The Refresh News: July 28 - Google’s AI Push, Newsweek’s Bold Pivot, and Paramount’s Merger Drama

AdTechGod Pod

In this episode of The Refresh, host Kait unpacks some of the most significant shifts in media, search, and publishing. Alphabet reported record-breaking Q2 earnings driven by cloud and search, despite concerns about AI competition. Newsweek is proactively adjusting its business model to combat AI-related traffic threats, and the Paramount–Skydance merger finally got the FCC’s green light, complete with political controversy and a timely South Park takedown.

• Alphabet's Blowout Quarter: Alphabet hit $96.4 billion in Q2 revenue, driven by strong performance in cloud (up 32%) and ad sales (up 10.4%), with YouTube capturing nearly 13% of all U.S. TV screen time.

• Publisher Impact from Generative AI: Google’s AI overviews and search innovations are reducing referral traffic to publishers, with its network division down $100M this quarter—an early signal of monetization shifts.

• Newsweek’s Monetization Overhaul: Facing declining search-driven traffic, Newsweek aims to lower its ad revenue dependency by investing in healthcare adtech, subscriptions, and syndication deals to charge AI bots for crawling content.

• Paramount–Skydance Merger Approved: The FCC approved the controversial Paramount-Skydance deal, just days after a $16M Trump settlement and CBS’ cancellation of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

South Park Weighs In: South Park’s season premiere mocked the Paramount merger and its political ties—airing hours after a $1.5B content deal was finalized between the show’s creators and Paramount.

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