Why advertisers still snub YouTube despite its TV-sized reach
TVREV’s John Cassillo reports that Tubular Labs data shows sports made up just 6% of U.S. YouTube views in 2026, even with the World Cup and Winter Olympics airing, and nearly two-thirds of those sports videos ran under one minute long.
Sinclair’s $3.25M Stirk buy reveals broadcast’s new consolidation playbook
TVREV’s Tim Hanlon reports that Sinclair agreed to acquire four Howard Stirk Holdings stations it already operates under a shared services agreement for $3.25 million.
Agencies debate who owns YouTube Shorts buying
Digiday’s Future of TV Briefing reports agencies are still sorting out which internal teams — social, video or TV — should take the lead on buying YouTube Shorts ads.
Simon Property Group launches a retail media network for its malls
AdExchanger’s James Hercher reports that the world’s largest mall operator debuted Simon Media Network, a programmatic ad vehicle built on loyalty data, opted-in WiFi location tracking and licensed third-party purchase data.
Netflix in talks with Fox, NBC to carry Fox One and Peacock
Awful Announcing’s Drew Lerner reports that the NYT reports Netflix executives have discussed carrying Peacock and Fox One on Netflix with NBCUniversal and Fox — no deal imminent. It’s a reversal for a streamer that once dismissed bundling as unnecessary.
Jomboy Media’s path from Yankees podcast to 60-person creator company
Simon Owens’s Media Newsletter reports that Jomboy Media grew from a 2017 Yankees podcast into a 60-person sports media company: more than 20 channels, 14 full-time creators, an in-house ad operation and an original sports IP franchise, Warehouse Games.
HuffPost’s national desk cut to three reporters as BuzzFeed layoffs continue
BuzzFeed laid off 10 HuffPost Union members, cutting the national desk from seven reporters to three. The desk numbered 14 a year ago — the once-Pulitzer-winning newsroom keeps unwinding.
YouTube offers creators up to $10M exclusivity deals to block Netflix raids
The Ankler’s Natalie Jarvey reports that YouTube is offering roughly 15 top creators exclusivity packages from low seven figures to $10 million, built to keep their videos off Netflix as it courts creators like Rhett & Link and the Stokes Twins.
Bonta forces Ellison’s hand on which cable nets to sell or sink
The Ankler’s Lesley Goldberg reports that California AG Rob Bonta says any settlement requires “structural remedies”: Ellison cannot keep all 50 cable networks the WBD deal would hand him — some must be sold.
Meta agrees to pay up to $17B to settle teen addiction suits with states
Meta agreed to pay roughly $12 billion to settle state suits over designing Instagram and Facebook to addict teens — rising to $17.1 billion if Snap, TikTok and YouTube join on similar terms. The states had sought about $200 billion.
Tatari: buyers still treat YouTube as digital, not TV, despite the scale
Tatari’s Dana Delle argues buyers still purchase YouTube like a digital channel, on CPMs and algorithmic targeting, even though Nielsen counts it as TV and its reach dwarfs linear: CNN, 240 million monthly YouTube views against 550,000 in primetime.
Commerce media growth outpaces teams’ full-funnel tools, EMARKETER finds
EMARKETER reports commerce media spend keeps climbing while marketing teams lack the tools to run full-funnel campaigns — buyers want awareness and conversion in one system.
Small theaters survived a blockbuster summer, but the margins still don’t work
The Ankler revisits the small-town exhibitors it profiled during last fall’s worst domestic October since 1997. A stacked summer filled seats, but holdover mandates and 65% studio splits still eat the good weeks.
Netflix, Stella Artois turn ‘The Gentlemen’ into a branded pub takeover
Variety’s Brian Steinberg reports that Netflix and AB InBev are turning a London pub into a live “The Gentlemen” set for three days — the first execution of the multi-year Stella Artois deal signed last September.
The math problem hiding inside the Paramount-WBD settlement talk
The Hollywood Reporter’s Joseph M. Singer reports that Unions, exhibitors and politicians all want a negotiated Paramount-WBD settlement. A THR analysis flags the contradiction: the financing needs more than $6 billion in synergies, and the protections everyone wants would block those same savings.
Particle’s Radar turns 130,000 podcasts into an API for AI agents
TechCrunch’s Sarah Perez reports that Particle, the AI newsreader startup, launched Radar, a podcast intelligence platform that transcribes more than 130,000 shows with speaker labels, entity tracking and ad detection. Hedge funds are already its biggest API customers.
iSpot’s Muller: publishers, not just advertisers, are now chasing outcomes
The Measure reports that advertisers have measured outcomes for years. Now, says iSpot CEO Sean Muller, publishers are adopting it too — chasing apples-to-apples comparisons across linear, streaming, YouTube and TikTok on one lift methodology.
Crooked Media revives Nate Silver’s FiveThirtyEight podcast as ‘Still Counting’
Crooked Media acquired “FiveThirtyEight Politics,” the podcast hosted by Nate Silver, Clare Malone and Galen Druke, and relaunches it September 9 as “Still Counting” — a revival of the brand ABC News shut down in March 2025.