The news: Even before the IFA 2025 show floor opens in Berlin, brands are flooding Europe’s CES with announcements pushing AI beyond PCs and phones into the smart home. Ambient intelligence promises proactive tech: Manufacturers unveiled ecosystems that link appliances, security, lighting, and entertainment—using “ambient intelligence” to replace voice and app commands with proactive, intuitive service. Our take: The race to ambient intelligence shows where innovation is headed—invisible systems that anticipate needs. But over-automation risks eroding consumer control and deepening dependence on walled gardens.
As the connected TV (CTV) market matures, new ad formats are giving brands tools to capture attention in cluttered streaming environments. India’s Smart TV OS CloudTV launched a 3D ad unit on Thursday across its OS-powered devices, with the goal of providing a premium user experience and outperforming traditional ad formats in attention capture. CTV is a critical investment for advertisers looking to capitalize on the shift to digital, and 3D ad formats’ innovative ability to engage fragmented viewers will become increasingly important as the market expands.
The news: Roblox will expand its age-checking procedures to all users by the end of the year, per a press release, building on its efforts to protect children online. Users will need to verify their age to access many features—including Party Voice and chat without filters—by submitting either a selfie or government-issued ID. Roblox will then analyze the selfie’s facial features to estimate the user’s age. The platform is rolling out new systems that limit communication between adults and minors unless they already know each other in real life. Our take: Roblox’s stricter age-verification policies stress the growing need to balance reach, compliance, and trust on youth-focused platforms. Marketers should prepare for smaller, more segmented audiences as age checks filter out unverified users and privacy-conscious adults. Long-term success may depend on building campaigns rooted in creativity and authentic value over hypertargeting.
The news: Atlassian—maker of Jira, Confluence, and Trello—willbuy Arc and Dia creator The Browser Company for $610 million in cash, per TechCrunch. The deal could transform Arc from a niche experiment into an Atlassian-owned gateway for enterprise work, much like how Chrome became a container for Google’s services. Our take: Chrome’s continued dominance could lead to a more concentrated browser market—pushing competitors to seek smaller niches to control. With over 300,000 customers worldwide, Atlassian has the reach to seed Arc across enterprises as the “work browser.” If it succeeds, the shift could pressure Chrome’s dominance, at least for business use, and signal a broader redefinition of browsers from neutral gateways to productivity ecosystems.
Streameast, the world’s largest illegal sports-streaming hub, has been shut down in a coordinated sting led by Egyptian authorities and the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment. The operation dismantled more than 80 domains that drew 1.6 billion visits over the past year. The crackdown comes as soccer and NFL seasons begin, underscoring how piracy disrupts rights holders by siphoning revenues from subscriptions and ads. Yet piracy remains resilient: copycats are already emerging to tap fans frustrated with fragmented, costly streaming options. With digital sports viewership surpassing pay TV, the industry faces an urgent challenge to keep audiences in paid ecosystems.
Disney will pay $10 million in a settlement after the Federal Trade Commission alleged that the company collected personal information from children on videos uploaded to YouTube. Disney reportedly uploaded child-directed content to YouTube but did not label the videos as “Made for Kids,” allowing young users to be served targeted ads. Information was collected “without parental notice or consent,” the FTC and Justice Department said. Disney’s payout highlights the risks of targeting younger audiences without adequate safeguards—a challenge that will become even more pressing for advertisers as connected TV matures as a channel.
Over half (54%) of US ad-supported TV viewers who paused content did so for between one and five minutes, long enough to serve a targeted ad, according to April data from Magna Global and DIRECTV Advertising.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution will publish its final print edition on December 31, 2025, before becoming a digital-only outlet on January 1, 2026. Publisher Andrew Morse said the move will allow resources to flow into newsletters, podcasts, video, and a new mobile app. The 157-year-old paper has already posted double-digit digital subscription growth and expanded statewide reach. The shift mirrors broader industry trends: nearly half of US adults never read print newspapers, while digital ad spend continues to climb. AJC’s farewell to print underscores the inevitable math: audiences and advertisers are digital, and adaptation is survival.
Peacock is joining Prime Video’s ecosystem, giving viewers access to the service as an add-on with Prime subscriptions, per an Amazon announcement. The ad-free version of Comcast’s streaming platform will cost the same on Prime Video as it would individually. Peacock joins the likes of Paramount+, Apple TV+, and HBO Max in becoming part of Prime’s ecosystem. Peacock’s integration into Prime Video turns a mid-tier streamer struggling with profitability into part of a premium bundle, giving advertisers access to a larger, more engaged audience part of Amazon’s high-value ecosystem.
Google staff are quietly preparing Ad Manager for life as a potential stand-alone company, per The Information. Employees recently met with ad agencies—an unusual move for a publisher-facing business—as a federal court considers whether Google must divest its ad tech unit. Ad Manager generates an estimated $5 billion in annual revenues but faces declining demand and complaints from streaming players and publishers about slow innovation. With DOJ regulators pressing for a spinoff and rivals like Magnite and PubMatic gaining ground, Google’s outreach underscores how seriously it views the threat of breakup and the need for buyer-side relationships.
Fubo is launching Fubo Sports, a “skinny” standalone sports streaming bundle with a lower cost than its existing plans and pay TV competitors. The bundle offers access to more than 20 sports-focused channels, including ESPN Unlimited, per Variety. If Fubo leans into being a low-cost, high-intensity sports hub, it can carve out a profitable niche, even if it lags behind in subscriber count and scale. <p>But without more exclusive rights or differentiation, Fubo Sports could risk being seen as a less complete version of other bundles.</p>
The news: ChatGPT’s referral traffic to websites plummeted 52% in a single month after a fundamental shift in how the AI model operates. OpenAI manually reweighted its system to prioritize sources that provide direct, helpful answers, per Search Engine Land. Our take: Declining web traffic means declining revenues. For marketers and publishers, the mandate is to adapt to GEO or risk invisibility in a world where AI answers, not clicks, dominate. Reshaping web content to be more answer oriented could help surface it in ChatGPT, but that’s easier said than done for publishers with legacy content. Companies that move early to understand and influence AI citation patterns will secure a competitive edge as this new content distribution landscape takes shape.
Apple is partnering with digital platform TuneIn to strengthen its radio reach and better compete with Spotify, per the Wall Street Journal. The move will see Apple distribute its radio stations across connected cars and home speakers globally and marks the first time Apple’s current radio stations will be accessible outside of the Apple Music app. Apple’s radio push could breathe life into its struggling streaming units, attracting listeners who haven’t considered Apple Music and potentially drawing in advertisers who are looking for access to Apple’s library.
Cracker Barrel has reversed a logo redesign just days after removing its “Old Timer” figure, Uncle Herschel, following backlash from customers, commentators, and investors. Criticism spiked when former President Donald Trump called the redesign a costly mistake but also “a billion dollars’ worth of free publicity.” Hours later, the company confirmed Herschel would remain the face of the chain. The reversal coincided with a 7% stock drop, underscoring how customer sentiment quickly impacts financials. Analysts note that tradition and heritage are powerful brand signals—removing them can sever ties with loyal customers while raising doubts about purpose and direction.
Amazon closed its second annual Upfronts with “significant growth” across independent agencies and holding companies, per Adweek. An Amazon spokesperson cited excitement surrounding live sports offerings on Prime Video as a key driver of growth. Amazon is positioned for sustained ad growth if it continues relying on its sports properties to draw advertiser interest in Prime Video. With Prime Video only making up a fraction of Amazon’s overall ad revenues, the service is far from hitting its ceiling—and future investment in tentpole sporting events will put Prime Video on par with its bigger competitors.
The news: YouTube TV may drop Fox News, Fox Sports, and Fox Broadcast Network this week if Google and Fox Corporation don’t agree on renewal terms. A blackout removing seven Fox channels could ding YouTube TV’s engagement—especially during live sports and election season, when Fox’s properties pull massive audiences, per CNBC. Our take: Fox Sports specifically drives real-time viewership. Losing it weakens YouTube TV’s live-programming value proposition. For streaming platforms like YouTube TV, it’s a warning—content gatekeepers are no longer willing to share access without premium payouts. YouTube can negotiate partial or sports-only rights to minimize disruption, but the cost will likely be passed on to subscribers. If Fox goes dark on YouTube TV, advertisers must reallocate spend or risk diminished ad performance.
The news: Legacy news is facing mounting threats after President Trump suggested on Truth Social that ABC and NBC could have their broadcast licenses revoked. Accusing the networks of serving as “AN ARM OF THE DEMOCRAT PARTY,” the news follows a string of scrutiny against public broadcasting from the current administration—and has implications for the advertisers that rely on these channels. Our take: As news channels face more scrutiny, advertisers are being forced to reconsider where they spend—but political volatility still needs to be weighed against long-term loyalty among key demographics.
The news: Magnite today introduced pause ads across several streaming providers, including DirecTV, Fubo, and Dish Media, to capitalize on the momentum of pause ads as a key opportunity to engage and convert connected TV (CTV) viewers. Our take: Pause ads have demonstrated their worth in the quickly growing CTV landscape—but those who see the most success with the format will be the ones who innovate before pause ads become standard practice.
The news: As the NFL season approaches and digital video becomes a sports destination, fans are looking to new streaming services to stay caught up—and 35% are planning to subscribe to a new service to watch fall and winter sports, per CivicScience data. Our take: Sports will remain a key opportunity for brands to reach engaged and passionate audiences—but as fragmentation worsens, advertisers must prioritize cross-platform strategies that unlock consistent exposure.