Streamlined 8/6/2026: Why MNTN’s CEO Isn’t Sweating Media Consolidation

AdExchanger Streamlined eletter

Thursday, August 6, 2026

Happy almost-Friday! Here’s all the news you need to know this morning:

Our Q+A With MNTN CEO Mark Douglas
OpenAI Who? Disney Is All About TikTok Now
Paramount+ Is Developing “Trauma” (No, Really)

Partner content

She’s Already Done the Work. Make Sure the Industry Knows It.

Nominations for the 2026 Cynopsis Top Women in Media Awards close Friday, August 7. Don’t let the deadline pass without putting her name forward. Honoring the most influential women in media, entertainment and advertising. Self-nominations are welcome.

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Why MNTN’s CEO Isn’t Sweating Media Consolidation

By Victoria McNally

“The strong will survive.”

That’s how MNTN CEO Mark Douglas sums up the wave of consolidation sweeping both the media and ad tech industries – and he’s betting his CTV platform will be on the right side of it.

On Tuesday evening, MNTN reported $82.5 million in revenue for the second quarter, up 21% year-over-year. Its active performance TV customer base also grew 40% over the past year, which the company attributes to an increase in small and midsize customers.

As part of that pitch to SMBs, MNTN began expanding their access earlier this year to “premium streaming inventory,” which is the term Douglas used with investors. And that includes live sports.

“We have many customers who advertise during the FIFA World Cup games, March Madness, and on MLB, NBA, NHL and, soon, the NFL,” Douglas said.

AdExchanger spoke with Douglas the day after MNTN reported about what better access to premium inventory means for the business and for CTV advertising writ large.

AdExchanger: How do you define “premium TV inventory”?

MARK DOUGLAS: Premium is episodic programming on TV networks that have scale. We’re talking Disney, Warner Brothers, Paramount, Peacock, Netflix and so forth. All of our ad buys on behalf of our customers go across those networks. We want their ads to be placed on the content people are actively watching, not just playing in the background. The user engagement leads to higher performance.

What we were referring to in our earnings call is even more premium than that. We’re giving buyers guaranteed access, so they can allocate a portion of their budget to live sporting events, for example, or specific reality shows.

That’s something we started to test in Q1. It’s still in beta for us, but we have a lot of customers already taking advantage.

How are you negotiating these premium deals?

We don’t buy open market inventory. We have direct deals with effectively every streaming network in America. I think they view us as a growth channel, because our go-to-market motion is so different from theirs. Their focus tends to be on larger advertisers and ours is on the small and midsize business segment.

How does the demand for live sports inventory impact what you’re able to deliver? Are more publishers setting aside programmatic access that you can tap into?

Absolutely. There’s significant viewing occurring through streaming, and advertisers want the benefits of programmatic ad buying. Programmatic tends to be viewed as being like auctions, but a lot of it is also the signals that are available for real-time decisioning. What we’re saying is that each individual advertiser may not be the size of one of these big brands, but, collectively, their size is large, and so let’s create a solution that’s patterned to them.

This is a solution that’s still in beta, by the way. We haven’t done a formal press release, but there’s a lot of interest in it, so the cat may be out of the bag now.

Why do you think there’s so much interest already?

Our customers are about performance, but there’s also this kind of unquantified halo effect from television – the credibility, the brand association, the ability to create show-specific ads.

Bringing that ability to the small and midsize market is important.

Do you worry at all about the impact that media industry consolidation will have on these types of inventory deals? If all the ad dollars are flowing to one publisher, like Paramount-Warner Bros., what does that mean for platforms like yours?

A big part of our value is that we’ve figured out the SMB market, and that’s not easily replaced even by the networks. One thing I’ve said to many networks is that 95% of our customers have never advertised on TV before. That money was predominantly going to social; not a penny of it was going to television without our platform.

Consolidation doesn’t change that value. In fact, it may increase it, because when you consolidate networks, you’re now on the hook for an even bigger number.

There’s been a lot of M&A on the platform side lately, like Fox and Roku and Walmart and Vibe.co. How do these types of deals in the ad tech space affect the larger ecosystem, and would MNTN sell?

We’re a publicly traded company, so if we were approached, we have an obligation to investors to conduct those conversations if we think it’s legitimate.

In terms of the larger space, I think it’s a “the strong will survive” kind of situation. The consolidation will wind up creating the strongest and likely largest companies that will be the winners. That doesn’t mean the companies that have been acquired are weak in any way, but it’s just kind of the way it plays out.

In the earlier days of The Trade Desk, they had a lot of competition. But as companies got acquired, it left an even bigger space for them to grow into and dominate. The same is true in our situation with MNTN.

Do you have any theories about why bigger companies are so interested in CTV platforms in particular?

It depends on the company. But I think, in general, big media companies are enthused about the SMB market as a growth factor for the overall market.

This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.

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Disney’s New AI Strategy: Make Good After The Sora Mess

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In The News

Disney has a new tie-up with TikTok. The duo will roll out their content-sharing deal in the US later this year, with plans to eventually launch it in other global markets.

TikTok creators will have access to Disney IP and character imagery that they can use in their videos. A “thoughtfully curated” selection of videos will live on TikTok and Verts, which is the mobile-focused vertical video feed that Disney introduced to its streaming app.
The content-sharing deal strongly resembles Disney’s short-lived agreement with Sora, OpenAI’s video generation tool. Disney pulled out of the $1 billion deal earlier this year after OpenAI suddenly shuttered Sora, which was supposed to feature more than 200 characters across the Disney, Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars franchises.
Now, the relationship between Disney and TikTok aims to capitalize on the intersection between vertical video and fandom – both of which are major priorities for streamers.
The Takeaway: Most media companies with a streaming service introduced or expanded vertical video feeds for their mobile apps. To stand out from their competition, streamers are leaning heavily into fandom to encourage more engagement, longer watch times and, in turn, more ad dollars.

The trend of advertisers chasing live sports inventory isn’t going away anytime soon.

Disney announced that it already sold out of its Super Bowl LXI inventory.
The timeline to sell out has accelerated over the past few years. In 2023, Fox did not finalize all its Super Bowl inventory until days before the game; CBS declared all inventory for the 2024 game sold in November; and last year, NBCUniversal sold out in September.
It’s not just the major networks cleaning up on sports, either. Fubo also achieved success (or rather, trimmed its losses) on World Cup inventory last quarter.
The struggling sports streamer lost out on Super Bowl access in 2026 thanks to a distribution feud with NBCUniversal that only just ended in June. That likely won’t be a problem next year, as Fubo closed a major merger deal with Disney in 2025.
The Takeaway: Sporting events represent big money for everyone in the media industry, regardless of size.

Hearst will officially acquire Disney’s 50% interest in A+E Global Media for $1.2 billion in cash, the company recently announced. Upon closing, A+E Global Media – which includes A&E, History Channel, Lifetime, FYI and Defy – will become a wholly Hearst-owned business.

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

Speaking of sports, eMarketer’s forecast predicts that US digital live sports viewership will reach just under 123 million in 2027, an increase of 6.1% compared to the prior year.

New & Returning Series

For sneak peeks, check out Cynopsis Trailer Park.

Great American Media announced a release date for Season 2 of “Crossroads Springs.” The 10-episode season will premiere on PureFlex every Thursday starting on Sept. 3, and will later air on Great American Family and GFAM+

Investigation Discovery released a new trailer for “O.J. Unseen: Exploitation of Evil,” about the controversial hidden-camera prank show that O.J. Simpson once starred in. The docuseries was produced by INE Entertainment, and will premiere across two nights on Sept. 7 and Sept. 8.

“Adam’s Law,” created by Judge Judy Sheindlin, premieres on CBS on Sept. 14. The new courtroom television series features Judge Adam Levy, former two-term district attorney and son of TV icon Judge Judy, who is serving as the show’s executive producer. The studios behind the scenes are CBS Media Ventures and Queen Bee Productions, the TV production company founded by Sheindlin and Levy.

Discovery Channel’s supernatural investigation series “Expedition X” returns for a new season on Aug. 19, with a special two-part premiere focused on exploring the tale of Robin Hood from Nottingham, England.

“Botched Homes,” HGTV’s newest home renovation series starring craftsman Charlie Kawas, will hit the channel on Sept. 2.

Season Two of the Spanish-language crime drama “Women in Blue” (“Las Azules”) is coming to Apple TV on Aug. 12.

TODAY’S PREMIERES

ALLBLK: “D.O.P.E. Unit”
Discovery: “Escape From Alcatraz” at 8 p.m.
HBO: “Monsters of God” at 9 p.m.
Netflix: “My Life With the Walter Boys”

In Other News

HBO and the BBC are co-producing a new six-episode period drama from Ava Pickett called “1536.” Like Pickett’s play of the same name, the series takes place in Tudor England after the execution of Anne Boleyn. BAFTA award winner Molly Manners (“Extra Geography”) will direct.

Paramount+ announced the development of a new medical action-thriller series from Lionsgate Television and 42 Management & Production, and creator Geoff Bussetil (“Slow Horses”). The working title? “Trauma.” No, really. The series will star Richard Madden (“Bodyguard”) as a Royal Marines medic turned ER doctor who has to fight his way through the hospital to save the British Prime Minister from terrorists. So, “Die Hard” meets “The Pitt?”

Fox News Channel ended the week of July 27 with 2.7 million weekday primetime viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research’s Big Data + Panel ratings. “The Five” led the week for Fox, reaching nearly 3.4 million viewers.

Trivia

TODAY’S TRIVIA QUESTION

A Season 2 episode of “Portlandia” (2011-2018) featured a small “Battlestar Galactica” (2004-2009) reunion. Name two of the three “Battlestar” alumni who appeared.

(Email answers to Trivia@Cynopsis.com and include your name, company and city. Answers limited to four per time zone.)

YESTERDAY’S TRIVIA ANSWER

Which Scottish comedian is behind the witty voiceover narration in both the US and the UK versions of the hit “Love Island” franchise? Iain Stirling

Congrats to: Rev. Mark Wajda/Clermont, FL; Natalie Leff-WBD/Atlanta, GA; Mike Seidel-CSI Sports/Jersey City, NJ; Gerry Bixenspan-TV Marketing Inc./NYC; Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA; Susan Nessanbaum-Goldberg-M and S Entertainment/LA

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Victoria McNally
Associate Editor

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Streamlined 8/6/2026: Why MNTN’s CEO Isn’t Sweating Media Consolidation

She’s Already Done the Work. Make Sure the Industry Knows It.

Why MNTN’s CEO Isn’t Sweating Media Consolidation

By Victoria McNally

Disney’s New AI Strategy: Make Good After The Sora Mess

Joanna Gerber

Paramount Skydance Insists The WBD Merger Will Be Good For The Media And Ad Industry

Alyssa Boyle

TODAY’S PREMIERES

TODAY’S TRIVIA QUESTION

YESTERDAY’S TRIVIA ANSWER

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