💲 Streaming price hikes shift viewer habits
Consumers are increasingly feeling the financial squeeze from rising media service costs; in the US, the price of many premium subscriptions has already crossed the $20-a-month threshold.
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📆 Paramount-WBD merger could close as early as July
The landmark acquisition of media giant Warner Bros. Discovery by Paramount could close significantly ahead of market expectations. Defying forecasts by most analysts who had anticipated a late-September timeline, industry circles are now pointing to a mid-summer resolution.
🎦 Michael tops South Korean box office
The musical biopic Michael, chronicling the life of Michael Jackson, effortlessly seized the lead in the South Korean film market. Over the weekend of May 15–17, 2026, the feature claimed the number-one spot at the box office, capturing more than half of the country’s total theatrical revenue.
🤑 5 "golden" content niches defined for FAST TV
For rights holders, content creators, and broadcasters alike, the era of launching “just another channel” has come to a close. Today, the ultimate key to success in the FAST (Free Ad-Supported Streaming TV) market lies in deploying the right, hyper-focused niche project.
▶️ OTT conquers Kazakhstan
By the end of 2025, the pay-TV market in Kazakhstan demonstrated moderate growth alongside a profound technological transformation.
〽️ Chinese box office plummeted by nearly half
The past weekend at the Chinese box office brought no change at the top of the charts. According to the consulting firm Artisan Gateway, the family drama Dear You, produced by Jinant Film & TV, firmly maintained its number-one position.
🧠 Media industry shifts toward Agentic AI
When it comes to artificial intelligence, most people naturally think of Generative AI (GenAI). However, while generative models have granted content creators newfound freedom, they have simultaneously flooded the internet with low-quality clutter, somewhat tarnishing the technology’s reputation.
🎬 Michael Jackson reclaims the box office crown
The domestic and international box office delivered a major surprise over the weekend. Antoine Fuqua’s musical biopic Michael staged a dramatic comeback in its fourth week of release, returning to the number one spot on the charts with a $26.3 million weekend haul.
💰 Ad dollars lag behind audiences
Gracenote, a Nielsen company, has released a report on budget allocation in Connected TV (CTV). The primary takeaway is that market growth is hitting a bottleneck due to a severe lack of transparency.
📱 Vertical video takes over the big screen
The short-form vertical video format was originally created exclusively for smartphones, but defying all logic, Shorts are rapidly conquering television screens. According to data from YouTube, global viewers now watch more than 2 billion hours of Shorts on big screens every month.