Fox Advertising has formed a strategic partnership with Toonstar that will allow marketers to connect with audiences with digital-first animation, Animation Magazine reports. The arrangement will be showcased next week at Cannes Lions. The deal combines the advertising sales expertise and distribution capabilities of Fox with Ink & Pixel, Toonstar’s production engine. Also included is SPOT, Toonstar’s audience intelligence technology. The collaboration will help brands to engage with creator communities.

Penske Media, which owns Variety, The Hollywood Reporter and other publications, is acquiring Vox Media sites that were left over when James Murdoch purchased New York Magazine, Vox Media, and the Vox podcast network from Vox for $300 million last month,  The New York Times reports. Penske will house the newly acquired titles in a new division called PMX. Penske had earlier invested $100 million in Vox, and is the company’s largest shareholder. 

Proximity Media, Ryan Coogler’s company, has signed a deal with Netflix to develop series, Deadline reports. It happens as Coogler’s five-year agreement with Disney has ended and is seen as a blow to Disney. “We started Proximity Media with a simple goal: to tell event-driven stories that bring people in close proximity with often overlooked subjects,” said Coogler, Zinzi Coogler and Sev Ohanian. Coogler is the director of Sinners, reportedly the highest-grossing original feature of 2025. It received 16 Oscar nominations, and won four, including Best Original Screenplay for Coogler. 

DoubleVerify has launched a platform that it says will allow advertisers to measure media quality signals across the LinkedIn Audience Network (LAN), Demand Gen Report writes. These key signals include invalid traffic, viewability, brand suitability and intended geography. The new product, a component of DoubleVerify’s Media AdVantage Platform, provides advertisers with a post-bid measurement tool that delivers insights into the quality of their media   

Albertsons Media Collective, the retail media arm for Albertsons Cos., has expanded its retail-media platform with a branded entertainment offering it developed in partnership with Procter & Gamble, Progressive Grocer reports. The first campaign is a drama called “Rico’s Tacos,” from entertainment company Minivela. The weekly series debuts on June 23 with Albertsons' YouTube, social and in-store platforms.

Gray Media is bringing voter and consumer data to its Political 360 solution for political advertisers, NCS reports. Working with political data company Aristotle, Gray will enable allow advertisers to move beyond broad demographic targeting, NCS reports. “By combining Gray’s local market strength and expertise with Aristotle’s trusted, continuously updated voter intelligence, we can help campaigns engage their right voters at the right time with the right message,” said Mike Braun, chief digital officer of Gray, in a statement.  

Social platforms are allowing users to personalize their algorithms with the help of artificial intelligence, TechCrunch reports. Apps such as Threads, Instagram, and TikTok have introduced tools that let people train their own algorithms and influence what appears in their feeds. This signals a change in how recommendation systems work.

The Trade Desk is working with travel, hospitality and commerce media partners to open up travel-related sites to a wider range of advertisers, AdExchanger reports. “Sometimes we discover that those advertisers and agencies are unaware of the value that some of these data sets bring,” said Jeff Daniel, general manager of retail data partnerships at The Trade Desk. The partners include Uber Advertising, Booking.com, United Airline’s Kinective Media and Marriott Media.

Disney Branded Television has a new name: Disney Kids & Family., Deadline reports. The rebranding is designed to more clearly signal the the kind of content offered by the division, and the audience it reaches via Disney+, Disney Jr., Disney Channel, and digital platforms. “Our new name better reflects the creativity, ambition and storytelling we’re known for, while bringing greater clarity to the creative community about who we are and what we create,” wrote Debra OConnell, chairman of Disney Entertainment Television, and Ayo Davis, leader of the renamed unit, in a letter to staff. 

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker has signed a $55.9 billion budget that includes a tax on social media companies, ABC News reports. Those firms face a progressive tax. Those with 100,000 to 499,999 users will pay 10 cents per month for each user. Companies with 1 million users or more will pay a fee of $165,000 and 50 cents per user per month. A similar tax in the city of Chicago is being challenged in court.