Agency & Consulting
Advertisers want sports streaming, but cost and ROI proof hold back spend
AdExchanger reports that Premion and Advertiser Perceptions found 73% of advertisers plan to fund live sports streaming and CTV within a year, yet cost (44%) and measuring ROI (41%) remain the biggest barriers, not scale.
Nielsen: radio reaches 92% of US adults monthly, tops every other platform
Nielsen is reporting that radio reaches 92% of US adults monthly, more than TV-connected devices, smartphones or live TV, and drives 82% of ad-supported audio time versus 16% for streaming music services.
McDonald’s media network fuels warning on commerce media attention limits
Campaign US’s Keith Turco reports that McDonald’s is piloting a media network across 450 U.S. restaurants, targeting $1 billion in revenue using its app, kiosks and menu boards as ad inventory.
Vizio adds 40+ creator channels to its FAST platform
eMarketer’s Marisa Jones reports that Walmart-owned Vizio launched more than 40 creator-led channels, including one from MrBeast, on its free ad-supported WatchFree+ service, following YouTube’s similar push into linear-style creator series on CTV.
Nestlé centralizes creator marketing, but measurement lags
Next in Media’s Mike Shields reports that Nestlé is merging its scattered PR, media and influencer budgets into one creator marketing discipline, per digital content lead Daniele Tundo, while CreativeX’s Anastasia Leng says most brands plateau at 10-20% of spend going to creators.
Fox Entertainment and Hartbeat strike microdrama development deal
Deadline’s Max Goldbart reports Fox Entertainment Studios will get first look at film and TV projects from vertical series under Hartbeat’s Codeblack, Essence and Revolt brands, with Fox Entertainment Global distributing them worldwide via Holywater’s My Drama platform.
Omdia: Latin America’s media market to hit $62bn in 2026
Advanced Television reports that Omdia forecasts Latin America’s media and entertainment market will grow 15.4 percent to $62 billion in 2026, with online video reaching $35 billion, over half of total revenue, Netflix leading with 63.8 million subscriptions.
WNBA Finals ads sell out across NBC, USA Network
Sports Business Journal’s Josh Carpenter reports NBCU sold out WNBA Finals inventory on NBC and USA, with nearly 80 brands buying WNBA time this season and women’s sports spend nearly doubling year over year for 2026-27.
Agency business consolidates among WPP, Omnicom, and Publicis
eMarketer’s Marisa Jones reports that holding company consolidation, led by Publicis, Omnicom, and WPP, is concentrating agency business at the top while smaller independent shops struggle to compete for the same accounts.
Fox Entertainment commits long-term to its creator studio, no exit plan
Deadline’s Max Goldbart reports that Fox Entertainment CEO Rob Wade says Fox Creator Studios, launched this year with Gordon Ramsay’s food roster, won’t be sold, contrasting Fox’s approach with rivals chasing quick exits in the creator space.
Semrush data: AI can mention your brand but never visit your site
The Drum’s Maria Greaves reports that Semrush’s AI Visibility Index 2026 found only 36.7% to 45.3% overlap between the top 100 brands AI chatbots mention and the top 100 domains they actually cite.
Publicis pitches CEOs, not CMOs, with AI anxiety as the hook
AdExchanger reports that Publicis CEO Arthur Sadoun is pitching company chief executives directly rather than CMOs, leaning on AI anxiety after Q3 net revenue grew 5% and the holding company won PepsiCo’s business.
Whalar’s James Street buys Good News Network, forms GNN Group
Deadline’s Jesse Whittock reports that a newly formed holding company, GNN Group, has acquired Good News Network for an undisclosed sum, with Whalar co-founder James Street joining as co-chairman and lead investor.
Publicis posts 5% Q3 growth, credits record new-business run
Campaign’s Ben Bold reports that Publicis Groupe posted 5% organic net revenue growth in the third quarter, with net revenue rising to 3.81 billion euros from 3.53 billion euros a year earlier.
TikTok, Made By Us ink multi-year microdrama slate with Moby, Hannah Stocking
Deadline’s Jesse Whittock reports TikTok and Made By Us Studios signed a multi-year deal for creator-led micro-series on TikTok and PineDrama, debuting with “Player,” starring Hannah Stocking, and “The Knock,” featuring Moby’s Little Walnut Productions and Adam Rose.
TV comedy’s collapse: Ankler maps the decade-long crash in scripted laughs
The Ankler’s Lesley Goldberg reports that U.S.-produced scripted comedies fell from 210 series in 2021 to just 122 in 2025, a nearly 30 percent drop in share since that peak.
Netflix layoffs land alongside new engagement worries
The Ankler’s Sean McNulty reports that Netflix layoffs have hit the company, accompanied by new, troublesome engagement data, as the newsletter also tracks how Ben Affleck’s second Netflix movie this year performed and Disney’s big week on the service.
eMarketer: pause ads give streaming video a purchase-intent boost
eMarketer’s Marisa Jones reports that pause ads complement video spots by catching viewers at a moment of attention, turning the awareness built by video into purchase intent.
Retail media execs: stop treating network spend as a cost center
Adweek’s Justin Chin reports that at an Adweek House panel co-hosted with Albertsons, Albertsons Media Collective’s Julian Mintz and Razorfish CEO Dani Mariano argued retail media dollars should be framed as a growth lever rather than trade spend.
Rushfield: Hollywood’s merger wave is strip-mining, not saving, the industry
The Ankler’s Richard Rushfield argues that Hollywood has adopted a private-equity playbook of acquire, consolidate, slash costs and extract value, pointing to Warner Bros. employees enduring cuts through the AT&T, Discovery and now Skydance eras while executive pay climbs.
College football advertisers go all in on November
eMarketer’s Peter Clark reports that advertisers are concentrating spend around November’s college football slate, when conference championships and playoff positioning drive peak viewership.