IBM is about to name Omnicom Media as its global media agency of record. Marketing Interactive reports. This comes as IBM seeks to focus its marketing machine on AI, quantum, semiconductors and enterprise automation. “IBM is working side-by-side with clients around the world, co-creating innovative technology and AI solutions that address their most complex challenges,” says Jonathan Adashek, senior vice president of marketing and communications at IBM. “To be successful, we need agency partners who understand our business, our ambitions, and the needs of the clients we serve."

Axel Springer,  the German publishing group, has closed its $761 million acquisition of the Telegraph Media Group following regulatory approvals, Reuters reports. The deal was approved by authorities in Britain, Ireland and Australia. This is the second-largest purchase by Axel Springer, just behind its $1 billion acquisition of Politico in 2021. 

Miroma Group, a London-based marketing and content firm, has become a controlling shareholder in Ad Results Media, a radio and digital audio ad agency, Inside Radio reports. This represents Miroma’s most significant expansion into the U.S. to date, while increasing its annual media investment to $750 million+. Shamrock Capital, which has controlled Ad Results Media, will retain a minority stake in the firm. 

Artificial intelligence is breaking the model through which traffic was sent back to content creators, Vincentas Grinius, co-founder at IPXO, writes in The AI Journal. “The better these systems get at synthesizing content, the less reason users have to visit the source,” Grinius continues. In addition, Grinius observes that as “original high-quality content stops being economically viable to produce,” the supply of it will shrink. “The industry is, in a slow and indirect way, eating the foundation it depends on.” 

Little more than 40% of the youth-safety features offered by TikTok, Instagram, Snap and YouTube work as advertised, according to a report from the Cybersafety Research Center, Scripps News reports. The researchers tested 86 safety features and found that only 35 worked as described and that children could find and use them. The companies disputed the findings, saying the tests did not reflect actual use of the platform by children and teens.

Hoffman Media Group is acquiring Audacy’s six-station radio group in St. Louis, Radio Magazine Online reports. This marks the first entry into radio by the family owned company. The transaction includes News/Talk KMOX-AM/FM, News/Talk KFTK-FM (97.1 FM Talk), Hot AC KYKY (Y98), AC KEZK (102.5), Urban AC WFUN-FM (96.3 The Lou), and Urban CHR WHHL (Hot 98.7). The transaction is subject to Federal Communications Commission approval.

Australia’s Competition and Consumer Commission has taken Amazon to court, alleging that the company foisted unfair Prime Video contract terms on consumers, Reuters reports. These provisions allowed Amazon to add advertising to its video streaming platform. Over 1 million annual subscribers were affected. "We allege that Amazon AU included multiple unfair terms in its contracts with Australian annual Prime subscribers, and it then relied on some of these terms to bring ads onto Amazon Prime Video," said ACCC Chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb. Subscribers had to pay an additional A$2.99 per month for ad-free streaming. 

Hunterbrook Media has acquired The Bear Cave newsletter, and is expected to facilitate investigative reporting, Talking Biz News reports. The Bear Cave’s Edwin Dorsey writes that “in the golden age of grift and graft, there are more stories to be written, secrets to be exposed, and digging to be done.” Dorsey continues that Hunterbrook’s reporting “has repeatedly been featured in The Bear Cave.” He adds: “In the near term, nothing will change for our readers: I will continue to write the Sunday newsletter and paywalled investigations. Over time, Hunterbrook’s team will also contribute articles, both free and paywalled, helping expand …

A coalition of news publishers has sued OpenAI and Microsoft claiming that they "systematically and secretly crawled" hundreds of news websites to scrape information to train their AI programs, The Wrap reports. The publishers, who allege this was done without consent of the newsrooms, include Richner Communications, AIM Media, The New York Amsterdam News, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, CherryRoad Media, Community Impact Newspaper Co., The New Mexican, Ogden Newspapers, Straus Newspapers, WEHCO Newspapers and Wick Communications.

A new Nebraska law designed to protect children from social media has been blocked by a federal judge on First Amendment grounds, Nebraska Public Media reports. The states Parental Rights in Social Media Act was challenged last month by NetChoice, a group of social media companies such as TikTok and Meta. Senior U.S. District Court Judge John Gerrard said the age-verification and parental consent provisions likely would violate the rights of both users and the companies. But he let stand a requirement that create a dashboard where parents can monitor posts and messages from a minor’s account.