YouTube Q2 ad revenues were up just 4% -- slightly under analysts' expectations, and well below the double-digit gains of previous periods. This comes amidst other digital media hits including the first-ever revenue declines at Meta Platforms.

Media consolidation in streaming/CTV is coming, even if Comcast is not looking to acquire Vizio. Comcast and Charter recently entered into a joint venture to form a new streaming distribution business based on the back of Comcast's current Flex platform and hardware business.

Disney's Hulu can be picky about what political ads it wants -- or not wanting them at all. TV stations are a different situation.

Forecast downturns from major digital media players may be ahead of the curve. One major indication: Snap will not even offer "guidance" for analysts on users and ad growth.

The big entertainment-focused streamers never seem to put sports front and center. But now Disney has. Two weeks ago, it raised the price of ESPN+ by a massive 43% to 9.99 a month.

Netflix now seems to be well into the advertising way of thinking. What does that mean? Think sports. And what's the best-performing franchise here? The NFL, of course.

E-commerce marketers now lose $29 for every new customer acquired, according to marketing "edge experience" firm Simplicity DX -- up from $9 in 2013. Customer acquisition costs are up 60% over the last five years.

According to a Reuters Institute report, a significant proportion of younger and less educated people say they avoid news "because it can be hard to follow or understand."

If automated programming is the key focus, picking Microsoft as an ad partner is a good move. That's where Microsoft's Xandr acquisition comes in, in terms of demand-side and sell-side business.

The hearings so far are a mix of in-person and videotaped testimony, onscreen video from the day itself and onscreen graphics of texts and/or phone call transcripts as well as questions and information from the House committee members.