Spotify and Omnicom Media Group, one of the world's largest global ad agencies, announced Wednesday a deal that will see Omnicom spend $20 million on podcast ads in the second half of this year.

Why it matters: Most podcasts are typically bought and sold on a per-show or per-episode basis. A big agency's commitment to spending lots of money on podcast ads upfront, like they do with television, is a signal that the industry is growing.

While all major sports scramble to rescue their seasons, the networks are fixated on the NFL, which accounted for 41 of the 50 top-rated telecasts of any kind in 2019, per the Washington Post.

Why it matters: The NFL made up 39% of all ad revenue for Fox last year, 24% for CBS, 21% for NBC and 17% for ESPN (including ABC playoff simulcasts). "It’s practically the only thing on the minds of the networks," John Kosner, a former ESPN executive who is an industry consultant, told the Post. "If you lost an NFL season, you’re looking at a financial hemorrhage."

There has been a big uptick in traffic to conservative social media networks like Parler, thedonald.win and Gab over the past few months, according to data from SimilarWeb.

Why it matters: Conservatives are looking to build their own social media platforms, where they can escape from what they feel is baseless censorship of their viewpoints from mainstream social media networks.

As tensions between the U.S. and China escalate, more U.S. media companies like The Information, Politico and The Wire China are looking to invest in coverage of the country and its technology and business boom.

Why it matters: "It's coverage you have to have if you're a serious tech or business news operation," says Bill Bishop, author of the Sinocism newsletter.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and COO Sheryl Sandberg, facing an ad boycott by more than 500 brands, will hold virtual meetings on Tuesday with civil rights groups who have been key organizers of the #StopHateforProfit campaign.

The state of play: Sandberg will say in a post later that she, Zuckerberg and other execs "are meeting with the organizers of the Stop Hate for Profit campaign followed by a meeting with other civil rights leaders ... including Vanita Gupta from the Leadership Conference on Civil & Human Rights [and] Sherrilyn Ifill from the NAACP Legal Defense Fund."

The national conversation about systemic racism has found its way to the sports media world, forcing companies to address their shortcomings around coverage of race and their own internal diversity.

Why it matters: Sports leagues, teams and athletes have been thrust into the cultural spotlight in recent weeks, as they often are. Now, the publications that cover sports have turned the camera on themselves.

The Glover Park Group (GPG), the D.C.-based public affairs firm founded by former Clinton-Gore aides in 2001, is merging with two other global advisory firms.

• Finsbury is based in the UK and Hering Schuppener is based in Germany. The combined firm, launching in 2021, will be called Finsbury Glover Hering (FGH).

Why it matters: The deal formalizes a years-long partnership between the three groups, which all focus on different aspects of corporate branding, reputation and advocacy communications and public relations.

The debut of "Hamilton" on Disney+ last Friday sent downloads of the app soaring over the weekend.

Why it matters: With theaters closed until 2021, "Hamilton" is the biggest litmus test for whether Broadway will ever be able to successfully transition some of its iconic hits.

The Walt Disney Company announced Monday that ESPN Films will produce an exclusive docuseries on political activist and former NFL player Colin Kaepernick as part of a larger deal with Kaepernick's production arm RA Vision Media.

Driving the news: Former ESPN personality Jemele Hill tweeted that she'll be serving as a producer on the docuseries, after leaving the network two years ago following a dramatic falling out in 2018. At the time, Hill's outspoken tweets about President Trump put the network in the crosshairs of a polarizing debate over race and politics.

Tensions between tech and tech media hit a boiling point over the weekend, in the latest fraying of a once-cozy relationship.

The shortest version is that New York Times reporter Taylor Lorenz tweeted out some screenshots from the public Instagram of Away CEO Steph Korey, in which she criticized media coverage of her company.