Telly

Universal Ads Adds Audience and Mobile Measurement Partners

Universal Ads announced two new partner categories in its Business Partners Program: Audience Partners and Mobile Measurement Partners. Inaugural Audience partners include Klaviyo, LiveRamp, and TransUnion; Mobile Measurement Partners integrated directly are Adjust, AppsFlyer, Branch, Kochava, and Singular. The additions let advertisers bring first- and third-party customer segments and established mobile attribution workflows into Universal Ads’ self-serve premium TV buying platform, aligning TV campaigns with existing digital measurement and activation processes. Universal Ads said the changes aim to make television advertising feel as familiar and integrated as other digital channels, and highlighted a broad roster of publisher partners including NBCUniversal, Roku, Paramount, Warner Bros. Discovery and others.

Newsweek Traffic Falls 75%; Revenue Nears $100M

Newsweek experienced a nearly 75% decline in readership year-over-year, but CEO Dev Pragad says the company is on pace to surpass $100 million in revenue for the first time in its 93-year history. Publishing revenue is expected to decline 20–25% this year, but newly built businesses—internally called Nexus (B2B: rankings and events) and Adprime (a healthcare-focused DSP acquired in June 2025)—have grown quickly enough to offset that drop. Adprime is projected to more than triple revenue from $14.8M to north of $40M and could account for roughly 40% of company revenue. Newsweek forecasts at least 10% revenue growth in 2026 (up from ~3% in 2025), is expanding non-programmatic video and events revenue, and maintains a free newsletter audience just under 2 million. The company remains cautious about future search-distribution risks from Google’s AI-generated results.

Tovala Bets on Subscriptions, Not Ads, for Growth

Tovala, a company founded in 2015 that combines a countertop oven with a weekly meal-kit subscription, is prioritizing subscriptions and rigorous incrementality testing over advertising as its primary revenue strategy. CMO Scott Braun, who joined the company one month prior to the article and previously led marketing at Drizly (acquired by Uber) and SimpliSafe, said Tovala has not pursued in‑device retail or brand advertising and is unlikely to monetize the oven itself through ads. The oven retails standalone for roughly $350 but is offered on Tovala’s site bundled with six weeks of meals over six months for $69. Tovala continuously runs incrementality studies across channels (branded search, podcasts) and is exploring limited brand integrations or subscription bundle partnerships (e.g., Instacart, Uber Eats) rather than turning its hardware into an ad surface.