STREAMING CAPTURED RECORD SHARE IN DECEMBER
Last month, streamers made up 47.5% of TV viewership, the largest streaming share in the history of Nielsen’s monthly The Gauge report. Giving these figures a boost was Christmas Day, which scored a record 54% share with 55.1 billion minutes streamed. Netflix and Prime Video delivered over 12 billion of those minutes, with both platforms carrying NFL games and Netflix dropping new episodes of Stranger Things. (Nielsen: January, 2026)
INTERACTIVE CTV ADS SCALING UP
With pause-screen ads achieving wider acceptance in recent years, interactive Connected TV advertising is close behind. We’ve already seen increased use of QR codes in creative, and there will be more shoppable buttons as consumers get comfortable making purchases from their TVs. Platforms can now integrate interactivity without disrupting the viewing experience, and the IAB is working toward clear, consistent industry-wide standards to ensure all parties are speaking the same technical language. (AdExchanger: January 9, 2026)
DEMOGRAPHICS ARE TOPS FOR CTV TARGETING
Advanced targeting abilities that allow ads to reach audiences based on advanced psychographic factors may be popular for social advertising, but in CTV, marketers still focus on old-school demographics. Nearly 30% of those surveyed by Gracenote say that demos are their top priority, well ahead of the 21% who favor interest-based targeting. Behavioral and contextual targeting score the lowest, at just over 10% and 9%, respectively. When it comes to CTV, advertisers are still likely to focus on the TV part and use it that way. (EMarketer: January 22, 2026)
FREE LOCAL BROADCASTING MEANS JOBS, DOLLARS
A study commissioned by the NAB shows that free local TV and radio have a huge economic impact, contributing $1.19 trillion to the GDP. Nearly two-thirds ($748 billion) of that comes from television stations, which also account for 1.55 million of the 2.46 million jobs created by local broadcast. TV and radio also add around $134 billion to other related industries. Additionally, some positives that aren’t easily quantified include providing easy access to local news and emergency alerts and building community through sports and cultural programming of regional interest. (TVTech: January 16, 2026)
TODAY IN VIDEO HISTORY
January 22, 2010 – Conan’s Final Tonight Show
After a tumultuous seven-month stint as host of The Tonight Show, Conan O’Brien stepped away from the desk and handed it back to its previous steward, Jay Leno. Conan’s time on the show was hindered by the low ratings of his primetime lead-ins, which impacted NBC’s late-night viewership. Also, despite being just an hour apart, 11:30 pm is a different world than 12:30 am; the earlier audience may not have been ready for Coco. In his goodbye, Conan offered this sage advice: “If you work really hard and you’re kind, amazing things will happen.”
