Hot List: Abnormal Is The New Normal
“Life has to be a little nuts sometimes. Otherwise, it's just a bunch of Thursdays strung together” - Rob Reiner (RIP)
TV and media’s new normal is so abnormal.
If these were summary points of TVREV coverage 10 years ago, we’d have said this is all too dystopian and futuristic to be true.
Yet here we are:
Disney just paid a billion to have its IP manipulated by OpenAI.
There is a Game of Thrones war for Disco Bros. The only sure things are movie theaters will be different, Saudis will own a piece, and another shoe will drop. Here’s how to decode it.
Meanwhile, the biggest CTV ad streamer -YouTube- pays $0.00 for Disco’s content rights and controls a massive part of the audience experience— why aren’t more pundits quantifying the YT reach and time spent?
It’s no secret local broadcasters are merging into politically motivated mega media companies, but who had The CW as a key chip on that bingo card?
TV News orgs are now constantly tip-toeing around and/or blatantly kowtowing to Trump. As the fortifications of the 4th estate crumble, will CNN tip the scales of media consolidation?
People are getting their news from social algorithms funded and manipulated by foreign adversaries, bots and AI deep fakes—leading to hate, numbness of society and a dystopian feel to culture, (and some genuinely hilarious stuff). But yet, we can’t figure out how to get great chatbots for TV viewing?
Pinterest, a place for creating visual collections is getting into performance TV (advertising)?
“For years, the narrative has been one of resistance—lawsuits, strikes, and fears of displacement. But with this partnership, the Mouse House has signaled a new strategy: if you can’t beat the machine, feed it… but on your own terms.” — Jesse Redniss on Disney’s billion-dollar deal with OpenAI
Recommended Reading:
Netflix Switches To New Ad Tier Metric, Claiming 190 Million Monthly Active Viewers [Deadline]
IAB maps best practices for performance-driven CTV ads [Marketing Dive]
AdGood And Samsung Ads Want To Make CTV More Affordable For Nonprofits [AdExchanger]
DoubleVerify Launches Industry-First Streaming TV Products to Drive Greater Transparency and Elevate CTV Advertising Quality [Business Wire]
CTV Needs to Get Its Act Together [Monopoly Report]
Netflix & iHeartMedia In Talks Over Video Podcast Licensing Agreement [TVNewsCheck]
Hanlon’s Local Links:
Even With Regulatory Fast-Tracking, NextGen Is Racing Against the Clock - Adam Wiener [TVNewsCheck]
Sinclair CEO Expects FCC To Raise Or Eliminate Broadcast Ownership Cap In First Half Of 2026 - Lucas Manfredi [The Wrap]
When Networks Go Dark On Virtual MVPDs, Local Broadcasters And Viewers Pay The Price - Tom Sly [TVNewsCheck]
'Broadcasting is Too Important to Fail' - [TVTech]
Main Street Sports RSNs Renew Deals With Brewers, Reds, Royals - Anthony Crupi [Sportico]

