DAZN loses $979.7m as McDonald's ends its 32-year World Cup sponsorship

Live sport is the one kind of television that still gathers large audiences at a fixed time, and the companies that pay for it spent Friday, October 23, showing how expensive that has become. A sports streamer published accounts with a loss of nearly $1 billion. One of the oldest sponsors in world football walked away after its biggest campaign. A racing series found a way to sell advertising without selling a sponsorship. And Amazon told advertisers that its football coverage is now a reason to spend across the rest of its business.

The figures differ in scale, but they point in one direction. Rights holders want more money, sponsors want clearer returns, and the platforms in between are searching for formats that make the arithmetic work. Elsewhere in the same 24 hours, YouTube rebuilt its home screen around feeds that viewers write themselves, Google pushed more AI-written material into its search ads, and research showed shoppers still checking the work of AI before they buy.

The price of live sport

PPC Land reported that DAZN loses $979.7m on $3.8bn revenue in first consolidated UK accounts, published at 20:32 UTC on October 23. The accounts of DAZN Sports Media Limited cover the year to December 31, 2025, were approved by its directors on September 25 and filed at Companies House on October 7. They are the first consolidated group accounts the company has filed in the UK.

Revenue rose 22.2% to $3.80 billion, from $3.11 billion. Operating costs reached $4.74 billion, producing an operating loss of $939.8 million, up from $772.9 million, and a loss for the year of $979.7 million. Net liabilities almost doubled, to $2.41 billion from $1.25 billion. Sports rights cost $3.01 billion, roughly unchanged. Costs excluding rights doubled to $1.73 billion, mostly because management charges from other DAZN group companies rose from $15.3 million to $575.1 million. Amounts owed to other group entities went from $0.9 million to $936.1 million.

Advertising is a growing but still small part of the business. It accounted for 10% of revenue, up from 9%, which PPC Land estimates at roughly $380 million, against about $280 million a year earlier. Europe, the Middle East and Africa provided about 80% of revenue. "DAZN audiences are highly prized and valuable to brands and advertisers," the directors wrote.

The money behind the business comes from its owner. Access Industries has provided more than $7 billion in total, and its letter of support is described in the accounts as "not legally enforceable." The directors nonetheless found no material uncertainty about the company continuing as a going concern. A new parent company, DAZN Group Holdings Limited, is being set up in the Cayman Islands. Analyst François Godard was unconvinced by the broader story: "IPO prospects look far-fetched." PPC Land notes the 2024 comparatives are unaudited, the advertising estimate is its own calculation from rounded percentages, and the filing contains no subscriber numbers, viewing hours or advertising rates. Godard's figures for Club World Cup rights and new loans are not confirmed by the filing.

The most familiar sponsor in football is leaving. Adweek's Brittaney Kiefer reported, in an exclusive published at 15:00 UTC, that McDonald's ends its 32-year FIFA World Cup sponsorship amid a marketing overhaul. The decision follows the company's biggest World Cup campaign, which ran in more than 110 countries in the summer of 2026 and was made by the independent agency Wieden+Kennedy New York. On the second-quarter earnings call, chief financial officer Ian Borden said the campaign "underperformed versus our expectations," while adding that it had "provided a lift to the business and generated excellent system excitement." McDonald's is shifting money toward intellectual property it owns. Adweek's visible text gives no end date or financial terms.

Formula 1 took the opposite route, selling its identity as media inventory rather than as a sponsorship. PPC Land reported that Formula 1 starts selling audio ads through Consumable's 220M-user network, announced on October 23. The F1 Audio Network lets brands and agencies buy sound-on mobile ads carrying F1's branding across Consumable's apps, using its full-screen Visual Audio format and its PODiQ identity technology. "Formula 1 fandom doesn't stop when the race ends," said Consumable's chief executive, Mark Levin. Tom Trinick, F1's global head of digital advertising sales, said the network "connects brands with our fanbase during lean-in everyday moments."

The numbers need care. Consumable claims more than 220 million Comscore-verified monthly US users and more than 30 billion audio impressions a month, but the figure counts Consumable's platform, not F1 fans; F1 cited 827 million fans worldwide in March. Triton Digital says audio takes 31% of consumers' media time but only 9% of ad budgets, which is the gap both companies are pitching. Comscore data show the top 20 US audio properties logged 274 billion minutes in July 2026, down from 310 billion a year earlier. The participating apps, pricing, contract length, launch advertisers and target countries were not disclosed, and no verification partner backs the claims of near-zero invalid traffic.

Amazon is using its football rights as a doorway to its other businesses. Adweek's Bill Bradley reported, at 19:26 UTC, on how Amazon made a stronger partnership play in Thursday Night Football in year 5 of its 11-year deal. Amy McDevitt, who leads live sports sales partnerships, is pushing advertisers to do more with Prime Video and across Amazon. The number of Thursday Night Football advertisers rose 6% on the year, with double-digit growth in financial services, retail, hardlines, automotive and travel, and 17% of this season's advertisers are new to both the broadcast and Prime Video. The article is paywalled, and the new advertising capabilities are not described in the visible text.

The money flowing into media ownership is also changing hands. Adweek reported that Elon Musk reportedly invests $1 billion into Skydance after the WBD merger, citing Semafor and CNBC reports from October 22. The investment forms part of an equity raise by Skydance, the company created when the Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery merger closed on October 6, which carries about $80 billion of debt. Larry Ellison, father of Skydance co-chief executive David Ellison, put $1 billion into Musk's purchase of X and has sat on Tesla's board. Neither company has confirmed the investment.

Streaming rearranges the home screen

YouTube is handing part of its home page to the viewer. PPC Land reported that YouTube lifts its custom feed limit to 3, or 8 for Premium members, as Home feeds built from typed prompts roll out to signed-in US viewers aged 13 and over who use English. The rollout began on October 22, after a test in May that allowed one feed per account. Feeds that go unused expire after a month. The mobile top bar is redesigned with Live, Music, Subs and Movies & TV tabs, and the Subscriptions feed moves onto the Home tab. "We're kicking off a series of updates to shape a more seamless Home experience, starting with a redesigned top bar," a member of TeamYouTube wrote.

For creators, YouTube says views from custom feeds count "to the creator's watch time and monetisation as usual," and that it is monitoring the effect on views, watch time and revenue. It published no figures. For advertisers, it said nothing at all about ad placement, targeting or reporting inside custom feeds. Watch and search history must be switched on, feeds are unavailable on tablets, and it is unclear whether Premium Lite counts as Premium. Individual US Premium rose to $15.99 a month in April.

Cable networks are building for those platforms rather than against them. AdExchanger's Victoria McNally interviewed OWN president Tina Perry on how OWN is taking the network beyond linear TV, published at 05:00 UTC. OWN now describes itself as a brand that also runs a linear channel. It has launched creator shows made only for YouTube and social platforms, Dating Download and Glow Up at Five, and reviews a year-long YouTube plan every quarter after data showed Black audiences over-index on the platform. "It's not just networks anymore or channels," Perry said. She is unsure whether microdramas reach viewers over 30. OWN builds an annual profile of its viewers, including their political leanings, which feeds decisions on what to commission. On AI, the network calls itself positive with limits: "we never want it to challenge the integrity of a creative project." The interview contains no audience or revenue figures.

Subscription services are scheduling around the holidays. PPC Land reported that MGM+ sets a November 23 premiere for a four-part New Wave music docuseries, directed and written by Douglas Tirola and covering the music of 1977 to 1987. The press page says the series "tells the fascinating story of New Wave music and the decade from 1977 to 1987" and describes a sound that "defined a generation and reshaped the musical landscape." MGM+ costs $7.99 a month in the US and is ad-free, unlike Prime Video's default tier, whose ad-supported audience averages 315 million viewers. The press page gives no episode running times, and interviewees named in trade coverage do not appear on it.

Search ads absorb the AI layer

Google is writing more of its advertisers' ads for them. PPC News Feed reported, at 03:00 UTC on October 24, that Google documents AI review summaries in Search ads, on a new help page spotted by Hana Kobzová. The summaries combine positive online reviews only, cannot be customised by advertisers and appear when Google's AI decides they will help: "Google's AI evaluates when these summaries should be shown to optimize ad performance." They run on all devices and verticals in the US, the UK, Australia and India, in every ad position on Google.com, except in sensitive categories such as pharmaceuticals. Advertisers have no direct control.

The space around AI Overviews is filling with sponsored units. PPC News Feed reported that Google tests a new ad format below AI Overviews in regular results, credited to Sachin Patel of Search Engine Watch. It shows an image on the left and a title and description on the right under a "Sponsored" label. "The ad format is a new sighting, marking the first time it has been observed below AI Overviews," PPC News Feed wrote. It differs from the formats seen in AI Mode, and Google has made no statement.

Even the conventional sponsored result is being animated. Search Engine Roundtable's Barry Schwartz reported, at 11:11 UTC, that Google Ads tests a scrolling marquee style for ratings and reviews and underlines on sponsored results. One version shows a moving strip with ratings, reviews, visit counts and a link; the other draws an animated underline beneath the domain name. Alex Greenland, who posted videos of both, described "A scrolling marquee and an animated underline of the domain chip," and saw the tests in about 5% of his searches. Schwartz suspects the tests may not be new.

Whether shoppers trust the AI layer is another matter. Gabriela Barkho reported, in a Modern Retail piece Digiday published at 04:01 UTC on October 23, that AI boosts discovery but reviews still seal the deal, new research shows. Feedvisor found that 16% of shoppers start product searches in ChatGPT, but only 9% buy there and 5% buy an AI recommendation on the spot. PartnerCentric found that after an AI suggestion, 33% check reviews, 22.3% compare prices and 18.8% search Amazon or another retailer. Among the people who trust AI most, 42.2% still want to read reviews first. Prosper found that only 12.1% would let an AI agent book a restaurant for them, and 7.3% would let one buy clothing.

"AI is a starting point, not a final verdict," said Stephanie Harris of PartnerCentric. "The shoppers who trust it most are still checking the work." The surveys use different methods, none publishes a sample size, and the companies behind them sell services to retailers. Read alongside Google's review summaries, though, the findings describe an odd loop: shoppers leave AI answers to read reviews, and Google is now summarising those reviews with AI inside the ad.

Small print for publishers and local businesses

Google relaxed two rules for publishers running video. Search Engine Roundtable reported, at 11:15 UTC, that Google AdSense video placement and sticky requirements were removed in an October 22 update to the video inventory restrictions policy. Google is "removing the requirements that Accompany Content must load within the body of the page," and sticky players no longer have to begin in the main content before becoming sticky on scroll. Google also warns that restricted video inventory "may receive less advertising."

Image formats remain a constraint for search visibility. Schwartz reported that the JPEG XL image format is not supported by Google Images and Google Discover, after Google's John Mueller wrote on Bluesky: "JPEG-XL is currently not supported." Google's documentation lists BMP, GIF, JPEG, PNG, WebP, SVG and AVIF. Glenn Gabe added a complication: "Interesting to see a number of .jxl files indexed in Google Images." Mueller's "currently" leaves room for support later.

Local businesses may soon get better reporting. Search Engine Roundtable reported that Google Business Profiles tests new advanced performance reports, with an overview, top recommendations and sections for engagement, reviews, audience and search trends. Screenshots came from Jaikishan Raturi of Wisevu and Syed Amir. "I personally do not see this yet, but two people I know have already sent me details on this," Schwartz wrote, calling the redesign "a very big improvement from the old/current performance report." Google has made no statement.

A consultant in a box

One SEO consultant has turned her own expertise into software. PPC Land reported that Marie Haynes turns 600 OKF files into paid SEO audits on Gemini 4 Argon, based on a 44-minute YouTube video and a LinkedIn post dated October 23. Haynes built what she calls an "OKF brain" of about 600 Markdown files in Google's Open Knowledge Format, connected it to Google's model and to a server she built that tracks algorithm updates, and uses the system to draft the traffic-drop, helpfulness and post-update audits she sells. Orders arrive through Stripe and an intake form.

"My OKF plus my MCP is a better consultant than I am," Haynes said. She described the technique plainly: "It actually is rag, but it's more specified rag." She once billed some clients high five figures per audit, and says the new system lets her serve smaller sites more cheaply, at a running cost of at most $5 to $6 a day. She sells three products: a chat built on her knowledge, agents for paid community members and automated reports. The business made its first revenue that week, she said.

PPC Land is careful with the claims. Almost every figure is self-reported, the demonstration used a site Haynes called "completely madeup", and where she lacks Search Console access she relies on Ahrefs data that she concedes is "not always as accurate." PPC Land found no source for a quote she attributed to Demis Hassabis. Haynes herself says the approach will not scale to enterprise clients. The video had 104 views within hours, on a channel with 9,810 subscribers.

News loses faces and formats

CNN is losing one of its best-known correspondents. Adweek's TVNewser reported, at 20:31 UTC, that Christiane Amanpour will exit CNN in 2027, in June, after 43 years. Her daily programme, which also airs on PBS, runs until the end of 2026 before becoming weekly. "I have decided to separate from CNN, my partner of 43 fantastic years," she wrote. Chief executive Mark Thompson told staff the departure had been discussed for months. Bianna Golodryga is also leaving the network after nine years: "After nine wonderful years at CNN, I've decided to leave for an opportunity that I couldn't pass up." The same report noted that BBC News is cutting more than 100 roles.

Online, news is a difficult category to fund. Digiday's Alyssa Mercante reported, at 04:01 UTC on October 23, that creators say it is difficult to make money from news with platform rules and brand guidelines. Brand-safety rules and unreliable algorithms keep advertisers away, so creators such as Adam Mockler, who has 2.2 million YouTube subscribers, are turning to subscriptions on YouTube, Substack, Patreon, beehiiv and Twitch, and to collectives such as Caliber's SaySo app. "It's probably the most difficult category to be in as a creator," said Kurt Stadelman of Pearpop. "The subscription model is still the best," said Grant Hermes. A Syracuse study cited in the piece found that nearly 60% of Americans regularly get news from social media, and more than 79% see a meaningful difference between creators and journalists. Only five creators were interviewed, and YouTube supplied no data.

Trust as a line item

Reputation has become a marketing cost in its own right. Adweek's Robert Klara reported that Polymarket's reported CMO firing is the latest in a long string of controversies, after the New York Post said on October 23 that chief marketing officer Matthew Modabber, a BeReal co-founder, had been dismissed. Polymarket did not comment. Klara lists the context: reports of fake trading videos in June, stolen-card fraud and the resignation of the US compliance officer in September, a New York lawsuit filed on September 24, a New York City Council investigation and a Harvard study counting $143 million in "anomalous" profits. "Polymarket needs to recognize that achieving visibility is not the same as earning trust," said David Deal. Klara notes it is unclear whether the controversies caused the exit, and many of the items are allegations.

Two competitors showed the other side of the ledger. PPC Land reported that billboard rivals Clear Channel and OUTFRONT target 1M mammograms by 2028, running the Million Mammograms Challenge creative on thousands of digital billboards during Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The campaign, in its second year, features Mindie Kaplan, the ad tech executive who founded the challenge after a double mastectomy, under the line "Cancer Isn't the Star of My Story." It asks women to book and share their mammogram dates. "Mindie started with an idea. Today, it's a movement with the power to change lives," said Stacy Minero of OUTFRONT. Dan Levi of Clear Channel said the partnership "reflects the industry's commitment." The companies did not disclose screen counts, how the inventory is split, whether the space is donated or how mammograms will be counted. US out-of-home revenue reached $3.16 billion in the second quarter, up 10.7%.

The billboard campaign is the rare story of the day in which the cost and the return were never the point. Everywhere else, the arithmetic was visible. DAZN spends more on rights than it earns, McDonald's decided a 32-year partnership no longer paid, Formula 1 found a cheaper way to rent out its name and Amazon is asking football advertisers to buy everything else it sells. The audiences are still there. The question for each of them is who pays to reach them, and how much.