In this week’s Week in Review: Nielsen buys up verification specialist DoubleVerify, Disney agrees an IP-centred deal with TikTok, and ad tech companies report their Q2 results.
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Nielsen Acquires DoubleVerify for $2.15 Billion
US-based measurement business Nielsen announced this morning it has reached a deal to buy verification and fraud filtering specialist DoubleVerify for $2.15 billion.
Karthik Rao, Nielsen’s CEO, painted the deal as part of Nielsen’s ongoing transformation, as it has worked to expand its measurement and intelligence capabilities across the full media lifecycle from discovery and planning through to measurement and outcomes. “DoubleVerify will extend our capabilities deeper into the digital media industry, ensuring that the spend flowing between buyers and sellers is reaching real people in brand-suitable environments, through verified channels,” he said. “As advertising workflows become increasingly automated, together we can offer publishers, advertisers, agencies, and platforms a truly independent, end-to-end partner that connects trusted audience intelligence with verified media delivery.”
There’s overlap between the two businesses — both are measurement vendors after all, and both have pushed into outcome measurement in recent years. But in a statement announcing the deal, Nielsen picked out DV’s core verification technology as a key asset. “Today, advertisers must reconcile these signals across separate vendors,” said the statement. “The combination unifies them into a single, integrated platform covering audience, context, and delivery quality.” While Nielsen says it’s currently strongest in TV, streaming, audio, and sports, DV will strengthen its business in digital advertising outside of these channels.
Disney Agrees IP Licensing Deal with TikTok
At the end of last year, Disney announced a deal with OpenAI which would allow creators using the AI giant’s video generation platform Sora to use Disney’s IP. The deal was somewhat surprising for a company which is known to be protective of its intellectual property. But the House of Mouse seemed sold on the benefits of allowing its fanbase to create original content using its characters — some of which it planned to host on its own platform Disney+.
That agreement fell through when OpenAI abruptly shut down Sora earlier this year. But now Disney is having another bite at the apple, announcing a similar partnership with social video platform TikTok. The deal, which will first go live in the US before expanding to other markets, will allow TikTok creators to use clips from Disney shows and films in their own videos. As was the idea with the OpenAI partnership, these clips will be integrated into Verts, the short-form video feed hosted on Disney+. Financial terms of the deal haven’t been disclosed.
For Disney, the move could make TikTok a more effective discovery platform for its own shows and films, as fans share clips and highlights with their friends and followers. By bringing these creations onto Verts, Disney will also hope it can make Disney+ a stickier, more frequently visited destination which audiences watch throughout the day.
CTV Features Heavily in Mixed Set of Ad Tech Earnings
A number of major ad tech companies published their Q2 earnings this week, showing that fortunes varied across the ad tech sector in the previous quarter. PubMatic’s earnings were particularly positive, and the company returned to double digit revenue growth sooner than it had expected, while Magnite also beat analyst consensus with 11 percent revenue growth. The Trade Desk meanwhile posted just three percent revenue growth, which CEO Jeff Green attributed to a mix of poor execution on his own company’s part, and squeezed clients prioritising cheap media over quality media. Elsewhere Criteo’s stock dropped by over a quarter, off the back of an 11 percent fall in revenues.
For PubMatic, Magnite, and Criteo, CTV continues to be a major driver of revenue growth, and a particular strategic focus as AI search tools pull traffic away from independent digital publishers.
For PubMatic, CTV revenues were up by 13 percent year-on-year, now making up 20 percent of total revenue for the business. CEO Rajeev Goel said growth was aided by new advertisers coming into CTV in the US, as well as the expansion of its access to live sports inventory. Magnite meanwhile picked out CTV, which was up 36 percent year-on-year, as the biggest driver of its better-than-expected performance. CEO Michael Barrett said he expects continued growth, as buyers continue to adopt programmatic for CTV transactions. And CTV was a relatively bright spot in a disappointing set of results for The Trade Desk, seeing double-digit year-on-year growth. Video, which includes CTV, represented over 50 percent of The Trade Desk’s business in Q2, according to Jeff Green.
The Week in Tech
Meta Receives $567 Million Fine in US Over Child Safety Breaches
Meta has been handed a $567 million fine in the US over a failure to warn the public about the potential negative effects of its platforms on young users. It’s the largest fine Meta has received over child safety, and is added on to $375 million in fines which were already imposed on Meta in the same court case, according to the BBC. New Mexico judge Bryan Biedscheid didn’t mince his words, comparing “the psychological harm and sexual exploitation of children” on Meta’s platforms as akin to pollution from a factory which must be abated. Meta said in a statement it disputes the verdict, and will appeal.
Snap Reports World Cup Ad Revenue Boost
Snap revenues jumped 19 percent YoY during Q2 2026, the social media firm announced on Monday, partly due to ad spending tied to the World Cup. The company also issued a Q3 forecast ahead of analyst expectations. “After several quarters of improving our ad products and go-to-market approach, we saw better momentum with large advertisers in North America and stronger revenue growth internationally,” said Snap CEO Evan Spiegel.
Teads Sues Google Over Anti-Competitive Ad Tech Mechanisms
Teads has filed a lawsuit against Google, alleging that the tech giant continues to engage in anti-competitive practices in digital advertising. The ad tech firm argues that Google’s integration of its Google Ads platform with its AdX exchange unfairly disadvantaged competing ad exchanges, and is seeking treble damages, punitive damages and restitution. The lawsuit also accuses Google of continuing to operate comparable auction mechanisms to those that the company previously claimed to have discontinued.
TikTok Launches Dreamina Seedance 2.5 for Longer Video Generation
TikTok has launched the next generation of ByteDance’s AI video model, to support longer-form video creation. Dreamina Seedance 2.5 enables advertisers to generate 30 seconds of video, doubling the limit of Seedance 2.0. In March, ByteDance put the global launch of Seedance 2.0 on hold following a series of copyright disputes with major Hollywood studios.
Fifty5Blue Explores Investment in ISBA’s Origin
Media measurement business Fifty5Blue has entered exclusive talks with British advertiser trade association ISBA over investment in Origin, the cross-media measurement initiative founded in 2019. The deal being discussed would see ISBA remain the majority owner of Origin, while Fifty5Blue’s investment would help accelerate Origin’s “development, innovation, and scale,” according to a statement from ISBA. The two companies aim to finalise an agreement in September, and to complete the transaction in late November.
PubMatic Launches Governance Framework for Agentic Advertising
PubMatic has launched its new advanced guardrail architecture, a customisable governance framework built for autonomous advertising. The guardrail architecture is designed to give advertisers and agencies control over how autonomous agents execute campaigns, using a five-step governance framework:
Defining boundaries that govern every agent on the system
Setting business rules before an agent initiates a campaign
Arming the agent with pre-approved asset libraries
Keeping humans in decisions with authenticated approval workflows
Audit trails and drift detection to monitor behaviour against expected parameters
Viant’s Vanderhooks Plan to Relaunch Myspace
Viant’s Chris and Tim Vanderhook say they plan to relaunch Myspace, according to a new documentary about the social media site, though no timeframe was given for the plans. Myspace was acquired by Viant (then called Specific Media Group) from News Corp in 2011, with Justin Timberlake also taking a stake in the company. “We still own Myspace,” Tim Vanderhook said in the documentary. “We are going to relaunch Myspace. We’re just waiting for the right time to do it.”
The Week in TV
TF1 Reportedly Eyeing Sale of Studio Business
French broadcaster TF1 is eyeing the sale of its production and distribution arm Studio TF1, Reuters reported on Monday. According to sources familiar with the matter, TF1 is seeking to focus on its streaming business, and has lined up Rothschild to organise the sale process. They added that the deal could value Studio TF1 at around €400 million.
Paramount TV Ad Revenues Fall as Paramount+ Gains Momentum
Revenues at Paramount’s TV business fell 9 percent YoY in the second quarter, with ad revenues down 14 percent, partly due to difficult comparisons with Q2 2025 which was lifted by NCAA basketball. But the company reported a strong quarter for the Paramount+ streaming service, whose revenues grew by 16 percent during Q2, adding 2 million subscribers. “Q2 was our best quarter for retention in Paramount+’s history, powered by Dutton Ranch, UFC, and the FIFA World Cup non-exclusively across six countries in Latin America,” according to Paramount.
Disney Reports Streaming Growth
Disney revenues were up 7 percent YoY during the latest quarter, according to the media giant, with the entertainment business up 6 percent. The company said growth was driven by the theatrical success of Toy Story 5, as well as gains at the streaming division (primarily made up of Disney+ and Hulu) whose revenues climbed 11 percent.
ITV Expands YouTube Sales House with Snack Media Partnership
On Tuesday, ITV Commercial has expanded its YouTube sales portfolio through a deal with Snack Media, a representative of digital rights for major sports bodies which has worked with the NFL, NBA, MLB, Matchroom, and WWE among others. This deal doesn’t cover all of Snack Media’s YouTube inventory, but will seemingly be rolled out for specific sports businesses over time. The Professional Darts Corporation (PDC), which runs the World Darts Championship among other events, is signed up as a launch partner. But ITV described the PDC as the “first partner” through the Snack Media deal, suggesting more sports leagues might be added. Read more on VideoWeek.
UK Watchdog Clears Paramount’s WBD Takeover
The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has cleared Paramount Skydance’s proposed $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD). The decision clears another regulatory hurdle for the merger, following approvals from the US and EU, among more than 60 other jurisdictions. In the US however, the deal has been paused pending an antitrust lawsuit set to go to trial in March 2027.
ProSieben Launches Cross-Channel Ads in Germany
ProSiebenSat.1 has launched a cross-channel ad format in Germany, whereby the same ad spots are broadcast simultaneously across all the German media group’s channels. Already live in Italy and Spain, the ALL21 Roadblocking format will now be used in Germany on Thursdays at 9pm, according to ProSieben. “ALL21 Roadblocking combines the greatest strengths of our advertising offering: maximum reach across all our channels, high-quality prime time programming, and the particularly high impact of attention-grabbing exclusive placements,” said Markus Messerer, Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer at Seven.One Media.
The Week for Publishers
Open Marketplace Programmatic Revenues Grow as “Flight to Quality” Counters Steep Traffic Falls for People Inc.
US publishing group People Inc., owner of titles including People magazine, Entertainment Weekly, InStyle, and Travel + Leisure, has been very transparent around the impact of AI tools on the traffic it receives across its owned-and-operated properties. But interestingly, despite the steep decline in traffic, People Inc.’s advertising revenues were flat compared with Q2 2025. Programmatic revenues from open marketplaces, which are typically very vulnerable to traffic fluctuations, were actually up year-on-year. Tim Quinn, People Inc.’s chief financial officer, said there are two factors at play. The company has been packaging up session-based ad inventory in broader deals with non-session-based assets, such as social inventory and live events assets. These sorts of deals have helped keep rates high and protect against traffic falls. But Quinn also said that as traffic falls and quality inventory becomes more scarce, prices are rising in response. “The second part is a flight to quality […] there is a decreasing supply of quality content on the web, and that quality is commanding a premium,” he said. Read more on VideoWeek.
NYT Sees 20 Percent Growth in Digital Ad Sales
The New York Times reported 20.7 percent year-on-year growth in digital ad revenues in its Q2 earnings this week, which it attributed to strong marketer demand and growth in ad supply. This helped fuel 11.2 percent growth in total revenues. Will Bardeen, the Times’ CFO, referenced the launch of a new middle market ads sales team which has helped expand the base of advertisers which the news group is able to sell to. The NYT’s stock fell by 15 percent in the wake of the results, however, seemingly due to concerns over a slowdown in subscriber growth.
Creator Partnerships Drive Major Social Video Growth for Time
Time magazine saw its video views on YouTube grow by 773 percent year-on-year in Q2, Press Gazette reported this week, while LinkedIn views were up by 756 percent in H1, as the company’s strategy of collaborating with creators is bearing fruit. Editor-in-chief Sam Jacobs, in an interview with Press Gazette, said Time is collaborating with creators “as if they were columnists”. Meanwhile, around half of Time’s text-focused editorial staff have also contributed meaningfully on the video front this year.
Judge Denies Perplexity’s Request to Throw Out Reddit Lawsuit
A New York judge has denied a request from AI search company Perplexity to throw out a copyright lawsuit filed by social sharing platform Reddit, which accuses Perplexity of unlawfully scraping Reddit’s own content by circumventing Reddit’s technical measures designed to control access to web crawlers. “Today’s ruling brings us one step closer to holding bad actors accountable,” a Reddit spokesperson said, according to Reuters. “Reddit supports responsible access to public content, but we oppose companies that bypass our protections, ignore our rules, and profit off our communities without permission.”
Australia Tweaks its Levy for Tech Companies Without News Agreements
Australia has adjusted the levy it plans to impose on major tech companies which haven’t hashed out remuneration agreements with publishers for the use of their content, The New Daily reported this week. Previously, the fine was set at 2.25 percent of total Australian revenues. Now it’s been changed to 2.5 percent of digital advertising revenues raised in Australia. The idea behind the fines is to encourage the tech giants to engage in negotiations with news businesses. And money raised through the levy will be redistributed to Australia’s media sector.
The Guardian Launches First Food Video Series
UK newspaper The Guardian is continuing to expand its video output, this week announcing the launch of its first food video series, called ‘Feed with Jimi Famurewa’. The series will follow restaurant critic and food journalist Famurewa as he explores viral food trends originating online, looking at the stories behind them and the real world chefs who have fuelled them. The series will run on The Guardian’s own website, as well as its YouTube channel.
The Week for Brands & Agencies
WPP Sees Green Shoots From its Internal Simplification
As she approaches her one-year anniversary as CEO of British agency group WPP, Cindy Rose today shared the most positive set of quarterly earnings under her stewardship so far, signs that the turnaround she was brought in to manage is starting to take hold. Many of the key figures were still negative in a literal sense. Like-for-like revenues less pass-through costs, WPP’s metric for organic growth, fell by 2.8 percent year-on-year. But WPP’s Elevate28 recovery plan always stated that 2026 would be a year of stabilisation, as the company doesn’t expect to return to growth until sometime next year. And while key growth metrics were down year-on-year, the fall was softer than in the first quarter, a sign that the bleeding is beginning to slow down.
A significant strand of Rose’s strategy has been simplifying WPP’s internal structure. The idea is to make the business simpler for clients to understand and navigate, while also making it easier to draw resources from across the holding group to serve clients’ needs. And Rose says this work is already starting to bear fruit. Read more on VideoWeek.
Brands Acknowledge Benefits, and Flag Concerns, for ITV/Sky Merger
UK advertiser trade group ISBA this week submitted comments to the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority concerning the planned merger of Sky with ITV’s broadcast and streaming business, stating that the deal “could offer significant benefits for UK media”. But the group emphasised that the CMA must consider the impact on the ad market in reaching its judgement, and also flagged potential concerns over foreign ownership of a UK public service broadcaster.
Stagwell Bulks Up its New Business Team
Self-styled challenger agency group Stagwell has doubled its new business team, Adweek reported this week, off the back of a hot streak of significant client wins. CEO Mark Penn says Stagwell’s win rate is “well north of a third” so far this year, aided by the fact that agencies are working more collaboratively to serve clients. Penn is particularly keen to win more business from CPG clients, according to Adweek, as well as sports brands — and he hopes Stagwell’s Sports Beach activation at Cannes will be helpful in the latter case.
Co-op Embraces Microdrama with ‘Pop to Co-Op’ Series
UK supermarket Co-op has launched a new microdrama-styled campaign called ‘Pop to Co-op’, a four-part social series running across Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube Shorts. The campaign, run in partnership with Carat UK and Platform Media, is part of Co-op’s wider Pop to Co-op brand platform. Microdramas — drama series distributed as short snippets distributed on social platforms — are growing in popularity with audiences, and Co-op’s head of media excellence Kameshia Lewis said the format helps the supermarket “cut through the noise, capture attention, drive engagement, and keep Co-op top of mind during everyday convenience moments”.
S4 Capital Delivers Record H1 Profits
S4 Capital’s share price hit its highest mark in nearly two years after the marketing group posted its H1 earnings earlier this week, which show record profits for the period. The company has struggled recently with dampened spending from tech clients in particular, due to geopolitical turmoil and money being directed into AI transformation. But the group has aggressively cut costs, and executive chairman Sir Martin Sorrell has raised its full-year profit margin forecast. In the long term, Sorrell believes that clients’ ongoing investment in AI will stand to benefit S4 Capital, given its own focus on digital media and AI-powered marketing.
IPA says Consumers are Preparing for a Tight Christmas
Looking ahead to the end of the year, industry trade group the IPA this week released new data indicating that nearly half of UK consumers feel financially anxious around this year’s Christmas, due to rising costs. But despite this, many still plan to spend over the period, with 49 percent saying they will not be cutting back as they look to maintain Christmas traditions. This year, consumers expect to spend an average of £647 on Christmas, up by £84 compared with 2024. With a high overall cost of living though, many will be searching for savings and sales to help keep finances under control.
Hires of the Week
Axel Springer Announces Christian Baesler as CEO of Business Insider
Axel Spring this week names Christian Baesler, who has led Business Insider on an interim basis since June 2026, as its new permanent CEO. Axel Spring said Baesler has “quickly established a strategic plan to build franchises around journalists who produce exclusive, must-read reporting across platforms, including events and video”.
Hearst Magazines this announced the appointment of Matteo Gabba as senior vice president of Hearst Global Solutions. Reporting to Lisa Ryan Howard, global chief revenue officer, Hearst says Gabba will oversee the continued growth of HGS, helping advertisers connect with audiences through multi-market partnerships.
