Amazon Tackles Advertisers' Pain: Repeating Streaming Ads
Amazon Squares Off Against Advertisers’ Biggest Challenge: Streaming Commercials That Run Over and Over https://t.co/SCHcp5ugM8 via @variety
Fox Secures NFL Munich Rights, Plans First Triple‑Header
Fox acquired rights to NFL Munich game and will air a triple header that day, the first for any broadcaster
NFL Flexes Power During TV Upfronts Week
Welcome to TV Upfronts week - or, “Watch the NFL Flex Its Muscle” week: https://t.co/RGDNwEoH6o
Roku Streams Inaugural Enhanced Games to 90M Households
Boom 🚀 $ROKU becomes the North American streaming home for the inaugural @enhanced_games - part of Enhanced Group $ENHA - airing live on May 24 at 9pm EST / 6pm PST. This gives both the Enhanced Games sporting event and the “Live...
Upfronts Echo 1941 Media Landscape Shift
Flipped Script: At This Week’s Upfronts, It’s 1941 All Over Again ⤵️ https://t.co/MRnzCgEnZO via @sportico @crupicrupicrupi
Most NFL Viewing Costs Are Just Cable Fees
"In September, The Athletic calculated that watching major @NFL games last season would cost more than $600," @retauber of @TheAthletic reports. But isn't 85% of that six months of cable, satellite, or @YouTubeTV? Every Washington @Commanders game was aired on...
Apple TV’s “The Studio” Breaks Records After BAFTA Win
Apple TV’s ‘The Studio’ Sets Record for a Freshman Comedy After BAFTA TV Win and Awards Season Sweep https://t.co/m8BgDirfgR via @variety
Variety Gives You a Head Start on TV Upfronts
TV's annual 'upfront' market kicks off tomorrow, but if you've been reading @Variety you are already weeks ahead of the news cycle.... https://t.co/gUUOL1UmlS
Advertisers Prioritize Sports in Annual TV Upfronts
What do TV advertisers want most during the sector's annual 'upfront' sales market? 1. Sports 2. Streaming 3. Spectacles 4. Not Much Else https://t.co/gUUOL1UmlS
YouTube Leads Upfronts, Spotlighting Creator‑Growth Professionals
As the media world descends on New York this week for Upfronts, YouTube will anchor the festivities with Brandcast on Wednesday night. There’s a class of people who make their living working with the most popular creators on the platform to...
WNBA TV Surge, yet $40 League Pass Still a Steal
There's a record 200+ WNBA games on national TV this year, but WNBA League Pass still looks like a good deal at $40/season. It'll include 167 games (minus local blackouts) by my math.
Judge Seeks Two‑week Extension Amid Packed Schedule
FWIW: He's also incredibly busy. He just asked the DC Circuit for an unopposed two-week extension to reply to an @FCC motion in the @NXSTMediaGroup-@TEGNA merger case because his schedule is so jammed ... https://t.co/iuOViZGyxK
NESN App Costs $1.41 per Sox Game, Extra Fees Looming
So, @Dave_Dyer @PressHerald: @NESN app has 145 @RedSox games in 2026 (at 89.5%, isn't that a super-majority?) The app is $29.99 a month, which comes to $205.03 for the seven-month @MLB campaign. Not bad, at $1.41 a game. (Do MLB...
TV Shifts Focus From Viewers to Foot Traffic
TV has long been an industry based on eyeballs. Now media companies are winking more at feet. TV networks are eager to strike ad deals based on connecting commercials to driving foot traffic in showrooms, sales of movie tickets and requests...
Media
TV Ratings Revolt: Big Media hopes this year's upfront is filled with drama that connect commercials to making advertisers' cash registers ring and puts a lid on being judged by Nielsen's count of viewers' eyeballs.... https://t.co/4qqfRnDXGf
Star Power and ABC Boost WNBA Viewership Surge
If you want an early line on WNBA viewership, as my guys @AustinKarp and @paulsen_smw will attest, watch out for the @IndianaFever-@DallasWings viewership number when it comes out next week. Caitlin Clark is back healthy. Paige Bueckers is a TV...
Networks and Streamers Bring Plenty to Upfronts, Yet Need More
As Networks and Streamers Head to the Upfronts, They Have Plenty to Tout — And Just As Many Needs https://t.co/5wC7R4ltVC via @variety
One Bye Week Boosts Big Ten Fox Friday Lineup
Key reason there's a bit more meat on the Fox Friday lineup in the Big Ten: one bye week. That will have a greater (positive) impact on the weekly inventory than many realize for all conferences
TV Producers Feel Squeezed Out, Not a Charity
“ A lot of our friends have been squeezed out of the biz… It’s not an NGO.” Howard Owens of Propagate dishing the truth on being a TV producer today. @TheWrap
CBS Evening News Falls Below 4M Viewers, Fourth Week
For the fourth *consecutive* week, Bari Weiss' revamped "CBS Evening News" averaged less than 4 million viewers—a once unthinkable situation.
Seinfeld Episodes Sped up 7.5% to Squeeze Extra Ads
Castle Rock also owned rights to Seinfeld. During re-runs, some cable networks actually sped up show’s episodes by 7.5%. Why? An episode on network TV typically ran 25 minutes with 5 minutes for ads. In syndication, sped-up run time was 22 minutes…leaving...
FCC Defends Equal Time Rule, Reviews Disney's News Exemption Claim
FCC spox claims equal time rule "encourages more speech and empowers voters to decide the outcome of elections. The FCC will review Disney’s assertion that ‘The View’ is a 'bona fide news program' and thus exempt from the political...
Disney Accuses FCC of First Amendment Violation Over ‘The View’
Disney's fight with FCC escalates with ABC accusing the FCC of violating the First Amendment in a clash over “The View” and equal-time rules. W/@thesimonetti https://t.co/SKZRGdgXsv via @WSJ
Disney Faces Summer Layoffs; CEO Skips Crucial Topics
More layoffs are coming to Disney this summer. That and many important things new CEO Josh D'Amaro DIDN'T say in his debut earnings call: ⬇️⬇️ https://t.co/mWp4ObF0Sf
See How MLB Broadcast Ads Evolved 2016‑2026
🚨🚨 @JacobFeldman4 just built a website that will let you see every single @MLB team's backdrop in 2016 vs. 2026. If you're curious about how advertisements (and new camera angles) have crept into baseball broadcasts, it's a fascinating tool. Quick...
ABC Warns FCC Probe Will Chill Protected Speech
ABC Says Trump’s FCC Probe Into ‘The View’ Over Equal-Time Rule Threatens to ‘Chill Critical Protected Speech’ https://t.co/4bXmeGtGiu via @variety
TV Upfronts Turn Into NFL Victory Lap
The annual TV Upfronts begin on Monday — it’s going to be a week-long NFL victory lap with one big media company after another touting their NFL games. I’m told Roger Goodell will be at the Disney upfront Tuesday. ESPN...
Vertical Video Emerges as $50B Rival to Netflix
On this week’s LightShed Live, we sat down with @hernanlopez to talk vertical video, what he sees as a third audiovisual language, distinct from TV and film. The market is already enormous in ways that should stop every media executive...
New TV Deals Boost MLB Ratings Early
MLB Is Seeing an Early Ratings Lift From New-Look TV Deals - https://t.co/WHKufsJxo8 via @FOS
Free TV Antenna Viewers Surge, Commanders Games Cost Nothing
This @WSJ story has many bogus assertions. Every Washington @Commanders game (home and away, including Madrid) last season was on free broadcast TV in the local market. It literally did not cost the antenna viewer in DC a penny. The...
NBC Renews Law & Order for 26th Season.
#NBC has renewed #LawAndOrder for a 26th season. The network's upfront presentation is Monday. #CMCSA
NFL Likely Hands Three Games to Netflix This Season
If you're having trouble following the final NFL TV rights assignments this year, here's my understanding: The NFL has 12 games left throughout the season to divvy up on top of pre-existing commitments. Five are expected to go streamers/broadcasters, while the...
Rupert And
It's Rupert vs Roger over the NFL and the future of broadcast TV. W/@andrewlbeaton, @jdawsey1 & @DanaMattioli https://t.co/2dtCo2quDG via @WSJ
NBC Locks $7.75B Olympic Deal Through 2032
🥇 📺 May 7, 2014: NBC signed a $7.75 billion extension to carry the Olympic Games through 2032. Just three years prior, they outbid ABC/ESPN and Fox for rights to carry the Olympics thru 2020. https://t.co/E5cPbMteh1 https://t.co/ZisiuQi9kr
Jurassic Park's 1995 NBC Premiere Draws 68 Million Viewers
📺 May 7, 1995: The 1993 blockbuster theatrical “Jurassic Park” made its broadcast network premiere on NBC. It was the most-watched telecast of the May Sweeps that year, averaging 39.1 million viewers with an estimated 68 million having tuned in to...
Telemundo Leverages World Cup, Live TV for Spanish Media Dominance
Telemundo Bets on the World Cup and Live TV to Deliver Spanish-Language Media Domination https://t.co/G6b8vmrhpd via @thr
Stars Fear Blacklisting, Skip Anti‑Merger Letter
Mark Ruffalo Says Hollywood Stars Declined to Sign Open Letter Against Paramount-WB Merger ‘Because They’re Afraid’ the Studio Will Blacklist Them https://t.co/ZF44GB2gRq via @variety
Disney's YouTube TV Remarks Spark Industry-Wide Questions
Disney’s @YouTubeTV Comments Raise Important Questions for Industry Peers $DIS $FOXA $PSKY $WBD $VSNT https://t.co/EWjwTlZxDb
Turner Leveraged Finance to Build Real Media Empires
Turner was a financial operator, but he used finance to build real things, like TNT and CNN. He emerged in the transition stage to pure financial dominance, but before it had taken over everything.
Break Up Studio Streaming Monopoly After Deal Block
The line that stuck out to me in this op-ed from Mark Ruffalo and Matt Stoller was what comes after they block the WBD-Paramount deal. "Go on the offensive and work to break up the studio streaming system that is...
No Evidence Apple’s F1 Viewership Beats ESPN Yet
Yeah, so, I have not seen any empirical evidence to support claims that Apple’s domestic F1 audience this season has topped ESPN from last year for any races to date.
Nexstar CEO Details Legal Battle Over Tegna Acquisition
Nexstar CEO Lays Out Next Steps in Legal Fight Over Tegna Deal, Including ‘Complete Laundry List of All Threatened and Pending Litigation That We’re Aware Of’ https://t.co/B30GbP9ew9 via @variety
Amazon Sees Strong Upfront Market, Launches LinkedIn Ad Pact
NEW: Amazon projects 'strong' upfront market, though many cautious signals abound. Streamer also unveils new programmatic ad pact with LinkedIn... https://t.co/jQvAiiZlpT
Daily Giro D'Italia on TV Reshapes Office Programming
Wow - I was not expecting fully daily coverage of the Giro d'Italia on linear TV this year. This is big for office TV programming.
Gen Z Cancels & Re‑subscribes for One Show
More Than Half of Gen Z Users Cancel and Renew Streaming Services for a Single Title, Study Finds https://t.co/Prcb8GnJFz
WBD Investor Call Kicks Off with CEO, CFO, Streaming Chief
$WBD investor call is about to begin. CEO David Zaslav and CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels. and streaming chief JB Perrette will be your hosts....
Paramount's WBD Takeover Stalls; Epic Not yet Unfolding
Warner Bros. Discovery's deal to be acquired by Paramount is supposed to create a behemoth of a company that includes everything from CBS to the "Lord of the Rings" franchise. But as Aragorn said in that massive epic, today is...
WBD Gains Streaming, Studios; Paramount Deal Triggers Massive Loss
Warner Bros. Discovery Saw Q1 Streaming, Studios Boosts, But Paramount Item Spurs Large Loss https://t.co/L585A2tXxX via @variety
Netflix Locks Oscar Isaac for Vegas Series and First‑look Deal
EXCLU: Following a big year with FRANKENSTEIN and BEEF, Netflix and Oscar Isaac are pushing all their chips in as the streamer taps him to star in new untitled Vegas series from Scorsese as well signing him to a first...
Jon Brown, Succession Alum, Co‑Showruns Harry Potter Season 2
Jon Brown has been named co-showrunner for Season 2 of the #HarryPotter TV series. He was a writer on Season 1 and like co-showrunner Francesca Gardiner, is a #Succession alum. #HBO #HBOMax #streaming $WBD