RedBird Capital to acquire majority stake in Puck at $250 million valuation
Variety’s Todd Spangler reports RedBird Capital Partners has signed a deal for a majority stake in Puck, valuing the five-year-old media upstart at 250 million dollars, with Standard Investments and TPG exiting and RIT Capital staying on as minority investor.
Dealmakers: Paramount-WBD merger proves ‘tech has won’ in media
Deadline’s Dade Hayes reports that at the FT Business of Entertainment Summit, Simpson Thacher partner David Hernand called the $110 billion Paramount-WBD deal evidence that “tech has won,” with distribution now dominated by tech giants.
Best Buy launches Best Buy CTV to anchor its retail media pitch
Modern Retail’s Anna Hensel reports that Best Buy used its annual retail media showcase to unveil Best Buy CTV, a new branded connected TV advertising offering.
Shapiro and Lazar’s Affinity 100 ranks creators by influence, not reach
Media War & Peace’s Evan Shapiro is promoting the Affinity 100, a list he built with Shira Lazar naming the year’s most impactful creators.
Workweek is building B2B creator networks, not just newsletters, its CEO says
Simon Owens’s Media Newsletter reports that Workweek CEO Adam Ryan is shifting the company from a handpicked newsletter roster into a vertically integrated platform where thousands of practitioners publish, host events and monetize expertise.
Paramount Skydance weighs Musk as equity investor amid WBD debt sale
The Ankler’s Sean McNulty reports that Paramount Skydance has discussed approaching Elon Musk as part of a syndicate of new equity investors, citing Semafor, as Larry Ellison looks to offload PSKY equity beyond sovereign wealth funds and RedBird’s $250 million stake.
Paramount-Warner settlement locks in court-enforced structural remedies
Media War & Peace’s Evan Shapiro reports that the Paramount-Warner settlement includes a trustee monitor reporting to the court, not management, with power to trigger liquidation if terms are violated.
HSBC downgrades Netflix as YouTube eats into engagement
TheWrap’s Lucas Manfredi reports HSBC’s Mohammed Khallouf cut Netflix from Buy to Hold and slashed his price target from $96 to $76, citing YouTube’s expanding living room footprint and Netflix’s U.S. TV time share falling to 7.8% in July.
AI ad automation is surging. TV growth still trails inflation.
Next in Media’s Mike Shields reports that Madison and Wall projects AI-powered ad systems will reach $158 billion by 2030, driving 11 percent global ad growth this year, while North American TV revenue excluding political grows only about 3 percent in 2026.
Sam’s Club leans on member data for predictive ad targeting
eMarketer’s Asa Hiken reports that Sam’s Club is using member data to power predictive ad targeting within its retail media network, aiming to anticipate shopper needs rather than just react to past purchases.
Creators trade brand deals for cap-table stakes and sweat equity
Digiday’s Alyssa Mercante reports that the creator economy is moving past one-off brand deals into angel investing and sweat equity, with platforms like Cherub and agency JERi building infrastructure to get creators onto startup cap tables.
Zuckerberg tells Stern AI labs need no industry-wide safety coordination
The New Things’ Joanna Stern reports that Mark Zuckerberg, ahead of Meta’s Connect keynote unveiling new audio-only Ray-Ban glasses and AI features, told her each AI lab should self-police safety rather than coordinate industry-wide.
MPA: Streaming, local film push Asia content spend past $15 billion
Deadline’s Jesse Whittock reports that Media Partners Asia projects content spend across seven Asian markets rising from $14.8 billion in 2025 to $15.1 billion this year.
Samsung TV Plus adds creator channels from Fearne Cotton, Mark Rober
Deadline’s Jesse Whittock reports that Samsung TV Plus struck deals for new FAST channels, including Fearne Cotton’s Happy Place and a Golf Life channel in the UK with 208 Studios, plus expansion of Luke Nguyen’s World and a dubbed Mark Rober TV in Latin America.
Best Buy Ads expands CTV push with Fire TV deal, new data signals
MediaPost’s Laurie Sullivan reports that Best Buy will unveil new CTV ad offerings Wednesday, deepening its Amazon Fire TV partnership through Insignia sets.
Netflix becomes France’s top private investor in local content, ARCOM finds
Variety’s Elsa Keslassy reports that ARCOM data shows Netflix invested 308 million euros in French film and TV in 2025, surpassing Canal+ as the leading private financier.
TelevisaUnivision renews multi-year Nielsen measurement deal
Inside Radio reports TelevisaUnivision renewed and expanded its measurement deal with Nielsen, covering radio, streaming and broadcast/cable TV, with access to Advanced Audiences, Ad-Supported Streaming Platform Ratings, Nielsen ONE Ads for CTV and expanded out-of-home measurement.
Comscore integrates its currency into datafuelX’s TV forecasting workflow
Comscore is reporting a data integration with datafuelX that builds Comscore’s age-and-gender and advanced-audience demographics directly into datafuelX’s forecasting, pacing and posting tools, letting national network groups transact on Comscore currency without adopting a new system.
Citi launches ad network targeting 70 million cardholders
Business Insider’s Lucia Moses reports that Citi is launching Citi Commerce Media, a new unit letting brands target ads to more than 70 million customers based on spending histories across its own app and outside properties like Facebook.
Disney raises Disney+ and Hulu prices again, fourth hike in four years
Deadline’s Jill Goldsmith reports that Disney has raised most Disney+ and Hulu plan prices, with the steepest increase hitting ad-free Premium tiers, which climb to twenty-one dollars and forty-nine cents monthly, up two dollars and fifty cents, or thirteen percent.
Nielsen study: audio plus CTV nearly doubles brand recall over single channel
Inside Radio reports that a Nielsen study with Katz Digital found combining digital audio and connected TV ads lifted unaided brand recall to 65%, versus 37% for either format alone.
Why Bonta caved: Paramount’s Warner deal settlement, explained
TheWrap’s Sharon Waxman reports that California AG Rob Bonta settled his lawsuit against Paramount Skydance’s $110 billion Warner Bros. Discovery deal without securing structural changes, after Paramount threatened to relocate and state leaders pushed for a deal.
WunderKIND touts Pause Ads outperforming standard CTV spots in new benchmarks
The Measure reports that WunderKIND Ads GM Adam Gendelman detailed a study run with TVision across 30 verticals and 40 to 50 campaigns, finding Pause Ads outperform traditional 60-second CTV spots on attention.