MediaPost | Around the Net In Media

Trump Media Reports A Whopping Profit

Wed, 11 Nov 2026 22:45:56 -0500

Trump Media & Technology Group has realized a Q3 profit of $409.87 million, up from a $54.8 million loss in the same period last year, The Wall Street Journal reports. Revenue totaled $3 million, versus $1 million in the prior year. Roughly $1.8 million of Q3 revenue came from media division subscriptions, including the Trruth+ streaming platform and Truth API, a service that provides instant access to Trumps posts in social media. The financial statement precedes the firm’s $6 billion merger with TAE. This is expected to close in Q4.

Vox Media Strikes Advertising/Marketing Deal With 'The Bulwark'

Wed, 11 Nov 2026 22:41:02 -0500

Vox Media has signed a three-year advertising sales and marketing deal with The Bulwark, Axios reports. Starting in early 2027, the exclusive arrangement will provide Vox Media’s advertising partners with access to almost 200 of original current affairs programming per month. The Bulwark has enjoyed great audience growth, but the inventory is undermonetized, said Sarah Longwell, CEO and publisher.

ITV Network Cuts Costs After A Weak Advertising Quarter

Wed, 11 Nov 2026 22:27:45 -0500

ITV, a UK media network, is targeting $40 million in cost savings as it faces a “weaker demand for advertising” in Q4, Deadline reports. Ad revenue is expected to drop from 5% to 10% during the quarter. These savings will come from ITV’s Media & Entertainment businesses, some from content and a smaller amount from “discretionary non-content savings.”

Alabama Power To Stop Passing Ad Costs On To Customers

Wed, 11 Nov 2026 22:21:49 -0500

Alabama Power plans to stop charging its customers for advertising costs after the state's Public Service Commission (PSC) requested it, Alabama.com reports. The only exception will be for ads related to public safety. A new state law mandates that the utility stop using customer money for ads by 2029. But the PSC seeks to speed up the process. "I don't see any reason that we shouldn't take steps now to begin that process rather than waiting for Jan. 1, 2029," said Cynthia Almond president of the PSC, in a meeting on Nov. 3.

Taboola, Yahoo Enter Mediation To Revolve Ad Partnership Dispute

Tue, 10 Nov 2026 23:36:34 -0500

Taboola and Yahoo have entered mediation to resolve a contractual dispute between the two companies, CTech reports. The disagreement -- in which both firms accuse the other of “material non-compliance’ with the terms of their 30-year advertising partnership -- was revealed in Taboola’s latest quarterly filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, but Taboola did not disclose the specific areas of disagreement.

Netflix Debuts Ad Campaign In Four Countries

Tue, 10 Nov 2026 23:31:53 -0500

Netflix has launched an advertising campaign titled “Find the Thing You Never Knew You Needed” in four countries: the U.S., Canada, Brazil and Spain, The Hollywood Reporter writes. The move comes as Netflix gets ready to overhaul its film and TV content under Peter Rice, its new content chief. The campaign features three spots shot on 35 mm. “People come to Netflix trusting they’ll discover something new to love, often something they didn’t see coming,” said Aarti Thiagarajan, senior director of brand creative studio for Netflix. “We wanted to celebrate that moment when you get hooked.”

Children, Teenagers Hit With Thousands Of Food Messages Per Year

Tue, 10 Nov 2026 23:19:59 -0500

U.S. children and teenagers are hit with thousands of food marketing messages online each year, mostly for unhealthy products, according to a new study, Yahoo! News reports. The study, conducted by researchers from the University of Illinois Chicago and the University of Ottawa, found that adolscents aged 13 to 17 received a median of 10,107 food marketing messages per year, versus 1,427 for children in the 8-12 age category.

Radio Second Only To Social Media In ROI

Tue, 10 Nov 2026 23:11:55 -0500

Radio generated $2 in return on investment for every dollar spent on it, according to iHeartMedia, citing Nielsen benchmarks, Inside Radio reports. Social media, the only channel ranking above radio in ROI, pulled $2.22 per dollar invested. Radio is ahead of eight other media channels in weighted advertising ROI, including television, display advertising, search and connected TV.

Ogilvy, CAA Partner On AI -Driven Celebrity Ads

Mon, 09 Nov 2026 22:01:28 -0500

Ogilvy is partnering with CAA to launch an AI platform that enables brands to use artificial intelligence to generate celebrity advertisements, The Hollywood Reporter writes. The platform will allow talent to gain endorsements without spending more time shooting commercials. CAA’s “vault” is a database that store and licenses digital likenesses and voice and intellectual property parties of who opt in. “We built The CAA Vault to ensure that talent owns, controls, and can safely monetize their digital likeness on their own terms and only with their consent,” said Alex Shannon. head of strategic development for CAA.

AMC Reports Slight Q3 Revenue Gain, Operating Loss

Mon, 09 Nov 2026 21:52:59 -0500

AMC Global Media reported an 0.8% increase in Q3 revenue to $566.1 million, Media Play News reports. Declines in advertising and domestic-TV affiliate fees were offset by streaming and content revenue. Domestic streaming revenue rose by 4% YoY Domestic streaming revenue increased 4% to $181 million AMC reported a $41.6 million operating loss, compared with $55.5 million in operating income compared to the same period in the prior year.

SoundCast, StackAdapt Team Up To Offer Audio

Mon, 09 Nov 2026 21:45:33 -0500

SoundCast, a digital audio advertising marketplace based in Paris, has formed a technology partnership with StackAdapt, PPC Land reports. The arrangement will allow advertisers and agencies on StackAdapt to buy SoundCast’s full audio offering programmatically from the StackAdapt platform.

Social Media, Newsrooms Have Too Much Sway On Politics: Survey

Mon, 09 Nov 2026 21:36:18 -0500

Americans think both social media and U.S. news organizations have too much power and influence on politics, Pew Research Center reports. Pew found in a survey that 69% feel this way about social and 55% about traditional media. Republicans and Democrats are roughly tied regarding social media, but are widely split on news organizations — at 69% for Republicans and 43% for Democrats.

Charter Pursues $2 Billion In Cost Reductions As Subscriptions Decline

Sun, 08 Nov 2026 23:18:51 -0500

Charter lost 233,000 internet subscribers and 77,000 video subscribers in Q3 and seeks to cut $2 billion in costs over the next 18 months while redesigning its operations, Cord Cutter News reports. This left Charter with 34.3 million internet and 13.8 million video subscribers. Charter reported Q3 revenue of $14.9 billion and a $2.4 billion net loss. The firm’s Spectrum subsidiary is facing subscriber erosion and competition. Some of Charter’s new savings will result from cutting projects that do not support internet growth and eliminating management layers.

Advertisers Pull Out Of 'I've Had It' Podcast Over Comments By Hosts

Sun, 08 Nov 2026 23:15:15 -0500

Nine advertisers have pulled out of the “I’ve Had It” podcast because of a clip shared on X by hosts Jennifer Welch and Angie “Pumps” Sullivan, Business Insider reports. The clip shows the two hosts laughing at an X post that referred to the assassinated political activist Charlie Kirk. "Honeylove has ended our partnership with the I've Had It podcast,” Honeylove said in a Sunday post on X. “Violence of any kind is never acceptable, and those comments do not reflect our values.” Other brands that cancelled included Chewy, Cash App, Zenni and Casper.

AI Media Buying Raises Questions About Bias

Sun, 08 Nov 2026 23:09:45 -0500

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a growing force in media-buying, so much so that Gartner predicts that more than 70% of global ad spend will be materially influenced by AI by 2028, The Drum writes. And observers question if bias is entering the system. The IAB Tech Lab has debuted AAMP 3.0, a system for agentic advertising. And the U.K.’s Information Commissioner’s Office has asked for evidence on agentic AI, signaling regulatory interest.

AppLovin Sees Boost In Ad Spending, Advertiser ROI

Sun, 08 Nov 2026 23:04:07 -0500

AppLovin, an artificial intelligence (AI) advertising company, has rebounded from troubles earlier in the year and is considered a good stock buy, Seeking Alpha writes in an analysis. The tailwinds are due to a new model improvement that is performing well and an increase in advertisers’ Return On Ad Spending [ROAS] and a +50% increase in gaming ad spend.

Updated FTC Lawsuit Alleges Amazon Inflated Ad Auction Prices

Thu, 05 Nov 2026 20:27:59 -0500

An unredacted complaint filed by the Federal Trade Commission and 22 states accuses Amazon of inflating prices in its online search ad auction, The Wall Street Journal reports. The updated suit alleges that Amazon secretly raised prices by up to 50% over auction results on ordinary days and more than tripled prices on Prime Day, Black Friday and other major shopping days. Amazon denies the claims. The case, which was initially filed back in August, is on file with the U.S. District Court with the Western District of Washington.

Nine Firms That Could Be Big Buyers Of Ad-Tech Companies

Thu, 05 Nov 2026 20:25:45 -0500

The ad-tech merger market has heated up, with Salesforce acquiring Braze and Publicis Groupe completing its LiveRamp acquisition. Business Insider reports on nine companies, from Accenture to Zeta, from Adobe to OpenAI and Stagwell, that M&A pros said could be the next big buyers.

Mediaocean Links Prisma Direct Platform With Microsoft

Thu, 05 Nov 2026 20:13:46 -0500

Mediaocean has integrated its Prisma Direct platform with Microsoft Advertising, The Desk reports. The arrangement will enable brands and agencies to manage search ad campaigns via a centralized media-buying system. It will connect such chores as campaign planning, purchasing, performance reporting and invoicing, relieving advertisers of the need to utilize separate platforms.

USA Today Emphasizes Direct-Sold Ad Growth

Thu, 05 Nov 2026 20:05:06 -0500

USA Today Co. Inc. suffered a Q3 revenue slump and attributes it partly to the loss of a programmatic advertising partner, the company revealed during an earnings call summary, Yahoo Finance reports. But direct-sold digital advertising achieved growth in Q3, and this validates the media company’s strategy of focusing on sales-team-driven relationships over volatile programmatic channels, the report states.

Media, Tech Stocks Rise After Election - But Not All

Wed, 04 Nov 2026 20:23:32 -0500

Media and technology stocks surged following Tuesday’s Democratic election sweep, Deadline writes. Comcast and Disney both rose by 5%, Netflix and Skydance by 4%. Some tech stocks saw even stronger growth, including Amazon (7%), Microsoft (6%) and Snap (6%). But Nvidia fell by 2%, and Elon Musk’s SpaceX declined by 3% and Tesla by 2% after Musk spent hundreds of millions of dollars backing conservative candidates in the race.

Giant Retailers Cope With Agentic Shopping

Wed, 04 Nov 2026 20:12:31 -0500

Retailers like Walmart and Amazon are facing a challenge caused by AI-driven shopping: How to allow AI agents on their sites without threatening their ad revenue and customer data, Reuters reports. Those firms are the world’s largest retail media businesses, commanding an 88% share of the $74.4 billion retail media market in the U.S. Walmart has launched tools to enable third-party agentic commerce. But Amazon has gone to court to block Comet, Perplexity’s shopping agent.

Roku Launches Ad Platform Built On Machine Learning

Wed, 04 Nov 2026 20:07:22 -0500

Streaming TV brand Roku has debuted an advertising platform that uses machine learning to help brands target consumer actions, The Desk reports. The new offering, called Roku Outcomes, moves beyond audience impressions to allow advertisers to build campaigns around app installations, subscriptions, free trials and other types of conversions. Roku Outcomes features two new products: "Amplify," for reaching new households, and "Actions," for gearing campaigns toward specific consumer activities at a specified target cost per acquisition.

Chinese Brands Pursue Global Ad Push, The Trade Desk Says

Wed, 04 Nov 2026 20:02:58 -0500

U.S. media-buying firm The Trading Desk sees an opportunity as China makes an international brand push using digital advertising, Forbes reports. “There’s going to be a big shift” as Chinese brands break through old stereotypes and pursue more sophisticated ad buying, said Mitch Waters, senior vice president for the Asia-Pacific region. Firms like the Trade Desk can accelerate this process, but Waters added: “We’re seeing this skill set of brand building evolving from domestic advertisers, and even domestic agencies building that capability to have that strategy for these brands.”

Google Expands Personalized Ads On YouTube

Wed, 04 Nov 2026 01:04:21 -0500

Google is allowing increased personalized gambling advertising on YouTube, Yahoo/Tech reports. This category includes permission market advertisers, but they face tougher rules. Gambling advertisers can target audience groups with specific characteristics or interests. But Google is prohibiting targeting based on health data related to gambling.

Disney Views Thousands Of Job Reductions

Wed, 04 Nov 2026 00:57:33 -0500

Walt Disney Co. is planning thousands of job cuts while asking some managers to produce 20% in annual cost savings, sources said, Bloomberg reports. The savings could come from expense and job reductions. Theme parks, TV channels and the Disney movie studio will be disproportionately impacted. CEO Josh D’Amaro plans to put some of those savings into film and TV programming, I addition to the theme parks, cruise ship business and technology.

Versant Media Group Sees Decline In Q3 Revenue

Wed, 04 Nov 2026 00:00:00 -0500

Versant Media Group reported a 4.2% decline in Q3 earnings to $1.59 billion, Cord Cutter News reports. Net income fell by 41.1%. Linear distribution revenue, meaning cable and satellite distributions, fell 5.8% to $935 million. The decrease was caused by continuing subscriber losses, which were not mitigated by cable and satellite. Separate from Comcast NBCuniversal earlier this year, the company owns CNBC, MS Now, Golf Channel and USA Network.

Roku Beats Q3 Estimates, Sees Ad Growth

Mon, 02 Nov 2026 22:55:31 -0500

Streaming platform Roku had a solid Q3, growing its revenue by 24% YoY to $1.5 billion and beating Wall Street estimates, Variety reports. Gross profit grew by 24% to $649 million. Platform segment revenue jumped by 23% to $1.3 billion and advertising and subscription sales each grew by 23%. Political advertising exceeded that of the same quarter in 2024, a presidential election year. Advertising in the media and entertainment category (M&E) saw its highest growth in four years.

Reddit Daily Users Flat, Advertisers Urged To Take Closer Look

Mon, 02 Nov 2026 19:47:50 -0500

Reddit’s stock has fallen after release of its Q3 earnings, mostly due to declining referral traffic, Marketing Dive says in an analysis. The explosive growth -- partly driven by the firm’s advertising capabilities -- is slowing down, and daily traffic is flat quarter-over-quarter. However, overall revenue grew by 53% YoY to $895 million. Marketers should take a closer look as Reddit gains a stronger presence in the online advertising space, Marketing Dive contends.

OpenAI Signs Deals With Magnite, Pubmatic To Further ChatGPT Ad Buys

Mon, 02 Nov 2026 19:31:22 -0500

OpenAI has teamed up with Magnite and Pubmatic to help advertisers buy ChatGPT ad placements via ad-tech platforms, Token Post reports. Advertisers can use each platform to submit bids, upload their ads and set spending limits. The agreements will make it “easier for advertisers to buy and manage ChatGPT ads through tools they already use,” an OpenAI spokesperson said. The two firms each run platforms that connect buyers with ad inventory.