Radio firm iHeartMedia is about to implement a new round of layoffs, Barrett Media reports. An internal memo shows that the company is changing its strategy to a “faster is better approach,” and that existing positions will be affected. The memo points out that the radio firm has built new tech capabilities over the last several years that have the company says have “enabled us to both deepen our relationships with the listeners and communities who depend on us and improve the support we provide to our sellers.”

Raja Rajamannar, former chief marketing and communications officer of MasterCard, cut the firm’s ad budget before his departure in January of this year — apparently without hurting the brand, Business Insider reports. "We have taken permanently 70% of our advertising dollars out," Rajamannar said. "Nothing happened to the business that is negative." That spending has largely been redirected into experiences, sponsorships, and consumer engagement programs that Rajamannar says delivered stronger returns. "As a consumer today, do I like advertisements?” he asked himself. “I hate them. They are an interruption to my experience."

New York State’s Court of Appeals has upheld a state law requiring social media firms to have “mechanisms for reporting hateful content,” saying it does not violate free speech rights, Courthouse News Service reports. The purpose of the law was to empower social media users by “equipping them with the mechanisms and information they need to bring hateful conduct to networks’ attention, and to identify those platforms whose policies condone such content,” the majority wrote. 

Britain may force social media companies to prioritize trusted news sources as it pushes to tighten regulation of the sector, Reuters reports. The culture department is considering a change that would require platforms like Facebook, Google, YouTube and TikTok to make content from public-service media like BBC, ITV and Channel 4 easier to find in feeds and searches. 

Omnicom Media announced that it is partnering with Netflix in an arrangement that will combine Acxiom audience intelligence with the AI-enabled ad formats provided by Netflix. The agreement will allow more relevant personalized ads on Netflix, along with closed-loop, first-party measurement. 

Samba, a media research film, has acquired Bestever AI, a GenAI platform built for advertisers and marketers, MediaPlayNews reports. Apoorva Govind, the founder and CEO of Bestever, was named director of product for Samba and will be joined by the full Bestever team. “Samba has something most AI companies can only dream about: a truly independent, deterministic view of how audiences behave across every screen, at massive scale,” Govind said. That is the foundation that makes agentic advertising actually work, and joining Samba means the opportunity to build with the best media intelligence in the industry.”

Journalists have found refuge in email newsletters as media organizations reduce staff and audiences are skeptical of legacy institutions, The Washington Post writes. Typical is Ryan Broderick, who in 2019 created a backup plan while working as a reporter for BuzzFeed News. He created a newsletter called Garbage Day about web oddities. He was fired by Buzzfeed in 2020 over allegations of plagiarism, which he denies. But Garbage Day now has paid advertisers and more than 5,100 subscribers who pay $5 a month.

Prediction market Polymarket said it is auditing its promotional content following a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) report that alleged the firm apaid online content creators to generate videos that falsely showed customers winning $1.9 million, according to CBS News. Polymarket told the WSJ if the content review. The WSJ based its report on interviews with social media content creators and an analysis of more than 1,100 TikTok videos from 10 creators  

Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai declared that the company’s growth model has changed, 24/7 Wall St.reports. “Revenue from products built on our gen AI models grew nearly 800% year-over-year,” Pichai said during his Q1 earnings call. “Enterprise AI solutions have become our primary growth driver for the first time.” Meanwhile, Alphabet reported that Google Cloud revenue grew by 63% to over $20 billion, and that operating income tripled to $6.6 billion. Cloud growth has accelerated for four quarters in a row.

The BBC is cutting 550 job as it tries to save hundreds of millions of pounds while renewing its royal charter, The Conversation reports. Three high-profile programs are being eliminated from BBC Radio 4, which has an audience of around 9 million listeners: The World Tonight, Money Box Live and Crossing Continents. Radio 4 remains the UK’s leading speech station. This is happening as trust in news has fallen from 51% in 2015 to 30% in 2026. And interest in news has fallen, according to the Reuters Institute.