Apple TV buys BBC comedy hit Small Prophets worldwide
Apple TV acquired worldwide rights to Mackenzie Crook’s Small Prophets from Sphere Abacus, launching October 7 outside the UK. The BBC Two series drew the best 28-day comedy ratings since 2022 and holds a 100% Rotten Tomatoes score.
Creator fee pricing is broken, and no one can agree on a fix
Half of marketers misprice creator fees and 40% feel they overpaid, per a Billion Dollar Boy survey of 1,000 leaders. Tools like Fohr’s Price Check and BDB’s Companion aim to add transparency, but no industry-wide benchmark exists.
World Cup ratings surge fails to lift Premier League ad demand
Fox’s World Cup coverage drew 128 million viewers and lifted its ad revenue 28% to $4.2 billion, but buyers say that hasn’t translated into a rush for Premier League inventory.
Apple TV raises monthly price to $14.99, second hike in a year
Apple TV’s monthly price rises to $14.99 from $12.99, with the annual plan up to $119 from $99, effective August 28 for new and existing U.S. subscribers.
COL Group, Virtue Asia launch first upfront built for microdramas
COL Group, Virtue Asia and V47 Entertainment will hold Inside Microdramas in Singapore on Oct. 27, billed as the first upfront for vertical entertainment. The event pairs brands with 10 unfinanced 2027 slate projects for direct co-development talks.
YouTube and Amazon let creators sell products directly in videos
YouTube and Amazon now let U.S. creators in both partner programs tag and sell a curated Amazon catalog inside videos, with standard affiliate commissions paid out through YouTube’s AdSense checks rather than Amazon directly.
The case against Netflix becoming an everything app
Netflix has discussed reselling Peacock and Fox One inside its app, per the New York Times, echoing Amazon’s and Roku’s channel-store model. It’s the second such report in a month, following the Wall Street Journal’s account of bundle talks.
Fox Sports jumps to No. 2 on YouTube as World Cup highlights drive views
Fox Sports’ YouTube channel rose from No. 8 in June to No. 2 in July, drawing 35.6 million unique U.S. viewers, a 46% month-over-month increase driven by Men’s FIFA World Cup highlights.
DAZN buys EverPass, gains Sunday Ticket commercial streaming rights
DAZN acquired EverPass, rebranding it DAZN for Business and picking up exclusive commercial streaming rights to NFL Sunday Ticket, plus NFL, RedBird and TKO as minority shareholders.
Puck in advanced talks for RedBird investment at $250 million valuation
Puck confirmed advanced talks for a RedBird Capital investment that would make the firm its leading investor, valuing the media company at around $250 million — up sharply from the $70 million valuation it fetched in 2023.
Lanterns opens at No. 2 as Reacher holds streaming’s top spot
HBO Max’s DC Universe series “Lanterns” debuts at No. 2 on Samba’s weekly chart, unable to unseat Amazon’s “Reacher,” which holds the top spot for a second straight week during its fourth season.
Retail media ad impressions fell to 107.4 billion in Q2 2026
Retail media ad impressions dropped to 107.4 billion in Q2 2026, according to EMARKETER data. The decline marks a pullback in inventory volume even as retail media remains one of the fastest-growing ad categories overall.
Axios publisher: SEO is dead, GEO is the new game for citations
Axios publisher Nicholas Johnston says SEO is “not the answer anymore” as publishers must learn where they surface in LLM answers.
Study: Americans now watch more YouTube than live TV
A new study finds American viewers spend more time watching YouTube than they do watching live television, a shift that underscores streaming’s growing dominance over traditional broadcast viewing habits nationwide. The report frames YouTube as a primary screen destination.
Studios shift summer movie ad dollars from broadcast to CTV
Connected TV ad impressions for movies rose 16% this summer to 17.7 billion, per AdImpact, while broadcast movie spots fell 50% to 93,600 airings.
Why advertisers still snub YouTube despite its TV-sized reach
Tubular Labs data shows sports made up just 6% of U.S. YouTube views in 2026, even with the World Cup and Winter Olympics airing, and nearly two-thirds of those sports videos ran under one minute long.
Sinclair’s $3.25M Stirk buy reveals broadcast’s new consolidation playbook
Sinclair agreed to acquire four Howard Stirk Holdings stations it already operates under a shared services agreement for $3.25 million.