Top News:
Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:
Netflix reports Q4 revenue up 18% YoY to $12B, vs. $11.97B est., 325M paid subscribers, 2025 revenue up 16% to $45.2B, plans to up content spend by 10% in 2026 — Netflix Inc. delivered fourth-quarter results that largely beat Wall Street estimates but issued a cautious forecast for the months ahead …
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MediaNama, The Streamable, The Hollywood Reporter, The Motley Fool, @buccocapital, Reuters, primetimer.com, Screen, Tech Times, PYMNTS.com, Watcher Guru, TV Tech, Los Angeles Times, Lucas Shaw on LinkedIn, The Hill, Wall Street Journal, Netflix Inc., Advanced Television, Yahoo Finance, Cord Cutters News, The Wrap, TheDesk.net, Proactiveinvestors UK, Media Play News, CNBC and Coinpaper, more at Techmeme »
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Caitlin Huston / The Hollywood Reporter:
Greg Peters says Netflix plans to bring new types of content like video podcasts to its vertical video feed, and will roll out a new mobile UI later in 2026 — The streamer plans to add video podcasts into its mobile feed and upgrade its mobile user interface.
Discussion:
TechCrunch, Engadget, Deadline, The Indian Express, Forbes, WebProNews, TVBEurope, @js@podcastindex.social, Deadline and The Verge
Dade Hayes / Deadline:
Netflix says ad revenue hit $1.5B in 2025, up by over 2.5x vs. 2024, and viewing hours grew 2% YoY in H2, driven by a 9% rise in viewing of branded originals — Earnings per share came in a penny ahead of expectations at 56 cents, while revenue of $12.051 billion exceeded the target of around $12 billion.
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The Wrap, Investing.com, The Motley Fool, @xpangler, Sharecast, Yahoo Finance, Associated Press, Axios, Business Insider, Adweek, The Information, Variety and The Verge, more at Techmeme »
Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos outlines increasing competition for customers' attention from YouTube, Instagram, linear networks that also do streaming, and more — “TV is not what we grew up on. TV is now just about everything," the Netflix co-CEO says, outlining the threat from traditional studios …
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Yahoo Finance, Business Today and Media Play News
Alex Heath / Sources:
Demis Hassabis says there aren't “any plans” to put ads in Gemini and, in response to OpenAI testing ads, says “maybe they feel they need to make more revenue” — During our convo in Davos, Demis Hassabis and I chatted about ads in AI, Google's new deal with Apple, humanoids, and Gemini 4.
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The Information:
Sources: OpenAI begins offering its chatbot ads to dozens of advertisers, initially charging per ad view, not per ad click, and asks them for <$1M commitments — OpenAI has started offering its new chatbot ads to dozens of advertisers, according to two people familiar with the matter.
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WebProNews, Tech in Asia, Proactive, Reuters, PCWorld, 80 Level and Digiday, more at Techmeme »
Alex Ritman / Variety:
The BBC confirms a “strategic partnership” with YouTube to produce exclusive content, including news and kids shows, a landmark deal for the UK broadcaster — The BBC has confirmed what it is billing as a “strategic partnership” with YouTube that will see the British broadcaster …
Discussion:
Advanced Television, Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter, TVBEurope, BBC and AdExchanger
Mark Sweney / The Guardian:
UK Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy says she is “minded to” intervene in DMGT's takeover of The Telegraph and may ask Ofcom to look at the impact on media plurality — Culture secretary ‘minded to’ intervene and ask Ofcom and CMA whether the £500m deal harms media plurality
Discussion:
Press Gazette, The Times, The Independent, Telegraph and Reuters
Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
WAN-IFRA: news publications globally had an estimated combined revenue of $125.7B in 2025, down 0.01% YoY; print still accounted for 65% of total revenue — Global news media revenue was steady overall in 2025 according to a new estimate published by WAN-IFRA.
Jagmeet Singh / TechCrunch:
Bengaluru-based Amagi, an ad tools provider for broadcast and streaming TV, fell below its listing price in its India market debut after raising $196M in an IPO — Amagi Media Labs, a Bengaluru-headquartered company that sells cloud software used to run and monetize TV and streaming channels …
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The Economic Times, Moneycontrol, The Economic Times, Business Standard, Entrackr, Zee Business, Financial Express, Inc42 and Inc42, more at Techmeme »
Bloomberg:
Sources: banks including Wells Fargo, BNP Paribas, and HSBC began selling an extra $8.2B of short-term loans to help Netflix fund its WBD purchase — Banks including Wells Fargo & Co. on Tuesday started selling, or syndicating, an extra $8.2 billion of short-term loans to help Netflix Inc. fund …
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New York Post
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Todd Spangler / Variety:
Netflix and WBD say Netflix revised its WBD offer to an all-cash deal for $27.75/share, with the same $82.7B value; its original bid had $59B in debt financing
Netflix and WBD say Netflix revised its WBD offer to an all-cash deal for $27.75/share, with the same $82.7B value; its original bid had $59B in debt financing
Discussion:
Deadline, The Guardian, Screen, Advanced Television, New York Times, MediaPost, Sports Media Watch, Mediaweek, CNN, The American Bazaar, Dow Jones Newswires, About Netflix, mxdwn Television, Awful Announcing, Agence France-Presse, @sarafischer, @brianstelter, Reuters, The Post Millennial, Bitcoin Insider, Yahoo Finance, Cartoon Brew, Fast Company, TheStreet, AfroTech, Miami Herald, StreamTV Insider, The Daily Caller, Radio & Television …, New York Daily News, EasternEye, Investing.com, Proactive, primetimer.com, UPI, The Irish Times, Bloomberg, Washington Examiner, The Independent, Broadband TV News, CBS News, WebProNews, Thurrott, Pulse 2.0, Sharecast, Blockonomi, Barrett Media, The Wrap, Benzinga, TechCrunch, Cord Cutters News, San Diego Union-Tribune, The Standard, Far Out Magazine, Outlook Business, CNBC, iPhone in Canada, NewsMax.com, Screen Rant, The Verge, Los Angeles Times, Axios, Forbes, Fox Business, Morningstar, Barron's Online, FX Empire and The Daily Upside
@erikwemple:
The US House Armed Services Committee formally asks the Defense Department how it plans to safeguard Stars and Stripes' congressionally required independence — A little followup on the Pentagon's move to “refocus” Stars and Stripes: The House Armed Services Committee has sent a bipartisan query to the Defense Department asking how it plans to safeguard the publication's congressionally required independence, among other questions.
Discussion:
Stars & Stripes, @kennysmith.bsky.social, @bselena.bsky.social, NPR and Business Insider
Cecilia Kang / New York Times:
Snap reaches an agreement to settle a social media addiction lawsuit in California, a week before the start of a trial, the first of several such lawsuits — The settlement means Snap will avoid a trial where plaintiffs had planned to argue that social media platforms are inherently defective and subject to personal injury liability.
Discussion:
TechCrunch, BBC and @justinhendrix.bsky.social, more at Techmeme »
