Media, Marketing & Communications

DMEXCO 2026 Puts AI Scaling at Center of Marketing, Media and Commerce Agenda

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 DMEXCO 2026 Puts AI Scaling at Center of Marketing, Media and Commerce Agenda

COLOGNE, GERMANY – 22 September 2026 – Koelnmesse will stage DMEXCO 2026 on 23 and 24 September in Cologne under the guiding theme “Scaling Intelligence,” positioning the event as a platform for moving artificial intelligence from experimentation into concrete applications, processes and business models. Europe’s leading digital marketing and tech event will bring together decision-makers from AI, media, commerce and agencies across 17 stages, more than 500 sessions and over 230 hours of programming. More than 1,000 international speakers will participate, including executives from OpenAI, Google, Microsoft, Meta and major brands. For marketing and commerce operators, the agenda focuses on practical implementation, new business models such as agentic commerce and social commerce, and the full value chain of digital trade.

Tencent's ECS Platform Runs Technical Backbone for 11 Asian Games Esports Events

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Tencent's ECS Platform Runs Technical Backbone for 11 Asian Games Esports Events

Tokoname, Japan – September 21, 2026 -- Tencent Esports Competition Solution (ECS) is providing end-to-end technical support across all 11 esports events at the 20th Asian Games, running September 22 to October 2 at Hall D of the Aichi Sky Expo in Japan.

Esports Programme Spans Six Game Categories and Multiple Publishers

The 20th Asian Games features esports' largest programme in the event's history, with 11 events across six game categories requiring coordination across different game engines, version management systems and device formats. ECS was built to give referees, competition operations staff and monitoring teams a consistent technical framework across this fragmented environment, covering pre-match equipment checks, real-time match monitoring and post-match review.

Arc XP Launches Compass, a Personalized News Front Page Editors Control

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Arc XP Launches Compass, a Personalized News Front Page Editors Control

Washington – September 21, 2026 -- Arc XP, the media technology platform built inside The Washington Post, launched Arc XP Compass, a personalization engine that rebuilds news home pages and section fronts around each returning reader while leaving editorial priorities in newsroom hands.

Publishers' own sites just lost their lead as the top news source

Social media and video networks now edge out publishers' own websites and apps as the most common way people get news, used by 54% of respondents across 48 markets versus 51% for news organizations' own sites and apps, according to the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism's Digital News Report 2026.

iQIYI's Smart TV App Reaches 141 Million Monthly Users as Big-Screen Viewing Surges

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iQIYI's Smart TV App Reaches 141 Million Monthly Users as Big-Screen Viewing Surges

Beijing – September 20, 2026 -- iQIYI's smart TV application, QIYIGuo TV, recorded 141 million monthly active devices in June 2026, leading China's connected-TV market as long-form video consumption shifts decisively to the big screen.

China's smart TV base expands to 302 million active devices

QuestMobile data shows active smart TV devices in China reached 302 million in June 2026, up 12.04 million year-over-year. QIYIGuo TV posted 50.42 million daily active devices that month, edging past the 45.14 million daily active users on iQIYI's mobile app.

Cross-screen data implies 130 million daily viewers on TV

Television is a shared device: Gozen Data estimates each smart TV averages 2.6 viewers, implying iQIYI's big-screen content reaches roughly 130 million individual viewers daily -- nearly three times its mobile daily active user count.

BEN Files SEC Financials Showing Cataneo Cash Flow Doubled to $1.85M

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BEN Files SEC Financials Showing Cataneo Cash Flow Doubled to $1.85M

Wilmington, Del. – September 20, 2026 -- Brand Engagement Network Inc. (Nasdaq: BNAI) has filed a Form 8-K/A with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission disclosing audited financials for Cataneo GmbH, the Munich-based advertising infrastructure software provider it acquired on September 20, 2026.

Cataneo's operating cash flow more than doubled to $1.85 million in fiscal 2025

The figure rose from $848,000 in fiscal 2024, according to the audited financial statements included in the filing. Operating income also more than doubled year over year, reaching $726,065 in fiscal 2025 versus $345,725 in fiscal 2024, on revenue of $9.6 million.

Dunamis Woman Launches Streaming TV Network After Inc. 5000 Ranking

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Dunamis Woman Launches Streaming TV Network After Inc. 5000 Ranking

Atlanta – September 20, 2026 -- Dunamis Woman Enterprise, ranked No. 3,465 on the 2026 Inc. 5000 list after posting 82% three-year revenue growth, is launching a streaming television network built around an original docuseries and podcast slate targeting its 125,000-member global audience.

New streaming network centralizes original programming across faith, healing and leadership content

The Dunamis Woman TV Network will house original television and podcast programming spanning healing, faith, identity, relationships and leadership. The initial slate includes four titles: Dunamis Woman Today (premiering October 5), the flagship docuseries House of Healing (October 10), The Professor Ari Podcast and The Dr. Dunamis Dee Podcast (both October 11).

OutKick Hires Columnist Matt Calkins After Seattle Times Exit

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OutKick Hires Columnist Matt Calkins After Seattle Times Exit

New York – September 19, 2026 -- OutKick has signed Matt Calkins, the former Seattle Times sports columnist who resigned in August after the paper declined to publish his column on two female student-athletes opposing competition against biological males.

Calkins brings eleven years of Seattle Times coverage and three National Sports Columnist of the Year titles to OutKick

Calkins covered local college and professional sports plus national events including the Super Bowl and World Cup during his tenure at The Seattle Times. He previously worked as a preps writer at the Riverside Press-Enterprise and as a columnist at the San Diego Union Tribune. He joins OutKick immediately as a columnist covering sports and culture.

APPLY Names Adam Steingart Global GM to Lead Entertainment ACx Push

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APPLY Names Adam Steingart Global GM to Lead Entertainment ACx Push

Vancouver – September 19, 2026 -- APPLY, the Agentic Customer Experience (ACx) firm backed by Interlock Equity, has appointed Adam Steingart as Global General Manager, Entertainment, tasking him with building out the company's sports, media and live-experience practice.

Steingart exits GameSquare to lead APPLY's entertainment strategy

Steingart joins from GameSquare Holdings, where he served as Head of Commercial Strategy and Business Development, unifying go-to-market strategy across the company's creator, media, content, experiential and esports units. He will now direct APPLY's global entertainment practice, expanding its ACx capabilities across sports, media, the creator economy and live experiences, and working to convert client content and data into commercial outcomes.

XGRIDS Pushes 3D Gaussian Splatting Into Live Broadcast Pipelines at IBC 2026

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XGRIDS Pushes 3D Gaussian Splatting Into Live Broadcast Pipelines at IBC 2026

Amsterdam – September 19, 2026 -- Spatial intelligence firm XGRIDS is demonstrating a live pipeline that converts physical film sets into navigable 3D Gaussian Splatting (3DGS) environments inside Unreal Engine at IBC 2026, RAI Amsterdam, cutting the reconstruction time traditionally required for virtual production.

XGRIDS Moves Spatial Scans Directly Into Unreal Engine for Virtual Production

Using spatial scanners such as Lixel K2 and spatial cameras including PortalCam, XGRIDS captures site data and processes it locally through its Lixel CyberColor (LCC) software. The resulting 3DGS environments are imported into Unreal Engine via the XGRIDS LCC Plugin for UE, allowing production teams to use a photorealistic, navigable scene for camera blocking, XR and in-camera visual effects (ICVFX) rather than a single-use visualization.

Alibaba-Backed Orange Lion Sports Launches Smartshot 2.0 with AI Line Calling

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Alibaba-Backed Orange Lion Sports Launches Smartshot 2.0 with AI Line Calling

Beijing – September 18, 2026 -- Orange Lion Sports, a company founded by Alibaba Group, unveiled Smartshot 2.0, an upgraded AI sports technology platform, at the Sports Services exhibition during the 2026 China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS), held September 9-13 in Beijing.

Six-camera Hawk-Eye system targets amateur tennis line-call disputes

The upgraded electronic line calling system uses a six-camera Hawk-Eye setup to deliver instant in/out calls on a large screen as soon as a ball lands, with adjustable audio announcements. The company positions the technology as a low-cost alternative for amateur tournaments that eliminates the need for additional line-judge labor.