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More bad news for Venu Sports: The proposed sports streaming service will go to court with Fubo in October, kicking a potential launch further down the road.

Courting upscale bargain hunters: Other retailers that are benefiting as higher-end consumers trade down include Dollar General and Academy Sports, The Wall Street Journal reported. Off-price chains like TJX also stand to gain as well-to-do shoppers economize.

Live sports programming has become the biggest variable, although growth is difficult to achieve no matter what. Peacock grew its time spent the most last year, thanks overwhelmingly to sports. Amazon Prime Video will top the active user growth list this year for the same reason. Disney+ is also growing well, but mainly because Disney is allowing it to steal engagement from Hulu.

Amazon features up to 35% off national brands across sports, outdoor, patio, furniture, fashion, beauty, appliances, and electronics, plus Prime-member exclusives. Best Buy offers a broad range of technology discounts鈥擳Vs, laptops, headphones, cameras, smartwatches鈥攁longside up to 50% off major appliances.

As sports gambling becomes legal in a growing number of US states following the Supreme Court鈥檚 landmark decision in 2018, the industry is rolling past obstacles and raking in billions from a rising pool of bettors.

Why it matters: Eurovision is one of the world鈥檚 most-watched events鈥攐utdrawing even marquee sports in key markets. That makes it a rare opportunity for brands to meet consumers where they are: tuned in, emotionally engaged, and ready to talk. These campaigns show that brands don鈥檛 need a Super Bowl budget to show up in a big way鈥攖hey need cultural fluency and timing.

Shoppers can use the feature to receive product recommendations and review summaries, as well as get generalized assistance on topics ranging from the weather to sports schedules. Eventually, Sparky will be enhanced with agentic AI capabilities that can automatically reorder household essentials as well as book services.

On today's podcast episode, we discuss what happens next now that sports-focused streaming service Venu Sports has been blocked, how to get customers onboard with your AI-infused products and services, how the streaming bundle is changing, the US considering a breakup of Google to address its search monopoly, the most sort after plane seats, and more. Tune in to the discussion with host Marcus Johnson, director of reports editing Rahul Chadha and analysts Ross Benes and Max Willens.

Disney and FuboTV: Disney announced plans to merge its Hulu + Live TV service with sports-focused FuboTV, creating one of the largest digital pay-TV providers in North America with a combined 6.2 million subscribers.

They rarely (4%) play sports games. Baby boomers (69%) and Gen X (56%) spend most of their gaming time on casual or mobile games. Millennials also prefer that format but play sports games more than any other generation.

These figures, drawn from Guideline's data capturing ad agencies鈥� invoicing dollars, demonstrate both the enduring appeal of sports programming and advertisers' confidence in live sports to reach engaged holiday audiences.

The beauty retailer's strategic alignment with women's sports comes as the WNBA experiences unprecedented growth in viewership and commercial appeal. This dual achievement is particularly notable as competitors Ulta and Target lost share with the crucial Gen Z demographic during the same period. 5. Ben & Jerry's.

With billions committed to live sports rights, media companies may further deprioritize scripted programming in favor of lower-cost unscripted content, putting creative innovation at risk. Licensing deals could stall.

The company described the updates as a 鈥渇lexible canvas鈥� that accommodates its live sports and gaming content, both of which Netflix has spent considerable resources on to develop and deploy.

The campaign taps into the 鈥渉uman instinct we can feel when playing 蝉辫辞谤迟鈥� and urges consumers to 鈥渦nleash their wild energy鈥� through sports, per a release. 鈥淲e believe that it鈥檚 not just hard work that leads to excellence,鈥� said Richard Teyssier, global vice president of brand and marketing at Puma. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a human behind the athlete and they need to enjoy what they do to do it well.鈥�.

The gains were driven entirely by an increase in food and drink spending鈥攈eightened by sporting events and bank holidays鈥攁s shoppers pulled back sharply on discretionary purchases like apparel.

Repositioning its real estate and store portfolio by expanding its House of Sport, Field House, and Golf Galaxy formats. House of Sport locations in particular drive stronger engagement, attracting shoppers who spend more time in-store and significantly outspend typical Dick鈥檚 customers. Doubling down on footwear as a key growth driver.

Domestic publishers like Bell Media, Rogers Sports and Media, CBC/Radio-Canada, and Quebecor Media are improving their digital portfolios. These companies dominate traditional ad spending, which amounted to 24.2% of total ad spending in 2024. Their digital arms didn鈥檛 compete well with the tech giants initially.

This collaboration combined sports and wellness, offering listeners a unique experience. Walmart x Celebrity Moms: Walmart launched the 鈥淢oms Answer Moms鈥� TikTok series, where consumers could ask parenting questions to celebrity mothers like Paris Hilton and Whitney Cummings. The campaign鈥檚 top video amassed over 120 million views and sparked a 5,000-comment thread of mothers sharing advice.

Companies are willing to pay big for high-profile events like the Super Bowl, and live sports programming accounts for a significant portion of US TV ad spend. Live events create natural ad opportunities that young viewers show high acceptance of.

Wrestling鈥檚 streaming success could reshape the sports media landscape. If Netflix can keep WWE fans engaged, other leagues may follow, accelerating the shift from linear TV to direct-to-consumer sports streaming.

People continue to spend more time streaming, ad-supported tiers are gaining adoption, and sports programming keeps migrating to streaming services. These factors contributed to our CTV forecast having among the strongest growth rates of any channel.

Name, image, and likeness deals keep attracting brands to college sports: Powerade signed 35 college athletes and struck a deal with March Madness.

Affordable prices compared with services like Hulu and Max and Peacock鈥檚 investment in sports, including an NBA package beginning later this year, will help it weather market changes and ad budget cuts. And despite a fragile economy, we anticipate that Peacock鈥檚 ad revenues will grow 6.2% YoY in 2025 and 23.7% YoY in 2026.