Mergers And Operating Systems Are Reshaping TV Ads

Summary

Podcast Summary:

The Big Story: Mergers And Operating Systems Are Reshaping TV Ads
AdExchanger, June 18, 2026
Host: James Hersher (filling in for Sarah Sluis)
Guests/Panelists: Alyssa Boyle, Victoria McNally, and other AdExchanger editorial team members

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Episode Overview

This episode dives into seismic shifts currently shaping the TV ad industry, focusing on the growing importance of TV operating systems (OS) and the flurry of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) impacting the competitive landscape. The conversation blends on-the-ground insights from major industry conferences with expert editorial analysis, spotlighting contentious issues around consumer experience, advertising efficiency, and the deeper implications of consolidation among TV and streaming giants.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. TV Operating Systems Take Center Stage

• [01:48–03:52]

  • Alyssa Boyle reports from the Stream TV conference in Denver, noting a significant industry focus on TV OS—more so than the usual AI and engagement topics.

    "There's so much attention on the TV operating system business. I think it's interesting that I've heard the term OS more often than outcomes..." (Alyssa Boyle, 01:48)

  • Home screen ads and transparency are recurring discussion points, signaling that device makers and platforms are evolving their business models around their OSs.

  • Victoria McNally frames this as a sign of industry maturity:

    “It's akin in my mind to on the web…all these companies trying to get, you know, open path, these direct sources of data collection…getting closer to the truth.” (Victoria McNally, 03:52)

  • Companies like Google, Roku, and Samsung are spotlighted for seizing critical ground in OS distribution before the rest of the industry realized its long-term importance.

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2. The Role and Reception of Home Screen Ads

• [04:44–07:59]

  • Industry excitement about home screen ads is tempered by skepticism. Executives candidly discuss consumer resistance:

    "Consumers don't…If you're getting in the way of consumers finding their content because you're throwing them an ad, then you're doing the business wrong." (Alyssa Boyle, 05:09)

  • A notable analogy surfaces:

    “Incorporating advertising in the home screen should be like when I’m trying to put broccoli in my kid’s chicken nuggets, but in a way where they don’t notice.” (Alyssa Boyle, 05:09)

  • There’s increasing recognition that while these ads offer valuable inventory for platforms, they risk alienating users if not handled delicately.

  • Victoria McNally and others debate the differences between in-app homepages (like Netflix’s) and smart TV home screens, noting that OEMs (TV hardware and OS makers) are now central to these discussions.

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3. TV OS Business: Independence and Conflict of Interest

• [07:59–11:36]

  • The Trade Desk’s Ventura TV OS is discussed as a relatively neutral player versus Amazon/Google, which both own inventory and run demand-side platforms (DSPs).

    “The Trade Desk’s positioning is that because it does not own content…they don’t have an incentive to maybe sway advertisers to buy certain inventory over the other.” (James Hersher, 07:59)

  • The team critically notes that while the Trade Desk touts its independence, its heavy influence on the demand side raises its own set of questions.

  • Home screen ads are especially crucial for smaller OS providers with limited ad revenue streams. Scale, audience, and ownership of ad experiences are key drivers for platform strategies.

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4. Updates on Major Mergers & Acquisitions

• [18:06–24:37]

Fox’s Acquisition of Roku

• Victoria McNally breaks the week’s headline:

  "Fox announced that they'll be buying Roku for $22 billion on Monday.” (Victoria McNally, 18:24)

  • Deal is pending regulatory approval. Both companies, primarily U.S.-focused, may face challenges expanding globally, where Android-based systems dominate.
  • Fox’s motives likely center on ad technology and hardware capabilities, not just content.

• Discussion of Fox’s streaming and content strategy:

  • Fox, still reeling from its sale of core assets to Disney, has a less robust content slate compared to rivals. Sports rights and Tubi (its 2020 ad-supported video acquisition) remain crown jewels.
  • Tubi provides access to younger, more diverse audiences, differing from Fox’s core TV demographics.

• On Roku’s Value and Role:

  • Its “works with everyone” neutrality has long fueled acquisition rumors, but that neutrality is less valued as companies see ownership as strategic leverage.

  “…part of the value is they're sort of like, oh, they work with everyone. They sort of sit in the middle... It is less like, this sensibility of like, oh, like this is just this thing who exists to be neutral…” (Victoria McNally, 24:37)

Paramount-Skydance–Warner Bros. Discovery Merger

• DOJ approval has just been granted, but controversy surrounds process transparency and the chilling effect on political reporting due to media conglomeration.

• Victoria contextualizes the M&A push:

  “There is a, you know, maybe a sense that now’s the time you could get this done.” (Victoria McNally, 20:12)

• The current administration’s hands-off approach to antitrust is seen as catalyzing the M&A wave.

Netflix’s M&A Maneuvers

• Netflix lost out in bidding for both Roku and Warner Bros. (studio division), reportedly because they refuse to go above certain spending limits.

• Netflix’s rumored interest in Lionsgate is painted as a more likely target, specifically because acquirers of hardware (like Roku) raise more antitrust concerns.

  "...the appeal still makes a lot of sense. Certainly it makes more sense than Roku... it would be an easier sell..." (Alyssa Boyle, 27:01)

• Comment on the industry’s shrinking pool of “independent” studios of scale:

  “There’s not a lot of these kind of, like, studios that have a lot of value and have a lot going on, but they're not, like, conglomerated into these titans.” (Victoria McNally, 28:37)

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5. Implications for Advertisers and the Industry

• [28:50–31:48]

  • Debate over whether consolidation (Paramount + Warner, Fox + Roku) benefits or harms advertisers.

    • Pro: Less fragmentation may simplify buys.
    • Con: Fewer competitors means less choice, potentially higher prices, and diminished innovation.

  • Merging services and subscriber bases (HBO Max & Discovery+; potentially Max & Paramount+) is discussed, with doubts about seamless integration given past rocky rollouts.

  • Panel doubts Fox will remain invested in TV hardware manufacturing, given poor margins, speculating they may pivot to software/advertising focus only.

  • Final concise insight:

    "Clearly the appeal of the deal for Fox is advertising and a little bit of content with the Roku Channel, which is…really popular as far as free channels go. It's basically...number one is the Roku Channel and number two is Tubi. So they'll have both." (Alyssa Boyle, 31:29)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Home Screen Ads as Hidden Veggies:

  “…it should be like when I’m trying to put broccoli in my kid’s chicken nuggets, but in a way where they don’t notice.”
  (Alyssa Boyle, 05:09)

• Importance of TV OS:

  “I've heard the term OS more often than outcomes and that alone tells me that I'm at a different trade show than I normally go to.”
  (Alyssa Boyle, 01:48)

• On Industry Consolidation:

  “There is a… sense that like now's the time you could get this done.”
  (Victoria McNally, 20:12)

• On the Evolving Value of Neutrality:

  “…now is it. I feel like there is less like, this sensibility of like, oh, like this is just this thing who exists to be neutral and in the middle, like, that's less. That just doesn't matter anymore.”
  (Victoria McNally, 24:37)

• Fox’s Business Rationale for Roku:

  "They're not making really money on the hardware. They're banking on…years long advertising relationship, essentially.”
  (Victoria McNally, 31:19)

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Key Timestamps for Reference

• TV OS focus & Stream TV conference: [01:48–03:52]
• Home screen ad controversy: [04:44–07:59]
• Trade Desk Ventura OS, platform conflicts: [07:59–13:46]
• Major M&A discussion – Fox/Roku, Paramount/Warner, Netflix rumors: [18:06–28:50]
• Implications for advertisers and closing thoughts: [28:50–31:48]

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Tone and Language

• Conversational, candid, and occasionally humorous (broccoli analogy, sports metaphors, offhand jokes about media politics).
• Analytical and skeptical in dissecting company narratives and regulatory climates.
• Informed by both industry news coverage and attendee perspective.

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Summary for Non-Listeners

If you missed this episode, you now know that the TV ad market's power dynamics are quickly shifting from content and distribution deals to the operating systems underpinning connected TVs and streaming devices. As M&A roils the industry—epitomized by Fox’s surprise move to acquire Roku and the greenlight for the Paramount–Warner mega-merger—panelists warn of challenging questions around neutrality, consumer experience, ad revenue streams, and the regulatory environment's future.

The upshot? The race is on to consolidate eyeballs, ads, and data, but the consequences—especially for advertisers and consumers—are still up for active debate.

Transcript

[Alyssa Boyle]

Welcome to the Big Story, a roundtable featuring members of the Ad Exchanger editorial team.

[James Hersher]

Every week we bring you an in depth discussion of key developments in digital marketing and media.

[Sarah Sluice]

This episode is sponsored by Basis, the leading intelligent operating system for autonomous advertising. Its enterprise AI solution transforms campaign briefs into strategies and media plans that integrate directly into omnichannel activation.

[Victoria McNally]

Hello everyone. Welcome to the Big Story at Exchanger's weekly podcast where we break down news of the week. This week I am James Hersher filling in for Sarah Sluice and we are bringing our attention back to linear tv. A lot of news updates forced upon us by the broadcast entertainment world. So we have our TV and streaming folks with us today. Alyssa Boyle is on the ground actually at a TV industry conference. I'll let her give the quick deets on that in a second. And Victoria McNally, who's coming, covered the the news this week. Fox and Roku, Paramount, Warner Brothers, Discovery, a little bit of like Netflix and Lionsgate rumors at the last minute just to throw into the pot, although we'll see if those have just died in, in 24 hours. But welcome to the Big Story this week. Let's start with Alyssa because maybe you will have to go back to the conference. So what's the, what's where are you and what's the, what's the word there?

[James Hersher]

Okay, so typically I love being on the ground. Right now I'm on a couch in the resorts drinking some coffee. I'm thinking about all the sessions that have happened in the last day or so. A lot of interesting things come up. There's the usual AI sports, engagement, yada yada. Okay, that's all. We've heard it already. What's new, I think is that there's so much attention on the TV operating system business. I think it's interesting that I've heard the term OS more often than outcomes and that alone tells me that I'm at a different trade show than I normally go to. So I think that's in a nutshell, what I'm hearing. There's talks about transparency, TVOs and home screen ads. So that's what I'm paying attention to right now. So feel free to zoom in.

[Victoria McNally]

That's some interesting stuff. Like a real grab bag of CTV World in particular, I feel like, well, I mean, home screen ads, it's sort of funny to see these sort of marginal CTV products, the like tiles and the stuff that just like pops up on the home screen coming into, I don't know, such prominent play in the industry.

[Unidentified Ad Exchanger Team Member]

Just to confirm because I've been in and out. I was out on Friday and so I'm completely left. You're at Stream TV in Denver, right? Can you tell us about what till types of companies or.

[Victoria McNally]

Oh yeah, not our show. And so I guess we just forgot to give them their props. Beautiful Denver.

[James Hersher]

Stream TV is obviously all about streaming, but the types of companies that are here, you know there is a lot of publishers for sure, a lot of tech companies. And what's interesting is I'm noticing like smaller, smaller potatoes in the sports and fast industries as well. So I think it's know the typical bunch that you might expect in a conference where we're talking about, you know, how do we monetize streaming. So I definitely think it's interesting that there's a lot of attention on like the operating system side of the business and also how that impacts how home screen ads work. So that's been very interesting.

[Victoria McNally]

I do think that's almost like a sign of maturity is the, the operating system focus. Because it is. So you know, there, it's like these companies starting to realize layer by layer what they need, what the priority is, what they should be focused on, like where the real sort of power and leverage lies I feel like. And it's, it's akin in my mind to on the web you have like the trade desk and all these companies trying to get, you know, they've got like open path, these like direct sources of like data collection getting closer to the truth. The source. The source. Um, yeah. And yeah, like you know what, like it's, I feel like you know, Google, Roku, interestingly like a handful of players, I feel like really ran out and grabbed like the land share before people realize how important these TV OSes are.

[Unidentified Ad Exchanger Team Member]

I'm also really curious because we talked about home screens last week because of the Samsung news that I covered and I know they weren't the first company to sort of start, start doing programmatic home screen ads like other companies have been doing it as well. So I'm curious like what specifically are you hearing about like why this is exciting people in this space and like what, what kind of things they're promoting is like the stuff that's important for them.

[James Hersher]

Here's why it's interesting because I'm hearing more than just oh my God, home screen ads are so great and you can reach people when they turn. There's, there's, it's actually going deeper than that and kind of acknowledging the fact that consumers don't want to see ads when they turn on their screen. So I appreciate the honesty and now I'm engaged as an AUD member. So I think what's interesting is, you know, like companies and executives on stage are kind of, several of them, you know, including someone from LG Will, you know, just explicitly says, you know, consumers don't. If you're, if you're, if you're getting in the way of consumers finding their content because you're throwing them an ad, then you're doing the business wrong. And then consumers are going to eventually maybe look elsewhere for their content. So that in a nutshell is like the skepticism and the caution that I'm hearing on it, which I think is important because I don't. And somebody else had a funny analogy. They said, you know, when you turn on your home screen and you're trying to incorporate advertising in it, it should be like. And this is in her words, it feels like when I'm trying to put broccoli in my kids chicken nuggets, but in a way where they don't notice. So I thought that was funny because it acknowledges the fact that if broccoli is the advertising and chicken nuggets are the content, that is correct. We don't want the broccoli, we want the chicken nuggets. The part that's maybe questionable is the idea that broccoli as advertising is healthy for us.

[Unidentified Ad Exchanger Team Member]

Yeah, I was gonna say kind of breaks down there, but yeah.

[James Hersher]

So I think that's like a real conversation about, okay, we're seeing all these, you know, streaming distributors and device makers, you know, trying to like ring as much ad inventory out of every pixel on their screen as much as humanly possible. But now we're finally acknowledging, like, hey, maybe that's not, maybe that doesn't respect the consumer experience the way that we all say that we do. Because that's, you know, part of the whole pitch is, oh, we can, you know, we can appease consumers and advertisers. But the home screen is kind of a really good testament of where those, I guess, conflicting interests really come to a head.

[Victoria McNally]

I don't think Netflix does this. Like, they don't have promoted, like, if you're on the Netflix homepage, the feed part, like, they don't have like promoted or do they, like, if you want your movie or show or whatever, like placed in a prominent spot. I don't think they do that. Amazon, like in these, you know, other companies do, like, definitely to a degree, all these other studios can place there. I feel like that is a great Opportunity for, you know, these studios. Like, it's very intuitive. Like people probably don't even realize how often they're just like on those screens when they're looking for what to find is like a sponsored placement. I think that, yeah, the streamers also probably have a problem where it's like people are just like perusing forever before they get to something and they just sort of be like, come on. Like they need like to be. Get better at like getting them into the show. And often that, you know, if they're, that's going to be like a sponsored thing that they're doing. Yeah, it's a. I feel like it's a tough one.

[James Hersher]

You bring up an interesting point because there is technically a difference between I guess the call it a home screen interface within a specific streaming app versus the home screen interface on a literal smart TV from a distributor. So I mean, similar conversations can happen around both ideas. What I'm hearing attention focused on at the conference is the OEMs and the smart TV device makers in particular, especially because the operating system business is coming up so often. So what's interesting too is that I saw a couple of executives from the trade decks, the trade desk's Ventura TV os, that's a mouthful. But they were there and they were talking about, you know, what they see as their competitive differentiator in the OS business, which I'm not about to give a trade desk sales pitch. But I think what's interesting is that it reveals more meat behind the conversation of what are the conflicts of interest that we explore when we think about the OS business. So, for example, the trade desk's positioning is that because it does not own content there, they doesn't have an incentive to maybe sway advertisers to buy certain inventory over the other. So, like, hypothetical example, you know, like, obviously this is, you know, from the legacy TV days, but if you're a distributor, you have unique relationships with every publisher that you distribute. And we don't really know the details of those, but it's, you know, it's not rocket science to assume, okay, maybe, you know, if, let's say Roku has a fun relationship with Netflix, I'm making this up. You know, who's to say that Roku is an incentivized to try to, you know, channel more ad inventory into Netflix, for example. So that's the trade desk's idea on why it's an independent player. But I think, you know, and that's

[Unidentified Ad Exchanger Team Member]

going to your point also, I talked about this last week a Bit, but like Roku also already heavily incentivizes recommendations and what look like ads based on Roku channel stuff.

[Alyssa Boyle]

So.

[Unidentified Ad Exchanger Team Member]

So I was telling Sarah and I think Anthony last week, it's been a busy week about how the, the TV show China beach has been following me around and I don't even know what it's about. Panel thing. Yeah,

[Victoria McNally]

yeah. I feel like this, the, the, the streaming shows have become major, like social advertisers. Like, I feel like they're like big. Like maybe they're even. Maybe it's just they're being clipped. But they're like the clipping phenomenon, I feel like, is often just like a TV show.

[Unidentified Ad Exchanger Team Member]

I also think definitely when the trade desk is making that analogy, they're probably talking about more like Amazon or Google where they have their own inventory but also their own dsp, which Roku does technically as well. And we'll get into what that means for Fox.

[Victoria McNally]

Has anyone picked up the Ventura os? Because I feel like they're only their sort of flagship client. What was that Sonos thing?

[Unidentified Ad Exchanger Team Member]

Did that.

[Victoria McNally]

That didn't pan out like. Yeah, so, no, I can't. They're looking for a new one.

[James Hersher]

I am going to talk to one of those executives that I saw speak, so I'll, I'll ask him about it and stay tuned, I guess.

[Victoria McNally]

But I just feel like, yeah, you know, it's just more consolidation, though. Like, it is hard to get around, you know, the trade desk makes that argument, but it doesn't stop money from going to like, Google and Amazon and Google tv, Roku, Amazon, like, those seem like Samsung.

[James Hersher]

Right. Like, to your point, I think, you know, questioning this conflict of interest is like the correct instinct. But there also wasn't, you know, I guess accountability on the other side of, you know, like, what about potential conflicts of interest that might exist from the trade desk having, you know, such a foothold on the demand side of like ad transactions in CTV and also in os. Like, I'm sure that also raises questions. So that wasn't addressed during the conference,

[Unidentified Ad Exchanger Team Member]

but I have questions that also raises the idea for a lot of TVOs providers that don't have any other access to advertising revenue. I imagine home screen ads are something they're really, really excited about because if you're, you know, I'll make up a name Moon os. And you don't, you don't have the same, like, fast channels that Roku does or that Samsung TV plus does. I don't know what LG has that. I imagine they have their own Stuff like all you have is home screen ads probably and then maybe some like a little bit of inventory you're getting from publishers. But like that's also stuff that, you

[Victoria McNally]

know, tens of millions of logged in viewers who are there every day and all that. Like that's, you know, that can't just be replicated by technology.

[James Hersher]

Yeah. So I guess it remains to be seen like the success. But I guess to be fair, I mean I think it really hasn't been that long since Ventura became a thing. I think it was like September 2024 when Victoria, you covered something about, well somebody covered something about Sonos dropping out of that deal. So that was September 2024 and that was also I guess before the trade desk would even confirm that that was happening. So they haven't been in market for very long is my point. But I think it's interesting to try to do that that this late in the game. Know. Speaking of which, so we talked about Roku and Fox a little bit. There was a little bit of a session called analyst improv where there was just analysts kind of speculating on stuff regarding these deals. And somebody brought up a good point that, you know, Roku and Fox is an interesting pairing partly because neither company seems to have a tremendous global footprint. They're mostly concentrated in the U.S. i think they named Tubi, the Fox's free ad supported TV platform as one example that has some more global reach. But the point is in order to expand a global footprint you need the OS to be consistent. And the Roku OS is not really widely adopted outside of the US because there's a lot of Android OS in other markets. So there's speculation on oh, is Fox going to maybe try to steer Roku towards adopting an Android OS instead now that it's, if it becomes the new owner and everything goes swimmingly with that.

[Victoria McNally]

I feel like it also shows why, you know, why the trade desk would want to get in here. Even a tiny stuff slice of the OS market really matters. Like it reminds me of like Duck, Duck Go or something like where, you know, like oh like why, why even bother being such a little search engine or something. It's like, well just a little piece of that market can be pretty sweet. So you know, the data like the appeal is there. We'll, we'll see if the trade desk can, can earn any, any manufacturers or anything like that. We are going to cut to segment number two and we are going to hear a bunch more about Roku. But Melissa, thank you and we'll let you get back to the show.

[James Hersher]

Okay. Back to conferencing and looking at the mountains from the windows.

[Victoria McNally]

Bye.

[Sarah Sluice]

I'm Sarah Sluice, Editorial Director at Ad Exchanger, and I'm with Katie McAdams, the chief marketing and Commercial Officer at Basis. Welcome, Katie.

[Alyssa Boyle]

Thanks for having me.

[Sarah Sluice]

So Basis has found that media teams today are juggling an average of nine different platforms to run a standard digital campaign. Which makes my head spin, because I know when I like, Switch browser tabs or Switch products, I'm like, wait, what was I here for again? So how does this impact their ability to be successful as an advertiser?

[Katie McAdams]

Sure. So it's a great question. What we find in our research is that our industry is losing anywhere from 80 to $100 billion annually in value leakage from errors, inefficiency, and siloed campaigns sitting in all of those different platforms that you're talking about. And advertising is just becoming more and more fragmented, whether it's across teams, channels, tools, finance systems, and now different AI solutions. So that's a lot of context switching for one team in one day.

[Sarah Sluice]

Wow. So what would a connected advertising system look like as an alternative to those nine platforms?

[Katie McAdams]

What we find in talking to agencies and brands is that that journey really needs to start with consolidation. And by consolidation, I mean getting all of your media contracts, your campaign plans, your invoices, and your client communications into one place so that you have a single source of truth. And once you have that foundation in place, then something important really starts to happen. You actually have data that is clean and reliable so that your AI can function with it more meaningfully and more predictably. So the brands and agencies that get to this state fastest are not going to be the ones who are bolting on the most AI tools. They're going to be the ones who are able to build that operational foundation first.

[Sarah Sluice]

I like this point that centralization isn't just about, you know, me as the media planner, but also about having more unified data that will then help me with AI, which I'm glad you brought up AI. So tell us a little bit more about how AI is being added on to this connected advertising system.

[Katie McAdams]

Sure. So this is where having that solid foundation in place is going to actually help AI become more of a multiplier for your organization and your teams. As an example, Basis has Compass, which is our agentic AI planning tool. It lives right inside our platform, and it solves the problem of media teams spending hours and even sometimes days synthesizing media briefs, building frameworks, building media plans, and then creating client ready presentations before a campaign even launches. So Compass actually takes that brief and generates a complete omnichannel strategy across programmatic, search, social and direct in minutes instead of weeks. That strategy then becomes connected and pushed into their media plan which can then be activated on through the BASIS platform across programmatic, search, social and direct media buys. And what we find is that agencies and brands who are using Basis overall are seeing 30 to 40% operational efficiency gains when they operationalize all of those workflows into one place. And that really creates an expansion of capabilities with teams being able to gain back time to focus on strategy, creativity and growth.

[Sarah Sluice]

So we have more efficiency through centralization which then enables more use of AI, which is even more efficient. So really interesting to talk to you Katie and thank you to Basis for supporting our podcast.

[Katie McAdams]

Thank you.

[Victoria McNally]

All right, welcome back. For part two, we are going to dive into some major TV M&A news from the past week. So Victoria, you've been covering this. This has all been falling on your plate. So yeah, let's start with the basics. What's been going on?

[Alyssa Boyle]

Oh boy. Well, we alluded to it earlier. You know, Alyssa was talking about Fox and Roku. That's pretty much the big new news of the week. Fox announced that they'll be buying Roku for $22 billion on Monday. So obviously, as is the case with any M and A situation, it's pending regulatory approval. So it's not set in stone yet. But given the trajectory of the last couple of big TV mergers we've seen, something tells me this one will probably go through.

[Victoria McNally]

Yeah, it's sort of. Well, we'll see if like the Murdoch family is extra, like careful not to say anything or like, yeah, for like the New York Post are going to be like very like Trump favorable get let this thing slide through. But yeah, I feel like there's been a lot of politics in the TV MNA world as well.

[Alyssa Boyle]

Yeah, I think you mentioned this earlier as well. There's been some developments in the Paramount Skydance Warner Brothers Discovery merger, which is too many names. They got DOJ approval. They announced on Friday. Since then, there's been some sort of ruckus about whether or not the DOJ rushed things or let all of its career staffers sort of weigh in before they made that decision. There was also an interesting story from Wired about Paramount refusing to air an ad that a nonprofit tried to submit during the UFC fight on Paramount. Plus on Sunday that was essentially, hey, this deal is bad and it will probably have a chilling effect on political reporting from cnn because it's clearly had that effect on CVS was their argument. So yeah, does kind of make sense why they wouldn't let that on the air. But also, you know, now they could point to it and be like, see, it's proof.

[Victoria McNally]

So I feel like that's also why there's been so much merger, like high scale acquisitions. Like there is a, you know, maybe a sense that like now's the time you could get this done.

[Alyssa Boyle]

Yeah. I think it's not too politically spicy to point out that the current administration is very pro big business and hasn't really had the same zeal for antitrust activity as the previous administration did. So it definitely feels like a lot of companies are sort of trying to make it happen right now in a way that they might not have been before. Like it just feels like the right time. I'll also say Roku is an interesting case because a lot of people in the TV and CTV industries have been speculated. I have been speculating that it's been due for a buyout for a very long time. A lot of people predicted it was going to be Amazon or it was going to be Meta. That's kind of just been the narrative of Roku's going to get bought. So the fact that it's Fox is surprising because they aren't quite a major player in the streaming game right now compared to a lot of the other streamers, especially legacy broadcast streamers like NBC's Peacock or even Paramount. Plus which has technically been going for

[Unidentified Ad Exchanger Team Member]

a really long time.

[Alyssa Boyle]

It used to be CBS All Access and they did a rebrand in 2021. But Fox only really has. They have Fox One, which they just launched last year. And then I also just found out that they have Fox Nation, which is a much more specific Fox News. One that I guess has some Jet

[Victoria McNally]

Box, more comedy special kind of.

[Alyssa Boyle]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And this is more my opinion. But as far as content goes, they kind of don't really have the same slate as everybody else does. They sold a lot of their good stuff to Disney with 20th Century Fox. Like I guess they have the Simpsons technically still, but it's bad again. And as far as sports licenses go, they've got the World Series, which. Or the World Cup, I should say, which is doing really well. And they do also have NBA play or.

[Victoria McNally]

Yeah, NBA, mlb, some slice of the MLB playoffs.

[Alyssa Boyle]

Yeah, I'm not a sports person. I don't know if we want to take that again.

[Victoria McNally]

That is my one ticket. They got the World Cup. They got a bit of the mlb.

[Alyssa Boyle]

They got baseball. They got some baseball.

[Victoria McNally]

Like they're, they're sort of in like a no man's land, I feel like where exactly, you know, there's Amazon and Disney and Netflix and like Apple could just sort of afford to do its own thing entirely and but like Fox is like you're kind of like not big enough to be in that. You know, like you're no Comcast or whatever now. You're just this kind of free floating thing that either needs to get acquired or like scale up somehow.

[Alyssa Boyle]

With the exception though of to be which they, they were actually really prescient about that buy. They bought to be for I think only like 440 million in 2020, right before COVID really hit. So like before, like you know, obviously streaming and CTV was on the rise, but it didn't jump the same way until everybody was at home, you know, because of the pandemic. So they, they got ahead of that. Tubi is also very interesting because it's free video on demand. So it's not fast channels necessarily. It's not like you're you know, tuning into just whatever you're actually choosing what to watch. And it has a very strong contingent of Gen Z viewers and a lot of African American viewers which is a very different audience than what you'd expect from Fox given their political leanings. And to your point, their, their sort of lack of like cool, hip, interesting stuff compared to Amazon and Disney and yada yada.

[Victoria McNally]

So we're, I think Roku too like broadens that their audience pool quite a

[Alyssa Boyle]

bit and it also, yeah, in addition to broadening that audience with Roku Channel, it also gives them access to all of Roku's ad tech offerings. Roku has their own DSP that they bought that used to be called Data Zoo. They have all of this first party data from I think 100 million households they say globally. Obviously to Alyssa's point earlier, they do have a very strong US focus but they do have global viewers as well, I guess maybe in Canada, but so they work with a lot of other competitors in the space. So like what Fox chooses to do with that could be very interesting. It would make more sense for them to like get money from all those competitors rather than shut off that data and make it only exclusive to themselves. But time will tell how they choose to play it.

[Victoria McNally]

Roku is an interesting one. I feel like they've like you said, like they've been part of this rumor mill of like, oh, they're going to someone forever. But. But like, the part of the value is they're sort of like, oh, they work with everyone. They sort of sit in the middle and you know, like, it felt like, oh, like no one is anyone ever going to buy Roku because, like, that's, you know, then you sort of get in the way of the point. And it reminds me of like, publis, like, everyone, every waiting, like, oh, someone's going to buy Live Ramp forever. That's going to. But like, also, like, part of the point of Live Ramp is that it is this just like interstitial mesh between all these other companies and, like, competitive forces out there. And it's sort of interesting, like, now is it. I feel like there is less like, this sensibility of like, oh, like this is just this thing who exists to be neutral and in the middle, like, that's less. That just doesn't matter anymore. There is a sense like, oh, like, let's just go buy these things and think of this as leverage. Why not?

[Sarah Sluice]

Yeah.

[Alyssa Boyle]

And the other thing that's interesting that we haven't brought up yet is there were some reports yesterday that Netflix had also been trying to buy Roku, which makes two mergers in a row that they have lost at because they really wanted Warner Brothers. Just the studio, not the full company. And then Paramount raised their bid by like, I don't know, $50 billion, $abillion or something. And like, sweet.

[Victoria McNally]

Netflix may have won the long run on that by forcing Paramount to, you know, like, they're like a. A snake trying to swallow a bear or something right now. Like, they've, you know, they have been forced to make this strategic mistake, even though it is like, oh, it's like, great for them. They get this incredible asset, but it's like, I don't. Just the servicing the debt from that acquisition is just too much. Like, I don't like, it's just so untenable. That happened with Fox too, and Disney, I think it was.

[Sarah Sluice]

Yeah.

[Alyssa Boyle]

And the reports about Netflix's interest in Roku have sort of painted a similar picture of, like, they have a hard limit that they don't want to spend money past. And once that limit gets hit, they back off, which is really interesting for them. And now the rumor is that they're thinking about Lionsgate, which would be closer to a Warner Brothers kind of situation in terms of, like, they would get the rights to the TV creation complex, TV and film, and they would get licenses for all of the stuff that Lionsgate has worked on, presumably. I don't know how exactly it would work, because Lionsgate also works in tandem with a lot of companies. So, like, they produce CBS Ghosts, for example. But I don't know if CBS would still technically have, like, the streaming rights to that exclusively. If Netflix were to buy landscape, I don't know how that would work because that's a lot of negotiation kind of stuff. But the appeal still makes a lot of sense. Certainly it makes more sense than Roku. Well, not that it makes more sense than Roku, but that it would. It would be an easier sell. Because another reason that the Netflix Roku deal probably wouldn't have worked out is, like, they're both so streaming focused that you could make a stronger antitrust argument against them because, you know, they've got an ad product, Roku has an ad product. Like, they're trying to come out like that. It would just be tougher. As opposed to them making the argument that, like. Oh, like, owning a studio is different from a competitive standpoint. You know, that kind of thing.

[Victoria McNally]

Yeah. Although, I don't know, like, it. It is like, part of, you know, that's the appeals. Like, the Roku too, is, you know, you'd be consolidating such a valuable category, and they also have the whole hardware. Like, maybe Netflix would be able to spin it that it's a different, you know, a different kind of, like, subscription and manufacturing business. Whereas Lionsgate is really just like a store studio, which Netflix totally does already. Like, Netflix has a huge studio. I guess, like, Lionsgate is just sort of like the last man standing out there. Wait, does mg. Did MGM Studios go to Amazon? Did that deal?

[Alyssa Boyle]

Am I like, it is now called Amazon MGM Studios.

[Victoria McNally]

Right. So. So, yeah, there's really, like. There's not a lot of these kind of, like, studios that have a lot of value and have a lot going on, but they're not like, conglomerated into these titans.

[Alyssa Boyle]

Yeah, it's. It's Slim Pickens out there. And that's. That's one of the arguments against the Paramount Warner Brothers merger, is that it's. It's really. It's a lot of consolidation in a way that we've talked about in the past, would be tough for advertisers if they have fewer avenues to sell ads in. Like, David Ellison, who's the CEO of Paramount. Skydance has talked about wanting to consolidate HBO Max and Paramount Plus. And if that happens, that is literally less inventory, although that also means less fragmentation.

[Victoria McNally]

Right. Like, that's another.

[Alyssa Boyle]

I'm assuming that all of the subscribers from both will Join in the middle. Which proved to be really difficult when hbo, Max and Discovery plus were going to get merged, which ended up not actually happening. And Warner Brothers Discovery made the whole thing of like, okay, we were going to do it, and then we found out there's not a whole lot of overlap and one of these is way more expensive than the other. And so then rather than lose all the Discovery plus people, we kind of just let them, let them be over there on their own. And then, you know, there was a lot of talk about a lot of people making fun of the fact that they changed the name to Max and then changed it back like it was a whole thing. But then, you know, obviously on the, like, entertainment and the content production side of things, like, yeah, like fewer studios that are not owned by bigger companies means, like less competition. And you know, again, your mileage may vary on whether that's a good thing for you or not.

[Unidentified Ad Exchanger Team Member]

For me, I tend not to feel great about it.

[Alyssa Boyle]

But, you know, I've gotten in trouble before for getting too politically spicy about my antidrust opinion. So we can leave it there.

[Victoria McNally]

Well, we will see what the advertisers themselves think about it. Let us know if you're a, you know, Roku advertiser and have thoughts on the deal. We'd love to hear.

[Alyssa Boyle]

Before we end, though, I did want to say one more thing, which is you brought up earlier the idea that, you know, Roku also does a lot of hardware stuff as well. And like, that's really interesting to think about whether Fox will continue that because that's such a different business than what Fox is used to. And you know, Alyssa made the point they might want to try to switch to Android. Like I could see them setting up a world where like, they're not actually manufacturing the TVs anymore and they're relying on partners again because the overhead for TV OEMs is so low or not the overhead. I shouldn't say the overhead. The margins are so low. Overheads really high. And that's why the margins are low.

[Unidentified Ad Exchanger Team Member]

Right.

[Alyssa Boyle]

That's how business.

[Victoria McNally]

Yeah, yeah, that sounds right, right. I mean, they're right. They're not making really money on the hardware. They're banking on a kind of, you know, years long advertising relationship, essentially.

[Sarah Sluice]

Yeah.

[Alyssa Boyle]

Which clearly the appeal of the deal for Fox is advertising and a little bit of content with the Roku Channel, which is like really popular as far as free channels go. It's basically like number one is the Roku Channel and number two is Tubi. So they'll have both, so that makes a lot of sense. The part where they make TVs, maybe not so much.

[Victoria McNally]

Well, we'll see. More to cover. Thank you, Victoria. And we will see you next week.

[Sarah Sluice]

This episode was sponsored by Basis, the leading intelligent operating system for autonomous advertising. Its enterprise AI solution transforms campaign briefs into strategies and media plans that integrate directly into omnichannel activation. Learn [e-mail].