This story was originally published in On Background with Mark Stenberg, a free, weekly newsletter that explores the key themes shaping the media industry. You can sign up for it here.

Late last year, Netflix signed a series of deals that effectively served as the starting gun for an industrywide race for podcasting talent.

In October, it penned a partnership with Spotify to host more than a dozen of its most popular podcasts, including programs from The Ringer and Barstool Sports. The following month, it inked a similar tie-up with iHeart Media, bringing popular podcasts like The Breakfast Club and My Favorite Murder to the streaming platform as video series. 

Since then, other streaming services have rushed to stand up similar arrangements. 

In October, Tubi signed a $150 million partnership with the podcast studio Audiochuck to adapt its portfolio into television programming. At its NewFront presentation in March, the free, ad-supported streamer also announced that it had struck deals for original programming with the YouTubers Jesser and Deestroying. 

In February, MS Now partnered with Crooked Media to bring its podcast programming to live television, part of a broader programming push from the network as it plans to launch a standalone streaming service this summer. And in March, Versant, the parent company of MS Now, emerged as the leading candidate to acquire the Vox Media Podcast Network, according to reporting from The New York Times. 

The streaming services that have not yet introduced podcasts onto their platforms are rapidly making plans to do so, according to interviews with media executives, agents, and creator monetization firms. Content strategists at both Roku and Amazon told me they are actively looking to bring more creator content to their platforms, whether by adapting audio podcasts into video series or working with YouTubers. 

.newsletter-subscription-form-wrapper p:empty{ display: none !important } .newsletter-subscription-form-wrapper button br{ display: none !important }

The wave of deals is likely just beginning, the start of a new chapter in the streaming wars as the difference between creator content and traditional Hollywood programming becomes nearly indistinguishable. 

“In the same way that Spotify got into audio several years ago,” said Marissa Hurwitz, a partner at the talent agency WME, “the streamers are now getting into podcasting as a way to super-serve their audience, attract new subscribers, and compete with YouTube.”

Streaming services are embracing creator content for a variety of reasons, but one in particular stands out, according to Roku Media head of content Lisa Holme. 

Historically, these platforms have sourced their programming from Hollywood studios. But in recent years the quality of creator content has dramatically improved, and the size of its audience has risen significantly. Creators also naturally attract a younger audience, a key appeal for television executives always looking to corral the next generation of viewers.

Taken together, these factors have compelled streamers to meet audience demand by sourcing more frequently from YouTube and podcast firms.

“We want to have anything that our consumers want to watch,” Holme said. “That includes these newer content types, like creator podcasts.”

Creator content, which is typically monetized via a revenue share, also has the advantage of being far more cost efficient to produce than traditional fare. The relatively low overhead of podcasts—typically two mics and a camera—means that streamers can more easily afford to experiment with the format, as the cost of failure is so comparatively low, according to Jon Miller, the chief executive of Integrated Media Co.

In fact, the closest parallel for creator content in the cable universe is day-time television, a comparison that multiple media executives referenced. Both effectively feature a series of talking heads whose draw is their personality and subject matter expertise. 

Like its day-time television, creator content is designed to produce hours of programming at very little cost, a prospect that has grown even more appealing for streaming services given that they have nearly infinite shelf space but fixed content budgets. 

In fact, those budgets have become an even more relevant factor in programming decisions of late. 

As others have noted, the dominance of live sports has led professional leagues to charge streamers and broadcast networks exorbitant prices for the right to air their games. The NBA, for instance, penned a $76 billion rights package in 2024, and the NFL is moving to renegotiate the $110 billion rights package it signed in 2021 as a result, owing to the belief that its offering is now underpriced.

Streamers, intent on freeing up cash to sign these deals but with a limited number of options for doing so, might look to shrink the portion of their content outlays dedicated to scripted and unscripted content. Podcasts, then, with their low cost of production, grow even more appealing in a budgetary landscape defined by extravagant pricing for sports and pocket change for most everything else.

And unlike original content, creator series come to streamers with their own followings already attached, meaning that both the financial risk and viewership risk are significantly reduced. Indeed, for many streamers the real question is not whether or not they should experiment with creator content, but why it has taken them so long to do so. 

Of course, this trend is still in its infancy, and many streamers are treating the Netflix experiment as a case study, watching to see how its podcast offerings perform before fully committing themselves to copying its strategy. Netflix is expected to bring to market a new series of podcast deals in April, which will no doubt be scrutinized for any differences compared to its initial round of deals, according to Hurwitz.

But complicating that particular tactic is the fact that Netflix is the only streamer that has required its new podcast partners to remove their channels from YouTube, a sign of exactly who Netflix is hoping to curb with its efforts.

For most streamers, such exclusivity runs counter to their strategy, which would prefer that the shows reach the broadest audience possible, according to Angie More, the director of creator advertising partnerships at Amazon.

In fact, Amazon specifically restructured its podcasting business last year to account for the increasingly multiplatform nature of creator content. In August, the company dissolved Wondery, dividing its roster of shows into scripted content, which now lives under Audible, and creator content, which lives under Amazon Creator Services.

For its creator content, which includes shows like the Kelce brothers’ New Heights podcast, living across multiple platforms is part of the point, according to More. This expanded footprint is an enticement to advertisers and a point of appeal to the creators themselves, many of whom are unlikely to want to artificially curtail their reach.

Naturally, the only party in this emergent content supply chain that might be unhappy about the situation is YouTube itself.

Several executives openly speculated about how the video platform might respond to the ongoing poaching of its homegrown programming, a problem that YouTube, like Substack, shares as an incubator of talent. Most agree that YouTube is unlikely to get into the business of paying to retain its creators, as doing so would create an expensive precedent. 

But the question of how YouTube responds, as well as how podcast monetization platforms like Substack and Patreon fit into the equation, reflect the strategic stakes at hand. In a world where streaming services are increasingly looking to emulate YouTube, how long before YouTube begins to do the same to them?

Talking Heds

Union Activity (SCOOP): In recent days, the unions at CBS, The New York Times, and ProPublica have been busy. Last week, I scooped that the union representing CBS News 24/7 had successfully renegotiated its contract with management, which was ratified on Monday. According to sources, some of the major planks of the new agreement include protections related to artificial intelligence—one specifically mandates that CBS pay a 20% higher severance package to staffers whose job is replaced by the technology, a protection that could become precedent elsewhere. At The Times, for instance, AI protections remain a key point of friction amid the ongoing negotiations between the 1,500-person Times Guild and management, Breaker reported Tuesday. And on Wednesday, unionized staff at ProPublica walked off the job in a one-day strike, setting up picket lines at company offices in New York, Chicago, and Washington D.C. Once again, restrictions on replacing jobs with AI was a key point of friction.

The Trade Desk Exodus (EXCLUSIVE): On Tuesday, three key executives departed from the advertising technology behemoth The Trade Desk, the latest in a series of highly visible exits. This most recent diaspora included chief marketing officer Ian Colley, top communications executive Melinda Zurich, and Matthew Henick, the onetime leader of its streaming operating system Ventura. Henick and Colley have already been replaced, at least in interim capacities, according to reporting from my colleague Kendra Barnett, but the shake-up is a clear sign that the company has not been pleased with its communication strategy of late. The exodus of Henick, in particular, is notable, as the Ventura program he spearheaded always faced long odds of breaking into the highly competitive world of CTV operating systems, and his exodus is not an encouraging sign of its adoption. Perhaps with all the drama surrounding the demand-side platform, The Trade Desk is looking to pare down such projects and focus on its core business. 

Public Radio, Programmatically (EXCLUSIVE): On Wednesday, American Public Radio launched the Inform Media Network, which stitches together the podcast and livestream advertising inventory of 33 local public radio stations across the country, including heavyweights like WNYC, WBEZ in Chicago, LAist, and KQED in San Francisco. The combined network represents 55 million monthly impressions that are, unlike much podcast inventory, not skippable and now available programmatically for the first time. The inventory, which at launch is worth around $12 million, is specifically composed of listeners tuning in to their APM station via a website or mobile app, indicating a high level of engagement that, in theory, compensates for the relatively small size of the audience.

HubSpot Strikes Again: While I do not find the enterprise software firm HubSpot particularly compelling, the acquisition strategy of its media arm, HubSpot Media, is one of the more intriguing plotlines of the year. In February, I covered its acquisition of Starter Story, a media brand focused on entrepreneurship whose business took off once it shifted its focus to YouTube. Then on Tuesday, HubSpot Media announced that it had purchased Futurepedia, a network of 17 YouTube channels focused on AI and education. HubSpot treats these media outlets as sources of lead generation for its software product, and its choice of platform is illuminating. HubSpot Media first came into existence by acquiring The Hustle, a popular newsletter, in 2021, which it supplemented by bolting on Mindstream, another newsletter, in 2024. Its focus on newsletter brands and YouTube channels reflects the emerging wisdom that much of modern media will play out across those two channels. 

Complex Bets (EXCLUSIVE): Last week, the media brand Complex announced a partnership with the sports merchandise company Fanatics to launch Complex Bets, a content offering that will see Complex interweave sports-betting and prediction market data from Fanatics into written content, video programming, and dedicated social media handles. The tie-up is a fascinating spin on the emerging world of publisher-prediction-market partnerships, a trend I first covered in January that has seen prediction firms like Kalshi and Polymarket ink deals with outlets like Yahoo Finance and Dow Jones to integrate prediction data into reporting. In the Complex deal, the aim is to encourage gambling on cultural events, such as whether two streetwear designers will collaborate or on the critical reception of a new album. Fanatics, which is a relatively late entrant to the sports-gambling and prediction spaces, is intentionally deploying a strategy that runs counter to its competitive set, which in time will make for a fascinating case study. 

Pulled Quotes

“This deadline that President Trump has set, 8 p.m., for threatening to destroy a civilization: How does an investor process that? Is it a bigger upside risk or downside risk?”
CNBC anchor Sara Eisen, asking the important questions
READ MORE

“Judging by Trump and Mamdani, leading a government and being a content creator are essentially the same job.”
The Rebooting author Brian Morrissey, on why OpenAI bought TBPN
READ MORE

“I will destroy you.”
Block Communications CEO Allan Block to his brother, John Block, who was exploring a sale of Block’s media assets
READ MORE

“I am going to save newspapers in America.”
Billionaire David Hoffman, the new majority owner of Lee Enterprises, on his very unlikely objective
READ MORE

Quote/Unquote

Jaya Saxena is one of the five cofounders of the newly launched food media brand Ravenous, which debuted on Monday. The outlet, which is composed entirely of former Eater staff affected by its recent rounds of layoffs, aims to center the kind of written editorial work that Eater has moved away from in recent years. 

The launch adds even further froth to the already heady food media scene, as it joins Caper and Gourmet as the third new outlet to launch in as many months. Notably, Ravenous is a worker-owned co-op, a model styled after independent media ventures like Defector and Hearing Things, a decision that stems in large part from the frustration the team experienced under Vox Media.

This interview has been edited.

Mark Stenberg: So what is Ravenous and how did it come to be?

Jaya Saxena: Ravenous is a worker-owned media outlet that will feature in-depth reporting, cultural coverage, and well-informed opinion pieces, alongside some more personal pieces. There are five of us, distributed across the country, who were all a part of the same round of layoffs at Eater last year. 

Mark: Where does Ravenous fit into the broader food media ecosystem, which seems to be undergoing a tectonic rearrangement?

Jaya: We kept seeing different food publishers pull away from the kind of work that we wanted to do in favor of content that was shorter, oriented around lists and recommendations. I think some of our recently launched peers, like Caper and Gourmet, are also reactions to the same trend and proof that there is demand for this kind of work.

Mark: Notably, Ravenous is not centering social video, restaurant discovery, or even a newsletter. Instead, the website is the home base, a move that runs counter to many of the many trends I see among new outlets. Why make that choice?

Jaya: We are going to have a weekly newsletter, we are exploring a podcast, and I imagine in the future we will incorporate video, but only where it makes sense. With Ravenous, we really wanted the focus to be a simple value exchange: our writing for subscribers’ money. We are not looking for hockey stick growth or to appeal to everyone. We just want to reach people who want to read what we write, and we think that is more sustainable.

Mark: How are you monetizing Ravenous?

Jaya: We just kicked off our subscriber drive, a monthlong effort to reach $160,000 in funding that will allow the five of us to do this part-time and pay some freelancers, just to get the operation off the ground. In the future, we might incorporate advertising in specific places, and I could see events playing a role in the business as well, but we are mostly looking to operate primarily through subscription revenue.

Mark: The worker-owned model came about in response to your frustrations working at Vox Media. What happened there?

Jaya: We all experienced the frustration that comes with companies making a lot of money but not seeing where that goes. As the people creating the product, that profit never found its way back to us. With this model, the calculus is so much more straightforward.

Jeff Shell is exiting another major publisher.

According to multiple news outlets, including Deadline and Variety, Shell, who served as president of Paramount Skydance, is out at the company.

Prior to the announcement, Shell had been facing allegations from reported pro gambler RJ Cipriani that the executive had shared private information regarding Paramount. Cipriani also claimed Shell owed him $150 million for crisis communication services, according to reports. The pair had been engaged in a messy legal battle over the claims.

This is Shell’s second exit from a major publisher in the last few years. In 2023, Shell was ousted from his role as CEO of NBCUniversal following what was described as “an inappropriate relationship with a woman in the company.”

Shell was hired by Paramount in 2024 amid Skydance’s $8 billion merger with the company. Reports surfaced last week that Shell was in preliminary talks over an exit.

Following the news, Paramount Skydance released a statement on Shell’s exit, noting that it had looked into allegations that the executive had violated certain SEC disclosure rules.

“The facts demonstrated that these allegations do not establish a securities law violation,” the company said. Paramount Skydance also noted Shell had exited to focus on the lawsuit against him.

See the full statement below:

PSKY’s Board of Directors followed standard practice and, with the assistance of independent counsel, conducted a complete and thorough review of the allegations raised in a recently filed civil complaint that Mr. Shell, PSKY’s President, had violated certain SEC disclosure rules. The facts demonstrated that these allegations do not establish a securities law violation. Mr. Shell promptly notified PSKY of these accusations and is taking forceful legal action. PSKY and its named Board members will respond in the proceedings to the frivolous and baseless claims against PSKY and its named Board members and stockholders. Consistent with Mr. Shell’s commitment to prioritizing PSKY’s success, he has elected to transition from his positions as President of PSKY and a member of PSKY’s Board of Directors to focus on this lawsuit. PSKY is grateful for Mr. Shell’s many contributions and to have relied on him as a valued advisor.

CTV is crowded—want to learn how brand fundamentals cut through the noise? Enroll in The ADWEEK MiniMBA in Marketing and build a strategy designed to last. Sign up here.

On Tuesday, the NFL announced that it partnered with U.S. Bank in a multi-year partnership, making the financial institution the first brand to hold a standalone banking sponsorship with the NFL in 30 years.

The deal helps fill a void left by Visa, whose sponsorship rights expired in March after three decades of partnership, the second-longest such relationship in league history behind only Gatorade, which first partnered with the NFL in 1983. 

Under the previous arrangement, Visa served as the financial services partner of the NFL, but it also owned all associated categories including peer-to-peer banking and retail banking, which Visa passed through to North Carolina-based Truist Bank. 

Going forward, the NFL has disaggregated its payments sponsorship from one category into three. 

Beginning Tuesday, U.S. Bank will serve as the bank and wealth management partner of the league, while American Express stepped in to claim the payments category from Visa. The NFL has not yet named its peer-to-peer banking sponsor, but PayPal is the odds-on favorite, according to the Sports Business Journal.

As a result, the NFL has effectively monetized what was once a category-wide sponsorship into three distinct partnerships, capturing significantly more value in the process.

Representatives from U.S. Bank and the NFL declined to share the financial specifics of the partnership, though the net value of the two signed deals does exceed what the NFL received from Visa, the league confirmed. For context, American Express is paying between $910 million and $950 million over seven years for its charter, according to the SBJ. 

U.S. Bank emerged from a competitive RFP process in part by emphasizing its focus on community and through its efforts to support the financial literacy of its players, according to Tracie Rodburg, the NFL’s senior vice president of global partnerships. 

“Banking was a pass-through right, so we didn’t have a direct relationship with banks,” Rodburg said. “But banks are such a core part of communities, and communities are core to the NFL.”

As part of the partnership, U.S. Bank is unveiling a new initiative called the Financial Edge program, a financial literacy offering designed to serve NFL players from their rookie seasons through retirement. Although players are free to bank with whatever institution they prefer, U.S. Bank no doubt hopes to win the opportunity to manage the wealth of some of the highest-paid professionals on the planet.

The bank will introduce the program in part through Fernando Mendoza, the projected top pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, who graduated with a business administration degree and will serve as its Chief Financial Playmaker.

For U.S. Bank, the deal represents an intentional step out from behind a historically low-key brand posture. 

Chief Marketing Officer Michael Lacorazza, who joined the company about two and a half years ago, described the NFL partnership as a “tentpole investment” in a broader push to reframe the bank’s national identity.

“We had previously been seen as a Midwestern, regional, retail business,” Lacorazza said. “The reality is our business has grown quite a bit. We’re stepping up to tell our story in a bigger way than we have in the past.”

The Minneapolis-based U.S. Bank has served as the official bank of the Minnesota Vikings since 1961 and works with more than 35 professional sports teams and stadium clients, a track record that helped win the NFL account, according to Rodburg. As part of the NFL deal, the bank will also become the presenting sponsor of the Super Bowl MVP award and a sponsor of the NFL Flag Championship.

As for the NFL, the league enters this upcoming season with unprecedented momentum. It entered the 2025 season with a record 46 corporate sponsors, a figure that is only poised to grow as the Shield continues its domination of American sport.

TelevisaUnivision and Nielsen say their new deal measures up.

Today, TelevisaUnivision and measurement giant Nielsen announced a new multi-year measurement and data agreement covering TelevisaUnivision’s portfolio. That includes national and local broadcast, cable, streaming, and radio. TelevisaUnivision will also use Nielsen’s suite of media intelligence tools. 

“Measurement continues to evolve, and it is critical that it accurately reflects the scale, value, and influence of Hispanic audiences across platforms. We are pleased to continue working with Nielsen to support cross-platform measurement and to help ensure that brands and agencies can fully understand the audiences we reach every day,” Tim Natividad, president of U.S. advertising sales and marketing at TelevisaUnivision, said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Amilcar Perez, Nielsen’s chief revenue officer, noted that the measurement company has unique capabilities to help grow TelevisaUnivision’s business. Among the services included in the deal, TelevisaUnivision will have access to advanced audiences, ad-supported streaming platform ratings, Nielsen ONE ads for connected television, and national out-of-home expansion.

“We will continue supporting TelevisaUnivision with cross-platform measurement and media intelligence designed to help them understand and demonstrate the value of their massive audiences across all platforms,” Perez said.

The deal was coming down to the wire. Upfront negotiations are already starting. Plus, upfront week, where the major publishers, including TelevisaUnivision, make annual presentations to the ad community, is around a month away.

Ahead of the agreement’s announcement, multiple buyers told ADWEEK that, sans a Nielsen contract, they would’ve had to lean more on alternative measurement and currencies, including VideoAmp and Comscore, to get deals done with TelevisaUnivision.

The deal is the latest agreement Nielsen has wrapped ahead of the upfront, with the company also finalizing a deal with A+E Global Media in March.

CTV is crowded—want to learn how brand fundamentals cut through the noise? Enroll in The ADWEEK MiniMBA in Marketing and build a strategy designed to last. Sign up here.

This story was originally published in On Background with Mark Stenberg, a free, weekly newsletter that explores the key themes shaping the media industry. You can sign up for it here.

In the past year, interest in food media has grown from a simmer to a boil.

The uptick began last March, when the food technology company Wonder, most recently valued at $7 billion, paid $90 million for the food media brand Tastemade. 

In October, People Inc. paid an undisclosed amount for the food publisher Feedfeed, the first acquisition from People Inc. since the $2.7 billion merger that created the company in 2021. And of course, as readers of this newsletter well know, in February America’s Test Kitchen bought Food52 in a bankruptcy auction for $10 million, a far lower bid than ATK had originally submitted before Food52 found itself in dire financial straits.

These tie-ups come against a broader backdrop of food and dining related enthusiasm. 

In recent months, two new food media startups have launched. Caper, which aims to apply the Puck model to the world of dining, sent its first newsletter in February, and Gourmet, which nabbed its pedigreed namesake from Condé Nast, has made masterful use of the earned media to bolster awareness of what is effectively a scrappy food outlet. 

More consequentially, two behemoth deals were struck earlier this week that promise to reshape the food industry itself. On Monday, Sysco acquired Restaurant Depot in a $29 billion tie-up, and on Tuesday, Unilever agreed to merge its food business with McCormick, creating a combined firm worth more than $65 billion.

And now, as if the market were not frothy enough, two iconic food media assets have recently come to market.

.newsletter-subscription-form-wrapper p:empty{ display: none !important } .newsletter-subscription-form-wrapper button br{ display: none !important }

Last month, Bloomberg reported that BuzzFeed, facing financial headwinds of its own, had declared its openness to parting ways with elements of its portfolio to keep itself afloat. 

Interest immediately turned to Tasty, a prized food media asset credited with inventing the “hands and pans” video format that became ubiquitous in food media for a period. BuzzFeed had previously explored selling Tasty in 2024, when it parted ways with Complex for $108 million, but ultimately held onto the brand.

A spokesperson for BuzzFeed declined to comment on the record, pointing instead to the recent remarks made by its CEO Jonah Peretti.

Likewise, another stalwart of the digital media era has lately come under scrutiny for its purported plans to divide up its kingdom. 

Vox Media, home to a growing podcast network and a broader stable of editorial brands, has entertained a number of options for divestiture, including a spin-off of its podcast network, the sale of New York Magazine to minority shareholder Penske Media, and the individual apportioning of key brands to qualified buyers, according to four people familiar with the business.

In fact, one of its strongest brands, Eater, has been a key player in these discussions, according to two of the people. 

A spokesperson for Vox Media declined to comment on the record.

In recent months, Eater has undergone a slight glow-up, debuting a redesigned app, a slate of new newsletters, and an expanded video repertoire. It has shifted its focus more toward utility than entertainment, a pivot most visible in the relaunch of its app, which now foregrounds restaurant discovery and reservation-making. 

The overhaul makes Eater a tidy fit for the growing cohort of food technology companies increasingly set on owning the so-called “dining economy.” 

Wonder, the food technology firm founded by Marc Lore, established the archetype for this new buyer. 

The company has raised $1.85 billion in total funding since launch, with $1.5 billion of that coming in the past year alone. With those funds, it has built a network of ghost kitchens and food halls, acquired the meal-kit delivery service Blue Apron, the food delivery platform Grubhub, and the food media brand Tastemade. Its stated aim, according to Lore, is to become the “meal-time super app,” delivering groceries, dinner, meal kits, or inspiration, depending on the mood of the user.

In response, its competitive set has similarly begun exploring a verticalized approach to the food and dining market. 

Last May, Doordash acquired both Deliveroo and the reservation service SevenRooms for more than $5 billion. In October, Uber Eats struck a retail media partnership with Kroger, and Instacart has been integrating its grocery-delivery service into platforms ranging from TikTok to NYT Cooking.

Likewise, a similar move into the dining space is coming from financial service providers. 

American Express bought Resy in 2019, JPMorgan Chase acquired The Infatuation in 2021, and in February, Bilt hired the CEO of the Jose Andres Group, Sam Bakhshandehpour, as its new president of local merchants, the latest indicator of the growing overlap between credit cards, rewards programs, and dining culture. 

The increased involvement of these deep-pocketed investors in the food industry has invigorated the food media sector. 

The sea change makes Eater, which now specializes in getting diners into restaurants, a plausible bolt-on for a food technology player looking for a top-of-funnel discovery mechanism. 

It bears mentioning that the founder of Eater, Ben Leventhal, is also the founder of Resy, which in 2024 undertook an initiative aimed at expanding its editorial offering. So if building proves a burden, perhaps they would consider buying?

Tasty, on the other hand, has a very different value proposition. The food media brand has a strong licensing and merchandise business—so much so that I reported on it in 2021, when it crossed $250 million in global sales. 

Rather than a bolt-on for a food delivery app then, Tasty might make a more appealing acquisition for a retail partner, such as Walmart or Amazon, both of whom it has worked with in years past—or perhaps even Target, according to a person familiar with the business. Its desirability as an entertainment brand may not be what it once was, but its name-brand familiarity and track record of retail relationships could help ensure it finds its forever home.

Wherever Eater and Tasty end up, investor interest in the brands and other media titles reflects the unique intersection at which food media has found itself.

As I have written before, food media will remain relevant so long as people need to feed themselves, a behavior that cultivates the kind of daily habit that media executives dream of. 

New outlets like Caper and Gourmet are betting on continued consumer interest in the dining space, a gamble they are making alongside some of the most well-heeled technology and financial service firms in the country. 

Its stubbornly corporeal nature—the fact that eating will always be an in-person experience—also aligns well with the transformation of the media industry into an experiential industry with a media wrapper. Events from food publishers, like the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen, Complex’s Family Style, and The Infatuation’s EEEEEATSCON, have all proven to be durable, profitable extensions of their brands.

These factors, when combined, make the space ripe for both dealmaking and innovation, a sure sign that the most interesting days of food media are far from behind us.

Talking Heds

More Bot Than Not (SCOOP): The media brand Time now receives more website traffic from bots than humans, its chief executive officer Jess Sibley told a crowd of media executives at the Revved Up Conference last week, according to an audio recording obtained by ADWEEK. While a startling admission, the reality is that analysts estimate that roughly half of all internet traffic now comes from bots, although the exact percentages vary largely depending on the website type. To its credit, Time is farther along than most when it comes to monetizing those crawlers, thanks to its partnerships with firms like TollBit and ScalePost, according to a spokesperson.

Canary in the CBS Union (SCOOP): Amid the broader upheaval underway at CBS, union negotiations between CBS News 24/7 and the company are expected to reach a conclusion this week, according to a person familiar with the matter. The unionized division counts around 60 members and is represented by the Writers Guild of America East. Two weeks ago, members of the program held a 24-hour walkout to protest the delayed talks, as their contract expired March 9. While the union represents only a small tranche of the larger newsgathering operation, the contract will be the first to emerge since Bari Weiss took over CBS. As such, it will offer a glimpse into how she, along with Paramount Skydance owner David Ellison, plans to shape the company. Notably, CNN, which Paramount now also owns, is not unionized, a factor that could grow in relevance as Weiss and the Ellisons determine how to manage the two outlets.

Sundial Nabs Netflix Guru (EXCLUSIVE): The Sundial Media and Technology Group, which owns the brands Essence, Refinery29, and Afropunk, among others, has hired Amanda Butler to serve as its first chief marketing officer, the company shared with ADWEEK exclusively. Butler, who has already begun the role, will be tasked with creating an integrated marketing function that promotes the entirety of the SMTG portfolio, which also houses the influential experiential brands EssenceFest and 29Rooms. She will report to SMTG CEO Kirk McDonald and chairman Richelieu Denis. Butler joins SMTG following multiyear stints at Spotify and, most recently, Netflix, where she served as its head of music marketing. 

Antisocial Post: The Washington Post brain drain continues apace, although this time the exodus is coming from inside the social media department. On Wednesday, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution shared that it has named Travis Lyles, formerly the deputy director of social media at The Post, as its new director of social media. Lyles, who was named to Forbes’ 30 Under 30 in 2022, led a flurry of ambitious social media initiatives during his time at The Post, which garnered him industrywide acclaim—including a 2022 story from yours truly. Alongside Dave Jorgenson, who has hung a solo shingle at YouTube, Lyles now marks the second social media maven to leave The Post in the last year. At AJC, which is itself in the midst of an ambitious reinvention, Lyles will again have the opportunity to shape the social media strategy of a legacy outlet with grand designs for its future.

CNET Reboots News: The digital media legacy brand CNET is relaunching its news offering, according to its editor in chief David Katzmaier, a pivot notable for a variety of reasons. First, the reboot comes after the digital media behemoth Ziff Davis acquired CNET from Red Ventures in October 2024 for north of $100 million. Under Red Ventures, which is essentially a sophisticated affiliate marketing firm, news made little sense and was thus disbanded. But in a traffic landscape now thoroughly disrupted by answer engines, the kind of evergreen review content that CNET produces has declined in value, while breaking news has grown more important. This trend, broadly speaking, has troubled intent-media companies like Ziff Davis, whose business relies heavily on Google Search. Set against this backdrop, the launch is likely designed to offset some of these declines.

Pulled Quotes

“I am forced to know things about what could happen in the coming week, and the effects it will have on the economy and our daily lives, that no longer allow me to sleep.”
Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto, in reference to the Iran War
READ MORE

“I’m a bit of a freak.”
Fortune editor Nick Lichtenberg, on using AI to help write stories
READ MORE

“TCG and the people they put in charge were all directly responsible for the downfall.”
An employee at Schoolhouse, describing the implosion of the company
READ MORE

“A couple of months ago, we announced the ability for parents to actually have a timer on short-form video feeds, to set it to zero. That’s industry-leading. That has not been done before.”
YouTube CEO Neil Mohan, on a revolutionary new technology for managing screen-time
READ MORE

Quote/Unquote

A.J. Feliciano is the general manager of the new podcast studio Companion, which launched two weeks ago at South by Southwest. Feliciano is an experienced podcast executive who played a pivotal role in the commercial expansion of Rooster Teeth, an influential digital studio that predated YouTube and shut down two years ago after twenty years of operation.

Now, Feliciano has teamed up with Ford Bowers, the president of Companion, to launch a new podcast studio with a mission-oriented ethos and slate of 14 shows at launch, including its flagship series Soul Boom by Rainn Wilson, a spinoff of the best-selling book Wilson published in 2023.

This interview has been edited.

Mark Stenberg: There are podcast studios popping up everywhere. What is Companion and how is it different?

A.J. Feliciano: We have a central ethos that guides the content, which boils down to: We exist because we want to enhance the social discourse, to make content that enriches people’s lives. 

Mark: What shows does Companion have on its roster? 

A.J.: Companion has two divisions: a studio and a creative network. The studio has three shows: Soul Boom with Rainn Wilson, Pop Syllabus with Christiana Mbakwe Medina, and Showing Up with Andy Grammer, all of which we produce. Our network has eleven shows, which we help market, distribute, and monetize, but all of the shows are connected by their emphasis on social good.

Mark: You were an advocate of video podcasts long before the rest of the industry took note. How is that reflected in Companion?

A.J.: We consider ourselves a creator network, not a podcast network. Some of our creators are huge on YouTube, while others have massive Instagram followings; almost all of them have a Substack. As such, we have a distinct monetization plan for each of them. As a new company, we are mostly focused on direct-sold advertising with brands whose social ethos align with ours. But as we grow, we are going to look at multiple revenue streams.

Mark: How does the ownership model work? Does Companion have equity in any of its shows?

A.J.: Our first studio partnership, with Rainn, became a template for how we wanted to do business. In our model, the creator retains the intellectual property and creative control, while we come in as a financial backer and strategic partner. We take a minority ownership interest and have a revenue split on ad sales and revenue. Ultimately, the long-term upside is our stake in the shows.

Mark: What does growth look like for Companion? 

A.J.: Right now we have around 12 employees and are backed by angel investment. We have a studio space in Los Angeles and are building out more infrastructure, but ultimately we want to remain a high-touch, high-attention partner. We are building a direct-to-consumer brand and looking for quality creators.