FUNKE Digital vs Hearst

Funke Digital Opens Programmatic Architecture to All Publishers

Funke Digital has launched yieldHub, a programmatic advertising sales house that opens its proprietary technology platform to external publishers for the first time. The platform, developed over ten years, handles programmatic display and video advertising, including ad server integration, SSP connections, and ongoing revenue optimization. yieldHub is positioned as a managed service, not direct sales, and leverages Funke's market position for favorable terms. The Austrian company Molindo GmbH with its music portal Songtexte.com is the launch customer. This move contrasts with Hamburg-based Morgenpost's decision to abandon programmatic advertising.

• Funke Digital launches yieldHub, a programmatic advertising sales house.
• yieldHub opens Funke's proprietary programmatic technology to external publishers.
• Molindo GmbH is the first customer with Songtexte.com (2.6M monthly unique users).

Funke revamps video stack with Target Video

Funke Digital, the digital subsidiary of Funke Mediengruppe, has replaced its in‑house video stack with a multi-year partnership with Munich-based Target Video. The agreement covers Funke's online portals (including Der Westen and national brands like Hörzu) and gives Target Video responsibility for the video player, a video CMS, integrations with existing content management systems, SDKs for apps, livestreaming and vertical feeds, plus rule-based syndication across the publisher's brand portfolio. Target Video will also participate in monetization via its demand network, using a video ad server, an integrated Prebid Server and AI-driven yield optimization (non-exclusive). A new video‑matching system is being rolled out that analyzes article semantics and video content (audio transcription and frame-level image analysis) to automate matching and reduce editorial effort. Target Video previously acquired Brid.TV in 2023, expanding its player/CMS/monetization stack.

• Funke Digital replaced its in-house video solution with Target Video under a multi-year partnership.
• The partnership covers Funke portals including Der Westen and national brands like Hörzu.
• Target Video provides video player, video CMS, CMS interfaces, SDKs for apps, livestreaming and vertical video feeds.

Joseph F. D’Angelo, Former Chairman and President of Hearst’s King Features Syndicate, Dies at 96

New press release added: Joseph F. D’Angelo, Former Chairman and President of Hearst’s King Features Syndicate, Dies at 96

Chris Tribbey Named Editor of the Midland Reporter-Telegram

Hearst announced that Chris Tribbey has been named Editor of the Midland Reporter-Telegram, a new press release on their news page.

Publishers Lobby Congress for 'Bad Bots' Bill

Over 300 news publishing executives, including leaders from Condé Nast, Hearst Magazines, USA Today Co., and The Seattle Times, traveled to Washington D.C. to lobby Congress for the Stealth Bot Prohibition Act. The bill would require AI stealth crawlers to identify themselves, preventing them from disguising traffic and bypassing publishers' scraping blocks. Organized by News/Media Alliance, the event follows a similar New York state law and aims to address the growing problem of AI bots scraping content without permission. Executives met with lawmakers to emphasize the need for transparency, control, and fair compensation when their content is used for AI training. The initiative highlights the increasing urgency as AI bot traffic has surged significantly, with TollBit detecting over 22 billion AI bot scrapes in the first half of 2026.

• More than 300 publishing executives lobbied Congress for the Stealth Bot Prohibition Act.
• Key participants included Condé Nast, Hearst Magazines, USA Today Co., and The Seattle Times.
• The bill would require AI stealth crawlers to identify themselves.