News Corp vs Newsweek

8-K Financial Filing Analysis for News Corp (2026-09-17)

On September 16, 2026, News Corporation submitted a Form 8-K disclosure detailing ongoing transaction activity under its aggregate $1 billion Class A and Class B common stock repurchase program. In compliance with Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) listing rules, News Corp provides continuous daily market disclosures covering open-market share buybacks executed under this authorization. The filing underscores management's ongoing capital allocation strategy to return capital to shareholders, executed opportunistically based on prevailing equity market valuations, trading liquidity, and alternative capital deployment priorities.

• News Corporation reported daily transaction updates under its existing $1 billion aggregate repurchase program targeting Class A and Class B common stock.
• The disclosure satisfies cross-border listing compliance requirements mandated by the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX).
• Execution of share repurchases remains discretionary and contingent upon equity market conditions, share pricing, and alternative capital allocation priorities.

Disney Shuts BabyTV Linear Channel and Streaming Service

Disney is continuing to scale back BabyTV's global footprint: the BabyTV linear channel ceased distribution in Canada on August 7, 2026, following an earlier shutdown in France on September 30, 2025. BabyTV’s standalone streaming service will also shut down at the end of August 2026. BabyTV originated in Israel in December 2003, expanded internationally in 2005, was acquired by News Corp/Fox entities before becoming part of The Walt Disney Company after Disney's 2019 acquisition of 21st Century Fox assets. The closures reflect declining linear viewership and Disney’s strategic focus on streaming platforms.

• BabyTV linear channel ceased operations in Canada on August 7, 2026.
• BabyTV previously shut down in France on September 30, 2025.
• BabyTV’s streaming service will shut down at the end of August 2026.

Publishers Cite AI Pressure in Q2 Earnings

Several major publishers — The New York Times, News Corp, USA Today Co. and People Inc. — reported second-quarter earnings showing declines in traffic they attribute primarily to AI. In response, the publishers described a three-part strategy: license content to AI companies where possible, sue or block where licensing isn't feasible, and increase revenue per reader (e.g., subscription or monetization efforts). News Corp CEO Robert Thomson characterized the approach as a "woo and sue" framework. The article analyzes these earnings remarks and the industry-wide implications for publisher monetization and content licensing amid AI-driven distribution changes.

• Traffic is down across the media industry and publishers cited AI as the primary reason.
• The New York Times, News Corp, USA Today Co., and People Inc. reported second-quarter earnings this week that reflected traffic declines.
• Publishers are pursuing a three-part playbook: licensing content to AI companies, suing or blocking where licensing isn't possible, and extracting more revenue from existing readers.

Podcast: The Hardest KPI in Political Advertising

An AdExchanger Talks podcast episode features Mark Jablonowski, CEO of DSPolitical, discussing the unique challenges of measuring political advertising where the primary KPI is an election outcome decided by secret ballot. DSPolitical, which positions itself as a “meta DSP,” combines offline voter data, privacy-compliant audience modeling, multi-bidder activation and unified reporting. Jablonowski notes that Connected TV is a growing channel for political spend but is often bought with a broadcast mindset rather than using CTV’s targeting and measurement capabilities. He also highlights political advertisers’ advanced CRM and voter-file practices and expresses greater concern about organically spreading disinformation than AI deepfakes.

• Mark Jablonowski is the CEO of DSPolitical.
• DSPolitical describes itself as a “meta DSP” and onboards offline voter data to build privacy-compliant audience segments.
• DSPolitical activates audiences through multiple bidders and consolidates results into a single reporting layer.

Newsweek About page reveals leadership and editorial restructuring

Changes include Shazia Haq moving from Senior Editorial Operations Manager to Director of Audience, Brian Lim and Connie Sideras swapping roles, new News Directors Samantha Beech and Jason Lemon, and several editorial title and role changes.

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.

• Newsweek’s site traffic declined nearly 75% in a single year.
• Newsweek is on pace to surpass $100 million in annual revenue for the first time.
• Publishing division revenue is expected to decline 20%–25% this year, per CEO Dev Pragad.