Disney+ retakes top spot in linear TV promo spend, fueled by Hulu’s ‘Furious’
Disney+ led July’s streamer linear TV promo reach at 13.62% per iSpot, retaking the top spot from June leader Paramount+ on the back of Hulu’s ‘Furious’ push.
TikTok ads pay off late — and measurement windows keep missing it
EMARKETER’s FAQ shows TikTok’s ad lift often peaks after campaigns end, per Haus incrementality tests, while most CPG marketers still measure with short windows. Brands that fix measurement can capture attention rivals are ceding to Meta amid post-divestiture caution.
Peacock’s YouTube partnership signals a truce between streaming and social
Simon Owens flags the Peacock/YouTube tie-up as a bigger deal than it looks, pointing to microdrama’s spammy growth as a parallel trend. Both point to distributors chasing wherever attention already lives instead of building walled gardens.
Streaming churn undercuts the ad plans built around subscriber loyalty
Rising subscriber churn across streaming services is making it harder for marketers to rely on stable, addressable audiences when planning campaigns. As viewers hop between services, buyers face more waste and less certainty that their target audience is even watching.
A four-person friend-group account books 30 brand deals in four months
The 4 in the 5 grew to 430,000 followers since April and has already worked with Walmart, DoorDash, Poppi and Coach.
Alex Cooper’s Unwell lands $500M valuation in first outside investment
WTSL, the Silver Lake-backed firm run by Patrick Whitesell, has taken a stake in Cooper’s Unwell, valuing the profitable creator company at $500 million.
Streaming outgrows linear in upfront, but CPMs fall everywhere
Upfront ad commitments to streaming jumped 30% to $17.2B, while broadcast and cable fell 5.3% and 7.7%. CPMs dropped across all screens, showing sellers gained volume but lost pricing leverage.
Disney+ and Hulu bring video podcasts in-house via iHeartMedia deal
Disney is licensing six iHeartMedia video podcasts, including Pod Meets World and Jonas Brothers’ Hey Jonas!, for Disney+ and Hulu. It’s a low-cost way to add fan-community content and companion IP tie-ins to streaming libraries as podcast video grows.
Agency execs pitch creators as always-on marketing infrastructure, not viral bets
Dentsu and Creo leaders argue creator content should be treated as durable, full-funnel infrastructure, not one-off viral hits, measured against sales lift and ROAS.
FAST channels emerge as a new distribution layer for creators
Simon Owens argues free ad-supported streaming channels give creators a TV-like distribution outlet beyond YouTube and social platforms. The bigger point: FAST is becoming infrastructure for the creator economy, not just a home for old cable reruns.
Disney’s streaming turn takes center stage in earnings breakdown
A media analyst unpacks Disney’s Q2 earnings on Bloomberg TV, weighing streaming profitability against legacy TV decline. The framing matters as Disney’s playbook becomes the template other legacy media companies are judged against.
OnlyFans’ new investor talks financials, IPO plans in rare interview
A new OnlyFans investor gave a rare interview disclosing financial details and IPO ambitions for the creator platform. Any move toward going public would force new transparency on a business that has stayed deliberately opaque despite its scale.
Tinuiti’s Klaassen on why drive still beats pedigree in ad-agency careers
Tinuiti CEO Abbey Klaassen frames career advancement in agency/media work as a function of personal drive, explained in terms simple enough for a teenager. It’s a reminder that leadership pipelines in ad-tech and agencies still reward initiative over credentials.
Tubi renews Gracenote deal for content data, programmatic ad IDs
Tubi is expanding its Gracenote partnership to power natural-language content search and test content IDs in programmatic bid streams. It’s a bet that better metadata drives both discovery and more targeted ad inventory as Tubi and Fox One scale.
Comscore cuts deep: $20-25M in savings, restructuring under new CEO
Comscore’s new CEO announced a restructuring plan targeting $20-25M in annual cost savings via layoffs, offshoring and pricing overhauls. It signals a measurement vendor under real financial strain, betting cost discipline can fund a pivot to AI and creator measurement.
RTL Group’s streaming arm offsets TV and Fremantle declines
RTL’s streaming revenue jumped 27.2% as traditional TV ads and Fremantle production fell. The Sky Deutschland merger makes RTL+ Germany’s third-largest streamer, part of a wider European broadcast consolidation wave.
Prime-time upfront dollars rise 9% to $33.7B as streaming grabs 30% more
Total prime-time upfront ad commitments climbed 9% to $33.7 billion even as CPMs fell 6%, with streaming volume up 30%. Buyers are trading rate for reach, pushing dollars into streaming faster than linear can hold price.
Netflix nearly doubles ad commitments, wraps 2026 upfronts
Netflix says every major agency signed on, nearly doubling ad commitments year over year, while also getting MRC accreditation for its Ads Suite. It’s the clearest sign yet that Netflix’s ad business has moved from experiment to must-buy.
Microdramas are booming, but ad loads may cap their upside
Microdrama viewing is surging, but the format’s tiny episode length makes heavy ad breaks feel absurd to viewers. That mismatch could keep the category reliant on subscriptions and in-app purchases rather than becoming a real ad vehicle.
iSpot rolls out framework to separate ‘true measurement’ from search signals
iSpot released a guide defining four “non-negotiable” pillars for outcome measurement: creative performance, unified identity, verified methodology, and scale. It’s a bid to standardize how TV/streaming exposure gets tied to business results as marketers push back on noisy proxy metrics.
DoubleVerify to vet brand safety on TikTok’s Pangle ad network
DoubleVerify will assess brand safety and media quality on TikTok’s Pangle ad network across 48 markets, including the US. The deal extends independent verification to a major app-install and mobile ad channel that advertisers have long pushed to scrutinize.