Media
- YouTube has surpassed Netflix in average daily viewing among users globally, according to analysis out this week. Analysis conducted by the Digital i agency across 20 international markets found that average daily usage per YouTube account rose from 87.2 minutes in 2024 to 99.1 in 2025, while viewing for Netflix dropped from 100.5 to 93.4 minutes.
Netflix remains ahead in the UK, but the gap is closing. Daily minutes for a Netflix UK viewer last year was 88.2 minutes against YouTube’s 84.8.
‘YouTube’s evolution from a social video service into a dominant global attention platform is one of the defining media shifts of the decade,’ said Digital i’s chief analytics officer, Matt Ross. ‘Our data shows audiences increasingly treating YouTube not as social media, but as a primary entertainment destination.’
- UK media websites have been given power to block Google using their articles in AI search. The Competition and Markets Authority announced on Wednesday that publishers will be able to block Google scraping their content for AI answers, explaining that it would ‘put publishers, like news organisations, in a stronger position to negotiate content deals with Google’.
Up until now sites were only able to opt their content out of AI Overviews by withdrawing from traditional search as well, something that wasn’t an option for most publishers who still rely heavily on Google for distribution,
AI Overviews has been catastrophic for click-through traffic for sites relying on search referrals. Daily Mail director of SEO and editorial e-commerce Carly Steven said late last year that the average clickthrough rate for the site is ‘80-90% lower when an Al Overview is triggered’.
It’s unlikely that we’ll see a mass boycott of AI Overviews, but it does at least give some leverage to publishers and the News Media Association has praised it as a ‘significant step towards leveling the playing field’. - A new video-first news app has launched in the UK which aims to tackle doomscrolling by bucking the ‘infinite feed’ model. SaySo, developed by Caliber — the media company behind The News Movement and others — instead offers a curated, finite daily news experience which presents viewers with roughly 10 videos a day. The app works with vetted creators and journalists to ‘deliver a service to people to let them feel more in control, but also help to build trust with them’’, according to deliver a service to people to let them feel more in control, but also help to build trust with them.’.
Its UK launch comes as the government considers new restrictions on social media for under-16s. One of the many criticisms of social media sites is that they are designed to be addictive, with the infinite scroll often singled out. SaySo will test whether there is an appetite among users for a more controlled design.
Brands
- Drag queen Pattie Gonia publicly refused Patagonia’s list of demands to settle its trademark lawsuit against them. On Monday, the climate activist — who has 1.8m followers on Instagram — said the company was ‘trying to erase my advocacy’ because of its demands that they ‘stop selling and promoting apparel and other products as Pattie Gonia’.
Patagonia filed a lawsuit in January, suing Wyn Wiley for ‘nominal’ $1 in damages plus legal fees because they allege that the drag queen’s attempt to trademark the name Pattie Gonia to sell clothing violated an agreement made in 2022. Wylie has acknowledged that some of their merch involved ‘playful parody’ of Patagonia, but denies ever using its branding, logo or font
The case has received widespread coverage in the press and the outdoor clothing brand’s social media has been inundated with thousands of comments from Pattie Gonia fans calling on the company to drop the lawsuit.
- Minecraft has launched its first affiliate program in partnership with impact.com, giving approved creators, publishers, educators, and Marketplace partners a new way to earn commissions from Minecraft Marketplace sales.
Participants can generate tracked affiliate links for eligible content — including add-ons, skin packs, texture packs, adventure maps, mini-games, and survival spawns — and monitor performance through real-time dashboards.
The move helps partners monetise recommendations while giving Minecraft clearer insight into Marketplace-driven sales.