Weekly Roundup – January 6th, 2026
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Cumulus Media Scores Landmark Victory Over Nielsen
"In a significant legal blow to Nielsen, a federal judge has sided with Cumulus Media. Barrett Media has learned that a preliminary injunction has been granted in Cumulus’s favor, halting the ratings giant’s controversial “Network Policy.”
The ruling, issued December 30, 2025, by Judge Jeannette A. Vargas of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, effectively prevents Nielsen from enforcing what Cumulus alleged was an anticompetitive “tying policy” designed to maintain a monopoly over radio ratings data.
The Ruling: A Victory for Cumulus
Judge Vargas found that Cumulus successfully demonstrated a “strong likelihood of succeeding on the merits” of its antitrust claims. The court’s order immediately restrains Nielsen and its agents from enforcing the Network Policy during the pendency of the litigation."
Our Take: Big win for Cumulus. A court finally hit pause on Nielsen’s bundling rules, and while this is only a preliminary injunction, it’s an encouraging one. If it holds, other broadcasters could benefit too. Worth watching closely. What’s refreshing is that we’re finally saying the quiet part out loud. Nielsen’s near-monopoly on national radio ratings creates real friction for the industry. When there’s only one accepted currency, it limits flexibility, slows innovation, and puts broadcasters in a defensive position by default. More competition is a good thing. Not because monopolies are “bad” in theory, but because they tend to reduce incentives to evolve. Innovation usually shows up when there’s pressure to earn trust, not when trust is required. There may also be lessons here from digital. Measurement there is not one-size-fits-all, and agencies already accept multiple data sources depending on the goal. Radio can still push in that direction by focusing less on “which rating” and more on proving value and ROI. That means selling outcomes, not just audience. Showing reach in a way advertisers actually understand (like Market Reach studies, we do those). Showing what advertising does, not just where it ran (ahem...). If radio leads with proof, the conversation with agencies changes. This case does not rewrite the rules overnight. But it does open the door to a healthier, more competitive measurement ecosystem, and that’s something worth paying attention to.
Cord-cutting is still getting worse for cable companies, but pay-TV subs just increased for the first time since 2017
"According to the latest Cord-Cutting Monitor report from analyst firm MoffettNathanson, the number of subscriptions to linear video packages actually rose during the third quarter of 2025.
The estimates, which include subscriptions to virtual multichannel video programming distributors (vMVPDs) like YouTube TV, show that the pay-TV industry had 303,000 subscriber additions in the third quarter, marking the first quarterly gain since 2017.
However, the research notes that the increase was “reasonably small” and seasonal given that it happened during the quarter when the NFL season began, meaning it could potentially see subscribers drop out again at the beginning of Q1 next year."
Our Take: Linear TV (or pay-tv) will become irrelevant only when sports leagues find a way to best monetize their rights packages on digital platforms. Sports leagues, for the most part, still have yet to crack a winning formula when it comes to digital platforms. The bundle deal on linear/pay-tv remains a go-to for leagues looking to pad the profit column.
Rove: Public ‘tiring’ of Trump
"Republican strategist Karl Rove on Monday said Americans are tiring of President Trump’s whirlwind of retribution and offensive comments as his first year back in office draws to a close.
“There are signs that the public is tiring of his hyperbole and insatiable desire for retribution. Increasingly, they may hear only the offensive or cruel things he says,” Rove wrote in an op-ed for The Wall Street Journal.
“Has the president convinced himself that he doesn’t need to sell his policies and actions? It appears that he believes he can will people into agreeing with him by claiming his achievements are the biggest, best and most amazing in American history,” he added.
The former top adviser to former President George W. Bush has regularly criticized Trump’s style and policy, but he said the White House could win over voters with a more disciplined messaging strategy from the president."
Our Take: While Trump remains very popular with his base, fatigue is setting in for some due to aspects of Donald Trump’s personality and actions, but dig a little deeper and people are perhaps just getting bored. Whether you like it or not, National Politics is resembling one long, bingeable Netflix series. And like any long-running series, audiences get tired of the same beats and tics of certain characters (and those characters are inevitably written off). Even people who hated Donald Trump were probably on some level entertained by their deep-seated antipathy and almost looked forward to the next thing to be outraged by. But no longer – a growing number of people are consuming news more passively, shifting attention to other figures or issues, or just tuning out entirely. And of course others love the guy and can't get enough of him.
Australia’s Social Media Ban on Kids Is Likely an Outlier
"...In the US, where child safety on social media is widely discussed but rarely affected by actual legislation, we have unsurprisingly heard voices from every corner of Washington and industry weigh in on the idea of a new social media age limit. A bipartisan group of US senators said Australia was “stepping up to protect kids.” The Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, argued that tech-savvy youth will find workarounds and that bans will have unintended consequences.
It’s possible that banning social media use for under-16s could lead to real, meaningful change. One of the reasons companies oppose these kinds of restrictions is that they run the risk of losing an entire generation of users in the long-term, especially if Australia’s new law leads to a global domino effect in other countries."
Our Take: The secret everyone knows is that companies model consumer behaviors on kids so as adults they get to be full-fledged consumers of a given product and cannot imagine life without said product. Corporations often try to shape brand familiarity and habits early on, knowing that early exposure can influence choices later in life (e.g., Happy Meals, Tony the Tiger, Star Wars skins on Fortnite, iPads given to kids in partnership with a school system). Social media is a little different because these companies are not just marketing to kids, they’re training them to use the same product as adults use. However, the principle remains the same. Social media becomes part of identity formation in impressionable kids and it is of high financial interest for companies to plant their seeds early on. The question is whether this is ethical.
