T-Mobile overhauls agency roster, taps Highdive and Anomaly
Ad Age’s Brian Bonilla reports that T-Mobile named Highdive its lead creative advertising agency and Anomaly its strategic brand transformation partner, replacing its prior creative setup.
Lachlan Murdoch cites ‘viewer fatigue’ as Fox News ratings slide
Variety’s Brian Steinberg reports that Fox Corp. CEO Lachlan Murdoch told investors he sees “viewer fatigue” at Fox News, even as the channel still dominates its cable-news competitors.
Fox CEO chalks up Fox News ratings slide to viewer fatigue, not defections
TheWrap’s Kayla Cobb reports that Fox Corp posted first-quarter revenue of $4.57 billion, up 22% year-over-year, as CEO Lachlan Murdoch attributed Fox News’s 27% total-day viewer drop to fatigue rather than audience loss to CNN or MS NOW.
Vend Advertising taps Kevel to build Nordic marketplace media network
ExchangeWire reports that Vend Advertising, which unites Nordic marketplaces including Blocket, FINN, Tori, Oikotie, Bilbasen and DBA, has picked Kevel’s API-first infrastructure to power its new Marketplace Media commerce offering.
Borrell doubles local digital ad growth forecast, sees 80% share by 2030
MediaPost reports that Borrell Associates has sharply upgraded its local ad spending forecasts, now projecting digital will capture 75% of local ad spend by the end of 2027 and 80% by 2030.
Streaming video overtakes search in local ad spending, Borrell finds
TheDesk.net’s Matthew Keys reports that Borrell Associates now projects streaming video will surpass search engine marketing as the top local ad spending category, ending a 13-year run for search.
Meta tests 90-minute Instagram videos as DTC brands pivot ad budgets to CTV
AdExchanger reports that Meta is testing long-form Instagram videos up to 90 minutes as DTC brands shift ad spend toward CTV.
Love on the Spectrum’s Tanner Smith signs with WME
TheWrap’s Tess Patton reports that reality star Tanner Smith, from Netflix’s “Love on the Spectrum,” has signed with WME for representation in all areas, aiming to expand into kids’ TV and brand deals.
Roku posts 24% revenue jump as Fox merger clears global regulatory hurdles
Deadline’s Dade Hayes reports Roku’s Q3 revenue surged 24% to $1.5 billion, beating Wall Street, as its $22 billion Fox merger cleared all non-U.S. regulatory hurdles and won shareholder approval, with DOJ antitrust review still pending.
Ad Age previews Super Bowl LXI ad lessons: clarity, cautious AI, social
Ad Age’s Parker Herren reports that as marketers look toward the 2027 Super Bowl, they shouldn’t forget the lessons from Big Game campaigns that ran earlier this year.
Netflix taps ex-Google exec Kantak to run ads platform
Axios’s Sara Fischer reports that Netflix has hired former Google executive Darshan Kantak as vice president of its ads platform, reporting to advertising president Amy Reinhard.
Publicis closes $2.2 billion LiveRamp acquisition
Adweek’s Alison Weissbrot reports that Publicis has closed its $2.2 billion all-cash acquisition of LiveRamp, its largest deal since Epsilon in 2019, after the FTC cleared it with five years of neutrality conditions.
CTV overtakes cable in political ad spend for first midterm ever
Adweek’s Kendra Barnett reports political advertisers have spent $11.4 billion in the 2026 midterms cycle, up 28% from 2022, per AdImpact data.
Creator agency LV8 merges with Mirage, raises high eight figures
Adweek’s Mark Stenberg reports that LV8 is merging with sister firm Mirage Digital and raising a “high eight figures” round from Velocity Capital Management, forming a combined creator agency under the LV8 brand with Griffin Haddrill as CEO.
Omnicom exec builds the plumbing for commerce media buying
Ad Age’s Brandon Doerrer reports that Elizabeth Donovan, EVP and global head of retail and commerce media networks at Omnicom’s Acxiom, oversees data, identity and technology infrastructure powering networks for retailers, publishers and brands.
Skydance’s $80 billion debt dwarfs its merger savings math
TheWrap’s Lucas Manfredi reports that Skydance faces nearly $80 billion in net debt after closing its Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger, with a debt-to-EBITDA ratio Fitch pegs at 7.8 times, well above the 2-to-3 times standard for media companies.
Slow audience delivery is costing retail media networks ad dollars
eMarketer’s Peter Clark reports that slow audience delivery is costing retail media networks ad dollars, as brands increasingly route budget toward platforms that can activate audiences and show results faster than many retail media networks currently manage.
Netflix signs YouTuber Druski to multiyear exclusive content deal
The Verge’s Jay Peters reports that Netflix signed a multiyear deal with YouTuber Druski, who will create content exclusively for the streamer.
IAB: sloppy data, not weak ads, makes audio look ineffective in MMM
Inside Radio reports that the IAB’s new “Amplifying Audio’s Impact in MMM” report argues audio underperforms in media mix models mainly because of thin, blended data rather than weak ad effectiveness.
Siloed linear and digital teams are stalling TV convergence, exec says
VideoWeek’s Dan Meier reports that Virtual Minds advisor Hossein Houssaini says broadcasters run separate linear and digital teams, compensated on separate targets, which pits them against each other instead of building one converged ad market.
WPP Media posts first growth in two years as turnaround holds
Marketing Dive’s Peter Adams reports that WPP Media’s revenue rose 0.3% in Q3, its first quarterly gain in two years, as the broader group’s like-for-like revenue decline narrowed to 2.1% and executives pointed to Elevate28 progress toward 2027 growth.