Ankler Agenda

Would you rather spend $18 billion a year on content like Netflix does, or $22 billion once to buy the remote? That’s the bet Fox Corp. is making with its blockbuster acquisition of hardware and distribution behemoth Roku, a deal that suddenly turns the home of Fox News, Fox Sports, Tubi, cable channels and a broadcast network into one of the most unconventional combatants in the Streaming Wars. While Netflix continues to flex its massive annual content budget, Fox initially sat out the arms race, buying Tubi in 2020, investing in creators, AI-fueled microdrama company Holywater and podcast company Red Seat Ventures. Now, as a combined Tubi-Roku puts Fox behind only YouTube and Netflix in TV viewing share, Elaine Low, Sean McNulty and Natalie Jarvey declare the winners and losers — including what the executive shakeout might look like inside — why Wall Street isn’t fully sold and how this repositions Fox in the entertainment landscape.
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Nothing like a $22 billion deal to start a week, as Fox was revealed as the mystery buyer for the Roku business — furthering Lachlan Murdoch’s company’s diversification from being heavily based in the linear TV ecosystem, to extending strong tentacles in the digital and streaming space.

In this bonus episode of Ankler Agenda, Business Insider columnist and Channels podcast host Peter Kafka joins The Wakeup’s Sean McNulty to dive into the strategy, what this means for Hollywood streamers and more as consolidation continues to ripple across the ecosystem.

Plus, Christopher Rosen joins Sean for a Monday Box Office conversation about the … mixed opening for Steven Spielberg’s Disclosure Day and what lies ahead, as well as the big drops from opening weekend for Masters of the Universe and Scary Movie — two pictures with vastly different fates at the box office.

And, why Universal will still likely win the summer despite the cloudy outlook for Disclosure Day, and more.
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It’s a deal that would have been unimaginable a decade ago — maybe even two years ago. But last month, motivational speaker and On Purpose host Jay Shetty signed a reported $100 million agreement to move his video podcast exclusively to Netflix and Spotify. In the era of Alex Cooper, Joe Rogan and the Kelce brothers, streamers are battling for podcast talent as the once audio-only medium morphs into the next Hollywood battleground — with Netflix, naturally, upping the ante. Elaine Low, Natalie Jarvey and Sean McNulty dive into the rise of podcasting post-Covid and post-strikes, Netflix and Spotify’s pod strategy as a bulwark against YouTube and why streamers are betting that video podcasts are really just the next generation of low-cost talk shows.
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“I would not be feeling good right now if I was sitting in my corner office over at Disney after this weekend,” one source tells Like & Subscribe’s Natalie Jarvey about the box office success of Backrooms and Obsession — two movies from popular YouTube creators-turned-filmmakers Kane Parsons and Curry Barker, respectively. Both low-budget breakouts leapfrogged over Star Wars’ The Mandalorian and Grogu last weekend, raising questions about what this unprecedented success says about moviegoing’s future and Gen Z taste. Elaine Low, Sean McNulty and Natalie dive into the YouTube revolution, then examine the growing disconnect between what Hollywood is saying about AI in public vs. how it’s using it — and how even cinema giants like Martin Scorsese are coming around. (For an inside look at the next gen of horror, listen toNatalie’s conversation at NAB Show with Atomic Monster’s Michael Clear, Mark Fischbach aka Markiplier, and M3GAN writer Akela Cooper.)
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Angelenos are on the clock. The Los Angeles mayoral election is set for June 2, and even those who don’t live in SoCal should pay close attention to the outcome. Hollywood is taking center stage in a way it rarely has before as local production plummets, jobs shrink and frustration ripples through the city. Has Mayor Karen Bass done enough? Could City Councilmember Nithya Raman or former reality TV villain Spencer Pratt (and his surprising donor list) shake things up? Richard Rushfield joins Elaine Low and Natalie Jarvey to break down what each major candidate has said about the film and TV industry and whether anyone at City Hall can save L.A. production. Come for the voters’ guide, stay for Richard’s tale about interning for Mayor Tom Bradley.
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