Interest In Local News Declines, Media Patterns Shift
Pew Research reports a sharp decline in local news interest, with only 21% of Americans following local news closely in 2025, down from 37% in 2016, and newspaper readership falling to 36% from 43% in 2018. Meanwhile, Axle AI unveiled a new Media Composer panel that lets editors search, preview, and import assets directly from its AI‑driven media library, promising faster editorial workflows. In a separate controversy, Mediaite suspended author Colby Hall after its One Sheet newsletter was found to contain fabricated quotes and misattributions, raising concerns about AI‑generated hallucinations in media content.
Virginia Governor Signs Law Banning Sales Of Location Data
Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger signed Senate Bill 338, a privacy law that bans the sale of precise location data within a 1,750‑foot radius. The measure, effective July, replaces the 2021 consent‑based framework and joins Maryland and Oregon in prohibiting such...
Nielsen: Move Along, Nothing To See Here (*)
Nielsen released its February "Gauge" report, but the data still relies on an outdated methodology that fails to capture true cross‑platform TV consumption. The report shows streaming outpacing broadcast and cable, a result the author argues is more a measurement...
Advertising's Biggest Headwind Is, Well, You
Publicis Groupe announced that AI‑powered services generated 86% of its net revenue in Q1 2026, dwarfing the 14% derived from human‑enabled work. The figure dwarfs GroupM’s 69.5% AI‑enablement estimate for the broader ad market and its projection of 94.1% by 2029....
Survey Reveals News Outlets Are Not Seen As 'Trustworthy'
A Magid survey reported that the attribute "trustworthy" now ranks 39th out of 44 emotional descriptors associated with news organizations, highlighting a steep decline in public confidence. Meanwhile, Amazon is in advanced negotiations to acquire satellite telecom firm Globalstar, a...
Dollar General, QSIC Partner To Expand Chain's In-Store Audio Network
Dollar General has teamed up with QSIC to roll out an AI‑driven in‑store audio network across roughly 6,000 stores, doubling its reach to 12,000 locations by the second quarter of 2026. The QSIC platform will generate curated music playlists and...
As In Days Of Old, TV Took Us To The Moon And Back
NASA’s Artemis II mission completed a ten‑day crewed lunar flyby, marking the first time humans have traveled beyond low Earth orbit since the Apollo era. The crew orbited the Moon, captured striking images of Earth and the lunar surface, and returned...
Google Ads Agencies Hit With Scam Client Leads
Google Ads agencies are facing a surge of phishing scams that masquerade as high‑value client inquiries. Scammers craft spoofed emails and newly registered domains to trick agencies into granting access to My Client Center (MCC) accounts. Google’s product liaison, Ginny...
AT&T, Verizon Press SCOTUS To Nix Privacy Fines
AT&T and Verizon have petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn more than $100 million in FCC privacy forfeiture orders. They argue the FCC’s use of forfeiture without a jury trial violates their constitutional right to a trial by jury and...
B2B Marketers Discover 'Revenue' After Years Of Enjoying Activities
A new Outcomes Rocket survey reveals that only 37% of B2B marketers can articulate a clear go‑to‑market strategy, while 63% rely on activity‑based metrics. The study of 511 U.S. and U.K. executives highlights which channels actually move the pipeline, with in‑person...
Offside: Trump Admin Steps Over NFL Media Line
The Department of Justice, under the Trump administration, opened an antitrust investigation into the NFL’s media rights agreements. Analysts say the move aims to level the playing field for media companies, especially those favored by Trump such as Paramount Skydance....
Meta Pulls Ads That Would Recruit Clients for Social Media Addiction Lawsuits
Meta announced it will remove all advertisements posted by attorneys seeking to recruit plaintiffs for social‑media addiction lawsuits. The decision comes after the company lost two high‑profile cases—one over sexual predators on Instagram and another involving alleged addiction harms. Meta...
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...
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...