News creators struggle to monetize despite dominating Americans’ news diets
Digiday’s Alyssa Mercante reports that nearly 60% of Americans now get news from social media, yet creators describe news as “the most difficult category” for brand deals due to brand safety concerns.
NBA sellout squeezes brands off TV, pushing them toward creators
Digiday’s Sam Bradley reports that media buyers describe NBA linear and streaming inventory as all but sold out across Peacock, Amazon and Disney for the 2026-27 season, even as streaming ad spend hit $874 million last year.
Disco adds advertiser-funded cash back to Shopify checkout
Businessinsider.com reports that Disco launched Pre-Purchase, a checkout format letting shoppers opt into up to $30 cash back on Shopify orders, funded by advertisers rather than merchants.
NDTV adopts Amagi tool to fix long ad breaks on FAST platforms
Advanced Television reports that NDTV has adopted Amagi’s AdFlow Orchestrator to restructure its SCTE-35 ad markers for FAST and CTV distribution.
Netflix reportedly pulled $500M offer for Xbox game adaptation rights
The Verge’s Jay Peters reports that Netflix offered Microsoft $500 million to license Xbox games for film and TV adaptations, citing Puck. Xbox countered at $800 million, and Netflix has since withdrawn its offer entirely, per the report.
NBCUniversal’s Bravo Fan Fest leans on talent-as-creators for brand deals
Campaign US’s Saleah Blancaflor reports that NBCUniversal signed seven sponsors, including Colgate, Ally Bank and Wayfair, for Bravo Fan Fest in Charleston, each with an integrated commerce activation.
Amazon grows Thursday Night Football ad base in year five
Adweek’s Bill Bradley reports that Prime Video’s Thursday Night Football advertisers grew 6% year over year in season five, with double-digit gains in financial services, retailers, hardlines, auto, and travel.
Cable news ratings: Fox, MS NOW and CNN all post weekly gains
Adweek’s Mark Mwachiro reports that all three major cable news networks posted gains in total viewers and the Adults 25-54 demo for the week of October 12.
‘Carrie’ tops Nielsen streaming chart in debut week for Prime Video
The Hollywood Reporter’s Rick Porter reports that Prime Video’s ‘Carrie’ debuted at No. 1 with 1.26 billion viewing minutes, backing up its same-week season two renewal.
OpenAI Ads Manager adds beta GA4 integration for attribution checks
OpenAI’s help center details a new beta feature letting advertisers connect Google Analytics 4 to OpenAI Ads Manager, importing 30 days of aggregate event, campaign and revenue data for attribution comparisons and, where eligible, campaign optimization.
Gotham Group and Toonstar partner on up to 12 animated kids series
Variety’s Isabelle Farina reports that The Gotham Group and Toonstar are partnering to produce up to twelve original animated series for kids, launching on direct-to-audience platforms rather than traditional networks.
Musk’s $1 billion Skydance stake won’t fix its core problems
The Ankler’s Sean McNulty reports that Elon Musk joining Skydance as an investor is being framed as a headline-grabbing distraction from the deeper structural challenges the newly merged company still faces.
Bell Media’s Heated Rivalry heads to theaters ahead of season two
The Ankler’s Richard Rushfield interviews Bell Media president Sean Cohan about Heated Rivalry, the gay hockey romance that became a surprise hit for Crave and HBO Max, now getting a theatrical run across more than 650 theaters starting November 6 ahead of its second season.
Omnicom lands Coca-Cola’s North America media account
Ad Age reports that Omnicom has won Coca-Cola’s North America media business. The decision means Coke and rival PepsiCo have effectively swapped media agencies in an all-important market, with Omnicom and Publicis trading their biggest beverage clients.
Fake Wedgewood poll shows how easily media outlets get duped now
TVREV’s Alan Wolk reports that a political polling firm called Wedgewood admitted its summer survey showing Michigan Senate candidate Mallory McMorrow collapsing below 10% support was a fabricated “experiment.”
Netflix launches ad-conversion Pixel, adds The Trade Desk as DSP partner
AdExchanger reports Netflix unveiled a Netflix Pixel for conversion tracking and audience targeting, and will add The Trade Desk as a programmatic DSP next month, announced the same morning Netflix reported Q3 earnings showing ad revenue growth fell short of expectations.
KISS shows creator deals can run both ways for legacy media brands
The Media Leader’s Liz Parkin reports that KISS illustrates how combining traditional media strengths with creator-economy tactics lets established brands build on their heritage while adapting to changing audience behaviours.
F1’s Apple TV deal shows sports rights buyers value more than ad dollars
Madison and Wall reports F1’s U.S. rights moved from ESPN to Apple TV in a 5-year deal worth roughly $150 million annually, up from $90 million under ESPN, even as early viewership figures have declined under the subscription paywall.
FT: Netflix’s hit drought stokes doubts about its $300bn valuation
The FT reports that Netflix faces mounting investor pressure as a dearth of breakout hits raises questions about whether its content slate can justify a market valuation near $300 billion.
Spotify’s ad business still lags despite record user growth
Simon Owens writes that Spotify keeps posting strong earnings and user growth, yet its advertising business stays stuck. He argues audio ads can’t scale across platforms like display or video, and Spotify’s paying subscribers are largely ad-free anyway.
Meta’s media rift gets the paywall treatment from Simon Owens
Simon Owens’s Media Newsletter teases that Meta is paying the price for alienating media companies, part of a paid-subscriber roundup that also covers Substack’s new podcast ad tool and YouTube’s pressure on top creators.
RTL says YouTube partnership grew platform revenue 492%, not cannibalization
Media War & Peace’s Evan Shapiro reports on his MIPCOM panel with RTL Deutschland CEO Stephan Schmitter and YouTube EMEA head Pedro Pina, where Schmitter said RTL’s three-year-old YouTube partnership drove platform revenues up 492%.