OpenAI Projects $100 Billion In Ad Revenue By 2030
OpenAI announced that it expects to generate $2.5 billion in advertising revenue in 2026 and to scale that figure to $100 billion by 2030. The forecast rests on a user base of roughly 2.75 billion people by the end of the decade. Achieving this level would require OpenAI’s products to capture an expanding slice of the global digital‑advertising market. The projection was reported by Yahoo Finance citing Axios.
Justice Department Probes NFL As Consumers Say Watching Football Is Too Expensive
The U.S. Justice Department has opened an antitrust investigation into the National Football League’s broadcast and streaming practices, alleging possible anti‑competitive tactics that may be inflating fan costs. Consumers complain they must juggle multiple subscriptions to watch all desired games,...
Creators Of ICE Reporting Tools Press Censorship Claim Against Trump Admin
The creators of the EyesUp app and the ICE Sightings — Chicagoland Facebook group sued the Trump administration, alleging it coerced Apple and Meta into removing their tools that let users report ICE activity. The lawsuit claims former officials Pamela Bondi and...
Christian Siebeneck Joins Public Media Management In Technology Role
Christian Siebeneck has been appointed vice president of technology & innovation at Public Media Management, where he will oversee the company’s cloud and master‑control services for public‑television stations. Previously, Siebeneck served as chief technology officer at Twin Cities Public Television....
Disney, Google Seek Dismissal Of Children's Privacy Claims
Disney and Google are asking a California federal judge to dismiss a class‑action lawsuit that accuses them of violating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act by failing to label child‑directed YouTube videos as “Made for Kids,” which allegedly enabled targeted...
Upfront 2026-27: 'What's A Network?'
At MediaPost’s Upfront 2026‑27 forum, Carat CIO Carrie Braverman Drinkwater highlighted that even consumers no longer recognize a traditional TV "network" concept. The panel revealed a shift from rigid budget registrations to more flexible "intent‑to‑spend" conversations with networks. While Nielsen’s audience‑rating...
The Ever-Changing Role Of The Upfront In 2026
The 2026 upfront season marks a shift from a broadcast‑centric ritual to a multi‑platform marketplace that includes major streaming services. Streaming commitments surged to $13.2 billion, a 61% jump, while linear TV sales slipped to $17.8 billion, narrowing the gap. Live sports...
Publicis, Microsoft Partner On Agentic Marketing
Microsoft and Publicis Groupe have deepened their alliance to create a full‑stack marketing platform that unites legacy software, AI agents and identity‑based data. Leveraging Microsoft Azure AI, Office 365 and Copilot tools, the solution will run on Publicis’ cloud‑native Slingshot...
Google Tests AdSense Privacy Updates In Two Phases
Google is piloting a two‑phase update to AdSense that begins on April 20 and rolls out a second wave in June, targeting the European Economic Area, the U.K. and Switzerland. The rollout introduces a shortcut list of ad‑technology partners, letting publishers...
Billionaires Owning The Media - But Do They Rename The Media?
OpenAI announced the acquisition of TBPN, a tech‑focused video podcast network, signaling another billionaire‑backed entry into digital media. The move follows a long history of wealthy owners buying news outlets, from Jeff Bezos’s Washington Post purchase to Microsoft’s 1996 stake...
'The American Prospect' Says It Will No Longer Run Programmatic Ads
The American Prospect announced it is removing all programmatic advertising from its website, citing concerns over reader privacy, site performance, and security vulnerabilities. The outlet said personal data deserves greater respect and that programmatic ads slow pages and disrupt the...
CBS To Fill 'Colbert' Time Slot With 'Comics Unleashed'
CBS announced that the 11:35 p.m. "Late Show" slot will be taken over by Byron Allen's improv comedy series "Comics Unleashed" beginning May 22, a day after Stephen Colbert's final episode. The move follows CBS executives' admission that Colbert's program had become...
Lego Calls In Real-Life Luke To Hype Smart Bricks
Lego has enlisted Star Wars icon Mark Hamill as its Junior Executive Director of Information to promote the new SMART Play line, a suite of interactive bricks that embed sensors, sound and wireless charging. U.S. fans can call a toll‑free...
Annual NFL Rights Expected To Hit $15 Billion Or More
The NFL is projected to secure $15‑$16 billion in annual media rights, a jump of more than 50% that will pressure broadcasters and streaming platforms to reallocate budgets. Higher rights fees are expected to divert funds from scripted television and film...
Brave's New World: Less Data, More Agentic
Brave has leveraged its agentic AI tools to accelerate growth, with its Search API now the primary web search engine for nearly 700,000 OpenClaw users. The company’s independent index, covering more than 40 billion webpages and handling over 2 billion monthly queries,...
Trump Admin To Court: Don't Strike Down Video Privacy Act
The Department of Justice is urging the First Circuit to uphold the 1988 Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA) as Hearst Television faces a lawsuit over sharing users' video‑viewing data with ad‑tech firms. A lower court dismissed the case, finding the...
Stagwell Creates Enterprise-Level AI Role, Taps Bounteous' Twedell To Lead It
A coalition led by Florida is urging a federal appeals court to overturn a Louisiana judge’s injunction that blocked the state’s Secure Online Child Interaction and Age Limitation Act. The law would require social‑media platforms to verify users’ ages and...
Health, Government Entities Advertised On Sites That Promoted Misinformation
A Yale University study, conducted with NewsGuard, found that health and government agencies spent more than $35.7 million on advertising across 11 websites that promote health misinformation between 2021 and 2024, accounting for over 10 % of those sites' ad revenue. The...
Court Won't Revive Challenge To Minnesota Deep Fake Law
A federal appellate court declined to revive a challenge to Minnesota's 2023 deep‑fake law, leaving the 8th Circuit's earlier ruling intact. The law criminalizes realistic AI‑generated videos of politicians unless they are clearly labeled as parody. Plaintiffs Christopher Kohls and...
Google Pressured To Stop Serving AI Video To Kids
Child development experts have sent a letter signed by over 200 specialists urging Google to stop serving AI‑generated videos on YouTube and YouTube Kids. They describe the low‑quality “AI slop” as misinformation that can distort early learning and note that...
Harmelin's Meder Weighs In On Principal Media, Rebates Too
Mary Meder, president of Harmelin Media, publicly condemned the practice of agencies pocketing media rebates, urging advertisers and peers to reject the opaque fee structures. She argues the rebates undermine client trust and inflate campaign costs. Meanwhile, Meta has assembled...
Google To Judge: Scrap $425M Privacy Verdict
Google has filed a motion asking U.S. District Judge Richard Seeborg to overturn a September jury verdict that ordered the tech giant to pay $425 million for allegedly violating mobile users' privacy. The class‑action case stems from claims that Google’s Analytics...
AI Is Good At Optimizing Things, Including Ad Fraud
Spider AF’s latest report reveals that AI‑powered performance ads are set to dominate spend, with traffic projected to rise 192% month‑over‑month versus a 23% decline in legacy campaigns. However, the same AI optimization appears to double ad‑fraud rates compared with non‑AI...
Brands Ramp Up Use Of Content And Agentic AI
Brands such as ScottsMiracle‑Gro and Clinique are accelerating the deployment of agentic AI to deliver real‑time, location‑specific educational content to consumers. At SXSW, ScottsMiracle‑Gro’s senior vice president John Sass highlighted how the company’s 158‑year legacy is being amplified through autonomous...
IAB Recognizes Future Video Outcomes From Agentic
The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) released a whitepaper titled “AI‑Powered Video Outcomes: Agentic AI,” outlining how autonomous AI systems will reshape video planning, optimization, measurement, and creation. The report notes that 69% of analytics teams are scaling AI and 44%...
Advertisers Battling Meta Over Metrics Blast '11th-Hour' Arbitration Bid
Advertisers who sued Meta in 2018 over allegedly inflated ad‑reach metrics are now challenging the platform's last‑minute bid to force most class members into arbitration. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals must decide whether Meta waived its arbitration clause by...
OKCupid Gave User Photos To Facial Recognition Company, FTC Charges
The Federal Trade Commission alleges that OKCupid supplied photos and demographic data of roughly three million users to facial‑recognition startup Clarifai in 2014, contrary to its privacy policy. The FTC complaint says OKCupid and its owners concealed the transfer and...
Spotify For The Body: Personalized Health Scans With Sensor-Driven Data
Spotify co‑founder Daniel Ek has launched Neko Health, a full‑body scanning startup, with its first U.S. clinic slated for New York. The service combines advanced imaging of vascular, organ and metabolic systems to flag serious conditions, reporting 1.2% of scans...
Colorado Public Media Broadcasters Discuss Merger
Two Colorado public‑media stations, Community Radio for Northern Colorado and Rocky Mountain Public Media, are in talks to merge, with plans to centralize operations in Denver while assuring staff no layoffs. The discussion, ongoing since last year, reflects broader financial...
Omnicom Annual Report Emphasizes Clients, Media, AI - People, Not So Much
Omnicom released its 2025 annual report, spotlighting clients, media, advertising, AI and data while giving scant attention to its 120,000‑strong workforce. The report follows the company’s recent acquisition of Interpublic, positioning the combined entity as a data‑driven, AI‑enabled network. At...
TikTok Boasts Of Joint Venture And Improvements For Advertisers
TikTok unveiled a new News Front showcase highlighting its two‑month‑old joint venture with USDS, promising richer storytelling formats and a more secure, creative advertising platform. The partnership is positioned to give advertisers advanced tools and stronger data protection. Meanwhile, Tennessee lawmakers...
Ooni Selects Croud As Global Media AOR
Pizza oven maker Ooni has selected Croud as its global media agency of record, moving media functions from in‑house to an external partner covering strategy, planning, activation, measurement and analytics across North America, the U.K., France, Germany and broader Europe....
Call For Reinvention: A Conversation With P&G's Marc Pritchard
Marc Pritchard, Procter & Gamble’s chief brand officer, told the ANA Media Conference that AI, data and media fragmentation are reshaping brand building into a continuous, one‑to‑one engagement model. He highlighted P&G’s shift to in‑house, programmatic media planning and buying...
Senators Call For Passage Of Online Safety Bill In Wake Of Social Media Verdicts
Senators Marsha Blackburn and Richard Blumenthal are urging Congress to pass the Kids Online Safety Act after two recent court verdicts held major social‑media platforms accountable for harming children. The bipartisan push follows growing public backlash against the companies and...
Humann Adds Eden Collective As Media AOR To Promote Cardio Nutrition
Humann, the beet‑based health brand, has hired Eden Collective as its media agency of record to drive a brand transformation focused on cardiovascular nutrition. Eden will oversee full‑funnel planning, budget allocation and channel‑specific strategy, shifting from an initial TV‑only approach...
Trade Desk Concerns: Does CTV Brand Attraction Have A Strong Foundation?
The Trade Desk is under scrutiny after Publicis flagged hidden DSP fees, prompting a follow‑up audit by Omnicom. Despite the controversy, CTV remains the engine of growth, accounting for roughly 50% of the company’s revenue. The stock has dropped 10%...
Trump Admin Battles Creators Of ICE Reporting Tools
The Trump administration is being sued by the creators of the EyesUp app and the Facebook group “ICE Sightings – Chicagoland,” who allege the government coerced Apple and Meta to remove their platforms in October. Apple cited Guideline 1.1.1, while...
NetChoice To SCOTUS: Intervene In Meta 'Addiction' Battle With Vermont
NetChoice has filed a friend‑of‑the‑court brief supporting Meta Platforms’ petition for the U.S. Supreme Court to review a Vermont Supreme Court ruling that affirmed state jurisdiction over the company. Vermont sued Meta, alleging that Instagram’s design deliberately creates addictive usage...
'Dallas Morning News' Finds 'Home' With PMG: New Campaign Features Service, Journalists
PMG, the agency behind Hearst’s recent newspaper campaigns, has launched a new multimedia effort titled “This Is Home” for its newly acquired Dallas Morning News. The campaign combines out‑of‑home, television and cross‑media video spots that spotlight veteran Dallas journalists such...
The Most Canadian Of Social Networks
Hey.Cafe, a Canadian‑built social network launched in 2001, has seen a surge in users after a recent “buy Canadian” push, jumping from roughly 5,000 to over 40,000 members in two weeks. Founder Anthony Lee positions the platform as an ad‑free,...
No Growth For S4 Capital In 2025 Or 2026
S4 Capital, led by Martin Sorrell, posted full‑year 2025 net revenue of £673 million (approximately $842 million), an 11% decline driven by an 8.4% organic drop. The firm warned that 2026 will also be a no‑growth year on an organic basis, with...
Judge Throws Out News Publishers' Monopoly Claims Against Google
A federal judge in Washington, D.C., dismissed an antitrust lawsuit filed by Helena World Chronicle and Emmerich Newsapers that alleged Google monopolizes the online news market. The court found the publishers’ claim of a 66% market share unreliable, noting the...
Virginia Presses To Reinstate Social Media Time Limits
Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones is urging the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals to lift a district‑court injunction that halted enforcement of a state law requiring social‑media platforms to verify users’ ages and limit minors under 16 to one hour...
OpenAI Hires Former Meta Ad Lead
OpenAI has hired David Dugan, former Meta ads lead, as vice president and head of global ad solutions. The appointment underscores OpenAI’s ambition to monetize its large language models by expanding advertising within ChatGPT’s free and subscription tiers. Dugan’s move...
SCOTUS Won't Hear Search Advertiser Appeal Against Google, Apple
The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear California Crane School’s appeal accusing Google and Apple of a paid‑search antitrust conspiracy. Earlier rulings dismissed the case against Apple and sent Google‑related claims to arbitration, while upholding the arbitration clause in Google’s...
Publicis Is (By Far) New Biz Champ For 2025
Publicis Groupe posted nearly $10.5 billion in total new media business for 2025, dwarfing rivals. IPG Mediabrands came in second with $1.75 billion, while Dentsu, Havas Media Network and Omnicom Media trailed. At the agency level, Publicis’ Starcom led with $2.7 billion, followed...
Google Ventures Europe Mostly Invests In AI-Related Start-Ups
Google Ventures (GV) is allocating roughly 80% of its European portfolio to AI‑centric startups, reflecting a broader shift toward intelligent technologies. Since 2014, GV has poured over $1 billion into European ventures, including a $205 million stake in Elon Musk’s Neuralink. Tom...
Court To Decide If Users Can Sue Facebook Over Fake Ads
A federal appellate court has agreed to review a lower‑court ruling that could force Meta Platforms to face user lawsuits over fraudulent Facebook ads. The dispute began with a 2021 class‑action claim that users, including Oregon resident Christopher Calise, lost...
Vincent Bollore To Stand Trial On Political Corruption Charges
Vincent Bollor, controlling shareholder of Bollore Group, will stand trial on political corruption charges linked to election campaigns in Togo and Guinea between 2009 and 2011. Prosecutors allege he provided discounted communications services through Havas to two presidential candidates in...
Radio Tops Other Media In Trust, Report Shows
A new Katz Radio Group study released by Radio Ink finds radio is the most trusted medium in the United States, with 85% of respondents rating it trustworthy or very trustworthy. Newspapers follow at 77%, television at 73%, while podcasts...
