Agency & Consulting
Cable news ratings slid across the board in Q3 2026
Adweek’s Mark Mwachiro reports Fox News, MS NOW and CNN all posted double-digit quarter-over-quarter declines in total viewers and the 25-54 demo during Q3 2026, with summer weather and a slow news cycle cited as factors.
Amazon takes Emmys global in six-year, $20M+-a-year deal
Deadline’s Peter White reports Amazon closed a six-year deal with the Television Academy for global Emmys rights, worth $20 million to $25 million annually, ending the 30-year broadcast wheel among ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC.
Pharma brands borrow the CPG media playbook as OTC sales surge
Digiday’s Sam Bradley reports that consumer healthcare firms like Opella are shifting budgets toward retail media, creator marketing, paid social and search, pulling spend from traditional pharma TV, as OTC sales hit $58.2 billion in 2025.
Netflix’s market cap has halved since its 2025 peak
VideoWeek’s Dan Meier reports that Netflix’s share price has fallen 50 percent since its all-time high in June 2025, narrowing the gap with Disney, which it overtook in market value back in 2023.
SAMY buys influencer shop Get Engaged in low nine-figure deal
Adweek’s Mark Stenberg reports that Madrid-based social agency SAMY acquired U.S. influencer marketing shop Get Engaged in a cash-and-equity deal valued in the low nine figures, with Get Engaged’s founders retaining meaningful ownership in the combined business.
Apple TV bucks streaming trend, doubles down on scripted drama
Advanced Television reports that Ampere Analysis found Apple TV is the only major US streamer increasing its scripted-content share while rivals lean into unscripted fare.
Stagwell launches global media agency under Assembly CEO Rutgersson
Campaign US’s Emmy Liederman reports that Stagwell has launched Stagwell Media, uniting its global media capabilities under one roof, led by former Assembly Global CEO Liz Rutgersson.
The Team acquires U.K. creators agency Outreach Talent Group
The Hollywood Reporter’s Erik Hayden reports that The Team has acquired London-based Outreach Talent Group, bolting the five-year-old creators agency onto its roster.
Dhar Mann’s $100M AWNY creator-brand goal is already pledged, he claims
Digiday’s Alyssa Mercante reports that Dhar Mann, Advertising Week’s first chief creator officer, says CMO pledges already exceed his $100 million creator-brand deal target, though he doesn’t expect contracts signed by week’s end.
Digiday podcast decodes agency landscape through sports and sitcom analogies
Digiday’s Kimeko McCoy reports that editors Seb Joseph, Michael Burgi and Tim Peterson used sports teams and The Golden Girls to break down the agency holding company landscape.
Cotswold Outdoor brings retail media in-store with Broadsign, IUF
ExchangeWire’s Sheila Obeng-King reports that Cotswold Outdoor Group has deployed 149 till, shelf, totem and front-of-store screens across 23 stores with Broadsign and IUF.
ITVX hits 3bn streams for 2026, two months faster than last year
Advanced Television’s Nik Roseveare reports that ITV’s ITVX passed 3 billion streams in 2026 on September 9th, two full months ahead of 2025’s pace.
WBD white paper finds wide variance across CTV measurement providers
AdExchanger’s Alyssa Boyle reports that Warner Bros. Discovery spent a year comparing five measurement vendors — VideoAmp, iSpot, Comscore, Innovid and Samba — across 50-plus campaigns and found impression counts for the same campaign nearly doubling between providers.
Midterm political ad spending on pace to hit $11.6 billion
Digiday’s Michael Bürgi reports that 2026 midterm political ad spending is on track to break records at roughly $11.6 billion per AdImpact, with the White House itself running a “U.S. Government” campaign touting Trump’s accomplishments worth an estimated $20 million.
‘The Voice’ Season 30 premiere draws 7.8 million viewers in a week
Variety’s Selome Hailu reports that “The Voice” Season 30 premiere hit 7.8 million viewers across seven days, blending Nielsen linear data with NBCUniversal’s Peacock streaming figures, marking the show’s biggest opening since Season 27.
Chobani uses in-house MMM to judge commerce media beyond ROAS
eMarketer’s Peter Clark reports that Chobani’s Erica Culley says the brand has spent several years building an internal media mix model to standardize performance evaluation across retail media partners and tactics.
Casey Bloys signs new deal to run both HBO Max and Paramount+
Variety’s Michael Schneider reports that Casey Bloys signed a multiyear extension to stay on as co-chair and chief content officer of Skydance DTC, overseeing HBO Max and Paramount+ as the merged company sets its new structure.
‘Bad Friends’ podcast signs ad sales and distribution deal with Wave
TheWrap’s JD Knapp reports that Andrew Santino and Bobby Lee’s “Bad Friends” podcast has joined Wave, which will handle ad sales and distribution across YouTube, podcast platforms and other social channels starting with Monday’s episode.
Hollywood unions: US share of film budgets fell below half since 1999
TheWrap’s Jeremy Fuster reports that an Ernst & Young study commissioned by Hollywood’s major unions found U.S. studios’ domestic production spending share fell from 72% in 1999 to under half by 2024.
WBD’s JB Perrette jumps to Skydance in expanded streaming, ad sales role
Deadline’s Dade Hayes reports that JB Perrette, WBD’s head of global streaming, is moving to Skydance as Co-Chair and Chief Business Officer of both Skydance TV and Skydance DTC once the $110 billion merger closes.