August 1, 2026

Amazon generated $19.8 billion in advertising revenue during the second quarter, up 26% year over year and above analyst estimates, driven in part by momentum in live sports. Brands with a presence across multiple sports categories more than double their unduplicated reach compared with single-sport advertisers, according to the company. Multisport viewers also spend 12% more and place 17% more orders on Amazon, pointing to a more engaged audience. The company holds broadcast rights for the NFL, NBA, WNBA and NASCAR, and CEO Andy Jassy said inventory on 'Thursday Night Football,' the NBA, the WNBA and NASCAR all sold out. Amazon also introduced more than 30 new advertisers to the NBA in its first year of coverage. Sponsored product listings remain the platform's largest ad offering and growth driver.

Millions of YouTube Premium subscribers in the U.S. will get access to Peacock under a new multi-year global partnership between NBCUniversal and YouTube, the companies announced. The deal fully integrates Peacock into YouTube Premium, letting subscribers watch NFL, NBA and MLB games alongside Peacock's entertainment lineup without leaving the YouTube app or logging in separately. It also expands NBCUniversal's international streaming footprint through Universal+ and Hayu, extends the existing YouTube TV distribution partnership, and deepens the companies' advertising and technology ties. LightShed Partners analyst Richard Greenfield called the arrangement a "powerful flywheel that gets harder to disrupt over time." Comcast co-CEO Mike Cavanagh said the partnership pairs NBCUniversal's content with YouTube's scale to drive growth. The agreement marks Peacock's largest wholesale distribution partnership to date and comes as NBCUniversal prepares to spin off from Comcast.

Comcast's FreeWheel added a new tool called Video Content Report to its Buyer Cloud platform, giving CTV buyers series-level data on where campaigns actually ran. The report draws on FreeWheel Streaming Hub, the company's ad server with a built-in SSP, to deliver publisher-sourced, impression-level insight from partners including A+E Global Media, Spectrum Reach, Fuse Media, NBCUniversal, Paramount, Warner Bros. Discovery, and Xumo. Jon Mansell, FreeWheel's vice president of U.S. demand, said the direct connection between Buyer Cloud and Streaming Hub lets advertisers see where campaigns ran while giving publishers control over how their content data is shared. Advertiser Perceptions research found that over 50% of CTV advertisers would shift spend toward publishers offering show- or series-level transparency. FreeWheel is offering Video Content Report to all Buyer Cloud clients at no additional cost.

Sostav's annual ranking of Russia's 30 largest advertisers puts their combined 2025 ad spend at 338.8 billion rubles, a 19.5% jump from 283.4 billion in 2024, based on Mediascope, Admetrix and Digital Budget data plus a survey of over 50 media-buying agencies. TV budgets among the top 30 rose 10.8% to 151.7 billion rubles, while internet spend climbed 44.7% to 140.5 billion, driven largely by Sber, Yandex and Wildberries. Outdoor advertising spend fell 3.8% to 37.5 billion rubles and radio dropped 14.8% to 8.5 billion, while press spend rose 13.2% to 514 million. Sber kept the top spot for a sixth straight year with 54 billion rubles, up 10.9%. VTB climbed to second place with a 40.6% budget increase to 28.2 billion rubles, while Yandex slipped to third at 26.5 billion despite a 30.2% rise. Wildberries jumped from 14th to 6th place after a 144% budget increase to 17.5 billion rubles.

Fox News led cable news in July 2026 with 2.332 million total primetime viewers and 204,000 in the Adults 25-54 demo, according to Nielsen big data plus panel data reported by Adweek. MS NOW held second place with 1.017 million primetime viewers, though it was the only one of the three major networks to post month-over-month declines, falling 7% in the demo during both primetime and total day. CNN posted the strongest month-over-month gains, up 8% in primetime total viewers and 5% in the demo, helped by coverage of America's 250th Independence Day earlier in July. Fox News grew 3% in primetime total viewers versus June but was down 21% in the primetime demo compared to July 2025, the only network to decline year over year. The later rounds of the FIFA World Cup were the month's main competing live sports draw.

ITV Group revenue reached £1.9 billion in H1 2026, up 2 percent year-on-year, with external revenue up 1 percent. Media & Entertainment advertising revenue grew 3 percent in the half and 8 percent in Q2, driven by the FIFA World Cup 2026. ITVX H1 viewing rose 27 percent and digital advertising revenue rose 13 percent. ITV Studios revenue rose 2 percent to £912 million, but adjusted EBITA fell 9 percent to a 10.6 percent margin on revenue mix and lower Soaps and Daytime output. Group adjusted EBITA held flat. These are ITV's first results since announcing the sale of Media & Entertainment to Sky, expected to close in 2027. CEO Carolyn McCall said ITV 'delivered a solid H1 performance and we remain on track to deliver our full-year guidance.' The board declared a 1.7p interim dividend and a £100 million share buyback, an early return of part of the £950 million net cash payment expected when the Sky sale completes.

AMC Global Media closed its second quarter, ended June 30, 2026, with US advertising revenue down and streaming revenue up. The company struck a global co-exclusive licensing agreement with Netflix covering the entire Walking Dead Universe. CEO Kristin Dolan called the deal "a meaningful source of cash flow for years to come." AMC also renewed distribution agreements with Comcast and YouTube. On the strength of its intellectual property, its studio and its partner relationships, the company raised its guidance for the full year. The quarter shows a network leaning harder on library licensing and platform distribution deals to offset softer domestic ad sales, a shift agencies planning linear and streaming budgets against AMC's portfolio will want to track through the rest of the year.

All three major cable news networks lost viewers during primetime and total day for the week of July 20, according to Nielsen big data and panel data compiled by Adweek's TVNewser. Fox News averaged 2.28 million total primetime viewers and 201,000 in the Adults 25-54 demo, down 7% and 14% from the week of July 13. MS NOW averaged 965,000 total primetime viewers and 80,000 in the demo, down 16% and 23%. CNN's primetime average fell 6% in total viewers, with 95,000 in the demo, down 16%. Fox News still led all basic cable networks in total primetime viewers and total day viewers, drawing 96 of the top 100 cable newscasts for the week. TVNewser noted that the summer season and a lack of major political stories may have contributed to the declines across all three networks.

Meta's advertising revenue rose 27% year over year to $59.4 billion in the quarter ended June 30, and total revenue reached $60.8 billion, up 28%. Earnings landed under Wall Street's targets despite the revenue beat, and Meta shares slid after the report. CFO Susan Li said Meta is lapping a period of strong ad impressions growth in the third quarter, a tougher comparison, and flagged possible additional headwinds from policy changes in Europe that allow for less personalized advertising. Meta forecast third-quarter revenue between $61 billion and $64 billion. CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Meta's ads business is growing faster on a dollar basis than any other company's reported ad business, crediting the company's AI investments. Advantage+ reached a $75 billion annual revenue run rate. Meta also raised the low end of its full-year capital expenditure guidance, now $130 billion to $145 billion.

Retransmission consent talks between Verizon and Deltavision Media broke down on July 30, when their contract expired, and WSYT, the Fox affiliate in Syracuse, N.Y., went dark on Verizon's lineup along with MyNetwork, COZI TV and Dabl. Verizon says Deltavision is pushing for price increases it calls unreasonable for subscribers' bills. The American Television Alliance, a pay-TV-backed advocacy group, called the demand one of the steepest rate hikes Verizon has ever faced in a retransmission fight. ATVA spokesman Hunter Wilson said Deltavision is 'benching nearly 20,000 consumers to demand an unprecedented retrans rate hike.' The two sides had extended their original June deadline to July 30 without reaching a new deal, and the blackout continues while negotiations proceed.