☀️Streamer Cutbacks Hit National Ad Spends
LA shoots not rebounding / New NETFLIX pod deal 🏹 at YT / More AI use ahead for ad biz giant
Mornin! This is Sean McNulty (connect with me on LINKEDIN here if ya like or email me at seanmcnultynyc@gmail.com), and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on Wednesday, October 15, 2025.
Where WALMART set a deal with OPENAI giving CHATGPT the ability to buy things at the retailer for you, so you can totally blame the AI going rogue for those 2 boxes of OREOS that showed up at the door in your next food order.
OPENAI will then also have access to WALMART sales data via purchases made via this process. 👀
So, yeah, basically the internet will soon just become a bunch of bots talking to each other, and posting AI videos for other bots to “watch.” Great work, #BigTech — but hey, more time for people to go to the movies!
AND: Stephen Colbert and Conan O’Brien will be doing a conversation at the NJPAC on Dec. 7 to support the MONTCLAIR FILM organization. Tix on sale here now.
PLUS: Here are your Hamptons Film Fest winners.
THEN: TIFF is planning to increase its TV section by 40% next year, and feature about 14 TV series.
AH: Jeff Bezos has sold off 5% of his AMAZON ownership stake over the past 4 years (um, just how much did that Venice thing cost?), going from 14% when he left his CEO role in 2021 to 9% now.
Ex-wife Mackenzie Scott’s stake in AMAZON stock is also -42% this year. She gave away $2B to 199 organizations last year, and over $19B during roughly the last 5 years.
ALSO: AMAZON is looking to cut as much as 15% of its HR staff, according to a new Fortune report. But all ideas are welcome on how to fit AI into the name of the affected PXT / People eXperience Technology division. Layoffs in other AMAZON divisions are likely coming as well.
OH: For anyone saying that service journalism is dead.
GOOD NEWS: “Verified adults” will be able to have erotic conversations with CHATGPT just in time for Christmas this year, according to Sam Altman. I guess it’s reassuring that sex is still looked toward to grow adoption of new platforms? 📼
SO: The biggest political ad spender of 2025? It’s you! The Department of Homeland Security has spent $51M of your taxpayer money on TV ads this year thanking President Trump for his border work and telling immigrants here illegally to GTFO, according to ADIMPACT.
FOX NEWS got about $9M of this spend, with the broadcast TV morning shows getting the most program-specific spends.
Ads about CA’s redistricting measure were next at $41M.
YAH: Ryan Reynolds and his MAXIMUM EFFORT found a real Tilly Norwood (and MINT customer) to help sell some MINT MOBILE internet service.
FINALLY: Again, the American people rarely notice these kinds of things! I’m sure it’s fine, but, man — that Biden is ruining everything.
Here’s ALBERTSONS CEO on its customers during the Q3 earnings call this week: “We see them sticking closer to their shopping list, maybe not buying that extra item, that extra bottle of whatever,” and choosing smaller package sizes for products. This is with the company already eating some of the increases from tariffs instead of passing them on to consumers.
Or, as one clerk manager at a Chicago-area market put it: “They’ll come in and say, ‘What the f—.’ It happens all the time.”
THANKS!
To WB’s Dana Nussbaum and Christian Davin for a great conversation yesterday at the DPAA SUMMIT — diving into their huge year at the box office, how they are effectively reaching audiences in 2025, how AI is being used to shape 2026 tactics and capabilities and much more.
💻 THE MEDIA BIZ
