The Brief – Tuesday 3 February – Disney’s earnings, Amazon Ads launches MCP server and OpenAI states its price

🏰 Disney reported 5% year-on-year revenue growth in Q4 to $26bn. However, operating profit declined 9% to 4.6bn amid rising film production costs and a standoff with YouTube TV in the US. The entertainment giant also warned that waning tourism to the US could impact its American parks. (Disney)

🤖 Amazon Ads has launched MCP Server, a beta feature that allows advertisers to use AI agents to create accounts, generate reports and launch campaigns on its service. (Amazon Ads)

📱 A new study of TikTok, conducted by marketing effectiveness firm Ebiquity, found that premium formats on the platform deliver 3-4x more revenue per impression. It recommends marketers “stop chasing lowest CPMs” and instead prioritise “formats that drive real business impact”. (Ebiquity)

🤖 OpenAI is asking select advertisers to commit to spending at least $200,000 for its beta launch of ads on ChatGPT. (Adweek)

🏈 Ad rates for next weekend’s Super Bowl have hit as high as $10m for a 30-second slot, with the average costing $8m. NBCUniversal‘s global advertising and partnerships chairman Mark Marshall also revealed that nearly 40% of this year’s sponsors didn’t participate last year. (Bloomberg)

📰 AI search answers from ChatGPT, Google, and Perplexity are only drawing on a “narrow range” of publishers when responding to news queries, according to research from the Institute for Public Policy Research. On average, 34% of journalistic citations on each tool go to only one newsbrand. The main beneficiaries: the BBC, Sky News, and The Guardian. (Press Gazette)

📺 Streaming platforms are estimated to spend $14.2bn on sports rights this year, up 7% on 2025. Amazon Prime Video is set to overtake DAZN as the largest streaming investor in sports right globally, accounting for 27% of total spend. (Ampere Analysis)

🏬 Ocean Outdoor has been awarded the sales and marketing contract to manage all OOH formats on behalf of Manchester Arndale, the UK’s biggest inner city retail centre. (Ocean Outdoor)