Top News:
Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
Apple's Eddy Cue says viewership for F1's first race weekend on Apple TV was up compared to the first weekend in 2025 on ESPN, exceeding expectations — The Apple executive says that viewership for the Australian Grand Prix was up on Apple TV compared to last year's broadcast on ESPN.
Discussion:
Awful Announcing, @tightoff.bsky.social, 9to5Mac and r/formula1
Brooks Barnes / New York Times:
Universal says it is shifting to five weekends of exclusive theatrical runs, up from three, and will move to a minimum of seven weekends in January 2027 — Theaters will get a minimum of five weekends of exclusive play and then, starting next year, seven. A pandemic-era policy was guaranteeing only three.
Discussion:
Variety, Spyglass, Originally Reported …, Los Angeles Times, @filmbrainbmb.bsky.social, Deadline, Tinu Arora on LinkedIn, @coreyatad.com, World of Reel, GoNintendo, /Film, @whatsnextmtthw.bsky.social, @bobchipman.bsky.social, What's on Netflix, The Wrap, Dark Horizons, Media Play News and Screen Rant
Washington Post:
Trump nominates Sarah B. Rogers, a State Department official, as chief executive of USAGM, after a judge ruled Kari Lake has been illegally running the agency — Lake, whom a judge found has been illegally running the agency, said that she will stay on as deputy CEO.
Discussion:
Reuters, NBC News, The Hill, @scottnover.bsky.social, The Wrap, Deadline, @lrozen, @lrozen, The Gateway Pundit, @lrozen, @scottnover and @karilake
Arushi Jacob / Variety:
UCLA's Hollywood Diversity Report finds that films with casts that are 41%-50% BIPOC achieved the highest median global and domestic box office receipts in 2025 — Increasingly diverse audiences across the United States also prefer diverse content in theatrical film releases …
Discussion:
@blackamazon.bsky.social, Forbes, Los Angeles Times, @nelsoncarvajal.com and Social Sciences
Kayla Cobb / The Wrap:
Disney+ is rolling out Verts, its new short-form video feed, to US users on its mobile app, featuring clips from movies and TV shows on Disney+ — Users will be able to swipe through a stream of scenes from movies and shows on Disney+ — Disney's experiment with vertical video begins this week.
Elias Schisgall / Wall Street Journal:
BuzzFeed warns that it lacks the resources to fund its cash obligations over the next year and is exploring options, as it reports a Q4 loss of $26.8M — The digital media company said it has broadly operated at a loss since its conception and is burdened by legacy commitments
Discussion:
CNN, Reuters, The Information, BuzzFeed and Bloomberg
Brian Steinberg / Variety:
Disney has sold out all its available commercial inventory for its Oscars telecast on Sunday; source: the event drew 18 returning sponsors and 24 new ones — Disney has sold out all its available commercial inventory tied to its March 15 Oscars telecast, according to John Campbell …
Discussion:
The Wrap, Adweek, Comic Book, Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter and IGN
Steve McClellan / MediaPost:
Publicis acquires content intelligence firm AdgeAi, to identify the most effective creative elements of ad campaigns and to improve content strategy and ROI — While agencies and marketers have gone to great lengths to optimize media expenditures, Publicis Groupe is doubling …
Discussion:
PRWeek, Adweek, MarketScreener, The Drum, campaignlive.com and PR Week UK
Erik Wemple / New York Times:
In NYT v. DOD, the Pentagon argued that a box on WaPo's website asking for tips about the military crossed the line into “solicitation” not protected by 1A — When lawyers for The New York Times and the Pentagon gathered in a federal courthouse last week to debate the department's …
Discussion:
Politico, Media Nation and @jameeljaffer.bsky.social
Kendra Barnett / Adweek:
NewsGuard launches an AI content farm detection tool in partnership with Pangram Labs, which says it's seeing 300 to 500 of these sites emerge each month — Plus, a plug-in with The Trade Desk may help advertisers avoid showing up next to AI-generated news content
Cameron Baker / Bloomberg Law:
The Teamsters union formally asks the DOJ's antitrust division to block Paramount's acquisition of WBD, saying the merger threatens nearly 15,000 union jobs — The International Brotherhood of Teamsters urged the Department of Justice to block the proposed acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery …
Discussion:
The Wrap, Engadget, Deadline, Morningstar and The Hollywood Reporter
Michael Savage / The Guardian:
Sources: Matt Brittin, who formerly led Google in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa for a decade, is close to being named director general of the BBC — Appointment of Matt Brittin as director general would be latest sign of big tech's power in media world
Discussion:
Telegraph and @iucounu.bsky.social
Amanda Silberling / TechCrunch:
Substack launches the Substack Recording Studio, letting creators prerecord videos with up to two guests, share screens, and auto-generate clips and thumbnails — Publishing platform Substack is continuing to invest in video content as it launches the Substack Recording Studio …
Discussion:
On Substack
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