The news: Skydance Media’s $8 billion Paramount acquisition has been approved by the FCC, capping months of stalled negotiations and political controversy. The FCC approved the acquisition, which includes Paramount Pictures, CBS, and Nickelodeon, in a 2-1 vote. Our take: While the Paramount-Skydance merger could raise questions around editorial perception and brand safety, it offers a rare opportunity to reset a legacy media giant and reposition it for mass reach.

X is still a destination for news: Our Industry KPI data shows engagement varying dramatically throughout the year

CNN isn’t done with streaming: In a memo announcing layoffs, CEO Mark Thompson said a standalone streaming service is coming.

Not everyone gets news from creators and influencers. But alternative voices, especially podcasters, hold a lot of sway over key demographics, including Gen Z, men, and consumers who feel marginalized by mainstream media.

News influencers are overwhelmingly male and lean right-wing: Brands looking for creators have to carefully pick apart values to ensure an ideological match.

By integrating Reuters content, Meta aims to enhance its AI’s credibility and drive ad revenue while carefully reentering the news domain.

Fox boosts ad tech capabilities: New ad sales team focuses on data-driven solutions to optimize ROI for advertisers.

"Digital devices are by far the most common way Americans get news," our analyst Rahul Chadha said on a recent episode of the "Behind the Numbers" podcast. "Some 86% of Americans say that's how they at least sometimes get their news," he said, citing recent data from Pew Research Center. But the digital news consumption picture is getting more nuanced as digital devices connect users to news on publisher sites, social platforms, and even messaging apps.

On today's podcast episode, we discuss why a surprising amount of people think Meta's Orion smart glasses are the future of computing, whether people will turn to Amazon for live news, what's happening to the middle of the market, why screensaver ads can have a significant impact, who was the richest American in history, and more. Tune in to the discussion with host Marcus Johnson, director of reports editing Rahul Chadha, and analysts Bill Fisher and Max Willens.

On today’s podcast episode, we discuss if folks will start consuming news on WhatsApp, how people get their news on digital channels, and some interesting generational gaps that exist regarding social media news consumption. Join host Marcus Johnson, along with director of reports editing Rahul Chadha and vice president of media, content, and strategy Henry Powderly for the conversation.

Facebook and YouTube dominate, but the rise of unverified stories poses a challenge to credible reporting.

On today's podcast episode, we discuss what the 2024 Oscars taught us about the future of awards shows, whether its time to give up on email, how Netflix's sports strategy will play out, if the idea of "news" can survive online, how the money in the world is shared between us, and more. Tune in to the discussion with our analyst Bill Fisher, forecasting analyst Zach Goldner, and director of forecasting Oscar Orozco.

64% of US adults think disinformation and “fake news” are most widespread on social media, according to a September 2023 survey from UNESCO and Ipsos.

On the podcast we discuss what to expect as banks deploy more AI in 2024. We chat about several use cases for AI, like customer service and chatbots, personalized banking services, fraud detection and prevention, credit scoring and risk assessment, as well as personalized marketing. In “Place Your Bets,” we distribute 10 points to four predictions in order to rank the relative likeliness that each one will come true. We rank the following to see which is most likely to happen in 2024: news stories about overzealous chatbots stops banks from rolling them out, regulators squash attempts to use AI for investment advice, the deployment of AI enables banks to initiate massive layoffs, and small banks and credit unions are able to win more customers because of their deployment of AI for customer service. Listen to the conversation with host Rob Rubin and our analysts Jacob Bourne and Gadjo Sevilla.

On today's podcast episode, we discuss whether Humane's new AI pin is about to become as ubiquitous as the smartphone, just how much ground brick-and-mortar retail will give to online shopping, the next big social media app, if folks will start shopping on Amazon right from their Facebook and Instagram feeds, how news consumption on social media is changing, which airlines carry the most passengers, and more. Tune in to the discussion with our vice president of content Suzy Davidkhanian and analysts Max Willens and Yory Wurmser.

On today's podcast episode, we discuss the likelihood that news influencers will replace traditional media, whether in-store sampling can make a comeback, how many ads are enough ads, what the science says about social media being addictive, why more brands don't encourage consumers to recycle, where daylight savings time actually comes from, and more. Tune in to the discussion with our vice president of content Suzy Davidkhanian and analysts Bill Fisher and Carina Perkins.

On today's episode, we discuss the implications of the Federal Trade Commission thinking Amazon tricked customers into signing up for automatically renewing Prime subscriptions, whether it makes sense for companies to force livestream shopping on Americans, if speciality stores really work, the impact of Facebook and Instagram restricting news access in Canada, whether reduced inflation can save the day, what a real work-life balance looks like, and more. Tune in to the discussion with our vice president of content Suzy Davidkhanian, vice president of Briefings Stephanie Taglianetti, and analyst Evelyn Mitchell-Wolf.

Meta’s vow of efficiency marks renewed optimism: Meta shares rally after analysts upgrade stock due to Meta’s new, leaner direction. Meanwhile, the company continues to spend billions on an unrealized metaverse pivot.

Meta succeeds against US regulators but takes a major blow in the EU: Meta insists that news isn’t part of its business model, but its pivot to Reels hits a major roadblock.

The New York Times feels the ad downturn: That’s bad news for other digital publishers who have started layoffs and seen ad dollars plummet.