The New York Times is looking to bring more of its games to life with real-world activations, SVP and head of games Jonathan Knight told Axios on stage at Web Summit Vancouver today.

• The company has already begun experimenting with crossword tournaments and contests.

🧩 Why it matters: The social aspect of gaming has become a huge part of the Times' success with games.

• The company introduced its first two-player game, Crossplay, earlier this year to enormous success, Knight noted. More social gaming products are likely on the horizon.

Driving the news: As part of its broader off-platform engagement strategy, the Times announced a new deal with NBC yesterday to bring its iconic digital game Wordle to the small screen.

• The new show, which is set to debut sometime next year, will be hosted by "Today" host Savannah Guthrie and executive produced by late-night host Jimmy Fallon.

Between the lines: Knight says the Times isn't ruling out future games turned TV shows, but says "it's not something we're super focused on at the moment."

• It's also continuing to eye potential gaming acquisitions, following the breakout success of Wordle, which it bought in 2022.
• For now, the Times' gaming strategy is mostly focused on word games, but it's looking more closely at things like card games and puzzles. (It launched a new domino-based logic game called Pips last year.)

🗞️ The big picture: Games drive a critical engagement boost across the New York Times subscription bundle.

• According to Knight, the combination of games and news is one of the company's best subscriber retention drivers.

What to watch: More publishers are eyeing games as referral traffic becomes less reliable and competition for attention intensifies.

• Separately, Time is introducing a suite of digital games on its website, including a fantasy prediction market and jigsaws, as it prepares to launch a registration wall, executives told Axios.
• Other publishers have expanded gaming efforts, including Vulture with Cinematrix, its movie trivia game, and BuzzFeed.

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Traditional media companies are leaning into fandom around their legacy entertainment franchises and sports during this year's Upfronts as a way to stand out in a field becoming crowded by Big Tech.

Why it matters: History, familiarity and trust are business values that Silicon Valley can't easily buy.

• "Legacy is not a word we shy away from. It's our superpower," NBCU's Mark Marshall said during Monday's presentation, which celebrated the company's 100th anniversary.
• "It takes seconds to serve an ad, but it takes decades of trust and expertise to actually move [audiences]. No algorithm can do that," TelevisaUnivsion's John Kozack touted.

Between the lines: The presentations emphasized a "flywheel" strategy around legacy channels, new tech platforms and products.

• Warner Bros. Discovery's U.S. ad sales chief Ryan Gould told Axios the company is continuing to find ways to "weave brand into the fabric of the content experience, not just from an advertising perspective — experiential licensing, consumer products."

⛹️‍♂️ The big picture: As more on-demand entertainment moves to streaming, live sports remains central to nearly every pitch.

• Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch made a rare appearance during the company's presentation on Monday, saying: "This week, you're going to hear a lot about the value of live sports and ad-supported streaming. At Fox, that's not a new story. It's what we've been delivering successfully for years."

🎞️ Reality check: Amazon's acquisition of MGM has turned the tech giant into a legacy media holder.

• Amid record levels of regulatory scrutiny against Big Tech in streaming, Amazon positioned itself as a steward of Hollywood traditions, noting the theatrical success of "Project Hail Mary" and "The Sheep Detectives."

Zoom out: This year's Upfronts was spaced out from the NewFronts as a way to help buyers differentiate between the opportunities of legacy media and platforms. But those two worlds continue to converge.

• Traditional TV companies are aggressively chasing younger audiences through short-form video, including microdramas, and creator partnerships.

🔄 The big picture: Media companies last year were forced to navigate the uncertainty tied to a pending combination of two of Madison Avenue's major ad buyers. Now, that dynamic has flipped.

• Against the backdrop of a pending merger with Paramount Skydance, WBD plans to focus on its IP.
• This was the first year NBCUniversal presented to advertisers following the spin-out of its cable networks into a new, publicly traded firm called Versant.

👀 What to watch: Amid an ongoing dispute with the FCC, Disney will have Jimmy Kimmel deliver his annual "roast" during its presentation.

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Byron Allen, a media entrepreneur known for aggressively trying to roll up various media assets, announced yesterday a deal to buy a majority stake in BuzzFeed.

Why it matters: The deal gives the 20-year-old digital publisher a much-needed lifeline. Without a buyer, the company likely would've been forced to file for bankruptcy.

• BuzzFeed's stock has been trading under $1, and the company was warned earlier this year it is at risk of being delisted from the Nasdaq for falling below that threshold.
• It received a similar notice in 2023 and subsequently approved a reverse stock split to boost its share price and maintain its listing.
• Its business has been under enormous pressure from expensive debt and shrinking revenue.

🤖 Zoom in: Under the deal, Allen will become CEO and chair of the company. BuzzFeed's founder and longtime CEO Jonah Peretti will move to a new role as president of BuzzFeed AI.

• Allen will complete the purchase through his family office, Allen Family Digital, and not his private media company, Allen Media Group. AMG houses The Weather Channel, several local broadcast stations and other media assets.

By the numbers: Allen Family Digital will hold 52% of BuzzFeed's outstanding shares after the deal to buy 40 million shares at $3 each, for a total of $120 million.

• A small portion ($20 million) will be funded with cash at close and the rest will be purchased through a promissory note due in five years, accruing interest at 5% annually.

Zoom out: Allen has tried to secure funding to buy much larger assets in recent years, including Paramount Global, BET and Tegna, but he's come up short.

• Most recently, Allen Media Group struck a deal to pay CBS tens of millions of dollars to fill the late-night slot for Stephen Colbert with its own shows. Colbert's last show is in two weeks.

📉 The big picture: Once considered one of the most powerful digital media companies, BuzzFeed is now a shell of its former self, and it's selling for a fraction of what it was once worth.

• Allen's takeover values BuzzFeed at more than three times its closing stock price Monday of 73 cents per share — around a $28 million market cap.
• At its peak, BuzzFeed was valued at $1.7 billion when it raised $200 million from NBCUniversal in 2016.

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The following data appeared in our exclusive members-only monthly briefing for Media Trends Executive. Sign up.

Potential 2028 presidential candidates are operating like creators, with social video operations, podcasts, Substack accounts and merch stores.

• Why it matters: Politicians can build audiences, raise money and shape narratives without traditional media interviews or ad campaigns.

📧 Most prominent Democratic contenders have Substack accounts, while Republicans have been far less active on the platform. Some — including Pete Buttigieg and California Gov. Gavin Newsom — have built sizable audiences there.

• Others have podcasts, including Newsom, Donald Trump Jr., Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.

The other side: Since changing its press rotation policies last year, the White House has ushered in smaller and creator-led outlets, many of which align politically with the administration.

📊 Zoom in: Of the 50 outlets that were in the new media press rotation since August, at least 12 were outlets with fewer than 10 employees, according to an Axios analysis of American Presidency Project data.

• They include creator-led brands and outlets such as Megyn Kelly's MK Media, Timcast (Tim Pool), and former RFK Jr. aide and creator Link Lauren.
• Larger outlets in this rotation include conservative media sites such as The Blaze, The Federalist, Daily Wire, National Review and Breitbart, as well as media startups that don't identify as partisan, such as Semafor and NOTUS.

Reality check: Although the number of small outlets in the White House press rotation has noticeably increased, it pales in comparison to the access given to mainstream organizations.

• 📺 CBS News, ABC News, Fox News, NBC News and CNN have collectively made more than 350 appearances since August, while the outlets Axios identified as having fewer than 10 employees have collectively made 59 appearances.

Sign up for Axios Media Trends Executive to access the full report.

ProPublica is launching a new regional reporting hub in California as part of a broader effort to grow its investigative footprint across the country, executives told Axios.

Why it matters: The expansion comes on the heels of ProPublica's best revenue year on record and a 2026 Pulitzer win for local reporting.

Zoom in: The new hub will cover the role California plays in national politics, as well as issues that are important to local residents, including technology, climate change, immigration, homelessness, affordable housing and water, per managing editor Charles Ornstein.

• It will also look at topics that impact some of California's biggest industries, such as sports and entertainment.

State of play: The California hub represents the organization's sixth regional expansion since it started local reporting in 2018.

• ProPublica has established similar hubs in the Midwest, Northwest, South, Southwest and Texas.

🕵️‍♀️ Context: ProPublica often teams with local newsrooms on major stories and investigations. Its latest Pulitzer, for example, was won alongside its local reporting network partner the Connecticut Mirror.

• The outlet has worked with more than 300 newsrooms in 18 years, per ProPublica president Robin Sparkman.
• Each local hub can cost around $1.5 million to establish, Sparkman said.

By the numbers: ProPublica's expansion comes as the outlet sees record-high interest in donations.

• Over the past three years, its operating revenue has grown 66% from $42 million in 2022 to $70 million in 2025.
• Its donor base surpassed 80,000 last year.

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CNN launched its new weather app in the U.S. today, marking its first stand-alone lifestyle product since management overhauled digital strategy last year.

Why it matters: CNN's ability to successfully build audiences across its lifestyle-focused products, like CNN Weather, will be a major factor in determining how fast it can transition to becoming a digital-first news organization.

📲 Zoom in: The app will initially be available for free to iOS users in the U.S., with plans to expand later. Eventually, Axios has reported, CNN may introduce a paywall.

• That content will sit alongside broader features about the climate and natural world meant to provide context for CNN's weather coverage.
• The app is being built in partnership with Amazon's AWS, which has signed on as a launch partner.

🌧️ Zoom out: Currently, Fox News is the only other major cable news network that has a stand-alone weather product, which it launched five years ago as a free, ad-supported streamer.

• News networks are investing more in weather and climate coverage as natural disasters become more frequent, putting added pressure on incumbents such as The Weather Channel and AccuWeather.

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Disclosure: Sara is a paid contributor for CNN.

Bumble CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd changed the way millions of people found love when she created Bumble in 2014. Now, she says the novelty of online dating has worn off and Bumble needs a major overhaul to survive.

• Why it matters: Gen Z is burned out from online dating but still eager to find connection. Herd thinks AI can bridge that gap.

🐝 Bumble is launching a new AI assistant, Bee, within its app to help users create and optimize their profiles, Herd told me for the latest episode of "The Axios Show" out yesterday.

• The app won't encourage AI-generated photos or messages. "Our goal is to leverage AI to make love and connection more human," she said.

What to watch: Herd said Bumble is "saying goodbye to the swipe," which for years has been the cornerstone of online dating.

🍿 Watch the full episode.