Hot List: Forces Tear Us Apart, Can Anything Bundle Us Back Together?
“The future of successful media businesses starts with understanding why people choose you and then serving that need exceptionally well.” - John Saroff, CEO, Chartbeat
Remember when everyone at work and school had the same set of cultural references? Shaped by the same TV shows, news broadcasts, books and movies? American culture looked at the same media and reflected on what it meant about life and society. That doesn't happen so much any more.
Now we are relegated to information delivered to us by algorithmic platforms, and increasingly alternate realities. While there is an argument to be made that social has democratized information and there is merit in giving everyday people a new power to reach strangers from their couch, the phenom has downsides and dark sides.
And in the bite-size realities driven by said algos: businesses are investing to bridge that gap. Walmart bought VIZIO to merge retail and living room screens. Fox is trying to inhale Roku to get reach and the OS. The Ellison’s got a stake in TikTok and have now smashed together Paramount-Warner-Disco into Skydance. There is a great re-bundling of apps to bring us back to the days of cable. And brands and nets are investing in cross-platform measurement like iSpot to see a de-duplicated view of reach across all of it.
While we see it all happening in front of us in soundbites and news headlines and experience this fragmentation in our daily lives, there isn't enough deep, thoughtful exploration about what this means for us, for our businesses, our children and our future as a society.
That's why I'm so proud of the work done by TVREV’s very own Alan Wolk on the launch of his book about what happens when the monoculture collapses.
Get it, read it, talk to the people around you about how we foster better community and connections given this new reality as if the future of our society depends on it-- it kinda does!
J. Damata
Viewers put price ahead of every other streaming perk [eMarketer]
TL;DR: eMarketer’s Peter Clark reports that streaming subscribers rank price as the top factor in deciding which services to keep, ahead of content library size, ad-free viewing, and exclusive originals.
C-Suite Shocker: David Ellison Adds a Co-CEO for Merged Paramount-WBD [Adweek]
TL;DR: Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery’s $110 billion merger may be set to be completed, but the newly combined entity isn’t done making news.
How Netflix is using AI to personalize streaming [Fortune]
TL;DR: Netflix is piloting a conversational, voice-driven way to find what to watch, and rolling out an AI ad format that ties the ad's "vibe" to the show on screen, such as a pause ad on Stranger Things that references the series.
FUBO Launches ‘My Local Sports’ [TV Tech]
TL;DR: FuboTV has launched “My Local Sports,” a new service that allows subscribers in select markets to purchase their local regional sports network (RSN) as part of an add-on package to their Fubo Sports subscription.
New College Sports Bill: Scoring Benefits For Brands, TV Networks? [MediaPost]
TL;DR: A new Senate bill would regulate NIL deals and raise college revenue sharing to nearly $50M. MediaPost's take is that it could stabilize athlete valuations, which would help brands and networks.
Hot Links
Advertising Week NY 2026: 10 execs on what they want to hear about AI [The Current]
Starling launches new CTV platform [Advanced Television]
Prime Time: Amazon beams with pride over the growth of ‘Thursday Night Football’ [Sports Business Journal]
ESPN Unlimited on YouTube TV Has at Least One Limit [Sportico]
WNBA viewership hits 26-year high in Year 1 of new TV deals [Awful Announcing]
What’s next for Telemundo’s soccer plans after its World Cup victory [The Current]
Disney Makes More Job Cuts, Laying Off a Few Hundred Employees [Variety]
Amelia Dimoldenberg to Bring ‘Chicken Shop Date’ Final Season to Netflix and YouTube [Variety]
Multiscreen TV Ad Campaigns Double Incremental Return On Ad Spend, Says Comcast [TV Tech]
Roku Orders ‘Battle of the Streaming Stars’ From Omaha Productions (Exclusive) [The Hollywood Reporter]
Hanlon’s Local Links
Comcast’s Carr Calculation — Oliver Darcy [Status]
FCC Backs DISH Network In Must Carry Dispute With Georgia TV Station, Nixing Rosenworcel-Era Precedent - Ted Hearn [Policyband]
Can The FCC Rise Above It All? - Phil Kurz [TVTech]
Why Radio Can’t Ignore The Edison Research Data About 13-34’s And In-Car Listening - Garrett Searight [Barrett Media]
Format Counts: Religion Takes An 80-Station Lead Over Country - [Inside Radio]
The 2026-27 NHL Local Broadcast Accessibility Rankings - Manny Soloway [Awful Announcing]
Edward Czarnecki Uses Game Theory To Assess ATSC 3.0 Transition Policies - George Winslow [TVTech]
