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Welcome to The Brief by Kuro House, your daily dose of sharp insights and big moves in the marketing and media world. I’m glad you’re tuning in, because today’s stories take us everywhere from streaming’s latest power play to the future of agency compensation, with stops at the heart of the AI content economy and a revealing look at cable news ratings. Let’s get you caught up.

Let’s start with the high-stakes drama in streaming, courtesy of Adweek. The saga between Netflix, Warner Bros. Discovery, and Paramount has reached a new chapter—and it’s a big one. After Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) called Paramount’s latest merger bid “superior” to Netflix’s, Netflix officially bowed out, declining to up its offer. Netflix’s co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters were candid, saying, “the deal is no longer financially attractive, so we are declining to match the Paramount Skydance bid.” Their proposed deal would have meant $27.75 per WBD share, but Paramount’s new all-cash offer is $31 per share, with a daily ticking fee and a whopping $7 billion termination fee if regulatory approval falls through. Paramount would also cover a $2.8 billion termination fee for WBD if they break the agreement with Netflix. Netflix’s statement emphasized discipline, noting the acquisition was always a “nice to have” but not a “must have.” The market seemed to agree—Netflix’s stock rose about 10% after the news. Analysts point out there’s more than money at stake; Netflix has long admired HBO, and this was a chance to own it outright. But for now, they’re stepping back, and all eyes are on how Paramount and WBD proceed, especially as the streaming landscape keeps shifting.

Next, let’s turn to Digiday, where the debate over publisher content marketplaces is heating up. With AI scraping content left and right, publishers are desperate for new ways to monetize and protect their IP. Enter content marketplaces—platforms like TollBit, Dappier, Prorata.ai, and even big tech players like Microsoft and Amazon, who see these marketplaces as a way to drive adoption of their cloud platforms while paying publishers for premium content. The incentives are clear: AI companies need vetted, high-quality data, and publishers need revenue. The analogy to the music industry’s Napster era is apt; chaos led to the creation of Spotify and legal streaming. Now, industry coalitions like the BBC, Guardian, and Financial Times are setting shared standards for AI licensing, hoping to streamline deals and ensure rights-cleared transactions. But here’s the rub: the black market for scraped content is thriving, making it hard for legitimate marketplaces to compete. Google, for its part, is sticking to its “fair use” guns, lagging behind in licensing deals, and facing regulatory scrutiny in the UK and Europe over how it uses publisher content in AI. The big question: Can these marketplaces scale if the web’s dominant gatekeeper doesn’t play ball? For now, it’s a race between building a sustainable ecosystem and the lure of free, illicit data.

Now, let’s dive into the agency world, where Digiday explores the controversial idea of agency subscription remuneration models. S4 Capital’s Monks expects about a quarter of its revenue to come from subscriptions by year’s end, sparking heated debate. Proponents argue subscriptions aren’t about pricing—they’re about absorbing the real, rising costs of AI tools, inference, and licensing. Agencies like Monks negotiate bulk deals on AI tokens, then wrap those costs in a predictable subscription fee for clients. This model fits the always-on nature of modern agency work, like building brand knowledge bases and trend monitors, which don’t fit neatly into project invoices. The hope is that, over time, this structure will pave the way for true outcome-based compensation. Critics, however, say subscriptions are just retainers with better branding, hiding complexity and potentially incentivizing agencies to cut corners with cheaper AI models. There’s also a transparency issue: clients need to see how their AI systems work, not just get a monthly bill. And with much of the AI work still human-driven, some argue the model is ahead of its time. Done well, this could be a genuine shift in agency operations. Done poorly, it’s just old tricks with a new label. The industry hasn’t decided yet—which is why this debate is so lively.

Switching gears to the world of cable news, Adweek reports a rough week for all major networks. For the week of February 16, 2026, Fox News, MS NOW, and CNN all saw declines in both total viewers and the key adults 25-54 demo. Fox News led in total viewers but was down 10% in primetime and 12% in total day compared to the previous week. MS NOW and CNN also posted single- and double-digit drops. Looking year-over-year, Fox News was down 21% in primetime viewers and a staggering 38% in the demo, while MS NOW and CNN actually grew in some segments—MS NOW up 20% in the demo, CNN up 41% in primetime viewers. On the programming side, Fox News dominated the top 15 most-watched shows, with The Five leading at 3.7 million viewers. MS NOW’s The Rachel Maddow Show and The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell made the list, and CNN’s NewsNight with Abby Phillip rounded out the top 15 in the demo. The numbers highlight shifting viewer habits and the ongoing battle for attention in an increasingly fragmented media landscape.

Finally, let’s revisit the business of agencies and creators, again via Digiday, with some revealing stats and trends. Only 16% of B2B CMOs have a crisis reputation plan in place—a potential blind spot. Meanwhile, 30% of creators find brand deals by pitching themselves, and 42% of UK and US B2B CMOs say declining search performance is pushing them toward zero-click search strategies. The Trade Desk reported $2.9 billion in revenue for 2025, underlining the scale of programmatic’s rise. Meta, meanwhile, is doubling down on AI, but instead of cutting out agencies, it’s launching the Agency Growth Collective to help independents succeed on their platform. And in a sign of shifting power dynamics, Gary Vaynerchuk told an audience in London that CFOs, not CMOs, are now his most receptive crowd. There are also fascinating numbers buried in the WPP whistleblower case, including a 97.4% share of proprietary inventory allegedly unused by GroupM’s top clients. On the tech front, Amazon’s $50 billion investment in OpenAI hinges on an IPO or achieving artificial general intelligence, and Meta just inked a $100 billion AI chip deal with AMD. The landscape is moving fast, and the stakes are only getting higher.

That’s it for today’s Brief. Whether you’re tracking the next big merger, rethinking agency compensation, or watching the battle for content licensing unfold, these stories remind us that the marketing and media world is in constant motion. Stay curious, keep questioning, and we’ll be back tomorrow with more insights to keep you ahead of the curve. Thanks for listening.