Global Players Capture Half of Danish Video Viewing
Mediavision’s latest Nordic TV & Streaming report shows global media companies now account for 50% of all video viewing in Denmark, up from 47% in autumn 2025. The rise is driven chiefly by younger audiences gravitating toward social video platforms such as YouTube, TikTok and Instagram. While subscription streaming remains important, advertising‑funded online services are gaining ground, reshaping the balance between international players and local broadcasters. The shift is prompting Danish broadcasters to bundle global services like Apple TV+ and Disney+ with their own offerings.
WTF Is Viewbotting?
Viewbotting involves artificial viewers generated by bots, increasingly powered by AI that gives fake accounts realistic personalities and chat activity. Streamers may purchase these services to boost numbers and land on platform homepages, while rival fans sometimes launch viewbot attacks...
Amazon Reportedly Bidding for NRL Rights
Amazon is preparing a bid through Prime Video for the National Rugby League’s broadcast rights, positioning itself against incumbent partners Nine and Foxtel. The current five‑year agreement, valued at about AU$1.7 billion (≈US$1.1 billion), expires in 2027. NRL chairman Peter V’landys is...
13 AGs Want Ratings Board Scrapped Entirely
Thirteen Republican attorneys general from states including Florida, Georgia and Ohio urged the FCC to scrap the industry‑run TV ratings system. They argue that media executives are misaligned with public morals and that viewers should directly rate programs through an...
‘Yellowstone’ Sequel Delivers for Paramount+
Paramount+ scored a historic win with "Dutton Ranch," the Yellowstone spinoff that amassed nearly 13 million global views in its first week. The two‑episode debut on the Paramount Network attracted 2.9 million viewers, while the first episode alone pulled 1.9 million cable viewers,...
Crave Adding Video Podcasts as Part of Drive to Engage Daily Viewers
Bell Media is expanding Crave from a premium TV and movie library into an all‑in‑one entertainment hub by adding English and French video podcasts from iHeartRadio Canada, alongside live sports and news hubs. The platform will feature a mix of...
Netflix Could Join Race for 2030 FIFA World Cup Rights
Netflix’s VP of Sports, Gabe Spitzer, said the streamer is ready to discuss acquiring broadcast rights for the 2030 FIFA World Cup. The interest comes as Fox’s U.S. rights package ends after the 2026 tournament, leaving a potential opening for...
ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC & Cable TV Networks Saw Viewership Drop in March, But Streaming Saw a Big Jump
In March 2026 Nielsen’s Gauge Report showed that the four major broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC) collectively slipped just 0.2% year‑over‑year, while cable television viewership fell 2.6%. By contrast, streaming platforms recorded a robust 3.8% increase in audience minutes....
Stephen Colbert’s ‘The Late Show’ Finale Pulls Record-Setting 6.74 Million Viewers
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert concluded with a record‑setting finale that drew 6.74 million viewers, the highest audience for any weeknight episode in the series. The rating surge more than doubled the show’s average of 2.69 million viewers in the first...
Tracker Season 4 Renewal Status Revealed After Finale
CBS officially renewed the action‑drama Tracker for a fourth season before the Season 3 finale aired. The latest season attracted 17 million multi‑platform viewers within 35 days, matching the performance of earlier installments. Production will shift from Vancouver to Los Angeles to capitalize...
Iconoclast Piers Morgan in Talks to Return to Australian TV
British broadcaster Piers Morgan says he is negotiating to bring a version of his Uncensored show back to Australian television, possibly via Sky News Australia or another free‑to‑air outlet. He left News Corp’s Talk TV in 2024 after a three‑year,...
‘Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu’ Eyes $102 Million Memorial Day Weekend Tally; $165 Million Globally
Disney/Lucasfilm’s first original Star Wars film in nearly seven years, *The Mandalorian and Grogu*, opened to $82 million in domestic ticket sales through May 24, including $12 million from preview screenings. The theatrical version is projected to reach $102 million domestically and $165 million worldwide, matching...
How a Curious FIFA Deal Gave Fox a Huge Bargain for World Cup Broadcast Rights
Fox Corporation will broadcast the 2026 World Cup for under $500 million, a fraction of the $1‑$1.5 billion analysts say the rights are worth. The bargain traces back to a 2015 FIFA boardroom decision that extended Fox’s contract in exchange for the...
Fox Quietly Cancels Emmy-Winning Show After 18 Seasons
Fox announced the quiet cancellation of "So You Think You Can Dance" after 18 seasons, despite its 17 Primetime Emmy wins and a legacy of launching dance talent. The network’s president Rob Wade confirmed there are no plans for a...
Who Pays for Australia to Compete at Eurovision?
Australian Eurovision entries have been financed through a mix of SBS fees, federal grants, state funds, cultural‑diplomacy programmes and crowd‑funding. Delta Goodrem’s 2026 participation received $700,000 AUD (≈$462,000 USD) from the International Cultural Diplomacy Arts Fund, with public endorsement from Prime Minister...
Samba TV: ‘Roast of Kevin Hart’ Tops Weekly Streaming Viewership Through May 17
Netflix's "The Roast of Kevin Hart" claimed the No. 1 spot on Samba TV’s weekly streaming rankings for May 11‑17, outpacing HBO’s season 3 of "Euphoria." The comedy special, filmed at the Kia Forum, featured a star‑studded lineup of roasters. Netflix’s drama "Remarkably...
‘Spartacus: House Of Ashur’ Canceled By Starz After One Season
Starz has canceled the gladiator drama *Spartacus: House of Ashur* after just one season, citing insufficient viewership and a mismatch with its target demographic. The series, produced by Lionsgate Television, explored an alternate timeline where the treacherous Ashur rises to...
Former Bachelor Producer Bennett Graebner on Why Studios Bet on TV Reboots
In the first quarter of 2026, four legacy TV properties—Star Search, Fear Factor, American Gladiators and Malcolm in the Middle—were relaunched on Netflix, Fox, Prime Video and Hulu. The revivals collectively demonstrated that nostalgia‑driven IP can generate strong early‑viewership, with...
Week in Review: New BBC Boss Plans to Cut Channels, Ofcom Calls Out YouTube and TikTok Over Harms to Children,...
BBC director‑general Matt Brittin announced a £500 million (≈$630 million) cost‑saving plan that includes closing TV channels, cutting 2,000 jobs and a 10% expense reduction over three years, while pushing licence‑fee reforms. Ofcom criticised TikTok and YouTube for failing to curb harmful...
One Burning Question with NEM Dubrovnik 2026 Speakers
At NEM Dubrovnik 2026, industry leaders answered a single question about what the TV and streaming sector overlooks. Speakers highlighted the audience’s growing complexity, the untapped power of public‑broadcaster libraries, brand trust, aggregation and discoverability, and the profitability mismatch between...
Channel 4’s Former Head of Streaming Joins Global
Former Channel 4 streaming head Fatima Dowlet has joined Global as part of the UK media group’s digital expansion. Dowlet was made redundant in July 2023 during Channel 4’s cost‑cutting restructure. Her appointment gives Global a seasoned leader with experience...
DMC Production Germany to Provide Technical Backbone for MagentaTV’s World Cup 2026 Coverage
DMC Production Germany has been selected as the technical service provider and studio partner for Deutsche Telekom’s MagentaTV World Cup 2026 coverage. The contract, awarded by thinXpool TV, covers production infrastructure for all 104 matches, including 44 exclusive games, across...
JioStar Clean-Bowls the Asia-Pacific Broadcast Awards with a Two-Trophy Haul
India’s streaming giant JioStar captured two Asia‑Pacific Broadcasting+ Awards 2026, winning in the digital content platform and sports broadcasting categories. The SportsCentral platform consolidates end‑to‑end sports content operations into a single scalable system, while its AI‑powered cricket highlights engine creates...
Story TV Launches Daily Microdrama Serials Format in India
Story TV has introduced "Story TV Dailies," a daily micro‑drama serial format delivered in vertical video for smartphone viewers in India. The launch features three initial titles—Jinn Ki Dulhan, Magic Pen Hero, and Mast Maula Zindagi—and promises future expansions into...
Morrisons Renews Clarkson’s Farm Sponsorship
Morrisons has renewed its exclusive sponsorship of the Prime Video series Clarkson’s Farm for a second consecutive year. The deal includes two 30‑second adverts, a suite of 10‑second idents that will appear before every episode, and a co‑branded Amazon homepage...
Netflix Expands Japan Slate With Deals for 20 NHK Dramas, Nippon TV’s ‘Monday Late Show’
Netflix announced two major Japanese content deals, adding a rolling library of NHK dramas and acquiring global catch‑up rights to Nippon TV’s variety hit Monday Late Show. Six NHK titles, spanning the network’s Taiga, Asadora and Drama 10 pillars, launch on...
Major Studios Slam Canada For Slapping “Discriminatory Investment Obligations” On U.S. Streamers
Hollywood studios and the Streaming Innovation Alliance condemned the CRTC’s decision to force U.S. streaming services to allocate 15% of their Canadian revenues to local indie, Indigenous, French‑language and news production, labeling the rule discriminatory and a breach of USMCA...
CFX Download Dives Into CNN’s FAST Strategy
CNN senior vice president of programming Nima Ahmed appeared on the CFX Download podcast to detail the network’s new FAST (Free‑Ad‑Supported Streaming TV) strategy. She explained how the FAST channel’s programming differs from CNN’s traditional linear feed and its direct‑to‑consumer...
Paramount+ Renews A-LEAGUES Deal as Free-to-Air TV Coverage Shrinks
Paramount+ and Network 10 have signed a three‑year extension of their media rights partnership with the Australian Professional Leagues. The deal keeps every A‑League Men’s and Women’s match live on Paramount+, while free‑to‑air coverage on Network 10 is cut to one...
The Roku Channel Reaches Milestone 3% Share of All US Television Viewing in March 2026
The Roku Channel captured 3% of all U.S. television viewing in March 2026, up from 2.9% in February, according to Nielsen’s The Gauge report. This milestone places Roku among a small group of FAST services reaching the 3% threshold as...
Fuse Media Taps iSpot as Official Measurement Provider for Fast and CTV Inventory
Fuse Media has partnered with iSpot to deliver cross‑platform measurement for its CTV and FAST inventory. The deal enables the network, which reaches 84 million monthly unique viewers, to provide advertisers with deduplicated reach, frequency and outcome‑based metrics such as website...
Andrea Stahlman Upped To President-GM Of WLKY Louisville
Andrea Stahlman, a Louisville native who started as an intern at WLKY, has been promoted from news director to president and general manager of Hearst Television’s CBS affiliate. She succeeds Glenn Haygood, who retires after more than 40 years in...
Kenichi Yoda Named Studio Ghibli President and CEO
Studio Ghibli announced that Kenichi Yoda will become its president and chief executive officer on June 22, succeeding Hiroyuki Fukuda. Yoda, a current Ghibli director, also leads the Content Strategy Headquarters in Nippon Television’s Business Division, the broadcaster that bought a...
ITN Launches Paid Subscriptions on Youtube to Support Archive Content
ITN has rebranded its archive YouTube presence, launching Frontline by ITN, Flashback by ITN and Re‑Told by ITN. Frontline offers a paid membership at £3.99 (≈ $5) per month, giving subscribers early video access, voting rights on digitisation priorities and status...
Democrat Lawmakers Ask FCC to Scrutinize Foreign Funding of Paramount/WBD Merger
Six Democratic senators have urged FCC Chairman Brendan Carr to conduct a rigorous review of Paramount Skydance’s $110.9 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, citing the deal’s reliance on foreign wealth funds. The regulatory filing shows 49.5% of the merged entity would be owned...
Research: SVoD Catalogues Upping Sports Content
Gracenote’s Q2 2026 analysis shows sports now account for 5 percent of the total catalog on leading subscription‑video‑on‑demand (SVoD) platforms, up from just 1.4 percent in late 2024. HBO Max leads the pack, contributing 35 percent of all sports titles and 42 percent of individual games and...
Netflix To Run 'The Breakfast Club' Live, Working With iHeartMedia
Netflix is adding the popular morning radio show “The Breakfast Club,” co‑hosted by Charlamagne tha God, to its platform as a live program starting June 1, in partnership with iHeartMedia. This move expands Netflix’s live‑content slate beyond its sports‑focused offerings, aiming to...
How Star Wars Went From Space Opera to Soap Opera
Star Wars is returning to theaters with "The Mandalorian and Grogu" on May 22, marking Disney's first cinematic outing for the franchise since 2019’s "The Rise of Skywalker," which earned $1.1 bn. The move follows a decade of TV‑centric expansion that...
Brilliant Welsh-Set Detective Drama That's "as Cosy as Crime Drama Gets" Climbs UK Streaming Chart
BBC’s Welsh‑set detective series *Death Valley* surged to #8 on the iPlayer chart shortly after its season‑2 debut, driven by the return of Timothy Spall and Gwyneth Keyworth. The new season sees Janie Mallowan promoted to Detective Inspector while the...
France 24 Launches on Freely as UK Distribution Expands Beyond Freeview
France 24 has launched its English‑language news service on Freely, appearing on channel 306 and complementing its existing Freeview slot on channel 255. The rollout, powered by Synapse TV technology, gives the broadcaster a managed migration path from traditional digital terrestrial television to the...
Paramount-WBD Deal Raises Questions over SkyShowtime Future
Paramount’s pending acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery could upend the SkyShowtime joint venture, as the deal would place HBO Max—already active in most of SkyShowtime’s 22 European markets—under the same corporate umbrella. Lawyers are reviewing the partnership’s shareholder agreement, which...
Morrisons Renews Clarkson’s Farm Sponsorship for Second Year
Morrisons has renewed its sponsorship of the BBC's 'Clarkson's Farm' for a second year, extending the partnership into Series 5. The new agreement includes a multi‑channel campaign that will appear on Prime Video, Fire TV, Amazon’s platforms and across social media....
Channel 4 Ad Revenues Decline 2% Despite Digital Growth
Channel 4 reported a 2% year‑over‑year decline in advertising revenue in its latest annual report, even as digital ad sales grew around 5%. The shortfall was driven by weaker performance in traditional TV slots, which still account for the bulk...
Going Good for Norsk Rikstoto with NEP Mediabank Setting the Pace
NEP Europe has extended its partnership with Norwegian horse‑racing operator Norsk Rikshoto, deploying NEP Mediabank as the unified media asset management platform for the new direct‑to‑consumer OTT service, Rikshoto Play. The system now handles live ingest, metadata enrichment, archiving and...
Tackling Last-Mile Ad Compliance in Streaming
Ad‑supported streaming in the UK now exceeds $51 bn in total digital spend, with video advertising alone reaching about $11.8 bn. Brands are drawn to the precision and measurability of programmatic video, but the fragmented, dynamic nature of streaming makes last‑mile compliance—ensuring...
WATCH IT Launches ‘Mini-Drama’: Drama that Fits Your Scroll
WATCH IT, the leading Egyptian streaming service, has introduced Mini‑Dramas – a short‑form series format with episodes under two minutes. The launch features two original productions, “Ebn El Sherka” and “Alb Maftouh,” spanning roughly 60 micro‑episodes optimized for vertical viewing on...
Frontier Australia In Partnership With Nine Launch TV Campaign Competition For Aussie Businesses
Frontier Australia has unveiled TV TakeOff, a competition that will award one Australian business a fully funded television campaign valued at more than AUD 250,000 (approximately US$165,000). The prize package covers linear and BVOD spots, creative concept and production, end‑to‑end media...
Questex’s StreamTV Show and Social Department Launch the StreamTV Marketers Summit
Questex’s StreamTV Show announced the inaugural StreamTV Marketers Summit, scheduled for June 16. The executive‑level event, created with Questex’s Social Department, targets senior marketing leaders from streaming platforms, studios, FAST channels, agencies and technology firms. The agenda includes roundtables on...
Barb Q1 2026 SVOD Data
Barb’s Q1 2026 Establishment Survey shows 20.8 million UK homes (70.3%) now have access to at least one subscription video‑on‑demand (SVOD) service, a slight rise from the previous quarter. Netflix remains the leader with 18.1 million homes, and its ad‑supported tier grew to...
Nielsen: Prime Video’s NBA Cleveland Cavaliers Vs. Detroit Pistons Game 7 Most-Watched Weekly TV Sports Event Through May 17
Prime Video, leveraging its stake in the NBA’s $77 billion, 11‑year media rights agreement, delivered the most‑watched weekly TV sports broadcast of the week, with Game 7 of the Cavaliers‑Pistons second‑round series attracting 6.53 million viewers across 3.9 million U.S. households on May 17. More...