second place: the numbers are in, and the third and last debate between presidential candidates hillary clinton and donald trump was watched by 71.6 million people , reports cmo today. without having to go head-to-head with an nfl game, the final showdown surpassed the 66.5 million viewers for the second debate but fell short of the record-breaking audience of 84 million for the first matchup. viewers still got their dose of name-calling and drama wednesday night, including mr. trump reserving the right to contest the election results . but the event was no match for the first debate when millions of americans were anxious to see how the candidates would handle themselves face-to-face. fox news, whose anchor chris wallace moderated this week<u+2019>s debate, beat out both its broadcast and cable competition with about 11.3 million viewers. the overall ratings for the series of debates may be a good sign for mr. trump, if he can hold on to a portion of that audience for his rumored trump tv network. media megamerger?: after consolidation swept the pay-tv industry in recent years, attention is turning to the content creators. viacom inc. and cbs corp. are in the midst of exploring a merger. and now, as bloomberg reports, at&t inc. and time warner inc. met in recent weeks for informal talks to <u+201c>discuss various business strategies including a possible merger.<u+201d> the news sent time warner shares up about 5% to $83 thursday, valuing the company at $65 billion, while at&t fell almost 2%. it would be a hefty price tag for at&t after its purchase of $49 billion purchase of directv last year, but a potential combination would add hbo, warner bros., and the tbs and tnt cable networks to at&t<u+2019>s internet, wireless and pay-tv services. it<u+2019>s reminiscent of comcast corp.<u+2019>s acquisition of nbcuniversal, marrying vast distribution with extensive content and original programming. two years ago, time warner rebuffed an $85-a-share bid from 21st century fox. but one difference this time around is that investors have grown more grim about the outlook for traditional tv companies in the face of cord-cutting, streaming services and skinny bundles. sunny disposition: creative agencies have been defending their turf amid disintermediation and heightened competition from content studios at publishers like vice and buzzfeed and even social influencer firms. creative shop 72andsunny, for its part, is adding a new division it hopes is better equipped to take on the faster-paced digital content projects being requested by more clients, reports cmo today. the shop is opening a social media influencer division called sundae that will invite social media content creators who have a minimum of 10,000 followers to sign up via an app that goes live in november. the influencers can choose the brands for which they want to work, and when the client needs content for a specific social platform<u+2014>say, instagram<u+2014>the shop will ask the instagram creators that selected that particular marketer to submit ideas to the app. creative disintermediation is a <u+201c>very significant threat,<u+201d> said john boiler, chief executive officer of 72andsunny. flat round: comcast corp.<u+2019>s nbcuniversal is doubling down on buzzfeed. recode broke the news that the tv giant is investing another $200 million in the listicle and cat-loving media company with a coveted young audience. the catch is that the funding round gives buzzfeed a post-money valuation of $1.7 billion. excluding the cash infusion, that is essentially the same as a year ago when nbcuniversal<u+2019>s investment valued the company at $1.5 billion. typically, fast-growing startups look to significantly boost their valuations with each funding round. when they don<u+2019>t, something is going on. in this case, cmo today reports that buzzfeed missed its revenue projection for 2015 by an amount in the range of about 20% , forcing the company to cut its forecast for this year. to be fair, the company is on track to hit the new target, and a buzzfeed spokeswoman said, <u+201c>our business has never been better.<u+201d> but the speed bumps in buzzfeed<u+2019>s growth highlight the challenges many digital media companies are running into with monetizing their vast audiences, particularly on social media. vox media is in talks with a cable entertainment network to launch a tv special starring liz plank, the vox.com staffer behind the web series <u+201c>2016ish,<u+201d> becoming the latest digital media company to embrace the more traditional tv medium. [ cmo today ] insurance giant metlife has retired snoopy, the <u+201c>peanuts<u+201d> cartoon character it introduced in its advertising 31 years ago. [ wsj ] verizon communications inc., which reported plunging subscriber growth in the third quarter, said it<u+2019>s looking at whether it will need to renegotiate its acquisition of yahoo inc. after the company<u+2019>s massive data breach. verizon said it<u+2019>s assuming the breach will have a <u+201c>material impact<u+201d> on yahoo. [ wsj ] at the association of national advertisers masters of marketing conference, procter & gamble<u+2019>s marketing chief, marc pritchard, said that marketers should start treating agencies better if they don<u+2019>t want to get caught in the content <u+201c>crap trap.<u+201d> [ ad age ] japanese ad and media network dentsu inc., which is under fire for two suicides linked to overworking, said it would reduce the maximum overtime to 65 hours a month from 70 hours starting in november. [ wsj ] tv networks have been selling more digital inventory using automated buying and selling technology during the upfront season, when they typically sell much of their traditional broadcast inventory in advance. [ digiday ] the u.s. government is rolling out a global digital ad initiative in its latest effort to dissuade young men and women from joining isis. the revamped effort targets people on facebook who have given digital hints that they could be thinking about joining extremist movements. [ wsj ] watching basketball may start to feel more like playing basketball in the upcoming season, when the nba will begin to stream at least one game a week in virtual reality. [ cmo today ] follow us on twitter: @wsjcmo , @digitalshields , @vranicawsj , @jackmarshall , @perlberg , @alexbruell , @srabil , @asharma subscribe to our morning newsletter, delivered straight to your inbox, at http://on.wsj.com/cmotodaysignup . write to alexandra bruell at alexandra.bruell@wsj.com
cmo today: final presidential debate draws second-highest ratings  - wsj
alexandra bruell