Wayne Friedman

Netflix says it has "nearly doubled our ad commitments this year." Amy Reinhard, Netflix president of advertising, says in a release that this was in line with expectations. She did not provide specific details on volume or pricing gains.

Big media-selling companies including Amazon and Google are ramping up new competitive efforts -- with The Trade Desk (TTD) in their sight.

Disney is beginning to look at starting up FAST channels. This comes against legacy media competitors Fox (with Tubi) and Paramount (Pluto TV), which have been in the business for a number of years.

Amid rising interest and value in all things surrounding sports and TV/streaming, one of the biggest sports brand teams -- the Los Angeles Lakers -- are being sold for the second time in less than a year.

Defining what specificcontent or programming media agency executives are buying on connected TV (CTV) and streaming platforms remains an issue.

Streaming video platforms had $280 million in national TV ad spend and $302.6 million in 'media value' from ad placement on TV networks from January 12-August 12.

"The NFL values a few things more than most. One of them is reach," says David Berson, president of CBS Sports. "That means an awful lot to them." The next round of contracts could see a still significant 50% hike.

Live sports continues to gain a bigger foothold - and squeeze out traditional prime-time programming on linear broadcast TV networks. NFL games have been going in that direction.

Now 30.5% of U.S. households get TV content only through streaming providers, with no access to linear TV -- up one percentage point (29.5%) over the full year 2025.

Nielsen this morning released the June edition of its monthly "The Gauge" report showing that streaming has climbed to a 48.5% share of total TV viewing.