The Refresh News: July 28 - Google’s AI Push, Newsweek’s Bold Pivot, and Paramount’s Merger Drama

In this episode of The Refresh, host Kait unpacks some of the most significant shifts in media, search, and publishing. Alphabet reported record-breaking Q2 earnings driven by cloud and search, despite concerns about AI competition. Newsweek is proactively adjusting its business model to combat AI-related traffic threats, and the Paramount–Skydance merger finally got the FCC’s green light, complete with political controversy and a timely South Park takedown. Alphabet's Blowout Quarter: Alphabet hit $96.4 billion in Q2 revenue, driven by strong performance in cloud (up 32%) and ad sales (up 10.4%), with YouTube capturing nearly 13% of all U.S. TV screen time. Publisher Impact from Generative AI: Google’s AI overviews and search innovations are reducing referral traffic to publishers, with its network division down $100M this quarter—an early signal of monetization shifts. Newsweek’s Monetization Overhaul: Facing declining search-driven traffic, Newsweek aims to lower its ad revenue dependency by investing in healthcare adtech, subscriptions, and syndication deals to charge AI bots for crawling content. Paramount–Skydance Merger Approved: The FCC approved the controversial Paramount-Skydance deal, just days after a $16M Trump settlement and CBS’ cancellation of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. South Park Weighs In: South Park’s season premiere mocked the Paramount merger and its political ties—airing hours after a $1.5B content deal was finalized between the show’s creators and Paramount. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices