Disney’s carriage fee dispute game plan: The company blocked access to ESPN and more for DirecTV customers, flexing its power over pay TV providers.

As sports wagering grows its digital footprint, ad spending by the gambling industry levels off.

Digital realty company Opendoor plans to sell a house live during its Super Bowl ad slots on Sunday. It’s an ambitious campaign that required the help of Mischief, the creative agency behind last year’s viral Tubi Super Bowl ad. Sunday’s ads consist of two 30-second spots, one teasing a house listing on Opendoor’s site and the other showing the results of the sale—live.

On today's podcast episode, we discuss the travel rebound and how tech is helping it out, how Black Friday football (with a side of online shopping) performed this year, will X (formerly Twitter) go bankrupt next year, a new way to stream NBA games post-cable, what to expect from ChatGPT next year, why your passport is the color it is, and more. Tune in to the discussion with our forecasting writer Ethan Cramer-Flood, forecasting analyst Zach Goldner, and director of forecasting Oscar Orozco.

Thursday Night Football shows viewership metrics don’t say it all: Amazon’s Black Friday audience was far lower than expected, but DTC opportunities drove brand excitement.

Nielsen reverses stance on Amazon first-party football data: After networks and industry groups cried foul, Nielsen won’t include Amazon data in its panel currency.

As the nation readies itself for Super Bowl Sunday, let’s review how this year has gone for the NFL. The league’s ratings for the 2022–2023 season were down 3% from the prior year, and there’s one big reason to blame: Amazon’s Thursday Night Football. Despite the drop, sports leagues will continue to move full steam ahead with exclusive streaming deals while Amazon waits for consumers to catch up.

Despite a tightening ad market, the Super Bowl powers on: Fox has sold out spots for Sunday’s game, with prices stabilizing after last year’s jump.

What’s got the go-ahead? Pushing boundaries, leveraging social media, and engaging with audiences beyond the TV. But be wary: don’t go too far, lose focus on offline opportunities, or forget to connect the dots.

Amazon’s $1 billion-a-year Thursday Night Football bet appears to be paying off, drawing record Prime sign-ups and reinforcing advertisers’ confidence in Amazon’s streaming tech. Once a pillar of pay TV, live sports have become the next big thing in streaming.

Apple replaces Pepsi as the Super Bowl Halftime Show sponsor: As it goes back and forth on a $2.5 billion Sunday Night Football deal, Apple is stepping up to the pop culture plate.

The NFL’s streaming service is full of ifs and buts: Deals with other streamers complicate the league’s attempt to flex its viewership.

Read Insider Intelligence's latest stories on TV—both live and streaming

Super Bowl LVI was a testing ground for post-pandemic norms: New measurements, brand partners, and languages made this year’s event crucial for advertisers.

Where Europe gets a kick out of televised sports

The NFL ensures more touchdowns for streamers: A new set of 11-year rights deals will make more football available on streamers, but distribution will remain tied to linear TV for the time being.

Earlier this week, Mars Wrigley’s M&M's brand gave fans a sneak peak of its Super Bowl ad via Zoom, its first-ever "virtual" debut. It’s just one of several efforts the company is working on leading up to Sunday’s big game.

eMarketer vice president of content studio at Insider Intelligence Paul Verna steps in as host of this week's "The Weekly Listen," where he and eMarketer principal analysts Mark Dolliver and Debra Aho Williamson, and junior analyst at Insider Intelligence Blake Droesch discuss the latest updates on the TikTok saga, Quibi's unique predicament, Roku and NBCUniversal's buried hatchet, new game consoles from Sony and Microsoft, the Emmys' declining viewership, and how a home-field advantage influences soccer (or football, if you're European) referees.

Two of the NCAA Division I Power Five conferences (Big Ten and Pac-12) announced that they would postpone all fall college sports as a result of the ongoing pandemic.

Total ad spending in France and Germany will fall this year, as a result of the pandemic. Traditional media will suffer most; digital ad spend will rise marginally, to €4.93 billion ($5.51 billion) in France and €7.38 billion ($8.27 billion) in Germany.