Media, Marketing & Communications

Frankfurt – November 06, 2026 -- ING Deutschland has distributed €30,000 in prize money at the 31st Helmut Schmidt Journalism Prize, with Bayerischer Rundfunk taking first place from 261 submissions. A jury selected the winners in economic and financial journalism, and the ceremony was held at the Literaturhaus in Frankfurt.

Bayerischer Rundfunk wins €15,000 first prize for scam documentary

The multi-part documentary series "Kings of Scam – Millionen mit Fake-SMS" from the broadcaster's "team.recherche" unit explains how organized online fraud networks operate. The jury credited its portrayal of victims as relatable individuals rather than naive losers, and its transparent, self-ironic narration.

Berlin – November 05, 2026 -- Berlin-based AI start-up Solid Labs has made its AI Creative Engine available on a self-service basis to all brands and agencies after more than a year in stealth mode. Its core product, the Solid Agent, continuously generates new video ads for Meta, TikTok and YouTube from a customer's existing footage.

Solid Agent runs production from briefing to finished ad in one conversation

The agent writes the script, adds voiceover, selects scenes and assembles the ads. It also produces variants with new hooks, in other formats and in other languages. A Brand Hub teaches the system a brand's tone, look and rules. Users can edit script, voice and video manually at any time.

Montgomery, Alabama – November 05, 2026 -- Superpath, a digital marketing agency serving home service contractors, has formed a strategic marketing partnership with JB Warranties, giving the warranty provider's HVAC and plumbing dealers access to Superpath's marketing services and its ION analytics platform.

JB Warranties dealers gain access to Superpath's lead-generation tools

Under the agreement, JB Warranties dealers can use Superpath's expertise, technology and strategies to increase visibility, generate qualified leads and convert more opportunities into booked jobs. Superpath says it has served hundreds of home service companies over nearly 20 years.

The agency's "Search Everywhere" approach targets property owners across Google, social media, video platforms and AI-powered search tools.

Los Angeles – November 05, 2026 -- ISO, a new talent representation company with a roster of more than 90 livestreamers, gamers, artists, VTubers and lifestyle creators, has launched with initial capital from Influence Media Partners, its sole institutional backer.

The company targets talent that built audiences on the internet and now moves those audiences across content platforms, music, products and live events. Its clients include PlaqueBoyMax, Jasontheween, Ironmouse, Kyedae and RDCWorld. On the brand side, ISO builds creator strategies and executes campaigns for Electronic Arts, Discord, Underdog and Icenova.

St. Louis – November 05, 2026 -- Ansira Partners has promoted Catie Cryder to chief media officer, giving her responsibility for media strategy, operations and buying, as well as the technology behind campaign delivery. She reports to Chief Operating Officer Oded Benyo.

Cryder keeps leadership of media and experience platform teams

Cryder will continue to lead the media and experience platform teams. Their remit covers owned and earned media, aggregate media, and the technology that supports scalable campaign delivery.

She joined Ansira in 2022 as executive vice president of media. Earlier this year she took over the experience platform team, which widened the capabilities aligned under media.

NEW YORK – – November 05, 2026 -- Shutterstock (NYSE: SSTK) reported a third-quarter net loss of $197.8 million, against net income of $13.4 million a year earlier, as revenue fell 33% to $173.9 million and a non-cash goodwill impairment hit the bottom line.

The loss equals $5.35 per diluted share, versus earnings of $0.37 per share in the third quarter of 2025. The net loss includes a $195.6 million after-tax impairment charge. The company booked the pre-tax charge of $203.3 million after the July 22, 2026 dividend suspension triggered a review.

Content revenue drops 19% on weak new-customer acquisition

Content revenue fell $36.4 million to $158.1 million and made up 91% of total revenue. Shutterstock attributed the decline mainly to weakness in new customer acquisition.

SHANGHAI – November 05, 2026 -- Gamehaus Holdings (Nasdaq: GMHS) expects to hold about 56% of Techforge Co., Ltd, the holding company of AI-native micro-serial platform Anamana, once a deal signed on November 2, 2026 closes. Closing is expected in November 2026, subject to closing conditions.

Gamehaus makes Anamana its primary growth engine

Founder and Chairman Feng Xie outlined the strategy in a letter to shareholders. After closing, Anamana is to become Gamehaus's primary growth engine, while the existing mobile gaming business will be run for cash flow and profitability rather than scale.

Gamehaus plans to apply its publishing, user acquisition, data analytics and monetization capabilities to Anamana's content. Xie's stated long-term goal is a global AI-native entertainment group spanning games, micro-serials and future interactive formats.

Alexandria, Va. – November 05, 2026 -- BRG Communications, a healthcare PR agency with six consecutive years of double-digit revenue growth, has acquired startup-focused agency We Are HeadStart. It will run the business as BRG HeadStart, a division serving healthcare startups, emerging brands and investors.

Founders stay on as managing directors of the new division

Michael Stern and Naomi Brodsky, who founded HeadStart in 2021, will lead BRG HeadStart as Managing Directors. Their existing team will continue to work remotely.

HeadStart's clients include startups, venture capital firms, accelerators and other organizations supporting innovation, with a focus on the health, work and growth sectors. BRG CEO Jane Barwis said the deal helps BRG "reach new segments of the healthcare market."

Global – November 04, 2026 -- AdsWizz, the SiriusXM subsidiary that says it powers one in four ads across the global open audio ecosystem, has opened its video podcast monetization tools for Apple Podcasts to publishers and creators following early testing with select publishers.

AdsWizz cites 1.3 trillion monetized impressions over the past decade

The company says it has monetized more than 1.3 trillion impressions across streaming and podcasting in that period. It is now applying that advertiser demand and ad technology to podcast video distributed on Apple Podcasts. Publishers and creators keep control of their content and their advertiser relationships.

Berlin – November 05, 2026 -- POLITICO Deutschland and WELT will launch the joint politics podcast "Inside links" on November 5, 2026, extending the PREMIUM-GRUPPE's cross-brand political coverage to a third behind-the-scenes format. The launch coincides with the start of coalition talks between the SPD, the Greens and Die Linke in Berlin.

Two reporters alternate as hosts of 45-minute episodes

Politics reporters Philippa Vögeding and Gerrit Seebald will host in rotation. Each episode runs about 45 minutes and is also available as video on YouTube. The format covers the prospects of the potential Berlin coalition and the national debate over alliances on the left, which gained momentum after the state election in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.