Bauer Media Group

Viaplay Exit, ProSieben Video Podcasts, WPP Expansion

This Week in Review covers several media and adtech developments: Nordic group Viaplay agreed to sell its Dutch streaming and broadcasting operations to Videoland (DPG Media) for €142 million as it refocuses on Nordic markets. ProSiebenSat.1 is adding video podcasts from its Seven.One Audio division to its Joyn streaming service, with initial titles and sales handled by Seven.One Media. WPP expanded its Enterprise Solutions umbrella, launching a portfolio of proprietary offerings including AI transformation consulting, “agentic commerce”, owned intelligence, adaptive real-time relationships and intelligent content. Industry funding and certification moves included TwelveLabs raising $100 million in a Series B and Covatic securing £1.5 million for person-level CTV targeting; Nectar360 (Sainsbury’s retail media arm) received IAB Europe retail media certification. The bulletin also summarizes wider TV, regulatory and publisher news affecting the media and advertising ecosystem.

Saxon Distributor Wins Interim Ruling Against FFF Publishers

The Leipzig Regional Court (Landgericht Leipzig) on 30 June 2026 granted an interim injunction ordering 13 publishers of the “Fit for Future” (FFF) alliance to continue supplying the Saxon wholesaler Mercura – Pressegroßhandel Mietke with newspapers and magazines, and to do so exclusively for the time being. The court held, after a summary review, that the publishers’ contract terminations appear to be unlawful under cartel law and therefore ineffective. Leipzig also found the matter urgent, saying Mercura would face irreversible consequences (including staff cuts or asset sales) if supplies stopped before the main proceedings. The Bundeskartellamt’s prior tacit approval of FFF’s plans is not binding on the court. The injunction remains in place until a first-instance decision on the substantive case; the publishers may appeal to the Dresden higher regional court.

Bauer Media Group radically reshapes digital business

Bauer Media Group announced a major overhaul of its digital publishing operations in Germany, closing its Bauer Xcel Media Deutschland KG on 30 September 2026 and affecting around 160 employees. The company will narrow its German digital portfolio to three brands — Lecker.de, TVMovie.de and Astrowoche.de — and discontinue numerous other online properties (e.g., Wunderweib.de, Bravo.de, InTouch.de, Autozeitung.de, Cosmopolitan.de, Selbst.de). The move is framed as a response to structural shifts in digital content consumption (platforms and AI services), increased competition in online advertising, and declining reach and profitability for many sites. Bauer says its print business remains unaffected and that digital responsibility will be shifted back to local country entities as part of a global strategic realignment.