‘The Gentlemen’ S2 viewership jumps 48% in week two on Netflix
‘The Gentlemen’ Season 2 climbed to number one on Netflix’s English TV chart with 9.9 million views from Sept. 7-15, up 48% from its debut week.
Netflix, YouTube, Amazon form D.C. streaming lobby group
Netflix and YouTube are teaming up with Amazon in Washington, founding a new lobbying group called the Streaming Access and Choice Alliance. TechNet leads the effort, representing Big Tech companies on programming investment issues.
Apple TV tops Emmys with 28 wins, pushing Netflix to a distant third
Apple TV entered the Emmys trailing HBO/HBO Max and Netflix in nominations but won the night with 28 trophies, led by Widow’s Bay’s 14 wins. HBO took 21, Netflix fell to 16, its worst showing since 2016.
Amazon pays over $100 million for Exactly Right Media podcast rights
Amazon will pay more than $100 million to Exactly Right Media for distribution and ad sales on its podcast slate, led by My Favorite Murder.
Ankler’s Rushfield: Emmys broadcast couldn’t fill three hours
Richard Rushfield’s recap slams the Emmys telecast for cutting five awards to Creative Arts yet still limping to a close with Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey vamping to run out the clock.
JustWatch turns its streaming guide into a streaming service
JustWatch Group will launch JustWatch TV in October, an AVOD service built into its existing app and website, with rental and ad-free tiers.
Avail launches licensing platform to let brands multiply creator ads
Avail’s new creatorAPI lets creators set guidelines for how brands use their likeness and voice, then generate multiple ad variations within those limits. It launches with Night Media and creator Emily Higgins after closed beta testing with direct-to-consumer brands.
73% of advertisers plan live sports streaming buys within a year
A new study finds 73 percent of advertisers intend to buy live sports streaming inventory in the next twelve months. The finding underscores how fast sports rights and viewing have shifted from linear TV to streaming platforms.
Four deals map Hollywood’s money — and an NFL shock looms
Cameron’s AI 3D buy, Hearst’s $1.2 billion A+E stake, Whitesell’s investment in Alex Cooper’s Unwell at a $500 million valuation, and indie financing for an Angry Birds sequel show where capital is flowing.
Study: MVPD deals deliver 2.5x the reach of programmatic CTV
A Spectrum Reach and EMARKETER study of 239 CTV ad buyers found MVPD campaigns delivered 61% sustained accurate reach over 90 days versus 24% for programmatic CTV.
Kevin Roose, Casey Newton launch AI show with NPR distribution deal
Former “Hard Fork” hosts Kevin Roose and Casey Newton are partnering with NPR for distribution and ad sales of “Machine Gods,” a twice-weekly, video-first show on AI’s consumer, enterprise and policy implications launching in October.
Channel 4 Sales becomes Paramount’s UK ad sales partner, ending Sky deal
Channel 4 and Paramount announced a long-term partnership, valued at over £300 million, under which Channel 4 Sales becomes the exclusive UK ad sales partner for 5 and other Paramount networks starting in 2027.
Shoppers wrongly think AI ads mean AI endorsement, study finds
New research shows more than half of shoppers believe ads placed inside an AI tool make a brand more likely to be recommended by it.
Nielsen adds data enrichment tools to Marketing Cloud
Nielsen has launched new data enrichment capabilities inside its Marketing Cloud platform, aimed at helping advertisers and agencies append richer audience and behavioral data to their existing customer records.
Betches built a scripted comedy in-house, kept season one sponsor-free
Betches producers detail how they built scripted series Sisters in-house, testing chemistry via short-form skits before scaling to polished long-form episodes, distributed organically across TikTok, Instagram and YouTube Shorts with vertical cutdowns.
Pharma brand Ibsrela makes its TV debut with CTV-first buy
Ardelyx launched its first TV ad for IBS-C drug Ibsrela on September 1, running solely on connected TV via Netflix, Hulu, Prime Video and Peacock.
Brands scramble for AI visibility as no standard measurement exists
Marketers now fight over whether AI chatbots mention them at all, not how they rank, but citation patterns vary wildly by platform.
AI safety warnings hit home for studios running AI on unreleased content
Anthropic’s Dario Amodei called for slower AI development after a swarm of agents ran unauthorized cyberattacks in August, warning a future incident could cause hundreds of billions in damage.
CMOs cite AI search anxiety to push for bigger upper-funnel budgets
State Farm, Mercedes and Hoka marketers say AI search behavior is a factor in budget debates, arguing brand spend protects consideration as tools like ChatGPT and AI Overviews reshape research.
Netflix discloses streaming figure for its Melbourne NFL game
CNBC’s Alex Sherman joined ‘Fast Money’ to break down the viewership number Netflix released for its NFL stream out of Melbourne, Australia. The figure gives advertisers and rivals a rare data point on overseas live sports demand.