Agency & Consulting
Puck: Skydance faces internal friction over Elon Musk ties at Warner Bros.
Puck’s Kim Masters reports that Skydance’s leadership is navigating tension inside Warner Bros. tied to Elon Musk’s involvement, as the studio works through integration after its takeover. The piece is paywalled, with only the headline and teaser text available ahead of the full report.
CTV ad requests mostly lack usable genre labels, Wurl finds
Digiday’s Tim Peterson reports that a Wurl analysis of a single prime-time window found only 11% of CTV ad requests carried a usable show name, while 93% had a genre label, but 35% of those labels didn’t match Wurl’s own classification.
Paramount TV Studios takes three of Nielsen’s top four streaming slots in September
Variety’s Michael Schneider reports that Nielsen’s September rankings put Paramount TV Studios’ “Reacher” at No. 1 with 4.6 billion minutes viewed, while its “Neagley” and “Lioness” tied for third at 3.3 billion minutes each.
SBA gives creator businesses an official classification code
Digiday’s Alyssa Mercante reports that the SBA issued its first small business classification guidance for content creators on October 15, placing creator-led businesses under NAICS code 5121, Motion Picture and Video Industries.
Banijay teams with Don’t Tell Comedy in creator-economy push
Deadline’s Matt Grobar reports that Banijay America has struck a strategic partnership with Don’t Tell Comedy, pairing Banijay Rights’ global distribution with the stand-up brand’s 14 million followers and 115 hours of content.
Paramount Australia bundles World Cup ads with new attention-measurement push
Variety Australia’s Natasha Lee reports Paramount Australia unveiled its 2027 upfront slate, led by the FIFA Women’s World Cup, Australian Ninja Warrior and a Melanie Lynskey drama on Erin Patterson.
Traditional TV still owns sports and news despite streaming’s overall lead
The Measure’s Eleanor Semeraro reports that Inscape’s Q2 2026 TV Market Trends Report found cable, satellite and over-the-air sources accounted for two-thirds of sports viewing time on smart TVs, while news skewed even more traditional at 75.8%.
CTV ad conversion rates rise as targeting improves
eMarketer’s Asa Hiken reports that CTV ad conversion rates are climbing, a sign that audience targeting on connected TV is getting more precise.
Streaming drives 58% of minutes for TV’s top 15 animated series
Nielsen reports that streaming accounted for 58% of viewing minutes among the 15 most-watched animated series in the 2025-26 TV season.
Rushfield handicaps the race to be Netflix’s next film chief
The Ankler’s Richard Rushfield reports that Netflix must now pick a successor to run its film division following Dan Lin’s departure, a search he previously called correctly in 2024.
‘Nobody Wants This’ S3 opens to 6.2 million views, down from prior seasons
Variety’s Selome Hailu reports that “Nobody Wants This” Season 3 drew 6.2 million views in its first four days on Netflix, down from 10.3 million for Season 1 in 2024 and 8.6 million for Season 2 in 2025.
SAG-AFTRA: streaming bonus fund reaching under 1% of members
Deadline’s Katie Campione reports that SAG-AFTRA revealed at its national board plenary that roughly $1.5 million from its 2023-negotiated streaming success bonus fund will reach about 700 performers for high-budget SVOD work released in 2024.
Instacart’s smart cart pullback muddies its retail media pitch
eMarketer’s Rachel Wolff reports that Instacart’s retreat from its in-store smart cart hardware push complicates the company’s broader retail media strategy, since the devices were meant to anchor in-store ad and data capabilities Instacart has been building to compete with Amazon and Walmart.
Attention metrics are a proxy, not the full picture, argues new framework
TVREV’s Sofie Sue Rutgeerts argues that attention is only the middle step in a three-part chain, with motivation priming exposure and memory determining whether it matters.
Survey: only 7% watch local news via a station’s own app
TVREV’s In the Vicinity podcast covers new Future of TV Live survey data from Ring Digital founder Brian Ring, who finds pay-TV reliance for local news has fallen to 35% while social, YouTube and free streaming apps pick up the slack.
Instagram tests 90-minute videos, lands on Apple TV — still no ad-rev share
Variety’s Todd Spangler reports that Instagram is testing video lengths of up to 90 minutes and expanding to Apple TV, positioning itself as a bigger YouTube rival.
Amazon takes international rights on A24’s $200M ‘Elden Ring’ film
Deadline’s Andreas Wiseman reports that Amazon MGM has pre-empted market interest in A24’s “Elden Ring,” securing international pay-1 streaming rights ahead of next week’s American Film Market.
Combined Paramount/WBD would top NBCU in US TV ad exposure time
VideoWeek’s Tim Cross-Kovoor reports that Comscore’s “The Score” shows NBCUniversal and Versant combined led US TV ad exposure time in August at 17.5 percent, but a merged Paramount-WBD would top the chart at 23.9 percent.
Prime Video streams TV’s first fully AI-made series
The Ankler’s Erik Barmack reports that Prime Video is now globally streaming “Castle Walls,” a two-episode melodrama from Turkish producer Ay Yapım built with AI doing much of the visual work.
Adidas, Poppi, Walmart Connect lead 2026 Digiday Awards winners
Digiday reports that Adidas and Gamefam won Best Partnership for a Roblox football activation that drew more than 51 million visits and 468 million brand interactions in four weeks.
Netflix cuts 2026 ad revenue forecast to $2.7 billion from $3 billion
Variety’s Brian Steinberg reports that Netflix rolled back its 2026 ad revenue projection to $2.7 billion from $3 billion, citing delays in rolling out new ad products, as streaming supply glut gives buyers leverage on pricing.