“In a world where consumers have more content choices than ever, discovery becomes just as important as the content itself.” — VIZIO’s Ashley Hovey
Sunday morning thought: what big transformations are we all missing here?
It’s easy to overlook some macro trends because it’s so hard to keep up in a fragmented world. Sometimes the play by play of the horse race for media attention that we fail to talk about the horses or the gambling infrastructure that sits on top of this. Until one moment, BAM!, gambling is a runaway train.
This happened with AI, when 10 years ago we couldn’t get much attention to the promise of machine learning for our clients and now it drives the American economy. It happened with video gaming when everyone knew there was a lot of time being spent and all of the sudden there was an ecosystem bigger than TV and watching people play video games became a huge pillar inside of YouTube. And it happened in streaming when Roku boxes and dongles went from being cute “over the top” supplements to forcing the entire TV industry to map out how they drive attention at the mercy of a TV OS.
Well, I could be wrong but I think it’s happening again with the re-bundling of entertainment writ large and a new media oligopoly emerging. Not one that solves fragmentation for us normies, but one that changes what we see and feel all the same.
Retail giants now reach living room screens with better offers. Social platforms now control a huge share of monetizable attention. The legacy media companies are folding into each other to compete. But few in entertainment are talking about how agentic platforms are sucking time and attention with better responsive experiences and purer signals on consumer intent than anyone (ever). Where does that go?
In TV, everyone is focused on Paramount. Its debt, its new leaders, the economic impact on studios. But so few are including the fact that the Ellisons together now have a solid footing in TikTok and enough IP under management that they have a chance to completely re-design a new form of cross platform entertainment. One that suppresses competition, while supercharging preferred content. Given TikTok isn’t just one of the biggest time sucks among young people, it’s also one of the fastest e-commerce platforms in history, there is a non-zero chance that Ellisons’ Larry+David utilize their raw materials and infrastructure to give YouTube a run for its money.
But what do I know? Maybe I’m focused on the wrong horse.
This week’s originals below. As always, thanks for being here.
Choosin’ Texas Is A Gift From The Gods - Alan Wolk
What Happens To CBS’s Local Stations Now? - Tim Hanlon
GEICO Sponsoring Christmas Movie as VIZIO WatchFree+ Expands Original Programming - Jon Lafayette
NEW PODCAST: What Performance Really Means For Local Media
Imperial Advertising (In A Feudal Media World) - Emanuele Landi
Live Sports Streaming Has Momentum. Here’s What Needs to Happen Next - Blake Hebert
Retired Players Still Rule NFL TV Ad Roost - John Cassillo
The Convergence Of CTV And Commerce Media - TVREV
Ad Roundup: Sony’s PlayStation Picks PubMatic for Programmatic on Live TV - Jon Lafayette
How TODAY With Jenna & Sheinelle Has Grown Its Social Viewership - John Cassillo
SAGE Says: Why Progressive’s ‘Dr. Rick’ Ads Are Winning - Eleanor Semeraro
OUT NOW: Alan Wolk’s New Book “Welcome to the Age of Feudal Media”
SPECIAL REPORT: The TV OS Wars: The Battle For The Living Room
LG Ad Solutions Partners With Best Buy Ads to Connect Ad Inventory Platforms [Media Play News]
- TL;DR: Advertisers can now buy LG’s TV inventory through Best Buy Ads, paired with Best Buy’s first-party shopper and device-ownership data.
CTV ad leaders at Advertising Week call for better measurement frameworks [eMarketer]
- “CTV should be … on the hook for business outcomes and attributions,” Nicole Scaglione, vice president of CTV/OTT and OLV at PubMatic, said during a Tuesday panel.
Carat, NBCUniversal Launch Agentic Planning Tool For Upfront Buys [TVNewsCheck]
- TL;DR: Carat, NBCUniversal, FreeWheel and Newton have introduced a programmatic agentic media solution designed to help advertisers optimize upfront investments across NBCUniversal inventory.
TiVo One Ad Platform Tops 6.3 Million Monthly Active Users [Media Play News]
- TL;DR: TiVo One passed 6.3 million monthly active users as of June, up 70% year over year, while TiVo Ads revenue grew 54% in Q2.
Paramount completes $110B Warner Bros. merger to form Skydance [NBC News]
- TL;DR: Paramount closed its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery on October 6, creating a combined company called Skydance that trades on the NYSE as SKYD.
The Emmys Move to Prime Video in 6-Year Deal, TV Academy Chairman Explains Why [TheWrap]
- TL;DR: The Emmys will stream exclusively on Prime Video through 2033, free in more than 240 countries, ending a 31-year rotation among the broadcast networks.
Why Retailers, Streamers and Ad Tech All Want Their Own Roku [The Streaming Wars]
- TL;DR: Walmart, Best Buy, Amazon and The Trade Desk are each going after a piece of the TV home screen, while Fox is paying $22B to own Roku outright.
Hot Links
- Xbox Forms New Division Focused on Film and TV Adaptations [The Hollywood Reporter]
- Advertising Week NY 2026: The year of convergence [StreamTV Insider]
- Skydance CEOs Acknowledge Layoffs Will Be Coming After Paramount-Warner Bros. Merger: Read the Full Memo [Variety]
- Newly Formed Skydance Is a Force in Sports Media [Front Office Sports]
- Lucy Hale to Star in Roku Limited Series ‘Scarlett Holmes’ [Variety]
- Kevin MacLellan, Paramount’s Head of Global Content Distribution and International, Is Leaving Skydance Post-Merger [Variety]
- How Amex is incorporating ‘Thursday Night Football’ into its NFL marketing [Marketing Dive]
- PubMatic named ad partner for Live TV on PS5 [Advanced Television]
Hanlon’s Local Links
- Supreme Court Rejects Nexstar Bid To End DIRECTV Retrans Lawsuit - Matthew Keys [TheDesk]
- Cable Lobby To Sue Trump FCC Over Repeal Of National TV Ownership Cap - Jon Brodkin [Ars Technica]
- Battle Between Disney And The F.C.C. Moves To The Courts - John Koblin & Jim Rutenberg [New York Times]
- Why Ken Paxton, And His Wife, Were All Over Your TV On NFL Sunday - Gwen Howerton [Chron]
- Sinclair Launches National News Brand On Substack - Sara Fischer [Axios]
- From Spots To Audiences: How Advanced Advertising Is Reshaping Local TV - Max Slater-Robins [TVTech]
