Can I Help You Find Something?; The Streaming Fortress Prison

Recorded: Jan. 23, 2026, 8 a.m.

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Can I Help You Find Something?; The Streaming Fortress Prison | AdExchanger

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Home Daily News Roundup Can I Help You Find Something?; The Streaming Fortress Prison

Daily News Roundup
Can I Help You Find Something?; The Streaming Fortress Prison By AdExchanger

Friday, January 23rd, 2026 – 12:03 am
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One Stop Shop
If you were seeking a sign that AI shopping is here to stay, look no further.
On Thursday, PayPal announced plans to acquire Cymbio, a startup that helps brands improve their presence in AI searches. (Not to be confused with Symbiosys, the retail search ad platform DoorDash bought last year.)
PayPal’s goal is to “quickly build up more features” for merchants to sell through chatbots like ChatGPT, Google Gemini and Microsoft Copilot, The Information reports.
Last October, PayPal announced an integration with OpenAI so that ChatGPT users could transact within the app. Apparently, PayPal is now ready to take that idea to other retailer chatbots.

Of course, now that ChatGPT is making its foray into advertising, other LLMs and chatbots are bound to follow suit, if they haven’t already done so. Walmart, for instance, rolled out ads in its generative AI agent Sparky earlier this month.
Trailer Trashed
One reason blockbuster ticket sales keep slipping is that Hollywood seems to have forgotten how to do good movie marketing.
A column in The Globe and Mail describes the phenomenon of “Black Hole Movies” – star-packed, mid-to-high-budget streaming productions that disappear into some lost vortex of time and memory not long after release.
These movies aren’t bad or even all that different from what might have led the box office 20 or even 10 years ago. But they simply fail to reach any critical threshold of audience knowledge or interest.
Netflix, Amazon Prime, Apple, et al. spend tens of millions to snag names like John Cena, Mark Wahlberg, Reese Witherspoon, Will Ferrell and Chris Evans. “But then they release them into the world with barely a peep,” The Globe writes. “Why?”
Once upon a time, practically the entire US would know about the same upcoming big-ticket movies and what each was about, thanks to trailers and audience exposure to TV, radio and billboards.
But these days, all a movie might get are a few preferential placements on a streaming homepage – and not much else in terms of widespread promotion.
The streamers are excellent at self-promotion within their own environments. The problem is that relatively few movies escape the confines of their streaming fortress.
Join The Fiesta
Turns out, this town is big enough for the two of us – or for two TV currencies, at least.
On Thursday, the Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement (CIMM) released a new report by industry leaders Manish Bhatia and Josh Chasin. The report, entitled “Funding the Fiesta” (because who says big data can’t be fun?), suggests that the US television and video advertising industry is large enough to support “at least two national, currency-grade TV measurement solutions.”
That conclusion may not sound revelatory at first blush considering that so-called “alternative” measurement companies like Comscore and VideoAmp have been nipping at Nielsen’s heels for more than a decade. But the likelihood of a commercially sustainable, multi-currency landscape further reinforces the idea that Nielsen’s long-held dominance is giving way to plurality.
Bhatia and Chasin also argue that currency providers don’t need to be “pure play” anymore and can rely on multiple products and services to stay afloat, rather than just being known for measurement ratings.
In recent years, Nielsen has unsurprisingly touted itself as a global leader in “marketing intelligence” alongside audience measurement and ratings.
But Wait! There’s More!
Dang, even Substack is trying to get into the CTV game. [release]
Grok posted between 1.8 million and 3 million sexualized images on X over just nine days, roughly 23,000 of which depicted children, according to analysis by The New York Times and the Center for Countering Digital Hate. [NYT]
Which raises the question: Why is nobody stopping Grok? [The Verge]
The US and China are finally close to signing the infamous TikTok deal. [Semafor]
Albertsons is expanding its network of digital advertising screens to more than a third of its stores. [Modern Retail]
Google’s AI Mode can now extract data from your Gmail and Google Photos account. [TechCrunch]
You’re Hired!
As part of a licensing deal, Google DeepMind has hired Hume AI CEO Alan Cowen, along with several of the startup’s top engineers. [Wired]
Digital privacy and ad security company brings on Pamela Slea as CEO and Catherine Mietek as CMO. [release]

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The streaming landscape, as detailed by AdExchanger, is rapidly evolving into what can be described as a “streaming fortress prison.” This phenomenon stems from the fragmented nature of content distribution, predominantly driven by the proliferation of streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Apple TV+. As highlighted by the Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement (CIMM), spearheaded by Manish Bhatia and Josh Chasin, the industry is increasingly moving toward a plurality of measurement solutions, reflecting a departure from Nielsen’s historical dominance. The core issue is the difficulty of reaching a broad audience when content is siloed within individual streaming platforms.

Marketers are increasingly encountering challenges in generating widespread awareness and interest for these productions, leading to a “Black Hole Movie” effect – films that, despite significant investment and star power, fail to achieve lasting cultural impact. This decline is attributable, in part, to the shift away from traditional advertising channels and the relative obscurity of marketing efforts within the streaming ecosystem. Previously, a robust network of TV, radio, and billboard advertising ensured a high degree of public knowledge surrounding upcoming films, but contemporary streaming habits have largely bypassed these avenues.

The rise of AI-powered chatbots like ChatGPT and Google Gemini is exacerbating this trend, introducing new avenues for marketers to engage consumers. PayPal's strategic move to integrate with these conversational AI platforms underscores a desire to leverage their widespread adoption. Walmart’s rollout of ads within its “Sparky” AI agent, represents another attempt to tap into these emerging digital assistants. However, this adds to the challenge of cutting through the noise and reaching consumers effectively.

Furthermore, the CIMM report suggests that the television and video advertising industry is large enough to support at least two national measurement currency solutions, implying a future where multiple firms compete for dominance. This is largely driven by the fact that marketers are struggling to reach audiences effectively over individual streaming services, and demand more versatile solutions.

The challenges are mirrored by the broader advertising technology landscape. The growing prominence of AI, exemplified by Google’s AI Mode extracting data from Gmail and Google Photos, signifies a move toward greater data integration, but also amplifies the risk of fragmentation and complexity. The Google DeepMind hiring of Alan Cowen, alongside several key engineers from Hume AI, exemplifies a broader industry effort to harness the power of artificial intelligence for advertising optimization.

Ultimately, the “streaming fortress prison” represents a significant disruption to traditional marketing strategies. The shift in audience behavior, coupled with the rise of AI-powered shopping experiences, presents marketers with the considerable task of adapting to this new landscape, and finding ways to effectively engage consumers within the confines of this fragmented digital world.