“When you’re speaking to an advertiser, they have to have some understanding about where this content is available and when…A creator’s posting strategy has implications” That was YouTube CEO Neal …

This past June at the UFC Freedom 250 event at the White House, with Meta stock trading at $567, I went up to Zuck and I said, ‘No one was talking about Anthropic a year ago, and Google was left fo…

The most surprising part of yesterday’s SPECS launch and hands-on demo was how completely separate SPECS felt from Snap’s core product, Snapchat. While Snapchat pioneered AR lenses and AR technolog…

When NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell was asked yesterday on CNBC whether the league would exercise its options to renegotiate media rights deals (link), he stated: “We don’t have to make that …

We believe investors’ expectations of a coming settlement between Paramount and 12 State AGs suing to block the pending acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery are far too optimistic. We sense t…

As the media industry shifted from wholesale linear distribution to direct-to-consumer streaming, we predicted (link) that technology would become the new Hollywood talent: “the content on th…

Everything Paramount has done over the past several weeks appears to be inflaming the situation with California Attorney General Rob Bonta and increasing the odds this case goes to trial in March 2…

While Paramount has repeatedly claimed that the State AGs and the WGA have ignored reality to invent an antitrust case to block the merger of Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery, we belie…

Over the past 24 hours, four notable developments have emerged around the pending antitrust litigation over Paramount’s proposed acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. Two came from earnings …

When Disney reports fiscal (June) Q3 2026 earnings next Wednesday, August 5th, we expect Disney to announce its first major strategic move under new CEO Josh D’Amaro. We believe Disney will announc…

Paramount is shifting its conference call format to pre-submitted questions, similar to Netflix, Comcast and Disney. However, unlike those three companies, Paramount will open the call to live Q&#0…

YouTube TV Actively Encouraging Cord Shaving We logged into YouTube TV earlier today to try to activate the new ingestion of ESPN Unlimited (we could not figure it out, despite the instructions sho…

The Critical Peacock YouTube Premium Detail That Is Not Getting Talked About Yesterday (link), we wrote about YouTube Premium’s deal to include Peacock Premium (with ads) at no extra cost, fr…

With Paramount agreeing not to close its pending acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery until the earlier of June 1, 2027, or five days after a final court ruling on the merits (link), the $110 bill…

While YouTube has a long-term deal to be the exclusive home of NFL Sunday Ticket and YouTube TV offers NFL games on ABC/ESPN, CBS, FOX and NBC, we were surprised that YouTube did not bid more aggre…

Paramount Agrees to Delay WBD Close Until 2027, Heads Straight to Trial Paramount has agreed (link) to not close the pending acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery, until the earlier of June 1, 2027 …

Comcast changed its earnings call format from live Q&A to pre-submitted questions starting with today’s Q2’2026 earnings call. We submitted the three questions shown below…

Earlier today, Judge Martínez-Olguín issued a 14-day temporary restraining order (link) and set an August 3rd hearing on the far more important preliminary injunction that would stop the merger fro…

Merging Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery will undoubtedly create a stronger streaming competitor, as both Paramount+ and HBO Max are subscale on a standalone basis. But as we’ve written repeate…

Since announcing its pursuit of Warner Bros. Discovery in September 2025, Paramount has projected nothing but confidence. It has repeatedly stated that the WBD acquisition is “pro-competitive” and …

Reddit Goes on the Offensive as AI Slop Soars Yesterday, Reddit launched a consumer brand campaign titled “People are the Best” (press release and video creative embedded below). As the open web di…

Peacock has become a streaming platform. With the launch of Starz on Peacock, subscribers can now watch Starz content within the Peacock app itself. Peacock joins Amazon Channels, Roku Premium Subs…

Back in January 2026, in the midst of the Warner Bros. Discovery auction, Comcast Co-CEO Mike Cavanagh stated: “It doesn’t get stronger by being smaller as a standalone entity,” implying Comcast wo…

Legacy media has long suffered from the innovator’s dilemma, with most players allergic to risk. Fox buying Roku is a bold move. Fox has repeatedly talked about using its financial strength t…

1) FOX: CEO Lachlan Murdoch has talked about making acquisitions given the strength of the company’s balance sheet. Given how tied FOX is to the legacy TV ecosystem, a Roku acquisition would enable…

Watching the NBA Finals this week was a strong reminder of the power of live sports and its importance to the media ecosystem. While final numbers from last night’s Game 4 are not in yet, Gam…

Open the Peacock app on your phone right now. Microdramas licensed from ReelShort sit natively inside the app (“Love Me, Bite Me” with 68 episodes, “Wings of Fire: The Dragon Slay…

Walmart Diversifying Away from Trade Desk with Yahoo DSP Earlier today, Walmart announced it would begin working with Yahoo’s DSP and Magnite’s SSP (Ad Age story here). After questions …

Netflix Testing Sports Highlights Yesterday evening, we noticed MLB game highlights appearing in Netflix’s TV apps and iOS app. Netflix’s home screen has a new row, entitled “MLB …

Listen (6:11 mins) Back in 2019, in a CNBC interview, Spotify Co-Founder Daniel Ek described Spotify’s bold ambition: “It is really about expanding our mission from just being about mus…

Why Pay The Trade Desk’s Premium Take Rate, When Publicis Now Owns the Data? Publicis announced this morning it is acquiring LiveRamp (RAMP) for $2.5B in cash and the most important implicati…

Listen (3:09 mins) The narrative that streaming is making the NFL unaffordable has become a talking point for politicians and regulators. The data tells a completely different story. Yes, NFL games…

Netflix Locks Up the NFL Just Long Enough to Scare Everyone Else Netflix just announced it is adding three NFL games to its existing Christmas Day doubleheader, bringing its total package to five g…

Disney’s YouTube TV Comments Raise Important Questions for Industry Peers Yesterday, Disney reminded investors that YouTube TV’s launch of genre-based bundles, most notably a sports bundle, w…

Paramount is set to hold its first quarterly earnings call since topping Netflix’s bid to win the WBD auction. Given the in-process acquisition, which will likely limit what Paramount can say…

Listen (4:03) Netflix launched Clips today (link), short-form vertical video content within its mobile app, joining Disney+ (Verts), ESPN (Verts), Peacock (Clips), Paramount+ (Clips), and CNN (Shor…

Listen (3:33) The strength and consistency of Meta’s advertising growth illustrates how important AI has been to optimizing ad targeting following the disruptions caused by Apple’s IDFA…

Listen (7:35 mins) Q1 2026 earnings marks a major milestone for Roku, with the company surpassing 100 million active accounts and beginning to break out platform revenue into advertising revenue an…

Disney is refreshing its approach to earnings calls by seeking analysts’ long-term strategic questions for management to address on its upcoming earnings call, rather than taking live questio…

Snap Growth Hacking Raises Concerns on DAUs/Engagement Ever since becoming a public company, Evan Spiegel, Snap’s Co-Founder, has been critical of growth hacking. On Snap’s first-ever e…

Earlier today, Front Office Sports reported (link) that the NFL was finalizing an agreement with YouTube to expand to five games in the coming season, up from one game last season, adding the four …

Here are our ten key questions for Netflix management on tonight’s Q1 2026 earnings discussion (our Q4 2025 questions can be found here). 1) The $72 Billion Question. You were prepared to a w…

The Big Chill: How Judge Nunley’s Injunction Could Ice Broadcast M&A Later today, California District Court Judge Troy Nunley will hold a hearing on whether to issue a preliminary injunct…

Clearing Up the Paramount Equity Syndication for WBD Confusion When Paramount agreed to buy Warner Bros. Discovery, the Ellison family and RedBird Capital agreed to backstop the entire equity porti…

Disney Brings Back Discounted Partial Day Tickets at Walt Disney World Earlier today, Disney announced “Walt Disney World Announces ‘After 2pm’ Summer Ticket Offer,” with discounted 2-d…

YouTube video by Decoder with Nilay Patel

Listen (3:42 mins) Tomorrow marks new Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro’s first day on the job. We believe there are three bold moves that D’Amaro must make to reinvigorate Disney’s l…

Listen (8:48 mins) Two companies dominate connected TV (CTV) streaming: YouTube and Netflix, representing nearly half of streaming time spent on TVs (based on Nielsen Gauge January 2026 data). Whil…

Roku to Break Out Platform Revenue for the First Time Ever Investors have been asking Roku to break out the components of platform revenue for as long as we can remember. Earlier today, at an inves…

The NFL completed its last round of media rights deals in March 2021 with agreements that spanned 11 seasons from 2023-2033, with an option to exit each agreement after the 2029 season (2030 for ES…