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Small TV markets outdraw top 10 for NFL and college football viewing

Measurement

Nathanson: Fox-Roku, YouTube TV and Netflix’s ‘eventization’ redraw sports TV map

Streaming

Streaming price hikes since 2019: Netflix up 82%, Disney+ up 172%

Streaming

Walmart to add marketplace data, deeper AI to Scintilla in 2026

Retail-media

OpenAI launches conversational ads and CRM, ecommerce integrations for ChatGPT

Ad-tech

Disney quietly ramps up its own podcast buying spree for Hulu and Disney+

Streaming

Emmys viewership falls 9% on NBC’s Monday move

Streaming

Emmys draw 6.7 million on NBC/Peacock, down 10% year over year

Streaming

Horizon Media pipes Roku device-level TV data into its Blu platform

Measurement

Alphabet, Meta, Amazon to drive 13% US ad growth in 2026

Ad-tech

Prime Video bundles AMC+, BritBox, MGM+, PBS Masterpiece and Starz for $29.99

Streaming

Meta merges creator marketplaces, brings live video ads to Instagram

Creators

Virtual Minds pitches an interoperability layer for total TV

Ad-tech

Mediobanca: streaming now drives global M&E growth as legacy TV shrinks

Streaming

Criteo bets its 4 billion SKUs on becoming ChatGPT Ads’ commerce layer

Ad-tech

IAB’s first Creatorfronts exposes the measurement gap blocking creator budgets

Creators

Buyers say retail media measurement is costing networks real money

Retail-media

Wurl launches Content Intelligence platform for CTV ad targeting

Ad-tech

Emmys draw 6.7 million viewers on NBC, down 9% year over year

Streaming

‘60 Minutes’ season opener falls 21% amid NFL lead-in, overhaul questions

Streaming

Alix Earle’s Netflix show grows 127% in second week

Streaming

Betches launches sponsor-free scripted series built by its own creators

Creators

New Meta data: high-click video ads deliver the worst ad returns

Measurement

Thrad launches self-serve DSP for advertising inside LLM chats

Ad-tech

Profound raises $180 million at $1.8 billion valuation for AI search marketing

Ad-tech

Small TV markets outdraw top 10 for NFL and college football viewing

Madhive data shows the 160 smallest of 210 U.S. TV markets deliver more total audience than the top 10 markets combined for both NFL and college football broadcasts this season, per new findings.

The Record →
Nathanson: Fox-Roku, YouTube TV and Netflix’s ‘eventization’ redraw sports TV map
Streaming price hikes since 2019: Netflix up 82%, Disney+ up 172%

The channels

906 signals

Small TV markets outdraw top 10 for NFL and college football viewing

Madhive data shows the 160 smallest of 210 U.S. TV markets deliver more total audience than the top 10 markets combined for both NFL and college football broadcasts this season, per new findings.

Nathanson: Fox-Roku, YouTube TV and Netflix’s ‘eventization’ redraw sports TV map

Analyst Michael Nathanson joins Puck to break down the logic behind Fox’s bid for Roku and why YouTube TV could actually save cable bundles.

Streaming price hikes since 2019: Netflix up 82%, Disney+ up 172%

Digiday charted every major subscription price change since 2019 across nine streamers. Netflix’s ad-free tier rose from $10.99 to $19.99 while Disney+ climbed from $6.99 to $18.99, with Peacock’s ad-supported tier up 160% since 2020.

Walmart to add marketplace data, deeper AI to Scintilla in 2026

Walmart’s Scintilla platform will gain marketplace data access, customizable dashboards, custom alerts and a deeper Marty AI agent next year.

OpenAI launches conversational ads and CRM, ecommerce integrations for ChatGPT

OpenAI is testing Sponsored Agents, which let users click into a conversation with a business-sponsored agent after seeing an ad in ChatGPT.

Disney quietly ramps up its own podcast buying spree for Hulu and Disney+

Disney is about a year into a podcast push for Hulu and Disney+ and is now in active dealmaking mode, sources tell The Ankler, with several new shows expected to land in coming weeks.

Emmys viewership falls 9% on NBC’s Monday move

NBC’s Emmys telecast drew 6.7 million viewers, down 9% from CBS’s Sunday broadcast a year ago, though up 41% from the last Monday airing on Fox in 2024. Ad spend fell to $22.6 million from $27.5 million.

Emmys draw 6.7 million on NBC/Peacock, down 10% year over year

NBC and Peacock drew 6.7 million viewers for the Emmys in early Nielsen numbers, down 10% year over year but above 2022’s 5.9 million on NBC. About 500,000 viewers, or 7.5%, watched on Peacock.

Horizon Media pipes Roku device-level TV data into its Blu platform

Roku is bringing its TV data into HorizonOS’s Blu marketing intelligence platform, giving advertisers device-level viewership data instead of panel-based estimates. Full integration is planned for this autumn, with A+E Global Media cited as a client already using Blu.

Alphabet, Meta, Amazon to drive 13% US ad growth in 2026

Madison and Wall forecasts global ad spend growing 11 percent YoY in 2026 to top $1.3 trillion, with North America at 38 percent of that total and US revenues up 13 percent, led by search, social and commerce.

Prime Video bundles AMC+, BritBox, MGM+, PBS Masterpiece and Starz for $29.99

Amazon Prime Video is launching a five-service bundle combining AMC+, BritBox, MGM+, PBS Masterpiece and Starz for $29.99 a month in the U.S.

Meta merges creator marketplaces, brings live video ads to Instagram

Meta launched a unified Creator Marketing Hub, combining Creator Marketplace and Partnership Ads Hub, and will let brands run live video ads on Instagram starting September 29.

Virtual Minds pitches an interoperability layer for total TV

German ad tech firm Virtual Minds is building a layer to connect linear and CTV sales silos rather than replacing broadcasters’ existing systems.

Mediobanca: streaming now drives global M&E growth as legacy TV shrinks

Mediobanca’s Media & Entertainment Report finds the top 25 global operators posted 362.8 billion euros in 2025 turnover, up 2.8 percent, with streaming growing 13.4 percent to reach 22.2 percent of revenues.

Criteo bets its 4 billion SKUs on becoming ChatGPT Ads’ commerce layer

Criteo VP Tim Conley says the company became ChatGPT Ads’ first partner using a dataset of 4 billion globally mapped product SKUs and over $1 trillion in annual online transaction data.

IAB’s first Creatorfronts exposes the measurement gap blocking creator budgets

At IAB’s inaugural Creatorfronts, president James Douglas unveiled the Trusted Creator Brand Deal Initiative, a survey mapping where creator deals break down.

Buyers say retail media measurement is costing networks real money

New ARF research of 13 major buyers finds five have cut or dropped retail media investment over measurement problems, with two citing it as the primary reason.

Wurl launches Content Intelligence platform for CTV ad targeting

Wurl debuted a Content Intelligence Platform that enriches bid requests with contextual signals across more than 140 billion monthly CTV impressions, integrating partners KERV, Peer39 and IRIS.TV to give DSPs signal-rich inventory before requests reach them.

Emmys draw 6.7 million viewers on NBC, down 9% year over year

NBC’s telecast of the 78th Emmy Awards drew 6.7 million viewers, a 9% drop from last year’s CBS broadcast, which had aired on a Sunday and hit 7.4 million. The show also competed against an NFL playoff game.

‘60 Minutes’ season opener falls 21% amid NFL lead-in, overhaul questions

The season 59 premiere drew about 7.94 million viewers, down from nearly 10.02 million a year ago, with the 25-54 demo falling 33% to 1.58 million, per Nielsen.

Alix Earle’s Netflix show grows 127% in second week

Alix Earle’s reality series “Earle Meets World” barely cracked Netflix’s top ten with 1.8 million views in its first three days.

Betches launches sponsor-free scripted series built by its own creators

Betches produced “Sisters,” a three-episode scripted show made in-house by video producers Tess Tregellas and Madeline Mahoney, who first tested the concept as short-form social videos before scaling it up. Season one ran with zero brand sponsorships by design.

New Meta data: high-click video ads deliver the worst ad returns

Billo’s analysis of 88,329 Meta video ads found the highest-click categories, health/beauty and arts/entertainment, posted ROAS of just 1.82 and 2.04, while low-click baby/toddler ads hit 4.99 against a 2.17 average.

Thrad launches self-serve DSP for advertising inside LLM chats

Thrad opened a self-serve platform letting marketers build and launch ad campaigns inside large language model conversations without a managed-service deal.

Profound raises $180 million at $1.8 billion valuation for AI search marketing

Profound raised $180 million in a Series D co-led by Sequoia and Kleiner Perkins, valuing the AI marketing startup at $1.8 billion and bringing its total funding past $335 million since 2024.