In this week’s Week in Review: YouTube goes on the defensive against Netflix’s creators deals, Goalhanger eyes up film and TV expansion, and India removes its 12 minute TV ad cap.
Top Stories
YouTube Moves to Block Netflix’s Creator Deals
YouTube is offering millions of dollars to some of its biggest creators in exchange for them distributing content exclusively on its platform, Bloomberg reported this week, a move apparently designed to stifle Netflix’s ambitions to work with YouTube-originated talent.
As the TV and social video worlds continue to converge, Netflix has started signing deals with social media stars. In some cases, as with kid-friendly science creator Mark Rober, the streaming platform has put this talent at the centre of new original shows and series. In others, as with preschool singer-songwriter Ms Rachel, Netflix has brought across content which already runs on YouTube. It’s continued this latter strategy via deals with a number of premium publishers earlier this summer, bringing episodes from some of their most popular YouTube shows onto Netflix.
Now, YouTube is reportedly going on the defensive. The Google-owned platform has told creators that hosting their content on Netflix hurts their YouTube viewership, hence its desire to curtail these deals. And the company has warned that YouTubers who do work with Netflix may see negative consequences on YouTube — they’re less likely to be featured in marketing campaigns or at events, for example, and may be excluded from some major brand campaigns.
Goalhanger Looks to Expand into TV and Film
Goalhanger, the British podcast company behind The Rest is Politics and The Rest is Football, is looking to accelerate its video output, according to Variety, with the hire of Tom Miceli in the newly created role of Head of IP Development.
Formerly a TV agent with WME, Miceli will reportedly focus on expanding the company’s TV and film business, identifying opportunities across Goalhanger’s existing shows and development pipeline and turning them into TV and film propositions for the UK and international markets.
While at WME, Miceli led Goalhanger’s partnership with Netflix to bring The Rest is Football to the streaming service for the World Cup and the upcoming Premier League season.
“I couldn’t be more thrilled to be joining Goalhanger, a company I have long admired both as a business and as a fan,” said Miceli. “I consume its content every day and look forward to helping bring its IP to new verticals and platforms, while preserving the quality that has enabled Goalhanger to flourish and establish itself as one of the leading media and content companies in the industry.”
India Removes 12-Minute-Per-Hour Cap on TV Ads
The Indian government is removing a 12-minute-per-hour cap on ads aired by TV channels, the Information and Broadcasting ministry said on Friday, citing major shifts in the broadcasting landscape since the restriction was introduced in 2006.
The ministry pointed out that 20 years ago, there were only 62 TV channels, compared to over 900 channels at present. The government said the move will put TV broadcasters on a more level footing with digital platforms.
Anil Solanki, Senior Director – Media Lead at dentsu X, told Storyboard18 that removing the cap gives broadcasters greater monetisation flexibility while increasing the inventory available to advertisers. And while increasing supply would put pricing pressure on regular programming, premium content and sport could retain stronger pricing. “The key will be balancing monetisation with ad clutter and viewer experience,” said Solanki.
The Week in Tech
Twitter Architects Reboot Vine With AI Content Banned
Thursday saw the launch of Divine, a video-sharing app where users can post six-second loops, essentially making it a revamp of Vine, which shuttered in 2017. Though it has no affiliation to the Twitter-owned app, Divine claims to be “inspired by Vine” and hosts more than 2.5 million “Vine classics” on the platform. Divine was created by Evan Henshaw-Plath, aka Rabble, one of the chief architects of Twitter (another blast from the past), and is funded by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey. Yet the independent company’s positioning emphasises its distinction from X by banning AI-generated content, and suggests a desire to loop back to a pre-Musk era of social media. Read more on VideoWeek.
Germany Antitrust Regulator Forces Changes to Apple’s App Tracking Transparency
Germany’s antitrust authority, the Bundeskartellamt, on Monday announced it has secured commitments from tech giant Apple to change the way its App Tracking Transparency Framework (ATTF) operates in Germany. The Bundeskartellamt has agreed two key binding commitments with Apple. The first is that Apple will align its consent prompts for its own services and those of third-party apps much more closely. Secondly, app publishers will be allowed to combine the consent prompt mandated by Apple with other consent requests which they’re required to show under data protection law. This should avoid the problem of users facing a barrage of privacy notifications the first time they open up an app. Read more on VideoWeek.
Meta Deceived Children Over Safety Risks, US Court Hears
Tuesday saw the start of a landmark trial against Meta in the US, as reported by Bloomberg, with 29 states suing the tech giant for allegedly misleading children and their parents about safety risks and intrusions on privacy. In her opening statement, Megan O’Neill, a lawyer at the California attorney general’s office, told the jury that Meta has deceived the public for years by targeting children on Facebook and Instagram with technology designed to turn them into compulsive users and drive up advertising revenue. Meta has denied the allegations, accusing the attorneys general of seeking unreasonable design changes and an “outlandish payout.”
AI Video Platform Higgsfield Reaches $5.4 Billion Valuation
AI video generation platform Higgsfield has raised $400 million in its latest funding round, with investors including Goldman Sachs and Liberty Global, giving the company a valuation of $5.4 billion. Founded in 2023 by former Snap executive Alex Mashrabov, the start-up is expanding its push into corporate subscriptions, according to the FT. “The new funding will help us accelerate our move upmarket,” said Mashrabov. “Today, most of our revenue comes from businesses, which is a significant change from January, when business customers accounted for less than 25 per cent of revenue.”
French Social Media Ban for Under-15s Struck Down by Court
France’s top court has struck down a ban on social media for under-15s, arguing that the new legislation infringes upon freedom of expression. The new law was backed by French lawmakers in July, making France the first European country to approve such a ban, which is being discussed in various forms across the continent. But last week’s ruling by the Constitutional Council overrides the ban, prompting the government to prepare a new draft that takes into account the council’s objections.
Nielsen Announces Updates to Currency Methodology
Nielsen has announced enhancements to its currency methodology before the new broadcast TV season, claiming to make its Big Data + Panel currency measurement “more accurate than ever before.” The upgrades will be incorporated from 31st August, including co-viewing enhancements, integrated weighting updates, and ACR monitored tuning adjustments. “We are relentless in our pursuit of delivering the most accurate measurement possible for our media and advertising clients,” said Nielsen CEO Karthik Rao. “We’ve spent months working hand in hand with them and industry experts to make Big Data + Panel even more accurate.”
Ads Come to ChatGPT in 31 European Countries
ChatGPT will introduce ads in 31 European countries next week, OpenAI announced on Tuesday, including Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Austria. Advertisers will initially be able to access ChatGPT Ads through the OpenAI Ads Solutions team, agencies and tech partners, according to the AI firm, with self-service access through Ads Manager to follow later this summer. “Guided by OpenAI’s ads principles, we keep conversations private from advertisers and never sell customer data,” the company said in a blog post. “Ads in ChatGPT are always clearly labeled and separate from ChatGPT’s answers, and advertising does not influence the answers ChatGPT provides.”
FUNKE Digital Selects TargetVideo for Video Tech Solutions
German media group FUNKE Digital has selected TargetVideo, a video tech provider, to replace the in-house video solutions for its online portals and media brands, while also marketing its video ad sales. TargetVideo was selected for its video player and ad tech integration, according to the partners, giving FUNKE Digital control over the management, distribution and monetisation of video content across its portals and apps. “FUNKE Digital’s decision confirms our approach: publishers don’t need isolated solutions, but a true end-to-end platform – technologically strong, closely interlinked with ad tech and video monetisation, and supported by proactive support,” said Maximilian Gall, CEO and Founder of TargetVideo GmbH.
Teads and V Team Up for Peak Season Home Screen Takeover
Teads, an omnichannel outcomes business, has partnered with V (formerly known as VIDAA) to provide home screen ad solutions for the smart TV operating system. As part of the agreement, which runs through 2028, Teads will serve as the exclusive global partner for a ten-day TV HomeScreen takeover during peak season sales across Black Friday and Cyber Monday. “By unlocking exclusive global HomeScreen access during peak retail moments like Black Friday, we are giving advertisers a single, unified point of entry to reach audiences based on screen size and room context,” said Teads CEO David Kostman.
The Week in TV
Disney Sues FCC Alleging White House-Led “Retaliatory Campaign Against ABC”
Disney is suing the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC), according to the FT, accusing the Trump administration of launching a “retaliatory campaign” against ABC television networks over the content of its broadcasts. In April the media regulator ordered a review of all Disney’s TV networks, and is also probing ABC talk show The View for supposed violation of rules requiring broadcasters to give equal airtime to opposing political candidates. “Acting through the Federal Communications Commission, the Administration has waged a retaliatory campaign against ABC for a single reason: it disapproves of what ABC broadcasts,” Disney said in the lawsuit.
Paramount Demands Payment From States Seeking to Block WBD Merger
Paramount Skydance has satisfied “all regulatory clearances” required to close its $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), the media giant announced last week, following an eight-month review process that spanned 68 countries worldwide. That said, the merger is still facing litigation brought by the State of California and 11 other State Attorneys General. On Monday, Paramount asked a US judge to require the states to post a $1.88 billion bond to address the costs of delaying the transaction.
VideoLand Drops Ad-Free Viewing Options
Videoland, the RTL-owned Dutch SVOD service, has dropped its ad‑free viewing options, according to Broadband TV News, meaning subscribers on the most expensive plans will have no choice but to see ads. The change was first spotted by users on tech forum Tweakers, while updated product pages confirm the change in policy, which includes showing pause ads to Plus and Premium subscribers. “In order to continue investing in high-quality, local productions, we are updating our user terms,” RTL told Dutch trade magazine Emerce. “The update allows for limited commercial, sponsored, or promotional messages at times when the content is not being played.”
BBC Studios Launches New FAST Channels on Joyn
BBC Studios has launched two new FAST channels, BBC Earth and BBC Lifestyle, on German streaming service Joyn. The move follows the launch of BBC Series and BBC History on the ProSieben-owned service in November. “We’re delighted to build on our strong relationship with Joyn to be able to bring two more channels to their customers across Germany,” said Kasia Jablonska, Director of Digital & On-Demand EMEA at BBC Studios.
The Week for Publishers
European Publishers More Affected by AI Bot Scraping Than NA Sites
European websites are being scraped more intensively than North American sites, according to new research from TollBit as reported by Digiday, as the number AI scrapes per site was found to be four times higher for European publishers. And European businesses receive just one human referral per every 179 scrapes, which is a rate three times worse than that seen by North American sites. TollBit’s cofounder Olivia Joslin said the difference may come down to the variety of languages used across European websites, as AI companies are keen to pull content in a variety of different languages, according to Digiday.
PinkNews Blames Snapchat Changes as it Prepares Job Cuts
LGBTQ+ publisher PinkNews is planning to lay off between 9-11 of its 25 staff, Press Gazette reported this week, a move which it is pinning on changes to social platform Snapchat. Snapchat is ending its Shows and Publisher Stories formats for publishers, according to Press Gazette, formats which PinkNews had used to reach younger audiences. As a result, the publisher expects revenues from Snap to fall by 80-90 percent. PinkNews had already announced editorial layoffs earlier this year, stating that it was moving towards a “reporter-free newsroom”.
Cloudflare Claims Success in Supporting Publishers’ AI Bargaining
Cloudflare’s chief strategy officer Stephanie Cohen says that the web hosting company’s move last year to block AI crawlers by default for its customers has been successful in helping publishers negotiate licensing deals with AI companies, Press Gazette reported this week. “We’ve seen lots of our customers use our tools so that they can create reliable scarcity for their content, and then negotiate better deals,” said Cohen. The company has been testing a “pay-per-crawl” model which sees AI companies pay a fee every time they scrape a publisher’s website. And it’s now looking at developing a “pay-per-use” alternative, which compensates media companies any time their content is used to inform an AI chatbot answer.
Australia Passes Law to Tax Tech Giants Not Paying for Local News
Australia has passed legislation that will force tech giants to negotiate commercial deals with local media outlets to host news on their platforms, Reuters reported on Thursday. The News Bargaining Incentive taxes the companies 2.5 percent on their ad revenues unless they strike agreements, with proceeds from the scheme to be directed to local Australian news outlets. The levy applies to Meta, Google, TikTok and LinkedIn.
Reach Hits 50,000 Paying Subscribers
British news publisher Reach has passed 50,000 paying subscribers across its brands, the company announced on Wednesday, and has set a goal of 75,000 by the end of the year. The media group has begun spinning up paid digital subscriptions across some of its news brands, as it seeks to bolster revenues in the face of challenges to its ads business. Reach currently runs paid subscriptions across 19 different sites, and plans further launches in the coming weeks. “We’ll be keeping up the pace as we deepen the relationship with our audiences, finesse the offering and learn more about our communities along the way,” said Reach CEO Piers North.
Health Charities Report Web Traffic Hit from AI Overviews
Many publishers have reported falling web traffic over the past few years, as the introduction of AI overviews into Google Search has siphoned off search referral traffic. And health charities report they’re seeing the same effect, according to Press Gazette. Cancer UK, Mind, the Mental Health Foundation, The Brain Tumour Charity and Save the Children all said they’ve seen significant drops in web traffic over the past year, as AI-generated answers to health queries have seemingly prevented people from clicking through to their websites.
The Week for Brands & Agencies
Dentsu Posts Slow Organic Growth in H1
Japanese agency group Dentsu posted its H1 earnings update last Friday, revealing low net revenue organic growth across the period of 0.3 percent (though factors including exchange rates fuelled a total net revenue increase of 3.7 percent). As usual, the company performed better in its home market, with 5.0 percent organic growth in Japan. But this was negated by organic declines of 5.0 percent in the Americas, 0.2 percent in EMEA, and 3.8 percent in APAC.
Sony Investigation Reportedly Accuses WPP of Illegal Business Practices
A new filing in an ongoing court case between WPP and a former executive for the company claims that Sony, one of the agency’s largest clients, conducted an investigation into WPP’s rebate and proprietary media practices, and concluded that it had operated a “global crime scheme” across a number of markets. Richard Foster, the former employee in question, claims that he was fired after trying to expose illegal rebate practices within the agency. And according to the new filing, Sony’s investigation also found that WPP was engaging in murky practices, as Business Insider first reported. The British holding company allegedly kept over 75 percent of total rebate funds for itself, and funnelled these through a number of shell brokers.
S4 Capital Sued by Former CitrusByte Executives
British marketing group S4 Capital is being sued by three former executives from CitrusByte, a company it acquired back in 2022, who allege that S4 has withheld at least $7 million and millions of dollars worth of shares they are owed through the buyout, Business Insider reported this week. The CitrusByte executives claim that S4 has made “unfounded claims and arguments” to avoid paying out the shares. S4 Capital has reportedly not made a legal response to the claims.
LiveRamp Shareholders Approve Publicis Takeover
Shareholders in data and identity ad tech business LiveRamp have approved its proposed $2.2 billion takeover by French agency holding company Publicis Groupe. More than 92 percent of shares represented voted in favour of the deal, according to Adweek, with less than one percent voting against. However, a proposed executive pay package tied to the deal was rejected by shareholders.
WARC Report Forecasts Big CTV Opportunity for Retail Media
Media research business WARC forecasts that the global retail ad market will reach $200 billion this year, as growth momentum slows down, with further growth to $223.4 billion next year. And its new report ‘The Future of Commerce Media 2026’, sees a big opportunity for retail media to bring small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) into CTV advertising. “Walmart’s acquisition of Vibe.co points towards a clear growth opportunity for retail media networks, by encouraging smaller brands, which until now focused on performance, to begin exploring channels like CTV,” says WARC.
Hires of the Week
Daily Mail Hires Mike Rothman as GM US
The Daily Mail has appointed Mike Rothman as General Manager for the US, a new role designed to drive subscription growth and build advertising partnerships in the country. He replaces Greta Lawn, who became President, North America last year. Rothman previously served as President of right-leaning digital outlet The Dispatch.
Pinterest Promotes tvScientific’s Jason Fairchild
Pinterest has promoted Jason Fairchild to GM, Programmatic & Affiliate, alongside continuing his role as CEO of tvScientific by Pinterest. The announcement follows the social sharing site’s acquisition of tvScientific, which Fairchild co-founded in 2020. “Our goal is to make it easier for advertisers to access Pinterest’s high‑intent audiences through the demand paths they want to use, whether they want to buy directly, programmatically, through CTV, or through affiliate channels,” Fairchild said on LinkedIn.
Prebid Names OpenX CTO Joel Meyer as Chairman
Prebid has named Joel Meyer as Chairman, where he will work alongside the company’s board and community to provide support in building interoperable ad tech infrastructure. He takes on the position in addition to his role as Chief Technology Officer at OpenX, the omnichannel supply-side platform (SSP) he joined in 2008.
