Superstudios’ Spring Studio: As I have written before, in-person experiences—including advertising—continue to grow more valuable. The latest evidence of this theory came earlier this week, when the Italian events company Superstudios acquired a majority ownership stake in Spring Studios, the company that operates the TriBeCa venue and its events business. The investment, an eight-figure value per a person familiar with the deal, aims to give the Milan-based firm its first foothold in the U.S. Superstudios generated $45 million in revenue in 2025, a figure it aims to grow to $240 million within five years through an aggressive acquisition strategy. As much as the events space feels oversaturated, it continues to benefit from tailwinds, such as a growing distrust in digital content and an increased need for networking as a result of remote work, that show little signs of stopping anytime soon.
Shamrock Snags Saylor (EXCLUSIVE): The private equity firm Shamrock, which owns ADWEEK, invested an eight-figure sum to acquire a majority ownership stake in the social-first advertising agency Saylor on Wednesday. The agency, founded in 2021 by former Disney and Netflix executive Will Trowbridge, will soon be combined with Mutiny, an agency that Shamrock acquired earlier this year, in February. Mutiny focuses on gaming, while Saylor specializes in entertainment, giving the merged operation a nominal expertise in fandom writ large, a skillset whose value is applicable to far broader categories, per Trowbridge. Trowbridge will lead the newly combined company Saylor as CEO, while Mutiny CEO Geordie Larratt-Smith will become its chief commercial officer.
Podcaster Pinball: Podcast creator Guy Raz, host of the popular program How I Built This, announced on Tuesday that after 10 years at NPR, he acquired the rights to the series and has partnered with Vox Media to expand it into a multichannel product, including video and live events offerings. The news comes just two weeks after Casey Newton and Kevin Roose, hosts of the popular New York Times podcast Hard Fork, announced that they were rebranding the show to Machine Gods and decamping to NPR. (On Monday, Roose also joined The Atlantic as a contributing writer.) The revolving door between The Times, Vox Media, and NPR is emblematic of the broader land grab for podcast talent, as hosts with proven track records jockey for cushier gigs. As Joanna Stern, herself in a similar situation, recently pointed out, the steady circulation of podcast talent reflects the emergence of a new kind of relationship between media companies and A-list reporters.
CNN Jubilee: On Monday, CNN announced that it is partnering with the YouTube series Jubilee to host a town hall with Texas Senate Candidate Rep. James Talarico on Oct. 14. The tie-up is an intriguing partnership. Jubilee has become a YouTube sensation, with over 380 million monthly views, thanks largely to its signature format, which features a lone figure debating a subject with a group of everyday folks gathered in a circle. Such confrontational show-downs have long thrived on YouTube—and on traditional television before that—but Jubilee hams up the tension further with melodramatic thumbnails. The partnership is an audience-crossover play for both brands, while providing Jubilee with the legitimacy afforded by a legacy news imprimatur. I anticipate many more such deals in the coming few months.
Quote/Unquote
Rashida Jones is the CEO of Uncensored, the media company Piers Morgan has spent the last two years building around his YouTube show. Jones joined in March after four years running MSNBC, alongside a funding round led by Raine Ventures and Antenna Group, with a mandate to turn a talk show into a global media company.
