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| Thursday, November 5, 2026 |
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Good morning, and congratulations to everyone who was honored at last night’s 2026 Cynopsis Top Women in Media Awards! It was great to see and celebrate with all of you!
What’s in today’s issue:
- What The “Blue Tsunami” Means For Media Execs
- The UK Will Intervene In Sky and ITV’s Merger After All
- Toni Collette Stars In A New Apple TV Comedy
But first: We take a look at Swivel, an advertising tech startup that aims to help networks and streaming services transact inventory using AI agents. Agentic media buying can help automate deals that are typically done directly, including non-traditional ad formats such as home screen ads and brand sponsorships. Swivel covers connected TV environments but wants to expand into retail media, in large part because of the growing overlap between the two channels – just look at Walmart and Vizio.
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| Partner content |
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Swivel Wants To Create Agentic Infrastructure For CTV
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By Alyssa Boyle
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Agentic media buying is the No. 1 topic du jour in ad tech discussion circles. But how does agentic buying even work when it comes to buying TV and streaming ads? Those channels remain more old school and anchored by direct human relationships, at least compared with web display advertising.
TV is a media channel that’s going to have its own particular setup and adoption curve.
At least that’s the thesis behind Swivel, one such agentic ad-buying startup.
Swivel is a publisher tech startup founded by ad tech entrepreneurs and investors: the former FreeWheeler Frans Vermeulen and SpringServe co-founders Matt Dearborn, Rich Lin and Joseph Hirsch. The startup aims to make a name for itself as a company that can automate the manual tasks in publisher ad operations, from campaign optimization to pricing adjustments.
In other words, Swivel wants to be an “end-to-end system” of agents that handles all aspects of campaign management, from media planning to optimization and reporting, Hirsch told Streamlined. The eventual goal, he said, is for an agentic infrastructure that spans the CTV advertising chain in particular and is part of media sellers’ yield optimization.
AI Ad-option
AI product adoption may seem inevitable. But Hirsch acknowledged that there is no cakewalk in developing agentic solutions for every step in the CTV chain and to gain wide adoption.
Initially, Swivel was “very active in the middle to tail end of the agentic media workflow,” Hirsch said, especially where yield optimization is concerned. But now, he said, “we’re much more active at the front end of the agentic workflow,” referring to campaign functions before any media is purchased, such as planning, forecasting and ad ops rule-setting for guaranteed deals.
Rather than a single consolidated product, Swivel has multiple agents each responsible for parts of a campaign buy, such as budgeting, bid trafficking, pacing, yield management and post-campaign reporting, just to name a few, Hirsch said.
Which is certainly not to say that all publishers are comfortable entrusting their entire media-selling process to AI. Many publishers are interested in using one or two agents, “so as not to disrupt their entire ad ops workflow,” he said. It’s common for clients to pick and choose what they would prefer to outsource to the AI model.
Plus, agentic automation isn’t necessarily simplification. There is a real concern that agentic platforms and MCPs just become another tangle in the fragmentation of CTV media. Plus, with every vendor evolving into an AI solution of some sort, CTV advertisers and ad sellers might easily feel like there are too many agents in the kitchen. (Had to.)
Hirsch said this type of fragmentation is addressed in part by specifications within the Ad Context Protocol (AdCP), a set of standardized protocols for online ad supply chain agents to communicate and negotiate. AdCP includes a specification called adagents.json that allows publishers to declare which agents are authorized to sell their inventory, not unlike sellers.json, Hirsch said. (Editor’s note: The AdCP is collaborative with Prebid and somewhat in opposition to the IAB Tech Lab’s AAMP and ARTF frameworks.)
The case for agentic CTV
Agentic media buying on TV screens faces a long, uphill climb, even with optimistic expectations. But there are real perks to incentivize adoption by CTV advertisers and sellers. And those benefits are distinct even from programmatic.
For example, certain non-standard CTV ad formats – such as sponsorship placements, home screen ads and pause ads – can differ across streaming TV apps, smart TV models and CTV buying channels. And without ad standardization across publishers, these CTV buys are difficult to set up programmatically, Hirsch said.
Ad tech vendors and industry orgs have recently announced standardized ways to integrate home screen and pause ads. But it takes time to build wider buy-in.
With agentic media buying, on the other hand, it’s possible to automate ad sales for formats that are unavailable or difficult to buy programmatically, Hirsch said. Along with nontraditional ad formats, he said, sequential media (having creatives appear in a certain order within a program) is another type of buying strategy that can be managed agentically but not programmatically.
So, what’s next for Swivel?
Today, “our focus is still 100% CTV,” Hirsch said, but the startup intends to expand into the retail media space, which is especially promising because of the rising overlap between retail media and CTV, he said. Just look at Walmart, Vizio and Vibe.co.
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Sports Leagues Can’t Stop Putting Ad Revenue Ahead Of Fan And Player Interests
Disaffection and outright anger toward US sports institutions run deeper than logo-cluttered fields. Leagues and teams are sacrificing player safety and fan enjoyment for marketing dollars.
Continue Reading ▷ |
| In The News |
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Sen. Adam Schiff (D- Calif.) during a 2025 congressional hearing
Democrats have secured control over both the House and Senate. That means, The Hollywood Reporter predicts, that media and tech CEOs can expect more scrutiny from Capitol Hill.
- Media execs aren’t unfamiliar with congressional hearings, per se. In February, Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos and Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) Chief Revenue and Strategy Officer Bruce Campbell went before Congress to defend their attempted merger. Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison declined to attend, citing the company’s then-unsuccessful bid for WBD. Now, this new Democratic Congress is unlikely to take no for an answer.
- What’s next? A source working with one Democratic senator says members of Congress want to question execs about alleged quid pro quo deals, including the recently closed Paramount-WBD deal and the pending Fox-Roku deal.
- Meanwhile, details about Fox’s impending acquisition of Roku are still sparse, although Murdoch said that the company expects to close the transaction as soon as possible.
- Congress may also investigate the Trump administration’s impact on media and entertainment. First up on the docket: FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, who demanded that ABC submit for early license renewal review on what the network claims to be political grounds.
- In short, a Democratic Congress could mean that undue political influence over TV and the era of easy deal approvals in Washington may be over.
Meanwhile, President Trump is already blaming Fox News coverage for the “Blue tsunami,” referring to the Democrats’ sweeping victory.
- Just before midnight on Tuesday, Trump complained on Truth Social that Fox was interviewing former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio. “FoxNews [sic] bears responsibility for these losses by constantly and consistently putting on the Dumocrat opposition,” he wrote.
- These comments mirror the ones he wrote several hours earlier, when he claimed that the network’s recent ratings decline was a result of “spending too much time covering the Trump Deranged Dumocrats.”
- Trump was more somber in tone when he called into Fox News’ election coverage that night, telling hosts Brett Baier and Martha McCallum that he “thought they’d do better.”
Mind the intervening. The UK government has officially filed a Public Interest Intervention Notice into Sky’s $2.1 billion acquisition of ITV’s TV networks and streaming assets, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy announced on Wednesday. Both Ofcom and the Competition and Markets Authority will be expected to formally investigate the deal for its impact on free expression in news media and competition in the UK broadcast space, respectively.
Start spreading the news! The American Theatre Wing and the Broadway League have extended their broadcast agreement with CBS to air the Tony Awards through 2032. The deal represents an interesting departure from the recent trend of other award ceremonies, such as the Actor Awards (formerly the SAG Awards), the Emmys and the Oscars, moving to streaming services for their broadcasts.
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| STATISTICALLY SPEAKING |
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This election season, approximately 54% of political advertisers cited reaching local voters at scale and understanding audience quality as the biggest challenges for political campaigns on streaming TV, according to a recent survey from Advertiser Perceptions and TEGNA’s Premion. On the other hand, 53% said improving campaign spend efficiency and strengthening audience targeting are the top drivers of streaming investment.
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| New & Returning Series |
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For sneak peeks, check out Cynopsis Trailer Park.
Netflix shared a first look at “Trinity,” a new naval thriller series starring Gugu Mbatha-Raw (“Loki”) and Richard Madden (“Bodyguard”). The show debuts Dec. 1.
Apple TV dropped its trailer for a brand-new “Peanuts” holiday special, “Snoopy Presents: 12 Days of Snoopy.” The special premieres Nov. 13.
Similarly, Disney released a trailer for its stop-motion “A Proud Family Wizmas” holiday special, which premieres Nov. 14 on Disney+.
Football legend and Daytime Emmy Award winner Michael Strahan will star in a three-part docuseries about the fashion industry in “Michael Strahan’s Iconic Fashion,” premiering on ABC Nov. 10 and on Disney+ and Hulu the following day.
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| Today’s Premieres |
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Hallmark: “Mistletoe Murders” at 8 p.m.
Howdy: “The Walsh Sisters”
Netflix: “Black Doves” Season 2; “North of North” Season 2
Paramount+: “Big John’s Bosh! Family”
Prime Video: “Terrell & T.O.”
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| IN OTHER NEWS |
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Toni Collette
Toni Collette (“United States of Tara”) will star in the titular role in “Lenni,” a new Apple TV series currently filming in Sydney, Australia. Adapted from the Norwegian series “Pernille,” “Lenni” is billed as a dark comedy-mystery about a child welfare worker who struggles to juggle her personal and professional life after a family tragedy.
Speaking of Australia, Sydney-based production company Dollhouse Pictures has optioned the rights to a TV adaptation of “The Work,” Bri Lee’s best-selling novel about the cutthroat art industry. Hannah Lehmann (“Two Sides”) is attached as series creator and executive producer, alongside Jessica Carrera (“Paper Dolls”).
Whitney Leavitt, former cast member of “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives,” announced that she will executive produce and star in her own reality series for Hulu alongside her husband, Connor.
“Beef” creator Lee Sung Jin has two new TV projects in development at Netflix with his new production company, Lila Pictures: “The Only Child” starring Ali Wong, and “Citizen’s Arrest” by writer Gene Hong.
NBCUniversal and Hornbill Capital announced an $80 million Series C fundraising round for EloElo Group, which owns the Indian microdrama platform Story TV. In a statement, NBCU executive vice president Deepak Arya said that the company sees “significant opportunity in mobile-first storytelling and emerging formats.”
A new environmental report from The Brandtech Group suggests that a 30-second AI-generated commercial produces about 120 kg of CO2 emissions, which is roughly the carbon cost of manufacturing a new laptop. (As another point of comparison, 100 kgCO2e translates to around 1,500 hours of video streaming.)
On Dec. 1, Lady A will host the Country Music Association and ABC’s 17th annual holiday special, “CMA Country Christmas.” It will also be available to stream the next day on Disney+ and Hulu.
Meta has hired former “NBC Nightly News” producer Rich Latour to head its in-house content studio as VP. The role is part of the company’s communications and public affairs division, but may offer some possibilities beyond brand storytelling as Meta dips its toe into more long-form content opportunities with Instagram TV.
Skydance continues to shake up its post-merger executive structure. Eight leaders from Paramount and Warner Bros. will leave the combined company’s distribution team, which is now led by President Ray Hopkins. Underneath him, Sarah Bergman and Mickey Carter will share the title of EVP of distribution.
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| Sports Report |
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On Friday, NBA on Prime kicked off the Emirates NBA Cup group play, reaching an average of 2.62 million viewers in the US across both the Lakers-Warriors and Knicks-76ers matchups. The broadcast marks the most-watched regular-season doubleheader and most-watched NBA Cup doubleheader on record, according to Prime.
Saturday’s NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race from Martinsville earned The CW 928,000 total viewers, with a peak of almost 1.2 million viewers from 6:45 to 7 p.m. ET. The audience grew 27% compared to last season’s fall Martinsville race.
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| Ratings |
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The ratings race is still too early to call, but preliminary Nielsen data suggests that NBC News scored the highest during Tuesday’s election coverage, with an average of 6.52 million primetime viewers. ABC News came in second with 4.91 million viewers, followed by the three cable networks – CNN with 3.93 million, MS Now with 3.92 million and Fox News with 3.88 million. At the bottom of the list was CBS News with 2.63 million viewers.
Part of NBC News’ success on Tuesday night can probably be attributed to everybody’s favorite election explainer, Steve Kornacki – the livestreamed “Kornacki Cam” brought in 6.1 million views on YouTube alone.
Meanwhile, in non-political ratings news, Season 11 of “The Real Housewives of Potomac” debuted to 2.2 million total viewers across all platforms in its opening week, making it Bravo’s best premiere in three years.
Top 10 Broadcast Networks for the Week of Oct. 26
P2+ AA (000)
FOX 6,710
NBC 5,891
CBS 4,307
ABC 4,296
UNI 987
TEL 751
Me TV 571
ION 499
CW 440
GRIT 276
Source: Nielsen Big Data + Panel, Live + Same Day
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What is the name of the (fictional) fourth Hemsworth brother whom Tahani Al-Jamil dates on and off again in “The Good Place” (2016-20)?
Email answers to Trivia@Cynopsis.com and include your name, company and city/state (don’t forget!). Only the first four correct responses from each time zone will be included.
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YESTERDAY’S TRIVIA ANSWER
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What real-life, Southern-born socialite does Nathan Lane play on “The Gilded Age” (2022-present)? Ward McAllister.
Congrats to: Mark Wajda/Clermont, FL; Gerry Bixenspan-TV Marketing Inc./NYC; John Kukla-KDFW/Dallas-Forth Worth, TX; Rosemary Cunningham-ME TV/Chicago, IL; Dave Sikula-San Francisco State University/San Francisco, CA; Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA; Susan Nessanbaum-Goldberg-M and S Entertainment/LA; David Garber-Loyola Marymount University/Playa Vista, CA
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