As of March 2025, streaming TV comprised 43.8% of total TV viewership, according to MediaWatch® Streaming TV Report: The 2025 Upfronts & Newfronts Edition. That beats cable (24.0%) and broadcast (20.5%). Media spend on streaming TV rose from $10.6 billion in 2023 to $12.9 billion in 2024, with spending coming from nearly 14K advertisers (29% more than in 2023), with 293 allocating at least $10 million to streaming in 2024 (+16%), and 29 over $50 million (+18%). While the growth of big advertisers was robust in 2024, two out of every three streaming advertisers in 2024 were new to streaming.

The US advertising marketplace dipped 2.4% in February but saw a 7.8% gain in March, according to Guideline’s US Ad Tracker. Guideline’s estimate for advance buys for the first two months of the second quarter is 1.8%.

“The creator economy has clearly become a major factor in the digital growth story, driving spend, engagement, culture, and of course, employment,” said David Cohen, CEO, IAB. “The impact is felt across the ecosystem, shifting the way that we think about information, entertainment, commerce, and community. In some ways, it has become a self-fulfilling prophecy. The more that creators succeed, the stronger the platforms they use become.”

Daniel Ings has joined a cast including Catherine Zeta-Jones, Sidse Babett Knudsen and Hattie Hooks for the upcoming thriller series “Kill Jackie”(w/t). Zeta-Jones plays a woman with a dangerous past that’s about to catch up to her.

“The Real Housewives of Miami” returns to Bravo on Wednesday, June 11 at 9p. Season seven premieres with a supersized episode featuring returning housewives Guerdy Abraira, Lisa Hochstein, Julia Lemigova, Alexia Nepola and Larsa Pippen, and a newcomer.

History Channel’s “Alone” heads to Africa with new season debuting June 12. The survival series has new competitors, a new location and a new set of survival challenges.

Sparks fly on and off the air on a sagging morning TV show on the Viaplay Original series “Chaos”, which makes its exclusive debut in the US on the Viaplay streaming servic on Thursday, May 22.

“BBQ Brawl: Flay V. Chauhan V. Lofaso” premieres Sunday, June 1 at 9p on Food Network. The crew is back at the Star Hill Ranch in Austin, TX, and Bobby Flay is ready to defend his title against two new captains coming to town to take him down.

RFD-TV is expanding its daily news lineup. “RFD-TV is proud to be the top news destination for America’s farmers and ranchers – and we take that role seriously,” said Raquel Gottsch Koehler, Chief Marketing and Creative Officer of Rural Media Group. “By expanding our news offerings, we’re providing even more of the trusted reporting our audience relies on to make critical business decisions every day.”

The second Installment of “The Ainsley McGregor Mysteries: A Case for the Yarn Maker,” starring Candace Cameron Bure, is coming to Pure Flix Thursday, May 22. “We are beyond excited to share the next cozy Ainsley McGregor mystery with our amazing audience of fans and friends. Expect the stakes to be higher, romance to bloom and a clever ending you’d never expect,” said Bure, Chief Creative Officer, Great American Media.

FETV celebrates Mother’s Day with a mom-athon of episodes of “Leave it to Beaver,” “Hazel” and “Bewitched” starting at 10a. Not to be outdone, network sib FMC is offering Movies for Mom.

Meta reported first quarter revenue of $42.3 billion, up 16% year over year and beating analyst estimates of $41.4 billion. It was the company’s second-best quarter ever. “We’ve had a strong start to an important year, our community continues to grow and our business is performing very well,” said CEO Mark Zuckerberg in a statement. “We’re making good progress on AI glasses and Meta AI, which now has almost 1 billion monthly actives.”

Google introduced new channel-level reporting in Performance Max, as well as full search terms reporting and more detailed asset reporting. Channel performance reporting helps users understand how Performance Max campaigns are delivering results across Google’s full range of channels and inventory. On the new “Channel performance” page is a campaign-level performance summary along with a new data visualization. “Thanks to your feedback, we’ve continued to improve Performance Max so that you get the visibility you need to understand and continue to drive better results,” said Google in a blog post. The open beta for channel performance reporting will start in a few weeks.

The Africa Channel announced the launch of TAC Labs, a new technology unit that will provide low-cost AI-powered solutions to help publishers and content creators open up new markets with affordable dubbing, while providing streamers and other distribution companies cost-effective tools to handle their media operations. The tools offer intelligent ad placement, image curation and manipulation, as well as content abstraction and metadata generation to enhance discoverability, audience engagement and monetization, among other abilities.

The Professional Women’s Hockey League is expanding to Seattle, with the new team set to begin play in the 2025-26 season. The team will play its home games at Climate Pledge Arena and train at the Kraken Community Iceplex. Seattle joins Vancouver as the PWHL’s first two expansion teams alongside the inaugural six markets (Boston, Minnesota, Montréal, New York, Ottawa, and Toronto).

Intersport and FOX Sports announced scheduling plans for the second annual State Farm Women’s College Volleyball Showcase, set to once take place over Labor Day weekend with national broadcast coverage by FOX and FS1. Defending national champion Penn State, Pitt, TCU and Arizona State will converge at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh for the four-match event that helps kick off the 2025 college volleyball campaign on August 31 and September 1.

Telemundo, Spanish-language home of FIFA through 2026, announced coverage plans and the full match schedule for the FIFA Beach Soccer Seychelles 2025™ kicking off Thursday, May 1 at 6:30a with a dedicated pregame show. All matches air live on Universo.

Big Media locked in global sales for documentary “Journey to the UFC: Joe Pyfer,” ahead of Pyfer’s highly anticipated June 7 fight.

ABC’s “911” hit a five-month high among adults 18-49 with its April 17 episode, which delivered 8.45 million viewers and a 1.74 rating in the demo, according to Nielsen.

ESPN platforms are on a record pace for NBA playoffs viewers. With the second weekend of postseason play in the books, ESPN or ABC averaged 4.45 million viewers, up 13% from last year.

Today’s Trivia Question
What does Michael Scott eat for lunch on “The Office” that makes him fall asleep? (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.)