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Thursday, November 6, 2025 |
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TGIT. Here's the latest on Warner Bros. Discovery, Newsreel, DraftKings, the New York Post, the News Literacy Project, Snap, and much more... |
The daily war for your attention is more than 24 hours long.
According to Activate Consulting's newest analysis of consumer tech and media activity, multitasking "leads to a 32-hour day for the average American, with over 13 hours spent using technology and media."
This multitasking includes, on average, five hours of video consumption, nearly three hours of audio, two hours of gaming, and nearly two hours of messaging and social media. Here's where work, cooking and sleeping fits in:
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Activate's tech and media outlook report for 2026 is available as a PDF here. I pore over this report every year because it helps me think more broadly about the media universe we all inhabit.
In the 2026 report, Activate CEO Michael Wolf identifies "a collapse of industry silos," meaning "social platforms are video companies, e-commerce sites are $100 billion media businesses, and gaming platforms are the new social hubs."
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>> Video now makes up 71% of all time spent on "social media" platforms.
>> "Super users" are spurring growth: "A highly engaged 28% of the population disproportionately drives media consumption, tech adoption, and 59% of e-commerce spend." These users are "high-value brand advocates who are 87% comfortable sharing data and willing to pay for premium experiences."
>> Pretty soon, "practically every U.S. internet user will be a generative AI user."
>> "Play will become the world's most spoken language; virtually all online adults in the world will become gamers in the near future, with active gamers reaching 3.7 billion by 2029."
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YouTube is the starting point |
"Nearly half of Gen Z say that YouTube or social video platforms are their preferred entertainment platforms over traditional TV or paid streaming," Variety's Leia Mendoza writes in this recap of Activate's data.
By 2029, the company forecasts, "average daily time spent streaming video will climb to 4 hours and 8 minutes as time spent watching traditional TV is set to collapse to just 1 hour and 17 minutes" per person. No doubt our "days" will be more than 32 hours long by then...
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What US teens think about the news |
This new study by the News Literacy Project made me wince. It's a survey of American teens, and it paints "a shockingly bleak picture of how teens view and understand journalism and news media today."
>> From the new report: "An overwhelming majority of teens (84%) express a negative sentiment when asked what word best describes news media these days. Words or phrases teens use most frequently are those synonymous with being inaccurate and deceptive, such as 'Fake,' 'False' and 'Lies,' or invoking chaos and overwhelm, such as 'Crazy,' 'Chaotic' and 'Wild.'" Here's the report, which includes recommendations...
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Can the news be social again? |
A startup news app called Newsreel is rolling out social features that are "designed to counter algorithm-driven feeds and rebuild authentic connection around journalist-written news stories." Sounds promising, right?
Journalist Jack Brewster, Newsreel's founder and CEO, bills it as "a new way to be social about the news."
The app soft-launched earlier this year with swipeable stories, polls, "points" for reading, and other interactive aspects. Some colleges and libraries are already paying for access for students/patrons. With the new social features, users can form circles of trust, nudge friends to read certain stories, comment on stories and give "hat tips" to others. The app is now available in the App Store and on Google Play.
>> The idea, Brewster says, is to "help people socialize with substance." The big unknown: Do a sufficient number of people want to do that? |
ESPN replaces PENN with DraftKings |
Liam Reilly writes: ESPN is betting on a different horse. This morning, the sports network said its online sports betting deal with PENN Entertainment will end, effective December 1. Less than an hour later, the network announced a new multi-year deal for DraftKings, its previous partner. You'll be seeing a lot less of the "ESPN BET" brand. Front Office Sports has all the context here...
>> More: "An ESPN insider tells THR that this change has nothing to do with the ongoing NBA gambling scandal. The timing is curious, of course..."
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WBD earnings 'reinforce' sale/split logic |
Warner Bros. Discovery (CNN's parent) "swung to a loss in the third quarter, as a box-office boost spurred by films like the latest 'Superman' were offset by declines in its traditional TV business, which suffered from comparisons to the year-earlier quarter," Variety's Brian Steinberg reports.
Deadline's Jill Goldsmith says the mixed third quarter "reinforces the logic of a sale or split," as revenues and profits were up on the Streaming & Studios side of the house and down on the Global Linear Networks side.
>> CEO David Zaslav didn't say anything new about the corporate bidding war during this morning's earnings call. "The team is hard at work," he said, "both on the separation transaction and on following the board's direction to evaluate strategic alternatives, you've all seen media reports as the potential interested parties, and I won't comment on anything specific, but it's fair to say that we have an active process underway."
>> Yesterday, CNBC's Alex Sherman reported that WBD "intends to publicly announce its plans toward the middle or end of December."
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'We're going after Warners' |
This week's Variety cover story is about David Ellison's "first 100 days at Paramount," and his team's "shared sense of urgency around the need to fundamentally transform" the company, including through his bids for WBD.
The story says Ellison told confidants, "We're going after Warners," while his Paramount takeover was still awaiting Trump admin approval. The other key quote attributed to him is "I want to be in the top three, not the bottom three." Read the rest here...
>> Related: Sherman's CNBC story has new details about Paramount's pitch to the WBD board. He notes that "if WBD stalls in its decision or decides to move in a different direction, Paramount has discussed taking an offer directly to shareholders and formalizing a hostile bid for the company."
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Still reflecting on Election 2025? |
If so, you're definitely not alone. Several of CNN's most-read stories this morning are about the election aftermath, including "Democrats emboldened by election results mobilize against centrists’ emerging shutdown deal" and "Two days that tarnished Trump's aura of absolute power." Stephen Collinson's piece notes that the first day brought a blue sweep and the second day brought "apparent skepticism among Supreme Court justices of Trump's emergency tariff powers."
On the media beat, the NYT's Michael Grynbaum wrote about right-wing media's doomsday rhetoric about Zohran Mamdani. The NY Post's "Red Apple" cover sold out all across NYC, and is now being resold on eBay, with more than a few Mamdani fans scooping up copies and turning the "commie" insult into a badge of honor.
>> On Tuesday night, MSNBC notched a rare total viewer win over Fox News, ranking #1 across all of cable, according to overnight Nielsens. "In the key cable news demo among adults 25-54, CNN led the networks in primetime," TheWrap's Loree Seitz notes.
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It was another 'podcast election' |
Plus a few more coverage notes:
>> Edison Research found that between January and October of this year, Mamdani appeared on 31 podcasts. (And Andrew Cuomo appeared on 18.)
>> Makena Kelly's analysis: Mamdani's campaign "figured out how to channel fandom." (WIRED)
>> About the faulty polls in NJ: "Prediction markets edge out opinion polls, again." (Axios)
>> "Velshi's Vest" is the new Kornacki Khaki? (People)
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Kimmel and Nexstar's common ground |
"With the Trump administration threatening to withhold SNAP benefits to Americans in need, 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!' has launched a food drive," as Michael Schneider reported on Tuesday.
Then, on Wednesday, Nexstar's charitable arm said it is donating $50,000 to food banks in West Virginia, "helping those affected by SNAP funding issues." You'll recall that Nexstar was the first station group owner to publicly rebuke Kimmel in September. Maybe, just maybe, Kimmel's move inspired the station execs?
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Does this sound familiar? |
"Journalists at Hungary's most-read newspaper have expressed shock after a media group seen as close to nationalist prime minister Viktor Orbán's party, Fidesz, bought the tabloid from its previous Swiss owners," Flora Garamvolgyi reports for The Guardian. The paper, Blikk, "was seen as a prime target for Orbán and his party" ahead of a crucial election next year, so the purchase "is widely seen as another attempt to increase government influence on the media..."
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>> The BBC "made changes to content and editorial oversight at its BBC Arabic network as internal debate raged about anti-Israel bias" and as the network came under scrutiny from the Editorial Guidelines and Standards Committee. (Deadline)
>> Mathias Döpfner was confronted by Axel Springer staffers about AI yesterday. (Status)
>> Axios laid off 19 people "on the product, tech and design teams," Ben Mullin reported. None of the roles were part of the newsroom, a rep told us. (X)
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>> Snap shares are surging 20% in pre-market trading after reporting Q3 earnings, plus a deal for Perplexity AI to pay Snap "$400 million over 1 year to integrate the artificial intelligence startup's search features into Snapchat." (CNBC)
>> Apple is nearing a $1 billion a year deal "to use Google AI for Siri." (Bloomberg)
>> Google "is adding its Gemini chatbot to Maps, letting users get chatty with their navigation app across Android, iOS and their cars." Useful! (Axios)
>> At WSJ Tech Live yesterday, OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar "said that an IPO is ‘not on the cards’ in the near term, and said the company hopes the federal government might backstop the financing of future data-center deals." (WSJ)
>> Spotify "is facing a class action lawsuit claiming its Discovery Mode and editorial playlists are a ‘modern form of payola’ that allow record labels and artists to secretly pay to promote their music." (Billboard)
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Entertainment odds and ends |
>> NBC's "SNL" posted "the lowest live plus same day ratings in its 50-year history" last Saturday. But the reason was obvious: "SNL" was up against a dramatic World Series finish on Fox. (LateNighter)
>> "Netflix and Sony are gunning toward a 2029 release for 'KPop Demon Hunters 2,'" Anthony D'Alessandro reports. (Deadline)
>> In other Netflix news, the streamer is introducing a new way to count how many monthly viewers see a specific ad. (Variety)
>> And last but not least, the Roblox game "Grow a Garden" is being developed as a feature film. (Deadline)
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