Agency & Consulting
Sky-ITV deal referred to UK regulators over plurality concerns
TVREV’s Annie Krukowska reports that UK Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has formally referred the proposed £1.6 billion Sky-ITV Media deal to Ofcom and the CMA, which must report back by January 27, 2027.
Netflix still tops US SVoD rankings, HBO Max cracks top six
Advanced Television reports that Parks Associates’ annual Top 10 US SVoD list again ranks Netflix first ahead of Prime Video, Hulu, Disney+ and Peacock, with HBO Max now overtaking Paramount+ for sixth place.
Vox Media becomes exclusive ad seller for The Bulwark
Axios’s Sara Fischer reports that Vox Media struck a three-year exclusive deal to sell advertising for The Bulwark across podcasts, video, newsletters and events, with Vox taking a cut of revenue.
AI and pharma brands drove 43% of $355.6m in new TV ad spend, VAB finds
PPC Land’s Luis Rijo reports that VAB counted 160 brands buying national TV for the first time in H1 2026, spending $355.6 million, with nine AI brands and nine pharma brands taking 43% of that total.
Academy Sports built its retail media network on POS data, not adtech hype
Next in Media’s Mike Shields talks with Chad Fox about Academy Sports and Outdoors launching a retail media network in three months using turnkey partners, grounding it in first-party checkout data rather than chasing adtech trends, since 67% of its shoppers never visit competitors.
Lufthansa Group hands global media AOR to Omnicom, ending 25-year WPP run
Campaign’s Emmy Liederman reports that Omnicom Media won Lufthansa Group’s global media account after a competitive review, unseating WPP’s Mindshare, which held the business since 2000.
Tano raises $4M to automate creator marketing like Meta ad buying
Business Insider’s Lara O’Reilly reports that Tano, a UK startup founded by former part-time creators Will Caplan and Sagar Shah, raised a $4 million seed round led by Cherry Ventures.
Havas Market wins Fidelity International’s £6m UK media account
Campaign’s Shauna Lewis reports that Havas Market has won Fidelity International’s UK media account, worth an estimated six million pounds, following a competitive review.
Samba TV: walled gardens won’t share data that looks weak to advertisers
VideoWeek’s Dan Meier reports that Samba TV’s Louise Slater says fragmentation needs industry collaboration, but not everyone wants it. Some players withhold data, she says, fearing it won’t look attractive enough to advertisers once shared.
Simon Owens: DC Studios should drop its MCU-style shared universe ambitions
Simon Owens argues that after James Gunn’s ouster from DC Studios, following Zack Snyder’s earlier failed attempt, the studio should abandon building a tightly interconnected cinematic universe and instead let filmmakers treat characters independently.
Skydance shares drop 8% as Wall Street awaits WBD earnings clarity
TheWrap’s Lucas Manfredi reports Skydance stock fell over 8% after Q3 earnings missed expectations, with the report excluding Warner Bros. Discovery’s full financials since that merger closed only in the fourth quarter.
Skydance names Efrain Miron chief commercial officer of product unit
Deadline’s Nellie Andreeva reports that Efrain Miron, who stepped down as Paramount DTC’s EVP of content strategy and licensing in the recent restructuring, has landed at Skydance’s Product & Technology Team as Chief Commercial Officer, a newly created role.
Podcast: strong ratings aren’t enough to sustain independent TV syndication
TVREV’s podcast In the Vicinity features Raw Travel producer Rob Rose explaining why solid ratings across 300-plus stations don’t generate enough ad revenue, as station consolidation squeezes independent producers and FAST channels fail to fill the gap.
Election Night news-watching spiked hardest in Texas, Madhive data shows
The Measure’s John Cassillo reports that Madhive data shows 63 of every 100 Texas TVs in use during primetime on Election Night were tuned to news, the highest share of any state.
TiVo’s Chinn: home screen is CTV’s most valuable ad real estate
TVREV’s Alan Wolk interviews TiVo Ads’ Craig Chinn, who argues advertisers still plan linear, streaming and home-screen as separate channels even though viewers experience them as one journey.
Skydance vows to remain sports power player despite WBD debt load
Sports Business Journal’s Austin Karp reports that Skydance executive Kevin Creighton told investors the company holds more than three dozen premium sports agreements after combining CBS Sports and TNT Sports.
IAB report calls for shared standards in creator deal measurement
IAB is reporting that creator marketing budgets grew from $13.9 billion in 2021 to an expected $44 billion in 2026, and that sustaining that growth now requires more consistent measurement, contracting, payment, and reporting practices across the creator ecosystem.
Retail media’s consolidation wave arrives as DoorDash buys Instacart
Adweek’s Lauren Johnson reports that retail media’s long-awaited consolidation is landing in 2027, with more than two hundred fifty retail media networks now competing for ad dollars.
Next in Media: YouTube’s creator economy has haves and have-nots
Next in Media’s Mike Shields reports that YouTube’s creator ecosystem is stratifying, with a small tier of top creators capturing outsized brand deals, platform support and ad revenue while the long tail struggles for visibility.
IAB issues new guidance for measuring CTV pause and home screen ads
eMarketer’s Asa Hiken reports that the IAB released new guidance aimed at bringing clarity to how the industry measures pause ads and home screen ads on connected TV.
Doug Shapiro’s 11-point playbook for content firms facing AI commoditization
The Mediator’s Doug Shapiro argues GenAI delivers a direct hit to content creation, unlike the internet’s indirect disruption of distribution.
Omnicom names Tom Schwenger CEO of Omnicom Health marketing arm
Adweek’s Katie Duffy reports that Omnicom appointed Tom Schwenger, a former Veeva Systems president, as CEO of Omnicom Health’s marketing branch, succeeding Dana Maiman.