Tootfinder

UCLA's Hollywood Diversity Report finds that films with casts that are 41%-50% BIPOC achieved the highest median global and domestic box office receipts in 2025 (Arushi Jacob/Variety)
https://variety.com/2026/film/news/diversity-report-casting-in-fil…

Hollywood Diversity Report: Audiences Prefer Diverse Casting in Films
UCLA's Hollywood Diversity Report for 2025 reported that audiences prefer diverse casting in films, and the industry's need to focus on diversity.

Bryan Cranston, Joaquin Phoenix, and 1,000 writers, actors, and directors sign a letter opposing Paramount's WBD bid, warning it cuts jobs and audience choice (Benjamin Mullin/New York Times)
https://www.

Hollywood Heavyweights Sign Letter Opposing Paramount’s Deal for Warner Bros.
The letter warns that the deal will result in fewer jobs for creatives, along with higher costs and less choice for audiences.

"Plötzlich Wissen!" ist ein guerilla #WissKomm Projekt von Dr. Julia Schnetzer, Inga Marie Ramcke und mir, gestartet in 2017 (Wissenschaftsjahr 2016*17 Meere und Ozeane), das sich zur Pandemie auf online verlegen musste, einiges hin & her hinter sich hat und immernoch läuft. Heute kam unser Paper darüber raus, im Journal of Science Communication, Sonderedition "

Three scientists walk into a bar... Approaching new audiences for informal science communication: the project “Plötzlich Wissen!” (Sudden Knowledge!)
Sudden Knowledge! (Plötzlich Wissen!), a science communication format established throughour own initiative as scientists, implemented science communication in a spontaneousconversational setting. It combined elements of guerilla science/street science, science buskingand pub science events. Between 2017 and 2020 the

NYT's Zach Seward details the "Manosphere Report", an in-house LLM-powered tool that summarizes new episodes from about 80 podcasts with largely male audiences (Andrew Deck/Nieman Lab)
https://www.niemanlab.org/2026/02/how-the-

How The New York Times uses a custom AI tool to track the “manosphere”
The daily podcast round-up is just one way the Times is adopting in-house AI transcription and summarization tools.

The world heard JD Vance being booed at the Olympics. Except for viewers in the US
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/feb/07/jd-vance-boos-winter-olympics?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

The world heard JD Vance being booed at the Olympics. Except for viewers in the US
#censorship

The world heard JD Vance being booed at the Olympics. Except for viewers in the US
The real risk for American broadcasters is not that dissent will be visible. It is that audiences will start assuming anything they do not show is being hidden

"Except for viewers in the US"
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/feb/07/jd-vance-boos-winter-olympics?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

The world heard JD Vance being booed at the Olympics. Except for viewers in the US
The real risk for American broadcasters is not that dissent will be visible. It is that audiences will start assuming anything they do not show is being hidden

🔊 #NowPlaying on #BBCRadio3:
#SundayFeature
- Richard Strauss and Us
Comedian, actor and keen musician Nick Mohammed traces how the popularity of the German composer Richard Strauss soared and waned with British audiences during his lifetime.
Relisten now 👇
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002s4zf

Audible launches a cheaper, $8.99/month streaming tier in the US, vs. $14.95 for its premium plans, to compete with Spotify; the plan includes ad-free podcasts (Ashley Carman/Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/20

I quite enjoyed Mrs President at the Charing Cross Theatre tonight https://charingcrosstheatre.co.uk/theatre/mrs-president
But my goodness, some audiences are awkward post-lockdowns

Mrs President at Charing Cross Theatre
Art Pond Foundation presentsMRS PRESIDENTWritten by John Ransom PhillipsDirected by Bronagh LaganIn Mrs President, Mary Lincoln is a woman at war—with her grief, her detractors, and herself. Vilified by an envious elite and accused of treason, she strives to rebuild her public image to win the hearts of the American people. She turns to the world’s first celebrity photographer, Matthew Brady, who helped her husband, Abraham Lincoln, win the presidency. But their partnership unravels into a …

Yesterday, I got an incredible opportunity to watch Cindy Cohn bring @…'s story to one of its biggest audiences yet, as she did an extraordinary job on the Daily Show, pulling off the unlikely task of making the topic of digital privacy and civil liberties seem fun, engaging and witty. I took the chance to share some reflections — and a couple of behind-the-scenes ph…

Defending Privacy, Daily
A blog about making culture. Since 1999.

Cable TV networks canceling daytime talk show staples The Kelly Clarkson Show and Sherri show how they are now struggling to compete with video podcasts (The Hollywood Reporter)
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news…

Talk Is Cheap, Talk Shows Are Not: Daytime TV’s Big Problem
Sky-high production costs and waning audiences are pushing hosts off the dial. Video podcasts may be the final blow to the format.

The Trump administration’s pattern of granting sympathetic, right-wing influencers with large digital followings
special access to its mass deportation operation
is broad and involves dozens of people.
TPM chose to focus in depth on four influencers, each with different audiences, approaches, and backgrounds.
They are Ben #Bergquam,
his sometimes associate Josh

Inside the Bizarre Feedback Loop Between DHS and MAGA Influencers
As DHS officers flooded into Minneapolis on an early December day, Mahamed...

I pray for the devs of browser extensions that have active audiences, shits gotta be exhausting.

Just finished "The Hate U Give" by Angie Thomas. In an unusual twist of fate, I had read "Concrete Rose" earlier, which gave me a rich backstory to relate things to. "The Hate U Give" is really good, but I found the resolution of King's arc slightly disappointing, even though the ending was strong. It's definitely not my place to judge Thomas' perspective here, but I do think that the book's broad popularity including among more liberal audiences probably stems at least in part from the way it allows a "the cops have issues but are ultimately-necessary/sometimes-positive" reading that undermines the strength of the core message.
In the end I like Concrete Rose better, but they're both great and I'll be putting Thomas' other books on my to-read list.
#AmReading #ReadingNow

A Sports Frenzy for the Most Valuable Influencers https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/28/arts/sports-influencers-content-creators-nfl-nba.html

Feeling a bit excited to be sitting in on an online EU event featuring Mastodon's Philip Schroepel [@…] - about building sovereign digital public spaces - a key issue at this time.

The legendary video of Billy Connolly's bit, "The Demands" was actually about his relationship with his audiences.
It however became the business anthem about cynical, transactional customers that treat partners & vendors as adversaries.
#billyconnolly #thedemands

Journalists covering the U.S. and Israel’s war on Iran should be telling their audiences
not only what they know
but what they were prevented from finding out, and by whom.
That doesn’t just mean an occasional editorial bemoaning threats to press freedom.
Those are valuable, but on their own, they turn speech suppression into a side issue.
The reporting itself should include acknowledgment and explanation of how censorship impacts what the public sees and rea…

The public deserves to know when Iran war reporting is stifled
An unprecedented censorship infrastructure will obscure the fighting

LinkedIn signs The Trade Desk as its first DSP partner for connected TV ads, allowing ad buyers to layer in LinkedIn data to reach target audiences (Lara O'Reilly/Business Insider)
https://www.businessinsider.com/linkedin-partners-with-the-trade-d…

LinkedIn is making a big play for streaming TV ad dollars
LinkedIn wants a bigger chunk of the streaming TV ad business. The Trade Desk will be its first demand-side platform partner for connected-TV ads.

WaPo has launched its creator network, where half a dozen creators will launch new series every few weeks in different verticals and retain IP ownership (Sara Guaglione/Digiday)
https://digiday.com/media/after-newsroom-cuts-the-washington-p…

After newsroom cuts, The Washington Post turns to creator-led video deals 
The Washington Post is betting on creator content to open up new revenue and audiences, after newsroom layoffs.

How do you keep people from looking at their phone or staring into space?
As a public speaking expert, I use one phrase that gets audiences to instantly perk up and pay attention.
It works every time:
“Imagine this scenario…”

'Highly engaging' people use this 3-word phrase to get people to listen, says public speaking expert
Given people's short attention spans, it's never been harder to get people engaged in what we have to say. Public speaking expert John Bowe shares the 3-word phrase that will instantly make people listen.

Netflix averaged 3M viewers for its Opening Night MLB game March 25, a bit short of NBC and Peacock's MLB broadcast the next night, with 3.2M viewers (Rick Porter/The Hollywood Reporter)
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/mlb-opening…

Baseball’s New TV Partners Deliver Solid Audiences on Opening Day(s)
Netflix and NBC each draw 3 million viewers for their first primetime telecasts under a new deal with MLB.

🔊 #NowPlaying on #BBCRadio3:
#SundayFeature
- Shostakovich and Us
The comedian, actor and keen amateur musician Nick Mohammed explores how British audiences responded to the music of the Russian composer Shostakovich during his lifetime.
Relisten now 👇
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002sfcs

Audible launches a cheaper, $8.99/month streaming tier in the US, vs. $14.95 for its premium plans, to compete with Spotify; the plan includes ad-free podcasts (Ashley Carman/Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/20

At a panel, Tubi MD David Salmon said "consumers candidly don't care" if content is professionally produced, creator-produced, or UGC (Georg Szalai/The Hollywood Reporter)
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-ne

Tubi Exec Says Audiences “Don’t Really Care” If Content Is Made by Professionals, Creators, or Users
David Salmon, along with Pluto TV and DAZN execs, discussed sports as a streaming user driver and inspiration for "shoulder content" at MIP London.

A look at local TV news' struggles: aging audiences, less network content, shrinking ad revenue, and layoffs of anchors in favor of on-the-ground reporting (Los Angeles Times)
https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts

TV news in crisis: Layoffs, consolidation and shrinking ratings
Longtime journalists may become collateral damage as TV stations deal with controlling costs and the loss of viewers to streaming.

PBS and ITVS launch a YouTube channel, PBS Documentaries, to distribute 100 new videos a year, starting with a profile of Texas Congress member Barbara Jordan (Katie Kilkenny/The Hollywood Reporter)
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news…

PBS Teams With ITVS to Launch YouTube Documentaries Channel
The hub for nonfiction fare aims to help public television “meet new audiences where they already are,” says PBS president and CEO Paula Kerger.

Elon Musk says X will "pause" new creator monetization rules that would base payouts on engagement from a user's local audiences, after criticism from creators (Ivan Mehta/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2026/03/25/elon

Elon Musk pauses changes to X's creator revenue-sharing program after backlash | TechCrunch
Hours after announcement of the new policy Elon Musk said X is pausing the rollout.

By partnering with betting markets, news organizations undercut themselves by effectively endorsing competitors and opening audiences up to ripoffs by insiders (Elizabeth Lopatto/The Verge)
https://www.theverge.com/business/881967/polymarket-kalshi-journa…

Prop bet
Polymarket and Kalshi have made a series of deals with Dow Jones, CNN, CNBC and other news outlets.

Barb: 54% of all YouTube viewing in the UK is on a TV set across all demographics, making the streaming platform a "significant part of the UK's AV ecosystem" (K.J. Yossman/Variety)
https://variety.com/2026/tv/global/youtube-televis…

Over Half U.K. Audiences Watch YouTube Via TV Set, According to Barb
Barb's latest viewing habits report showed that 54% of YouTube viewing is done via a TV set.

LinkedIn signs The Trade Desk as its first DSP partner for connected TV ads, allowing ad buyers to layer in LinkedIn data to reach target audiences (Lara O'Reilly/Business Insider)
https://www.businessinsider.com/linkedin-partners-with-the-trade-d…

LinkedIn is making a big play for streaming TV ad dollars
LinkedIn wants a bigger chunk of the streaming TV ad business. The Trade Desk will be its first demand-side platform partner for connected-TV ads.

Indian studio Applause Entertainment partners with microdrama platform Story TV to co-produce and distribute short-form content for mobile audiences (Naman Ramachandran/Variety)
https://variety.com/2026/tv/news/applause-entertainment-story-…

Applause Entertainment, Story TV Team for Microdrama Slate in India
Applause Entertainment has struck a partnership with Indian microdrama platform Story TV to co-produce and distribute a slate of short-form content.