OpenAI x Disney, World Cup stadium "de-branding" and the return to physical media

The Forbes 30 Under 30 list was announced last week. I saw an interesting perspective on TikTok from a creator who said that the categories the list highlighted this year reflect where the primary focuses for the economy will be next year, including: 

While there is a mixed bag of feelings around the list (Is it pay-to-play? We may never know), the curation of honorees does represent forward thinkers and people ahead of the curve in their industries, so as far as perspectives and predictions go, this one is pretty solid and tracks what I’ve also been seeing.

YouTube CEO Neal Mohan was named Time’s CEO of the Year for 2025. 

This is appropriate as YouTube is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year and has cemented itself as a major player in the media landscape. It boasts over 2 billion monthly logged-in users and has become the go-to platform for TV streaming, music, and podcasts. In fact, it’s outpaced competitors like Netflix, Prime Video, and Disney in terms of viewership.

 In fact, more media entrepreneurs and brands are flocking to YouTube, centering their entire media operations on the platform. Both traditional publishers and creator-journalists are investing in the platform (especially its monetization tools) to leverage video to authentically connect creators and consumers, building trust by showing the human behind the screen, something text can’t do.

Like the Forbes 30 Under 30, this selection gives us some indication of where media is going in 2026 and the platforms dominating the shifting landscape. YouTube is still one that arguably benefits and respects the creators using it. 

Yesterday, it was announced that OpenAI and Disney are entering into a three-year licensing agreement, enabling Sora to generate short, user-prompted social videos that can be viewed and shared by fans, drawing on more than 200 Disney, Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars characters.

In addition to this licensing, Disney will use OpenAI’s APIs to build new products, tools, and experiences, including for Disney+, and deploy ChatGPT for its employees.

This is one of the first-of-its-kind licensing deals between a major brand and an AI platform. Traditionally, licensing has always been a way for brands to extend their IP, but with AI, it opens up a whole can of worms around brand compliance and governance.

AI is notorious for creating hallucinations, and with licensing IP, there’s growing concern about brand image distortion from the slop that users will make. Additionally, there can be concerns about whether what’s created is from the brand or from a fan (like those fan-made trailers we see). 

I’m curious to see how it goes with Disney, which has traditionally been very protective of its IP, and if other major character-driven brands (like Nintendo, for example) will follow suit in licensing to AI. 

Something that’s been on my mind in light of the World Cup has been advertising. We always make a big deal of Super Bowl ads, but I feel like we never see the same hype around the World Cup, even though soccer is the world’s game. The audience is much larger and more global, and the event lasts for a month rather than just one day. 

Yet, we’re starting to see a “de-branding” across host cities. 

According to FIFA guidelines, host stadiums must remove their corporate names and use a generic, city-based name instead. This is to prevent "ambush marketing" and protect official sponsors, a process that involves covering logos on seats, scoreboards, and uniforms. All advertising, including team and league logos, scoreboards, and even staff uniforms, must be removed to create a neutral environment.

FIFA prohibits non-official sponsors from having branding at venues to maintain the exclusivity and value of its official partners, who pay significant amounts for those rights. 

From a marketing point of view, this is a huge lost opportunity for OOH and display advertising during one of the most-watched events, not just in the country, but in the world. However, I anticipate that to combat this, we’ll start to see more brands double down on advertising outside of the stadium to account for the increase in foot traffic and tourism in these host cities through brand activations, partnerships, and collaborations.

ICYMI, last week, Netflix announced that it’s to acquire HBO Max and Warner Bros. Discovery in a $82.7 billion deal. 

One of the biggest conversations I saw around this was around the return to physical media over growing concerns of Netflix owning all of Warner Bros.’ film archive. 

When you digitize media, there is a growing concern over losing access to it. Not to mention the cost to access it. 

With the media consolidations (and the cost becoming just as high as cable), we’ll start to see a resurgence in purchasing physical media or renting it from the libraries, so we can watch what we want to watch without having to pay an arm and a leg for it. 

What’s caught your attention online this week? Reply to this email and let me know!