The Great Podcast Rush, Bundling Works Wonders On Churn
The podcast market is shifting toward video as YouTube outpaces Spotify and Apple Podcasts, prompting a $100 million deal that moves self‑help star Jay Shetty to a joint Spotify‑Netflix platform. At the same time, streaming services are combating churn by expanding bundle offerings; bundles now account for one‑third of new subscriptions and 28 % of all accounts, double the 2024 share. Executives see video podcasts as a new revenue hook, while bundling is viewed as the most effective tool to retain users and grow ad‑supported audiences. Both trends signal a convergence of content formats and pricing strategies across the streaming ecosystem.
Knicks Making Finals Is Cherry On Top Of NBA’s Successful Season
The New York Knicks have clinched their first NBA Finals appearance in 27 years, reviving a franchise that last won a championship in 1973. Their run comes amid the NBA’s record‑setting viewership, driven by a new streaming‑heavy rights deal that...
CBS, Colbert, And The Collapse Of Broadcast TV
CBS announced the shutdown of its 99‑year‑old radio news division and the end of Stephen Colbert’s tenure on The Late Show, signaling a simultaneous collapse of two cornerstone broadcast assets. The departures highlight the erosion of traditional linear TV and...
Teaming Up For Programmatic, Moment-Based Streaming Ads
StreamLayer and Curated.Media announced a partnership that unlocks programmatic, real‑time, moment‑based ad inventory for streaming video using server‑guided ad insertion. The technology lets advertisers place ads at high‑attention points—such as key plays in live sports—without interrupting the viewing experience. It...
Scripted Series Make A Comeback, The Blurry Line Between Opinion And News
U.S. broadcast networks are re‑adding scripted series, but with shorter 10‑13 episode seasons aimed at boosting overseas syndication revenue rather than domestic ratings. The shift aligns with streaming‑driven episode lengths, reducing total episode inventory for FAST channels and altering profit...
Tube Trends: How YouTube Creators Are Using Longer Videos To Compete With TV
YouTube is positioning itself as a TV‑like platform by encouraging creators to publish longer videos. In Q1 2023 U.S. creators posted 4.3 million videos of 20 minutes or more, rising to 6.6 million in Q1 2026, with a growing share exceeding 30 and 40 minutes. Top...
Local TV Earnings Calls Reveal An Industry At A Strategic Crossroads
Recent earnings calls from E.W. Scripps, Gray Media, Sinclair and Nexstar reveal a local TV industry at a strategic crossroads. While traditional revenue streams like retransmission consent and political advertising remain strong, each group is charting a different path: Scripps...
The New Commissioner
The television sector is moving beyond platform‑centric commissioning toward a role that ensures intellectual property can travel, persist, and accumulate value across broadcast, streaming, FAST, YouTube, social feeds, and AI‑mediated interfaces. This "New Commissioner" blends creative intent with discovery algorithms,...
Broadcast TV’s Fork In The Road: Sports, Streaming And The Fight For Relevance
The latest broadcast‑TV earnings reports reveal a split among the four biggest station groups. E.W. Scripps is aggressively pursuing local sports rights and streaming channels, while Gray focuses on hyper‑local OTA networks. Sinclair leans into ATSC 3.0 and broader video infrastructure,...
How AI, Smarter Signals And Omnichannel Strategies Are Reshaping Streaming TV’s Next Chapter
At this year’s POSSIBLE conference, industry leaders shifted conversation from streaming TV growth to execution, emphasizing operational efficiency and integrated workflows. Advertisers are now seeking AI that automates optimization and streamlines creative adaptation rather than broad, hype‑driven solutions. Targeting strategies...
Netflix Action Movies Don’t Need Everyone. They Need This Audience.
Netflix’s original action movies consistently attract massive audiences, with titles like War Machine, Extraction 2, Back in Action and Damsel each logging over 120 million global views and multiple weeks in the platform’s Top 10. The core viewership comprises roughly 70.4 million adult users,...
Upfront Highlights: Canela’s AI Microdramas, Amazon’s Shopping Play
Canela Studios introduced Zully, an AI‑driven microdrama platform delivering Spanish‑language short videos. The app leverages synthetic actors to produce and A/B test story variants at scale, targeting Latino audiences across the U.S. and Latin America. Meanwhile, Amazon announced it will...
As Advertisers Chase Outcomes, Smart TV OEMs Gain Ground
Smart TV OEMs are rapidly becoming a key channel for advertisers as outcomes drive media buying. iSpot's 2026 survey shows 45.5% of marketers prioritize business outcomes, and ad spend through OEMs rose from 25% in 2025 to 55% in 2026....
Stingray Likes The Sound Of CTV (And Retail Too)
Stingray, known for music distribution across FAST channels, in‑auto and in‑store audio, is expanding its advertising portfolio into connected‑TV (CTV) and retail media. The company showcases its strategy in a video series filmed on its yacht, where CRO David Purdy...
Gemini Is Tone Deaf (And Other Adventures In Using AI For Television)
A writer tested four leading generative AIs—ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Grok—by feeding them an email thread. While ChatGPT, Claude, and Grok correctly identified the underlying concerns and tone, Gemini repeatedly misinterpreted peripheral details, focusing on irrelevant cues like a snow...