The FTC and 22 state attorneys general sued Amazon, alleging it secretly overrode its ad auction to charge higher rates, overcharging more than 1.2 million advertisers and generating over $20 billion in revenue since 2018.
Sep 1YouTube and Amazon now let U.S. creators in both partner programs tag and sell a curated Amazon catalog inside videos, with standard affiliate commissions paid out through YouTube’s AdSense checks rather than Amazon directly.
Aug 28DAZN acquired EverPass, rebranding it DAZN for Business and picking up exclusive commercial streaming rights to NFL Sunday Ticket, plus NFL, RedBird and TKO as minority shareholders.
Aug 28Puck confirmed advanced talks for a RedBird Capital investment that would make the firm its leading investor, valuing the media company at around $250 million — up sharply from the $70 million valuation it fetched in 2023.
Aug 28California AG Rob Bonta says any settlement requires “structural remedies”: Ellison cannot keep all 50 cable networks the WBD deal would hand him — some must be sold.
Aug 27Paramount’s $110B WBD deal is on hold until mid-2027 amid a state attorneys general antitrust suit, even after clearing federal and global regulators. Executives now warn the state-level threat could stall other pending media combinations.
Aug 25California AG Rob Bonta will ask Paramount CEO David Ellison to divest cable channels and keep the studio separate from Warner Bros. as conditions to settle the 12-state antitrust suit over the $110B WBD deal.
Aug 24Ampere Analysis finds average streaming price increases fell from 24% in 2023/24 to 14% in 2025/26. Ad-free tiers still rise faster than ad-supported ones, widening the price gap as advertising becomes a bigger revenue driver.
Aug 24Disney signed digital creator Dhar Mann, who has 170 million followers, to produce 20 original episodes. The deal follows Disney’s Verts short-form launch and a recent TikTok tie-up, part of a push to expand Disney+ into a broader content ecosystem.
Aug 23YouTube is offering top creators millions to stay exclusive, per Bloomberg, countering Netflix’s push to sign YouTube-originated talent. Creators who work with Netflix risk losing marketing support, event features, and brand campaign inclusion on YouTube.
Aug 23Independent performance agency Chief Media acquired AMZ Advisers, an Amazon-focused consultancy, and social agency Reach Social, giving it retail and marketplace expertise and letting it cross-sell clients across services, CEO Scott Paternoster said.
Aug 19Walmart finalized its acquisition of Vibe.
Aug 16Citi acquired Kard Financial, instantly giving it a financial media network to rival Amex, Chase and PayPal. It can now monetize transaction data from 35 million cardholder accounts via targeted merchant offers.
Aug 15DBA acquired V1sion Ventures, adding founder Alina Benun’s roster including Keith Lee to its creator management stable. The deal continues consolidation among talent management firms racing to build scale as creators push beyond social platforms into standalone businesses.
Aug 15Nielsen-DoubleVerify, IAS-Novacap, LiveRamp-Publicis and now Criteo-Vista mark four take-privates in a year, while public survivors like Trade Desk get punished despite growth.
Aug 14Nielsen’s Karthik Rao argues owning DoubleVerify doesn’t compromise independence since Nielsen holds no media inventory stake. The real plan: fuse audience data, verification and planning into one workflow, easing reconciliation but raising fresh questions about neutrality.
Aug 14WTSL, the Silver Lake-backed firm run by Patrick Whitesell, has taken a stake in Cooper’s Unwell, valuing the profitable creator company at $500 million.
Aug 13TBPN flags a Kushner-Iger investor group reportedly closing in on Lakers ownership. A media exec buying a marquee NBA franchise would reshape sports rights leverage and streaming carriage talks around the team.
Aug 12Walmart finalized its acquisition of streaming adtech startup Vibe.co, reportedly for $1.4 billion. The deal signals retail media’s biggest player is now racing to build its own ad-supported streaming stack to compete directly with Amazon.
Aug 11