook, YouTube, X, Threads, Instagram and TikTok,...
Social-First Creative Agency Uncovered Taps Ex-Coolr Exec Katie Fieldman to Head New Influence Division
Uncovered, a social‑first creative agency, has created a new Influence Division called “Uncovered Influence” and appointed former Coolr executive Katie Fieldman as its Director. The division will provide both standalone and integrated creator‑strategy services across the influencer ecosystem. Fieldman brings...
What Is ‘Premium Content’ on Naval Technology?
Naval Technology has introduced a free "Premium Content" tier that requires users to register before accessing deeper analysis, data‑driven features, and exclusive reports sourced from GlobalData. The gated model is designed to protect intellectual property, capture readership data, and enhance...
The Global Ideas Exchange
Substack announced the rollout of automatic translation for Notes, letting English pieces be rendered into 15 languages and allowing content written in over 100 languages to be translated into English. The company says the feature will expand to full posts...
Local News Is Essential to Civic Discourse — and Its Future Depends on Proving It
Local news is a cornerstone of healthy civic discourse, yet its value is often measured only by reach. The American Press Institute argues that civic signals—participation, contribution, connection, and action—better capture a newsroom’s impact on community decision‑making. To address this...
Designing a Creator Compensation Strategy That Drives Performance and Retention: Lessons by Obviously
Influencer marketing has evolved from simple one‑off payments to sophisticated compensation frameworks that prioritize retention and performance. Leading agencies now use tiered models—flat fee plus retainer, performance‑based bonuses, and affiliate commissions—tailored to long‑term brand goals. The shift is driven by...
When Congress Pulled the Plug on Public Radio, A Billionaire Wrote an $80 Million Check
Congress withdrew federal support for NPR and PBS, creating an immediate funding shortfall. In response, philanthropist Connie Ballmer pledged an $80 million donation, the largest ever from a living donor to NPR. An anonymous benefactor contributed an additional $33 million, bringing the...
How Nestlé’s US CMO Keeps Tabs on Changing Consumer Tastes
Nestlé USA’s chief marketing and innovation officer Vicki Felker is steering the food giant into new at‑home categories, debuting Minor’s Kitchen sauces for pantry use and expanding frozen‑food offerings. The company is leveraging AI‑powered consumer segmentation and rapid‑testing tools to...
Toon2Tango Drives the Expansion of Agent 203 with Its First Feature Film
Toon2Tango is turning its globally‑distributed Agent 203 animated series into a feature film slated for a 2027 release. The spy‑fi comedy, co‑produced with Spanish and German studios, will extend the franchise’s reach beyond television into cinemas. Directed by Damjan Mitrevski and...
Best AI Agents for Influencer Marketing in 2026
Influencer marketing is transitioning from manual, fragmented tools to autonomous AI agents that can manage the entire campaign lifecycle. A 2026 benchmark shows 36.7% of marketers already use AI for creator discovery, with smaller shares applying it to content generation...