Survey: 80% of UK TV owners stream more than they watch live TV
Advanced Television reports that a survey from Expert Reviews’ 2026 TV Awards found 80 percent of UK TV owners use their television to stream films and shows, compared with 64 percent who watch live broadcast TV and 55 percent who watch live sport.
Kevin Mayer: Paramount-Warner merger’s “synergies” mean layoffs
Deadline’s Melanie Goodfellow reports that ex-Disney exec Kevin Mayer, speaking at the Zurich Summit, called Paramount-Warner Bros consolidation inevitable amid declining revenues, predicted Warner Bros stays separate, and warned that $6 billion in promised synergies means heavy layoffs.
Players Pay to Play in Docs: Cinetic launches Vertical Leap investment vehicle for pro athletes
Deadline’s Andreas Wiseman reports that John Sloss’s Cinetic Media has launched Vertical Leap, a $25,000-a-year membership giving athletes a seat inside its documentary slate.
ARF: industry may start marketing to bots, not just blocking them
MediaPost’s Joe Mandese reports that at ARF’s CIMM summit, outgoing ARF chief Scott McDonald said the industry may shift from excluding bot traffic to targeting AI agents as proxies for real consumers.
Financiers weigh in on proposed US federal film tax credit
Deadline’s Andreas Wiseman reports that film financiers at the Zurich Summit reacted to last week’s bipartisan bill proposing a 20% federal production incentive, rising to 30% with bonuses, that would apply to projects starting in 2027 if passed.
Meta and YouTube reverse course, will run ads for Musk documentary
The Ankler’s Sean McNulty reports that Meta, TikTok and YouTube initially refused to run ads for Bleecker Street’s Elon documentary, citing “political content” rules.
Stagwell deepens stake in Real Clear Holdings, adds two execs
MediaPost’s Steve McClellan reports that Stagwell has increased its investment in Real Clear Holdings, publisher of RealClearPolitics, two years after taking a 37.5% stake, while adding Jared Smith as president and Kristen Elliott as head of commercial.
Kevin Mayer: Hollywood missed the social media culture shift
Deadline’s Diana Lodderhose reports that former Disney executive Kevin Mayer, now co-CEO of Candle Media, told the Zurich Summit that Hollywood failed to recognize how culture-making moved to social platforms and influencers.
Shawn Levy exits Netflix for overall deal at Disney’s 20th Television
Deadline’s Nellie Andreeva reports that Shawn Levy and his 21 Laps Entertainment have signed a multi-year overall deal with 20th Television, part of Disney Television Studios, ending his decade-plus TV tenure at Netflix.
Delta launches its own media network to sell ads against flyers
eMarketer’s Zak Stambor reports that Delta is building a media network to monetize its flyer base, joining a wave of airlines turning loyalty and trip data into an ad sales business.
Intuition and Creative Inspiration Can Beat the Data: Harlan Coben’s Netflix formula: no data, low budgets, huge audiences
Data is a critical input, but that should also inform something better than a GPT or spreadsheet, human intuition. The Ankler’s Manori Ravindran reports that thriller author Harlan Coben, who has produced 13 Netflix shows, says he never lets audience data change a plot point.
YouTube expands Watch With to all creator long-form videos by default
Tubefilter’s James Hale reports YouTube will let creators react live to any eligible long-form video or livestream via Watch With, with reaction creators keeping ad revenue while original creators get attribution and “added view credit.”
Stagwell’s new AI chief explains the Palantir bet
Digiday’s Michael Bürgi reports that Stagwell CEO Mark Penn hired John Kahan, a 40-year data and analytics veteran of IBM and Microsoft, as chief AI officer to run the holdco’s Palantir partnership.
TVREV’s Hot List: AI agents enter the ad-buying room
TVREV’s Jason Damata rounds up the week’s coverage, including CIMM conference takeaways where agencies admitted AI agents are now sitting in on negotiations.
Toy Story Takeover: hits 20 million Disney+ views in first five days
Deadline’s Anthony D’Alessandro reports that Disney/Pixar’s “Toy Story 5" cleared 20 million views in its first five days on Disney+, enough to feasibly rank as the service’s No. 1 film, building on the franchise’s 2 billion streamed hours globally. And if you look at Disney+ most watched titles?
Equity Models Take Shape: HardScope launches as creator-IP studio, gives talent equity stakes
In order to keep creators creating, and hang with a bundle economy, new business models need to take hold.
Enter the Robots: WFA study shows labor-based agency comp collapses to 17% from 54%
It used to be cushy to land an agency job. Now it’s a manufacturing meat grinder for some. MediaPost’s Joe Mandese reports that a new WFA study, done with Agency Media Solutions, finds labor-based agency compensation has fallen to 17% of the marketplace, down from 54% fifteen years ago.
Chartbeat data: 2-to-5 minute videos are media’s YouTube sweet spot
TVREV’s John Cassillo reports that Chartbeat’s new benchmark finds media companies drive outsized YouTube views from 2-to-5 minute videos, with South Korean outlets like MBCNews and SBS more than doubling U.S. views per video at that length.