This is Lowpass by Janko Roettgers, a newsletter on the ever-evolving intersection of tech and entertainment, syndicated just for The Verge subscribers once a week.

Severance. Pachinko. Silo. Ted Lasso. Over the past couple of years, a number of Apple TV shows have become hits with audiences and critics alike. And yet, compared to the size of other subscription services, Apple TV still barely makes a dent.

In Nielsen's most recent The Gauge report, Apple's service failed once again to make the top 10 list of most-used streaming services, suggesting that its audience is smaller than not just that of Netflix and Disney Plus, but also Tubi, H …

Read the full story at The Verge.

YouTube is reintroducing private messaging after testing new ways for users to share videos and "have conversations about them" last year. In an announcement on its official blog, YouTube says it's now starting to expand the in-app video sharing and messaging feature to users in the US and "other global regions" who are 18 or older.

The video sharing platform had previously introduced private messaging in 2017, before discontinuing it just two years later to focus on public conversations like the Instagram-like Stories feature - which it also killed in 2023. When it started testing its latest in-app messaging capabilities in November 2025, …

Read the full story at The Verge.