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.
Sep 17Cameron’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.
Sep 17Google’s Americas ad sales lead Sean Downey tells Variety that YouTube’s first Academy Awards broadcast will let brands build sponsorship packages around live ad space, integrated creators and awards-season content.
Sep 15Commerce platform Howl sold its creator division to Connexity, Taboola’s commerce arm, in August, a deal small enough that Taboola did not need to disclose it in earnings.
Sep 15Amazon’s acquisition of podcast studio Wondery, announced in December, has officially closed. Founder Hernan Lopez has departed, and COO Jen Sargent now runs the business, which reportedly sought a $300 million price tag though terms were not disclosed.
Sep 15Indie true-crime hit Morbid has struck a deal giving Wondery and Amazon Music a one-week exclusive window on new episodes starting June 1, with Amazon and Wondery also taking over distribution and ad sales for the show.
Sep 15Sunday Ticket costs YouTube nearly $9 billion over its seven-year deal, up sharply from DirecTV’s roughly $1 billion final season, even as the NFL shifts more games into prime-time windows and leaves fewer for the package.
Sep 15Old Navy’s first single-creator back-to-school campaign, a multiyear tie-up with MrBeast, drove an over 22% jump in traffic to its kids’ assortment online.
Sep 14Amazon has struck a deal to acquire podcast ad and hosting company Art19, terms undisclosed, following its Wondery purchase and the launch of podcasts on Amazon Music and Audible over the past year.
Sep 14A Media War & Peace breakdown pegs the Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery deal at $111 billion, beating Netflix’s $84 billion bid. If Oracle’s debt gets downgraded to junk, Larry Ellison’s assets freeze, jeopardizing his $40 billion cash backstop.
Sep 11Everywhere, founded by Andy Goldsmith, Craig Eastwood and Mike Wooller, launched last week as a commercial partner representing creators across YouTube, TikTok, podcasts, newsletters and live events rather than one platform.
Sep 10Ad minutes per hour on top US streamers rose 18% from January to August, according to Ampere Analysis data shared with Business Insider.
Sep 9The Justice Department plans a “second request” for more data from Fox and Roku, people familiar said, signaling skepticism about a deal merging Fox’s content with Roku’s dominant connected-TV operating system.
Sep 9Patreon has acquired Moment, the ticketing platform behind livestream events for podcasts like Pod Save America and artists like Justin Bieber, with plans to merge the two platforms.
Sep 5Hartbeat and aTwist will team on more than 20 original microseries for a dedicated Hartbeat destination on the platform. The slate also includes adaptations of Blake Karrington’s bestselling book series, produced with Upscale Productions.
Sep 3Adobe has acquired India-based marketing intelligence startup Rilo in a deal involving licensing and team acquisition. Terms weren’t disclosed, and Rilo will shut down, folding its six-member team and workflow-automation IP into Adobe’s marketing suite.
Sep 2Sony launched Live TV on PS5, a free ad-supported streaming service with over 100 channels, drawing on content from Lionsgate, Fox, NBCU, Bloomberg, Spotify and A+E. It’s live in the US now, with Canada and other markets planned.
Sep 1The FTC and 22 state attorneys general sued Amazon, alleging it secretly overrode its ad auction to charge higher rates, overcharging more than 1.2 million advertisers and generating over $20 billion in revenue since 2018.
Sep 1YouTube and Amazon now let U.S. creators in both partner programs tag and sell a curated Amazon catalog inside videos, with standard affiliate commissions paid out through YouTube’s AdSense checks rather than Amazon directly.
Aug 28DAZN acquired EverPass, rebranding it DAZN for Business and picking up exclusive commercial streaming rights to NFL Sunday Ticket, plus NFL, RedBird and TKO as minority shareholders.
Aug 28Puck confirmed advanced talks for a RedBird Capital investment that would make the firm its leading investor, valuing the media company at around $250 million — up sharply from the $70 million valuation it fetched in 2023.
Aug 28California 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.
Aug 27Paramount’s $110B WBD deal is on hold until mid-2027 amid a state attorneys general antitrust suit, even after clearing federal and global regulators. Executives now warn the state-level threat could stall other pending media combinations.
Aug 25California AG Rob Bonta will ask Paramount CEO David Ellison to divest cable channels and keep the studio separate from Warner Bros. as conditions to settle the 12-state antitrust suit over the $110B WBD deal.
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