Creators now serve as infrastructure. AI governs discovery and churn. Legacy players are trading control for survival. Characters are outperforming brands in algorithmic environments, and immersive experiences are driving more value than screens.
Comcast, Netflix, Paramount Enter Second-Round Bids for Warner Bros. Discovery
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Roku's 2026 Predictions for the year ahead in streaming
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Creator Television & World Poker Tour Set Inaugural ‘Creator Poker Championship’
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AVOD Streamer Canela Eyes Data-as-a-Service for Growth
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CTV Is Less Transparent Than YouTube. That Should Alarm Everyone
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Identity Is the New Distribution: The Post-Platform Phase
Creators now serve as infrastructure. AI governs discovery and churn. Legacy players are trading control for survival. Characters are outperforming brands in algorithmic environments, and immersive experiences are driving more value than screens.
The Take
Platforms no longer solely define distribution. Identity and AI do. The companies building around these dynamics will shape the next era—those that don’t are already falling behind.
Read the Full Analysis: The Streaming Wars
Comcast, Netflix, Paramount Enter Second-Round Bids for Warner Bros. Discovery
A deal to acquire parts or all of Warner Bros. Discovery could be made near-term, with Paramount Skydance, Comcast and Netflix all reportedly entering second-round bids.
Dollar amounts haven’t been specified and potential sale prices are a bit hard to compare, with Paramount said to be seeking the whole WBD enterprise and Comcast and Netflix each pursuing studio and streaming assets.
Here’s an update on the bids based on multiple published reports:
Paramount Skydance: Closing on his $8 billion purchase of Paramount just four months ago, David Ellison’s Paramount rendered an improved offer for WBD this week. The second-round bid is backed not just by the domestic forces of the Ellison family, RedBird Capital and Apollo Global Management, but also Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), according to Variety. As of last month, WBD reportedly wanted Paramount to sweeten its bid from $23.50 a share to $30 a share, which would value the entire WBD enterprise at around $74 billion.
Comcast: The Philadelphia-headquartered cable giant’s second bid reportedly includes cash and stock. Comcast is focused only on WBD’s movie and TV studios, and its streaming platforms, according to the Wall Street Journal, but not the conglomerate’s cable TV channels. (Notably, WBD had been planning and is still evaluating a split of the company itself along these same lines, while also considering potential sale bids). Comcast’s proposal could involve its NBCUniversal media unit being combined with WBD’s non-linear assets. Comcast spun out its own linear networks via Versant. WBD’s cable channels, meanwhile, host Major League Baseball and NHL games, the French Open tennis tournament, half of the NCAA’s March Madness men’s hoops tournament, and several College Football Playoff games.
Netflix: After leaning on stock in its first bid, Netflix reportedly came back Monday with a primarily cash offer for WBD’s non-linear-TV assets, per the WSJ. Unlike Paramount and Comcast, Netflix has long demurred the global box office as a meaningful revenue stream. It’s unclear what Netflix would do strategically with the fabled Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group, but it’s worth noting that the WBD film unit has had strong year so far at the box office under Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy. Like Comcast, Netflix is reported to be disfavored by the Trump administration, which will have influence on the regulatory outcome of any WBD deal.
WBD is reported to be currently mulling offers as bidders wait to hear back. The WBD board might also seek further sweetened third-round bids from suitors but that is unclear.
Read the Full Story: Stream TV Insider
Roku's 2026 Predictions for the year ahead in streaming
In 2025, streaming surpassed the combined usage of cable and broadcast.1 In the wake of this big milestone, what’s in store for 2026?
With majority adoption, we can expect some important shifts that will impact everyone in our industry: viewers, marketers, publishers, and platforms alike.
In Q4 every year, Roku analyzes platform data and combines it with a macro view of the streaming marketplace to present a handful of informed predictions for the ensuing 12 months.
As we look ahead to the coming year, Roku predicts five key trends will shape 2026:
1. TV gets way more personalized
2. The ad-free viewer goes extinct as 100% of audiences see video ads
3. CTV offers a safe space as AI eats the internet
4. TV collides with the creator economy
5. Hyperlocal advertisers embrace CTV, following the lead of political campaigns
It’s going to be an exciting year for streaming TV and for Roku, and these predictions are intended to be a vital asset in your planning for the year ahead.
See Roku's 2026 Predictions for the year ahead in streaming.: Roku
Creator Television & World Poker Tour Set Inaugural ‘Creator Poker Championship’
Sabio Holdings, a Los Angeles-based ad-tech company specializing in helping top global brands reach, engage and validate streaming TV audiences, announced that Creator Television, its owned and operated streaming network, and World Poker Tour will co-produce the Creator Poker Championship, a first-of-its-kind poker tournament featuring popular content creators.
The Creator Poker Championship, livestreaming on Creator Television and WPT distribution channels on Dec. 18, will feature social media stars including King Bach, Wengie, Daphnique Springs, Soy and Jenny Lorenzo.
Joe Ochoa, Creator Television co-founder/GM, said: “Partnering with WPT on this incredible event is a dream collaboration. It brings an exciting and unique spin to an already successful global franchise. This event also marks Creator TV’s entry into the sports and gaming genres —something we are excited to expand alongside creator partners. It’s going to be a fun game.”
In its 23rd season, World Poker Tour is the premier name in internationally televised gaming and entertainment, having held tournaments in 48 countries since 2002. Creator Television calls itself “the first creator-led streaming network and content studio dedicated to bringing the authenticity and energy of social media storytelling to TV.” This live event will be a tentpole for Creator Television Sports, an expansion of the streaming network’s programming.
“We’re thrilled to partner with Creator Television to bring this epic lineup of creators to the table. It’s heavy competition, big personalities, and can’t miss poker,” said Loc Sondheim, VP of WPT Studios.
Read the Full Story: TV News Check
AVOD Streamer Canela Eyes Data-as-a-Service for Growth
Canela Media marked growth in 2025 for its U.S. Hispanic-focused AVOD streamer, and to expand the business it plans to lean further into AI and data investments, including with new microcontent efforts and dialing up a data-as-a-service product to drive growth.
Founded by Canela CEO Isabel Rafferty Zavala and her husband, Canela COO Michael Rafferty, Canela has grown to 68 million unique monthly users across Canela.TV, owned social channels, Canela Audience Solutions (CAS) and FutbolSites.
It’s taking an AI-powered and data-driven approach to utilizing audiences for advertisers, as well as on newer efforts like the Club Canela in-app loyalty rewards program that launched in April and has shown early success. It’s also leaning into tech and popular trends such as bite-sized formats with microcontent dubbed Canelitas that debuted last month and are poised to expand.
As for growth on streaming, Canela.TV specifically grew 53% year-over-year as of November, with audiences spending 53% more time watching content on the free streamer.
In November Canela launched five new FAST channels on Amazon Fire TV – which follows an announcement that the company set a benchmark for Hispanic FAST streaming when it surpassed 6 million monthly viewing hours in June, marking an 88% increase from 3.2 million hours in June 2024.
Read the Full Story: StreamTV Insider
CTV Is Less Transparent Than YouTube. That Should Alarm Everyone
YouTube is more transparent than CTV. Let that sink in.
In 2025, the fastest-growing segment in programmatic media is now less transparent than the walled garden we have spent the last decade criticizing for opacity. And the consequences are already showing up in the market.
Look where the major media companies landed this quarter. Disney reported declines in advertising revenue and slowing streaming growth. Comcast showed softness around Peacock. Paramount posted another difficult quarter with widening losses.
The reason is not complicated. When buyers cannot see what they are buying, they cannot commit their spend with conviction.
On YouTube, a buyer can see the channel title and the exact video where their ad ran (for 30% to 60% of impressions, on average). There is a foundation for measurement and brand safety.
Across CTV, you get app-level reporting, and if you’re lucky, a genre label. A small handful of MVPDs offer channel- or network-level transparency. Show-level or program-level data is almost entirely withheld because most publishers fear buyers will cherry-pick the most in-demand content and disrupt their yield strategy.
What makes this lack of transparency even more frustrating is the disconnect between the way publishers pitch their inventory and the way it is actually sold.
Every direct publisher sales pitch tells a story about the strength of the content, its cultural relevance and its passionate viewership. In the publisher’s mind, the content supposedly differentiates them and sets them apart as premium.
But the second that inventory is sold programmatically, all of that positioning evaporates. The content disappears behind a black box. Buyers are handed anonymous bundles without any clarity into what content was included.
Read the Full Story: Ad Exchanger
Global Streaming Revenue from Movies Starring Mark Wahlberg
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Mark Wahlberg has become one of the most bankable stars on streaming. Parrot Analytics’ Streaming Economics helps quantify how much his work has earned for platforms globally.
Key Findings
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- Since 2020, movies that Mark Wahlberg has acted in have generated nearly $680M in global streaming revenue across major platforms.
- In this time frame, “Spenser Confidential” has been the largest revenue generator of these movies, bringing in $72.1M for Netflix globally. “The Family Plan” ranked #2, earning over $55M for Apple TV+.
- Netflix has been the platform that has benefitted the most from Wahlberg’s filmography. Collectively, titles he has starred in have brought in $310M in global revenue for the platform according to our model.
In Case You Missed It
- Ask Skip: What Are 4,000 Laid‑Off Agency Folks Supposed to Do Now? The Streaming Wars
- Accedo and Magine Pro Merge SaaS Businesses in OTT-Focused Venture. The Streaming Wars
- Ask Skip: Are Creators Really the Future of Streaming? The Streaming Wars
- Netflix Escalates the WBD Auction as Politics, Hollywood and Consolidation Collide. The Streaming Wars
- YouTube Is TV. Everyone Knows It Except the People Paid Not to Know It. The Streaming Wars
- Hollywood’s Q4 Box Office Slump Signals a Permanent Shift in Audience Behavior. The Streaming Wars
- Cyber Monday Is Winning the Budget War. CTV Should Be Winning the Attention War. The Streaming Wars
- From the Archives: The Roku Box That Quietly Redefined TV. The Streaming Wars
- Ask Skip: What Should Media Folks Actually Be Thankful for Right Now? The Streaming Wars
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