The AvA Connection

🐝 The Weekly Buzz (5 Entertainment Industry Headlines That Actually Matter)

1) Super Bowl 2026 commercial slots sold out before the season has started.

• Ads cost $7 million for 30-second placements. NBCU got $7 million for 30-second placements according to media buyers.

• Top investors: consumer-product marketers, entertainment companies, financial services firms, and alcohol advertisers, with digital investments in the Super Bowl increasing by 20%.

• There is speculation that the company kept some ads back in hopes of attracting larger media packages for $8 million or more.

2) A new Major Agency has emerged. North American booking agency Arrival Artists and UK-based ATC Live have merged to form ROAM.

• They are now the “fifth largest independent talent agency”

• 80 Employees booking 800 Artists with 10,000 shows annually

• Top clients include: The Lumineers, Jungle, Khruangin, Mac DeMarco, Mt. Joy, Black Pumas , Fountaines D.C., Goose, Royel Otis, Faye Webster and more.

  • SUPER solid mid to large venue indie roster

3) StubHub’s net losses more than doubled to $118.8 million in H1 of 2025. They still posted a 3% revenue increase this year, and are planning an IPO on the New York Stock Exchange sometime soon.

• StubHub’s losses are mainly coming from their larger costs and expenses, which inflated to $776 million.

• Their gross merchandise sales (which includes tickets) notably rose by 11% to $4.38 billion in H1 of 2025 from $3.94 billion. Yes… those fees.

• The company plans to use their proceeds from the IPO to repay existing debt, which currently sits at $2.4 billion.

4) ‘The Voice of Hind Rajab’ received over a 24-minute standing ovation at the Venice Film festival – the longest recorded standing ovation at any film festival in history. 

• Congrats to what I’m assuming is an incredible film, but I get so awkward when people sing me Happy Birthday. Imagine 24 minutes of people clapping at you? Again, great film and I’m sure an incredible message given the topic, but these standing O’s have become so performative.

The crowd after clapping for only 20 minutes:

5) Paramount continues to make moves under new CEO David Ellison.

• Will and Jada Pinkett Smith penned a first look film deal for their production company Westbrook. Not sure how much crowd-AI will be used..

• ‘Call of Duty’ will be coming to life in live action after they struck a deal with Activision.

6) Who are the biggest power players in Hip-Hop & R&B? Billboard has the answers.

🏃 Industry Moves

1. Lionsgate poached Apple TV+ exec Justin Manfredi as new Head of TV Marketing. This comes after the former head Suzy Feldman announced her retirement, and seemingly stemmed from Manfredi’s work with Apple’s Lionsgate produced hit, ‘The Studio.’

2. Roku hires Warner Bros. Discovery and Hulu alumni Lisa Holme as their new Head of Content. She previously was the SVP of Global Content Strategy for Merchandising and Podcasts at WBD and HBO. Holmes is slowly collecting the Streaming Infinity Stones™️.

3. Vogue’s new US Editor aka Anna Wintour’s successor is Chloe Malle the ‘proud nepo baby’ (in her own words). She’s the daughter of actress Candice Bergen and director Louis Malle, and climbed up the ladder at Condé Nast, their parent company. Great hire from what I hear.

One of my ABSOLUTE favorite niche parts is that Malle only has 62 connections on LinkedIn. Can’t wait for some LinkedIn blowhard to write a thought piece on it!

💼 AvA Job Board

Our new job board features 134+ early career roles in Entertainment: Some standouts:

💼 Creative Operations Associate - Netflix - Apply Here

💼 Business Affairs Assistant - WME - Apply Here

💼 Production Coordinator - Activision Blizzard - Apply Here

💼 Music Group Assistant - Wasserman - Apply Here

💼 RCA Creative Coordinator - Sony Music - Apply Here

💼 Account Manager - Morning Brew - Apply Here

💼 Temporary International Assistant - A24 - Apply Here

💼 Business Affairs Coordinator - AEG - Apply Here

💼 Executive Assistant - Fox Entertainment - Apply Here

💼 Associate Video Coordinator - NBA - Apply Here

💼 Content Manager - David Dobrik LLC - Apply Here

👋 Enjoy the weekend and see you back here on Monday

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This newsletter is written by Warner Bailey and edited by Riley Furey and Dominik Sansevere.

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