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Welcome to The Brief by Kuro House, your daily dose of sharp marketing insights and the stories shaping our industry. Today, we’re diving deep into five of the most compelling developments—from the resurgence of live-streaming to major shakeups in media, advertising tech, and cable news. Let’s get right into it.

First up, let’s talk about the live-streaming renaissance and how it’s outpacing the once-dominant vertical video format. According to Adweek’s “Live-Streamers Killed the Vertical-Video Star,” live-streaming—once the domain of gamers and Gen Alpha—has exploded into mainstream culture. Names like Clavicular, TBPN, Kai Cenat, IShowSpeed, and Clix are now household names for millions, thanks to the unique appeal of real-time, unfiltered content. Unlike TikTok’s polished vertical videos, live-streaming thrives on authenticity: flubs, dead air, technical glitches, and all. Audiences are flocking to these streams as a refuge from the flood of AI-generated content, craving the unmistakable humanity of live interaction. For creators, it’s a goldmine: a single live-stream can be sliced into hundreds of clips, repurposed into podcasts, newsletters, and social posts—each with its own monetization potential. This “content supply chain” is changing the economics of digital media, with even major podcast publishers testing live-streaming to boost engagement. As Tom Webster of Sounds Profitable notes, bigger publishers are already experimenting with live-to-stream-to-podcast pipelines, especially as more consumption happens on living room TVs. In short, live-streaming is no longer just a fringe format—it’s become a kingmaker, offering trust and consistency in a world awash with dubious content.

Switching gears to ad tech, The Trade Desk’s latest earnings report, covered by Adweek, reveals both growth and growing pains. The company posted $847 million in Q4 2025 revenue, up 14% year-over-year, but that’s a slowdown from the 22% growth seen in Q4 2024. For the full year, revenue hit $2.9 billion—an 18% year-over-year increase, but again, a deceleration from the previous year’s 26%. CEO Jeff Green pointed to weakness among consumer packaged goods and automotive advertisers, which together make up over a quarter of The Trade Desk’s business. These sectors are pulling back on ad spend due to inflation, tariff uncertainty, and broader economic headwinds. On the technology front, nearly every engineer at The Trade Desk is using AI tools to boost productivity, and the company plans to roll out an “agentic AI framework” for partners in 2026, though details are still under wraps. Green emphasized that trust is the real differentiator in ad tech, especially when competing with giants like Amazon and Google. He also defended The Trade Desk’s OpenPath initiative, even as agency giants like Dentsu and WPP have pulled back over transparency concerns. Meanwhile, Connected TV (CTV) remains central to their strategy, with a focus on premium inventory and live-event opportunities, such as NBCUniversal’s 2026 Winter Olympics. The bottom line: The Trade Desk is navigating a tougher macro environment, but it’s betting big on AI and direct brand relationships to stay ahead.

In the world of big media mergers, Paramount is turning up the heat with a more aggressive bid for Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD). As reported by Adweek, Paramount’s updated all-cash offer is now $31 per share, up from $30, and includes a 25-cent-per-share-per-quarter ticking fee after September 30, plus a hefty $7 billion termination fee. Paramount has also pledged to cover the $2.8 billion termination fee WBD would owe if a competing Netflix deal falls through. Paramount CEO David Ellison emphasized that the strategy is all about creating long-term shareholder value, framing the bid as part of a broader vision for growth. WBD’s board has acknowledged that Paramount’s proposal could lead to a superior offer, but for now, they’re still recommending Netflix’s revised all-cash bid of $72 billion, or $27.75 per share. The stakes are high, with Paramount’s expected 2026 revenue at $30 billion and their direct-to-consumer business (led by Paramount+) growing 10% year-over-year. The outcome of this bidding war could reshape the streaming and entertainment landscape for years to come.

Let’s move to out-of-home (OOH) advertising, where Outfront Media is making a major digital leap. According to Adweek, Outfront, which operates around half a million billboards and commercial OOH displays across the U.S., has inked a deal with AdQuick—a digital marketplace for buying OOH inventory. Outfront will invest up to $20 million in AdQuick, gaining access to its sales cloud platform for at least three years, including a period of limited exclusivity. This integration promises to streamline the buying and selling process, moving the industry away from spreadsheets and phone calls toward a consolidated, data-driven system. Advertisers will benefit from faster proposals, better campaign measurement, and enhanced workflow efficiency. Outfront’s CTO, Premesh Purayil, highlighted that the partnership will free up teams to focus more on planning and performance, rather than manual steps. For AdQuick, the deal is a chance to prove its platform at scale, putting it in front of major advertisers who have traditionally relied on legacy tools. With U.S. digital OOH spending expected to hit nearly $3.6 billion this year—a 6.1% increase—this partnership positions Outfront to better compete with tech-savvy rivals like Clear Channel and Lamar, as well as programmatic platforms like Broadsign and Vistar. Outfront’s stock is up 44% year-over-year, and the company is set to report its Q4 earnings soon.

Finally, let’s check in on the pulse of cable news, courtesy of Adweek’s TVNewser. For the week of February 9, 2026, all three major cable news networks—Fox News, MS NOW (formerly MSNBC), and CNN—saw growth in total viewership. Fox News led primetime with 2.768 million viewers, up 5% from the previous week, and also topped total day viewership. MS NOW posted 1.126 million primetime viewers, up 3%, but saw a 5% drop in the key Adults 25-54 demo. CNN, however, was the standout, posting double-digit growth: up 19% in primetime viewers and 14% in the demo, with even stronger gains year-over-year—an 84% jump in total primetime viewers and 59% in the demo. In terms of programming, Fox News dominated the top 15 most-watched cable news shows, with The Five leading at 4.126 million viewers. MS NOW’s The Rachel Maddow Show was the only non-Fox entry in the top 10, while CNN’s NewsNight with Abby Phillip made the demo chart. The numbers show that, despite the rise of streaming and digital media, cable news remains a formidable force, especially during periods of heightened news interest.

That’s all for today’s Brief. From the live-streaming boom to big bets in ad tech, high-stakes media mergers, OOH’s digital transformation, and shifting cable news dynamics, it’s clear that the marketing and media landscape is more dynamic—and interconnected—than ever. Stay tuned, stay sharp, and we’ll catch you tomorrow with more insights and analysis. Thanks for listening!