‘60 Minutes’ viewership falls 12% without NFL lead-in boost
Variety’s Brian Steinberg reports that “60 Minutes” drew 6.06 million viewers for its Lesley Stahl episode on Israeli settlers, down 12% from the same episode a year earlier and down 41% from the prior week, which had an NFL lead-in.
Streaming ad loads jump 18% as subscription prices also climb
MediaPost’s Wayne Friedman reports that leading ad-supported streaming tiers added 18% more ad minutes per hour between January and August 2026, with Paramount+, Hulu and Disney+ running heaviest.
Witherspoon buys back Hello Sunshine from Candle Media at steep discount
TheWrap’s Jose Alejandro Bastidas and Lucas Manfredi report that Reese Witherspoon, partnering with Mediawan, is reacquiring a majority stake in Hello Sunshine for “low- to mid-eight figures.”
Study: 73% of advertisers plan live sports streaming investment
Advanced Television reports that Premion and Advertiser Perceptions research finds 73 per cent of advertisers plan to allocate budget to live sports streaming and CTV advertising over the next year.
Whalar’s Neil Waller plots creator-to-media-company bets after $500M exit
The Ankler’s Natalie Jarvey reports that Whalar Group co-CEO Neil Waller is deploying fresh capital after selling Whalar to Accenture Song in a deal widely speculated at more than five hundred million dollars.
Billion Dollar Boy buys Creator Authority to chase B2B creator marketing
Business Insider’s Lara O’Reilly reports that Billion Dollar Boy Group acquired B2B influencer marketing agency Creator Authority in an all-cash, multimillion-dollar deal with an earnout, its first-ever acquisition.
Netflix’s layoffs cut costs but don’t fix its growth problem
Business Insider’s Peter Kafka writes that Netflix’s levers from its 2022 subscriber crisis — ads, live sports — are now spent, while engagement slips and the real competition is free, unlimited content from YouTube, Instagram and TikTok.
Publicis posts 5% Q3 growth, credits record new-business run
Campaign’s Ben Bold reports that Publicis Groupe posted 5% organic net revenue growth in the third quarter, with net revenue rising to 3.81 billion euros from 3.53 billion euros a year earlier.
Whalar’s James Street buys Good News Network, forms GNN Group
Deadline’s Jesse Whittock reports that a newly formed holding company, GNN Group, has acquired Good News Network for an undisclosed sum, with Whalar co-founder James Street joining as co-chairman and lead investor.
Ampere: ad tiers to outearn premium streaming by 2029
Advanced Television reports that Ampere Analysis CEO Guy Bisson told MIPCOM that ad-supported streaming revenue will overtake premium subscriptions by 2030, projecting $60 billion versus $55 billion.
Toluna names Amy Fenton as CEO, succeeding founder Petit
The Measure’s Jessika Walsten reports that Toluna has named Amy Fenton, formerly interim CEO of MarketCast, as its new chief executive, succeeding founder Frédéric Charles Petit, who moves to board member and senior advisor.
Publicis pitches CEOs, not CMOs, with AI anxiety as the hook
AdExchanger reports that Publicis CEO Arthur Sadoun is pitching company chief executives directly rather than CMOs, leaning on AI anxiety after Q3 net revenue grew 5% and the holding company won PepsiCo’s business.
Reese Witherspoon buys back Hello Sunshine at a steep discount
Axios’s Sara Fischer and Kerry Flynn report that Reese Witherspoon has teamed with Paris-based Mediawan to buy back Hello Sunshine from Candle Media for low- to mid-eight figures.
Semrush data: AI can mention your brand but never visit your site
The Drum’s Maria Greaves reports that Semrush’s AI Visibility Index 2026 found only 36.7% to 45.3% overlap between the top 100 brands AI chatbots mention and the top 100 domains they actually cite.
College football advertisers go all in on November
eMarketer’s Peter Clark reports that advertisers are concentrating spend around November’s college football slate, when conference championships and playoff positioning drive peak viewership.
Rushfield: Hollywood’s merger wave is strip-mining, not saving, the industry
The Ankler’s Richard Rushfield argues that Hollywood has adopted a private-equity playbook of acquire, consolidate, slash costs and extract value, pointing to Warner Bros. employees enduring cuts through the AT&T, Discovery and now Skydance eras while executive pay climbs.
Advertisers want sports streaming, but cost and ROI proof hold back spend
AdExchanger reports that Premion and Advertiser Perceptions found 73% of advertisers plan to fund live sports streaming and CTV within a year, yet cost (44%) and measuring ROI (41%) remain the biggest barriers, not scale.
Nielsen: radio reaches 92% of US adults monthly, tops every other platform
Nielsen is reporting that radio reaches 92% of US adults monthly, more than TV-connected devices, smartphones or live TV, and drives 82% of ad-supported audio time versus 16% for streaming music services.
McDonald’s media network fuels warning on commerce media attention limits
Campaign US’s Keith Turco reports that McDonald’s is piloting a media network across 450 U.S. restaurants, targeting $1 billion in revenue using its app, kiosks and menu boards as ad inventory.
Vizio adds 40+ creator channels to its FAST platform
eMarketer’s Marisa Jones reports that Walmart-owned Vizio launched more than 40 creator-led channels, including one from MrBeast, on its free ad-supported WatchFree+ service, following YouTube’s similar push into linear-style creator series on CTV.
Fox Entertainment commits long-term to its creator studio, no exit plan
Deadline’s Max Goldbart reports that Fox Entertainment CEO Rob Wade says Fox Creator Studios, launched this year with Gordon Ramsay’s food roster, won’t be sold, contrasting Fox’s approach with rivals chasing quick exits in the creator space.
Agency business consolidates among WPP, Omnicom, and Publicis
eMarketer’s Marisa Jones reports that holding company consolidation, led by Publicis, Omnicom, and WPP, is concentrating agency business at the top while smaller independent shops struggle to compete for the same accounts.
Nestlé centralizes creator marketing, but measurement lags
Next in Media’s Mike Shields reports that Nestlé is merging its scattered PR, media and influencer budgets into one creator marketing discipline, per digital content lead Daniele Tundo, while CreativeX’s Anastasia Leng says most brands plateau at 10-20% of spend going to creators.