Film & TV
Deals
Phantom Digital Effects Ltd, the VFX studio and group operator, is acquiring Milk and Lola Post, the UK-based VFX houses, under the structure of a new parent company called Phantom Media Group. (→)
The studios retain their brands and leadership, and will integrate India-based talent with Western teams while leveraging regional tax and production benefits.
Netflix secured global streaming rights from Sesame Workshop for new episodes of Sesame Street and 90+ hours of library episodes, with day-and-date broadcasts on PBS in the US. The agreement spans streaming and broadcast television. (→)
Earnings
Cinemark, the Plano, Texas-based movie theater exhibitor, reported revenue of $857M for the quarter ended in September (-7% YoY) and net income of $51M. The quarter included settling $460M of convertible notes, eliminating remaining pandemic-related debt. (→)
Admissions were $430M, concessions were $337M, and attendance was 54.2M.
The company raised its quarterly dividend by 12.5% and authorized a $300M share repurchase program.
Executives
Longwave Studios, a London factual production company, launched with Danny Tipping as CEO and Creative Director. It appointed Ned Parker as Head of Factual and Charlie Wakefield as Development Executive, reporting to Tipping. Tipping was Head of Factual TV at Transistor Films, and Parker and Wakefield were previously at Transistor Films. (→)
Gaming
Reports
Steam dominance survey: A May 2025 survey of 306 US and UK PC-gaming executives by Atomik Research found 72% believe Steam has a monopoly in the PC games market, and that Steam provides on average over 75% of respondents’ company revenue. (→)
48% distribute via the Epic Games Store, 48% via the Xbox PC Games Store, 10% via GOG, and 8% via Itch.io.
Mobile gaming trends: Up to 85% of mobile gamers play multiple times a day in 2025, per Mistplay. (→)
Facebook is used for discovery by 77% in the US and 79% in the UK.
In Japan, 38% make multiple IAPs monthly, and 33% spend over $10 per IAP, versus under 10% in Western markets. In the West, 60% return for login bonuses.
Publishing
Earnings
The New York Times Co. reported Q3 revenue of $700.8M (+9.5% YoY) with an Operating Profit of $104.8M . (→)
Digital-only revenue rose to $367.4M (+14% YoY), aided by bundles, with 460K new digital-only subscribers creating a total of 12.33M digital subs and digital-only ARPU of $9.79 (+3.6% YoY).
Total subscription revenue increased to $494.6M (+9.1% YoY), while print subscription revenue fell to $127.2M (-3% YoY).
Digital advertising revenue was $98.1M (+20.3% YoY).
Social & Digital Video
Deals
Video Rebirth, the Singapore-based AI video generation startup, raised $50M in Seed funding led by Qiming Venture Partners and Actoz Soft Co. Its AI video platform aims to make video creation as intuitive as talking to a chatbot, and it is developing in-house multimodal generative models. (→)
Holywater, the Kiev-based microdrama specialist and owner of platforms including MyDrama and My Muse, and Amo Pictures, the Ukraine- and Poland-based production company and producer of microdramas, formed a joint venture to produce more than 70 new vertical series. (→)
Regulatory & Union
Motion Pictures Association sent a cease and desist letter to Meta over Instagram teen accounts described as “guided by PG-13,” alleging misuse of the PG-13 certification mark. (→)
Financiers
Executives
Jordan Lichtman is joining Media Capital Technologies, a Beverly Hills-based financier of premium content projects and production companies, as Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel. He was General Counsel at Artists Equity previously and will report to principals Christopher Woodrow and Raj Singh. (→)
News
Deals
Netflix is reportedly in talks to license exclusive rights to video versions of podcasts from iHeartMedia, the US radio and podcasting giant. The arrangement would prevent full episodes from being uploaded to YouTube. (→)
Key iHeartMedia shows include The Breakfast Club, Las Culturistas, Jay Shetty Podcast, and Stuff You Should Know.
IHRT shares were $4.07 in afternoon trading, up 39.5% from Monday. Shares are down about 62% since June 2021.
People Inc., the major US magazine & digital publishing group (fka Dotdash Meredith), signed a licensing deal with Microsoft to be a launch partner in Microsoft's publisher content marketplace where AI companies will be able to use and pay for publisher content on a pay-per-use basis. (→)
Music
Earnings
Reservoir Media, the New York-based music publishing and recorded music company, reported quarterly revenue (ended September 30) of $45.4M (+12% YoY) and adjusted EBITDA of $19.4M (+10%). The company guided to FY2026 annual revenue of $167M to $170M and raised adjusted EBITDA guidance to $70M to $72M from $68M to $72M. (→)
Organic revenue growth was 7%, excluding acquisitions such as the Miles Davis publishing catalog.
Music Publishing revenue was $30.9M (+8%), and OIBDA was $11.3M (+3%).
Recorded Music revenue was $13.0M (+21%), and OIBDA was $6.6M (+22%).