 IN THE NEWS |
Digital video is on track to capture nearly 60% of all TV/video ad spend by 2025, according to IAB’s annual Video Ad Spend Report. Additional findings include:
• Ad spend rose 18% in 2024 and is projected to grow 14% more in 2025, reaching $72B, growing two to three times faster than total media.
• Small and mid-size businesses are shifting spend to CTV with self-serve platforms, moving dollars from linear TV and social.
• CPG, retail, and pharma are increasing budgets by double digits through 2025, using advanced targeting and shoppable formats for stronger consumer engagement.“
2024 was a pivotal year for digital video advertising. With high-quality content moving to streaming, advancements in advertising technology, and an influx of new inventory accelerated growth for both consumers and advertisers,” said David Cohen, CEO, IAB. “CTV is making it clear it’s a go-to channel for both viewers and advertisers and is expected to continue growing along with social video and online video.” |
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Roku has the highest programmatic CTV market share in the US with 38%, according to Pixalate’s Q1 2025 Global CTV Device Market Share Report, which ranked by quarterly open programmatic advertising share of voice (SOV). Amazon Fire TV came in second, with 18%.
 Satisfaction with 5G home internet is just as high as traditional home internet services, with 76% of 5G customers giving high satisfaction ratings to the speed and 83% giving high ratings to the service for reliability, according to Horowitz study, State of Media, Entertainment & Tech: Subscription 2025. Similarly, most traditional home internet subscribers report fast (80%) and reliable (76%) service. “When 5G was first introduced, we predicted the service would give traditional cable and fiber internet providers a run for their money, especially given the high satisfaction and loyalty many consumers feel towards their mobile providers,” said Adriana Waterston, EVP and Insights & Strategy Lead for Horowitz Research. “What we are seeing in the marketplace is that indeed, consumers are bullish about 5G, and those who have it are very satisfied with the service. The fact that it is wireless within the home allows consumers to situate the gateway where they get the strongest signal in the home, which helps with reliability, and even though ‘on paper’ the speeds might not be as fast as some of the other options out there, for most households – even heavy streaming homes – the service does the job.”
The top five automaker brands by estimated national TV ad spend in 1Q25 were Jeep ($83 million), Hyundai ($69.9 million), Chevrolet ($66.7 million), Ram Trucks ($60.2 million) and Kia ($38.7 million), according to iSpot.tv. Sports-related content accounted for 78% of total industry spend for the quarter, topped by the NFL (38%) and by men’s college basketball (19%).
The Alliance for Women in Media Foundation (AWMF) is partnering with Hallmark Media for the Make Her Mark Student Scholarship, to support female students with a desire to pursue a creative career in entertainment. The scholarship program will provide one student with $7,500 towards her education, as well as the opportunity to participate in a mentorship opportunity with Make Her Mark founder and Hallmark actor and creative partner, Ashley Williams.
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| MEDIA IMPACT AWARDS
The Industry’s Next Big Statement
Disruption meets distinction.
The all-new Media Impact Awards from Cynopsis celebrates the platforms, products, and people transforming how media is bought, sold, and experienced.
Whether you’re leading in AI, data, or distribution strategy, this is your chance to be recognized as a top-tier vendor—by the industry’s most trusted voice.
Winners will be featured across Cynopsis and honored live in NYC this October.
It’s not just recognition. It’s your message to the marketplace: you’re setting the bar.
ENTER NOW |
| PRODUCTION & DEVELOPMENT |
| Prime Video has handed a series order to “Stillwater,” from Greg Berlanti (“You”). The horror thriller is based on the Skybound comic book series.
BET+ has ordered a second season of “Diarra From Detroit. Among all scripted cable series, the show currently ranks second overall with Black audiences 18-49 & 25-54, behind BET hit “Tyler Perry’s Sistas.” |
| NEW & RETURNING SERIES |
| Country music artist Gretchen Wilson has joined upcoming CBS competition. series “The Road” as Tour Manager. Wilson will provide guidance to the emerging musicians while they make their way across America. The series is set to premiere in fall 2025.
“Relative Secrets” makes its debut Monday, June 2 at 10p on BBC America and Acorn TV. Jane Seymor hosts the part true-crime, part genealogy series. |
Today’ Premieres
Discovery: Red Bull Soapbox Rac at 9p
HGTV: Castle Impossible at 9p
NBC: Yes Chef! At 10p
PBS: Pati Jinich Explores Panamericana at 9p
Prime Video: Wear Whatever the F You Want
TLC: Polyfamily at 10p |
CYNOPSIS SPORTS MEDIA AWARDS
Finalists Announced
The wait is over. Our 2025 Cynopsis Sports Media Awards finalists are now officially live!
Join us on June 4th at City Winery in NYC for more than just an awards celebration. This is your chance to network with the biggest names in sports media – all in one room.
Registration is now open. Secure your spot today and be part of the industry’s most anticipated event of the year.
Limited tickets available at each rate.
[REGISTER NOW] |
| COMING UP |
| “Girl in the Attic,” the latest entry in Lifetime’s Ripped from the Headlines franchise, premieres Saturday, June 14 at 8p.
TV One special “Cheo’s Celebrity Table,” hosted by culinary expert Jose “Chef Cheo” Garabito, premieres Thursday, May 1 at 9p. Guests include hip hop stars Da Brat and CeeLo Green, along with Hollywood T.C. Carson, Lamman Rucker, and Rockmond Dunbar.
Ella Langley and Zach Top will perform at next week’s 60th ACM Awards, following their wins for ACM New Female Artist of the Year and ACM New Male Artist of the Year, respectively. Hosted by Reba McEntire, the show will stream live across 240+ countries and territories on Prime Video and the Amazon Music channel on Twitch on Thursday, May 8 at 8 p.
CNBC is airing a special marking the 20th anniversary of “Mad Money With Jim Cramer” tonight at 7p.
Netflix’s annual fan fest event, Tudum, will livestream on Netflix on Saturday, May 31 at 8p. Before this year, the event was hosted on Netflix’s YouTube channel.
Blumhouse Horrorverse, a horror-themed social experience, launches Thursday, May 22 on Meta Quest in VR, and via the Meta Horizon mobile app. |
 “BLUE: The Life and Art of George Rodrigue,” chronicling the story of the creator of the golden-eyed Blue Dog, premieres on public television stations starting Thursday, May 29. |
| AXS TV is offering a lineup of classic concerts in its Memorial Day Music Marathon, starting Monday, May 26 at 8a.
NewsNation special “Cuomo Town Hall: The First 100 Days” will be simulcast on The CW tomorrow, April 30 at 8p. |
| TECH |
| Future Today has unveiled the Future Today Marketplace, delivering over 1.5 billion privacy-safe, ID-less yet addressable impressions featuring inventory from Future Today’s owned and operated channels, including Fawesome, FilmRise and HappyKids. “The tools are in place for CTV to fulfill on its unique ability to combine the impact of Sight, Sound and Motion with the precision of digital buying to impact and measure upper, mid and lower funnel metrics for brand marketers,” said Tim Ware, Vice President of Future Today’s Marketplace.
Yahoo DSP announced the launch of its Conversion API (Yahoo CAPI), a solution designed to help advertisers streamline measurement, attribution, and optimization across channels. Unlike most platforms that require separate setups, Yahoo DSP empowers advertisers to optimize campaigns down to the product level with real-time insights, regardless of whether the conversions happened in-store or through a website or app. Advertisers can analyze conversion data through direct integration with Yahoo CAPI or via LiveRamp’s data collaboration platform, Yahoo CAPI’s initial integration partner.
Data validation company Truthset introduced Data-Rated Audiences, a solution that allows brands and agencies to source accuracy-rated data from data providers in the Truthset Data Collective and activate it directly.
Kargo has added Roku to its list of CTV partners. With this integration, Kargo will now have access to the Roku Channel’s inventory. |
| SPORTS REPORT |
| ION will air a doubleheader of WNBA preseason games, the first-ever nationally televised preseason contests in league history, on Friday, May 2. The games launch another year of the WNBA Friday Night Spotlight on ION for Scripps Sports.
FloSports and the NCAA Division II South Atlantic Conference announced an extension and increase to their media rights partnership that will carry the relationship through the 2032 college season. The extension will provide FloSports’ FloCollege platform access to more than 1,000 events each year including the league’s 24 championships.
NESN, New England’s sports network, is producing a new seven-part original docuseries focused on the Red Sox titled “The Mindset.” The series premieres Wednesday, April 30 at 5:30p NESN and NESN 360. |
| DISTRIBUTION |
| Blaze Media has partnered with former Robert F. Kennedy Jr. vice presidential running mate Nicole Shanahan to license her interview show, “Back to the People,” to Blaze TV. “Nicole brings a unique perspective and a growing audience of Americans who are hungry for real dialogue outside the filter of legacy media,” said Blaze Media CEO Tyler Cardon. |
| EXECUTIVE MOVES |
| Brett Weitz has left his role as X’s Global Head of Content, Talent and Brand Sales. Eitz had previously been GM of TNT, TBS and truTV. |
This Day in History
2011 – Prince William of Wales married Catherine Middleton.
Answer to Our Last Trivia Question
Who played Kilgrave on Netflix series “Jessica Jones” (2015-19)? David Tennant. Kudos to: Charlie Piazza-Lake 5 Media/NYC; Luke Watson-Watson Way/NYC; Joel Maxwell-Cozen O’Connor/NYC; Joel Dearing-Virtual News Center/Indianapolis; Stephanie Ann-Barstool Sports/Chicago; Jim Roche-Weigel Broadcasting/Chicago; Susann Nessanbaum-Goldberg-M and S Entertainment/LA; Peter Steckelman-Tennis Channel/Santa Monica, CA; Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA
Today’s Trivia Question
Which 1965 special remained CBS’ highest-rated until 2009? (Email your answer to trivia@cynopsis.com and be sure to include your name, company, city and time zone. Unofficial rules: a limit of four answers per time zone.) |
CHIEF REVENUE OFFICER>>
ORIGIN/NY(HYBRID): Overseeing full time sales team of 2 remote sellers, an account director, a sales operations manager and sales strategist. Accelerating the adoption of award-winning suite of CTV ad formats. Ensuring we exceed our current targets and ultimately making sure we continue growing at the pace we are in an increasingly competitive market. Full Info HERE.
DIGITAL MEDIA BUYER >>
FURMAN ROTH ADVERTISING/NY(HYBRID): Plan, launch, and optimize digital marketing campaigns across various paid media channels (including Display, Google products, Paid Social, CTV, and Programmatic, etc.) while managing budgets effectively. Support the execution of media plans across platforms, overseeing targeting, budget allocation, and performance tracking to drive campaign success. Full info HERE
ACCOUNT DIRECTOR; CTV BRAND PARTNERSHIPS – MID WEST/WEST COAST
FUTURE TODAY
REMOTE
Build, maintain and expand a pipeline of sales targets, contacts, and sales opportunities leveraging your relationships with a heavy focus on new business revenue. Build/nurture relationships with the investment, strategy, precision and digital agencies as well as clients. Also maintain an ongoing knowledge of the streaming media landscape. Full info HERE
DIRECTOR, AD MARKETING & SALES >>
THE SHADE ROOM/REMOTE: Develop and execute a revenue growth strategy to drive direct advertising, branded content, and sponsorship sales as well as lead the development of compelling advertising and branded content offerings tailored for TSR’s audience and cultivate and maintain strong relationships with key advertisers, media agencies, and brand partners. Full info HERE
ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE DIRECT RESPONSE >>
OPPORTUNITY MEDIA/NY(REMOTE/HYBRID): Seeking an energetic achiever with excellent written & organizational skills for role to assist in growing revenue for dynamic Direct Response Team: required: BA Degree, Min 2 yrs DR Experience. Wide Orbit Exp a +. Full info HERE
PROFESSIONAL LECTURER OF COMMUNICATION/SPORTS BROADCASTING >>
MARIST UNIVERSITY/ POUGHKEEPSIE, NY: Teach studio and field broadcasting and new media courses in sports media and journalism as well as be able to teach a studio course on producing a newscast and help students live stream a podcast or produce short-form feature content suitable for social media streaming. Also demonstrate through their teaching, professional activity, and service. Full info HERE
DIGITAL MEDIA PLANNER/BUYER >>
BEACON MEDIA GROUP/ LYNDHURST, NJ: Management of paid social media campaigns, strong written & verbal communication skills, knowledge of various targeting methodologies, and basic understanding of traditional media. Familiarity with media planning and buying software. Proficient in website analytics tools. Experience in pixel implementation and conversion tracking. Full info HERE
VICE PRESIDENT BUSINESS AFFAIRS >>
HEARST MEDIA PRODUCTION GROUP/CHARLOTTE, NC: Focus on FCC compliance, brand integrity for all current series and day-to-day business affairs for development and production. Strategize with management and outside counsel on business issues, and draft, review and execute various short-form business documents. Legal background and/or related media experience is required. Full info HERE
SALES LEAD – AGENCY PARTNERSHIPS
UPWAVE
NEW YORK, NY
Build and manage relationships with our agency partners – mostly targeting media buyers and planners – and help them see the value of adding Upwave measurement to The Trade Desk campaigns. You will both leverage your existing network and open new doors to achieve aggressive but achievable sales targets. Full info HERE |
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