The Media Leader Podcast (The Media Leader)

Host Jack Benjamin welcomes columnist Nick Manning and reporter Ella Sagar to examine Warner Bros Discovery's latest earnings, Reddit's forthcoming IPO and why agency-client relationships at holding companies have become less transparent over time.

On digital publishers making cuts and lay-offs, Manning said: "One thing that is a shame for all of us is that content costs money and good content costs even more money. And those companies who get the most advertising revenue are the ones that do not have any cost of content at all because it is all user-generated.

"The big issue, for me, is how the advertising money is gravitating towards those with the lowest content costs."

The trio also discuss the decline of Vice Media, Walmart's purchase of Vizio and a leadership change at Global.

Highlights:

00:41: The "unhealthy trend" of principal-based trading

04:05: What's the solution for declining transparency in media buying?

11:47: Warner Bros Discovery's "big mixed bag" of earnings

20:18: Why is Reddit going public now?

24:05: The "enshittification" and business prospects of social media platforms

30:54: Quick hits – Vice.com ceasing publishing, Walmart purchasing smart TV maker Vizio and Stephen Miron leaving Global

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Media industry professionals have been in something of a crisis.

Declining mental health, uncertainty over hybrid work policies, slow-moving DE&I policies, and still-large disparities between men and women in career progression and pay. These issues are not necessarily unique to media, and there have been improvements made over time in many areas, but there is doubtless more our industry could be doing to improve the lives of its workers.

So, how should we unpack all of these challenges? Columnist and Creativebrief editorial director Nicola Kemp returns to the podcast to discuss, alongside reporter Ella Sagar.

“The Covid pandemic has created a toxic storm of stress," said Kemp. "And I think that is really having a huge impact on the workplace right now. We might have stopped writing those headlines on the Great Resignation and moved on to the Great Regret, but the reality is a lot of people are still planning to leave the roles they’re in in the next 12 months.”

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This episode was edited by our production partner Trisonic.

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Omar Oakes interviews Laura Jordan Bambach (co-founder, Uncharted) and Tom Curtis (ECD, EssenceMediacom UK) about the challenges of building collaborative partnerships, potential conflicts of interest and how agencies can be creative when planning where media is bought.

They discuss the evolving landscape of creativity and marketing, and the importance of taking a media-first approach to creativity and leveraging technology to create better assets and plan media more efficiently. They also highlight the potential for creative agencies to be sidelined in digital advertising projects and stress the importance of collaboration and integration in the industry.

Highlights

05:35: Curtis' unusual role as a media agency ECD and how creative roles have evolved at media agencies

07:19: Uncharted's emphasis on a collaborative approach

10:04: Why great leadership from the top is key to successful agency partnerships

16:04: How the market has changed alongside the way audiences consume content

Recorded at The Future of Brands, London (April 2024)

Who should we interview next? We're open to requests! Email omar.oakes@uk.adwanted.com

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Jack Benjamin and Omar Oakes report highlights from The Media Leader's first outing in Manchester! 

The Future of Media Manchester attracted around 600 people on 26 September and included ITV and Coronation Street's "big sell", Manchester City FC's fledgling operation as an in-house production company and advertising consultancy and, of course, a special Manchester edition of "Who Wants to be a Media Leader?"

Jack and Omar discuss why there is still a big regional imbalance in UK media and advertising, with one agency boss estimating that £250m has been lost by Manchester agencies to London shops in the last three years. 

There will be more reports from The Future of Media Manchester over the next few days but, in the meantime, check out the agenda for the event.

Interested in being involved next year? Email us: team@uk.adwanted.com.

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Future's new CEO Jon Steinberg is keen to build things.

In his career he has helped create two new media start-ups in BuzzFeed and Cheddar, but in his new role as CEO of Future, he has taken charge of numerous media properties continuing to transition from print to digital.

Steinberg joins the podcast in an interview with editor Omar Oakes. The pair discuss changes Steinberg is bringing to Future, the value of attending Cannes Lions, the state of the digital publishing industry, and how developments in generative AI will change editorial processes.

“Digital subscriptions is a huge opportunity for us," said Steinberg. "This will be a long process, building a digital subscription business. As you’ve seen with The New York Times, or The Washington Post, it’s not something that happens overnight, and that’s one of my long-term goals.”

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Omar Oakes and columnist Nick Manning have a wide-ranging conversation about the recent ANA report into media agency reselling ("principal-based media"), where media agencies buy media at one price and resell it to clients at an undisclosed higher price – and why it's important.

This is an epic conversation that delves into why advertising is no longer well-integrated with content, why there is a talent drain from the industry, why it may be "inevitable" that major ad agency groups are broken up and what Nick is planning through the 'Who Cares" movement with Brian Jacobs.

Highlights:

3:18: What's so bad with principal-based media?

8:16: Why do media agencies do this?

19:07: What should be the auditor's role in all this?

36:12: What PM shows about the state of the ad industry

41:08: Impact on media owners

44:53: The demise of a "curated" advertising experience and Omar's epiphany

52:17: The impact on content creation and why we're bombarded with 1990s rehashes

63:38: The 'Who Cares" movement and what it wants to achieve

61:11: Do we need greater regulation to make advertising and media function better?

64:48: Should the major ad agency groups be broken up?

Useful links:

ANA calls for contracts and auditing shakeup over principal media ‘conflicts of interest’

Nick Manning: Why principal-based media is bad for the whole industry

Nick Manning: Who cares wins: The antidote to 'badvertising'

Omar Oakes: Squeamish about advertising? Get over it

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Are social platforms good media to receive accurate news and information?

Ramin Beheshti, founder and CEO of The News Movement, thinks so.

Reporter Jack Benjamin discussed with Beheshti The News Movement's content and business strategy, how it looks to make money through diverse revenue streams, and whether short-form video is inherently a good medium for news presentation.

More and more people, especially young people, continue to go to social media platforms with the explicit intention of using them for their news consumption. That is especially true of the highly popular short-form video platforms like TikTok and Instagram, but these come with concerns about misinformation and disinformation.

Founded in 2021, The News Movement is a social-first news outlet seeking to address such a concern. The company produces short- and long-form video news content on platforms like TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube, and more. They have now racked up nearly 200,000 followers on TikTok and 45,000 followers on Instagram.

The company was co-founded by Sir William Lewis, who is leaving his position as CEO to lead up The Washington Post, as well as former BBC editorial director Kamal Ahmed and Ramin Beheshti.

This episode was edited by our production partner Trisonic.

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Ed Couchman, head of sales for the UK and Northern Europe at Spotify, joins Ella Sagar to talk about the company's long-term advertising ambition, its podcast and audiobook strategy, Apple's app practices and how kindness should not be seen as a weakness.

He underscores the commitment to CEO Daniel Ek's goal of generating 20% of revenue from advertising and describes a "longer-term aspiration" for Spotify's advertising sales.

Couchman says: "We do want in the long term for the ad sales to reach $10bn – so a real sizeable revenue contribution to the overall business."

Elsewhere, he reveals the streamer's "case-by-case" podcast strategy and how he would hypothetically like to see advertising in audiobooks.

Couchman also expands on his recent column on how kindness at work is never a weakness, pointing out why it "has never been more needed" in the industry.

Highlights:

03:38: Why kindness in media and advertising leadership is a superpower

10:07: Spotify's long-term advertising ambition

12:48: What's next for non-exclusive podcasts?

15.15: Growing the audiobook market

17:16: The audiobook advertising dream

18.28: Spotify's "Time to Play Fair" campaign taking aim at Apple

23.55: Why are you passionate about media?

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Renowned advertising effectiveness expert Peter Field joins editor-in-chief Omar Oakes for this interview.

Field discusses why he will be telling our upcoming Future of TV Advertising Global conference that "TV is still at the heart of effectiveness".

He will use the latest effectiveness evidence from the UK and Australia to explain why TV remains such a powerful medium, despite the well reported challenges that it faces.

Field also admits to the mistakes he's made in his career, why he's so excited about the recent wave of attention research in the industry, and why trust in media has become so important to consumers as to impact their advertising responses.

Some choice quotes from Field's interview:

"The three certainties in marketing are death, taxes, and people taking potshots TV.... it just starts to look a little bit like a relentless kind of attempt to take TV down. The fact of the matter is, and I will show this at the conference, is that TV plays, if anything, a strengthening role in effectiveness."

"Any sensible marketer would be crazy to walk away from TV, even with younger viewers, even with those difficult 16 to 35 [demographics]. There is no sane case for walking away from TV."

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TV has slipped out of marketers' top-ranked media channels this year, from third most-preferred to 12th.

That is just one of the key takeaways from this year's Media Reactions report from Kantar, launched this week.

Jane Ostler, the report's co-author and Kantar’s executive vice president of global thought leadership, sat down with host Jack Benjamin to unpack the report's findings.

"I think we're now seeing the days where the fragmentation that we've spoken about for the last 10 years in media means that TV is not necessarily always considered to be the base of the media plan anymore," said Ostler.

The pair discussed how consumers and marketers diverge in preferences for media channels and brands, with consumers this year showing strong preferences for in-person ad experiences, be it through sponsored events, out-of-home, cinema, or point-of-sale.

They also spoke about why marketers appear to be turning toward short- and long-form online video as their most-preferred medium, and the importance of attention in reaching consumers.

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This episode was edited by our production partner Trisonic.

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Jack Benjamin, Omar Oakes and Ella Sagar are back on the podcast this week to analyse some of the industry’s biggest stories.

The Premier League season is upon us once more, and while Jack may be clueless about British professional sport, he did cover how the league’s forthcoming gambling ads ban has thus far had ‘almost no impact’ on Premier League shirt sponsorships. With Disney finally getting involved in the gambling industry through its sports broadcaster ESPN, will the sports betting market continue to grow despite growing concerns over gambling ads?

Clear Channel has pledged a strategic review of its European holdings after it previously sold off its Swiss and Italian businesses this year. Ella discusses how the company expects to do the same in Spain and France next year, and how the outdoor company is in sell-mode as it seeks to reduce more than $5bn in company debt.

Plus: the trio discusses a number of disappointing earnings results from news publishers and considers whether AI can provide them with a competitive advantage in the future; and the Daily Mail and General Trust has thrown its hat into the ring to purchase Telegraph Media Group, but could such an acquisition get past regulators?

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Dave Randall, Future's commercial director, discusses with Omar Oakes why using first-party data well is so important to the publisher and how its audience data platform Aperture has developed. Dave and Omar also discuss how 'specialist interest websites' and TV stand out in a Future survey about trust in media, and how a modern publisher establishes 'church v state' lines between editorial and commercial when journalists are asked to write sponsored content.

Our own 'church v state' disclaimer: this episode is sponsored by Future. The conversation topics were agreed in advance but the conversation was recorded and edited by The Media Leader's editorial team without intervention.

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Why are media and creative so siloed?

That was the question implicitly posed by our editor Omar Oakes in his latest column. Referencing industry veteran Laurence's Green's speech at a recent Thinkbox conference, Oakes questioned Cannes' reason for appearing separately as both a celebration of creativity and as a tech and media industry conference.

Oakes and Green both joined Jack Benjamin on The Media Leader Podcast to unpack the argument. In a wide-ranging conversation, the trio also spoke about the importance of creative in driving effectiveness, the industry's struggles to promote sustainability and pessimistic trends in digital news consumption unveiled by this week's release of the Reuters Institute Digital News Report.

"The mood music in the industry is firstly, can we just have that richer mix of work," said Green. "Yes, reward the purpose stuff, but find a way to the great stuff that pays the mortgage. But also, can we just make sure that we're not using our creative skills to greenwash rather than using our creative skills to more profoundly change business. Those are the things that are in the ether around Cannes this year."

The episode kicks off a new panel format for the podcast, which includes a 'quick hits' section covering recent stories from the around the industry.

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Omar Oakes, Ella Sagar, and Jack Benjamin are back on the podcast following the holiday break to catch you up on all the news in media and advertising.

They review the potential for a Warner Bros Discovery and Paramount merger, The New York Times' lawsuit of OpenAI and Microsoft over alleged copyright infringement, and X's declining valuation.

The trio also shares their predictions for what they think will and will not occur this year, including surprising takes on X and Threads, why 2024 will be a big year for linear TV and traditional publishing, and a better year for the job market, plus whether we'll reach "peak podcast."

Show highlights

2.07: A mystery guest!

5.20: Warner Bros Discovery - Paramount merger talks

14.57: New York Times sues OpenAI

23.11: Elon Musk and Twitter's valuation drop

25.08: Predictions for the year ahead

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Taboola has built a multibillion-dollar business by making it easy for publishers to recommend content to other parts of the web in exchange for a fee. Now, as thoughts about generative AI dominate conversations in media, the company has just launched Taboola Generative AI which aims to "revolutionise" how publishers create personalised ads.

CEO Adam Singolda spoke to Omar Oakes about the company's beta test of this AI tech, which began in February and has just been rolled out formally to all English-speaking Taboola partners. Singolda and Oakes spoke during Cannes Lions in June, so the pair also chatted about goings-on at the Croisette.

In addition, Singolda has some frank advice for anyone who wants to start their own business.

This is a bonus episode, distinct from our usual Thursday show. We're generous like that.

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“Less social media. More Snapchat.” That is the tagline to Snap’s latest marketing campaign. The company, founded in 2011 as an image-sharing app that deletes the pictures after a short time frame, has evolved into a more comprehensive product and clearly wants to separate itself from the perhaps toxic connotations of the label “social media”.

One area where Snap looks increasingly distinct from its competitors like Facebook, which has wound down its support for news over the past year, is in its partnerships with news and lifestyle publishers that bring unique content to Snapchat users via the app’s Discovery page and Stories.

Lucy Luke, Snap's UK head of partnerships, sits down with reporter Jack Benjamin to talk about the company's strategy of working with publishers and, increasingly, creators.

The pair discuss Snap's level of commitment to supporting news on its platform, how publishers are having to adapt the way they present stories to appeal to younger audiences in short-form video formats and how Snap benefits from becoming a place for audiences to check in on news and lifestyle.

Highlights:

1:45: Why Snap's young audience appeals to publishers and vice versa

8:30: A place for hard news, soft news or both

12:39: Do journalists need to act more like creators to get news across on Snapchat?

17:52: The role of news in Snap's commercial strategy

20:30: A more hands-on approach to brand safety

24:41: The future of partnerships for Snap – Olympics, Paralympics, 2024 elections and the growth in creators

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One of the key questions we are always asking industry experts, be it in our reporting or at our conferences, is what makes for effective media? Is it all about excellent creative? Is it about perfect placement? Or is it, in the words of Succession character Kendall Roy, all simply about harvesting eyeballs?

Mike Follett, managing director at Lumen Research and a regular columnist for The Media Leader, is back on the podcast to discuss the key factors that make media effective, and where attention fits within the conversation. He is joined by The Media Leader editor Omar Oakes and reporter and host Jack Benjamin.

On the broad topic of effectiveness, Follett said the industry needs to admit what it does and doesn't know about the way media and advertising works.

“We assume that we know absolutely how these things work, and we have some numbers to back us up here," he said. "But in all honestly, we don’t. That’s the real truth. We don’t have the complete picture of how this stuff works. And I think admitting that is the smart thing to do, and pretending that we do have a 100% picture of the world, that’s crazy.”

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"Reframe the problem," says renowned marketing consultant and author Richard Shotton in his new book on behavioural psychology and its impact on advertising and media.

In his new book, The Illusion of Choice, Shotton describes the various psychological biases (16-and-a-half, to be precise) that influence what we buy.

Reviewing the title in The Media Leader, VCCP Media's joint chief strategy officer Steve Taylor called it a page turner and an “antidote” to “a sea of increasingly ineffectual sameness” in marketing.

Shotton came on The Media Leader Podcast to discuss the book, and how knowledge of psychology can be a benefit to any media professional.

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What a year 2023 has been.

The media industry has seen the expansion of generative AI, rising interest rates impacting businesses and in some cases media investment, a tough and transitioning market for TV, the 50th anniversary of commercial radio coinciding with a burgeoning podcast market, years of "efficiency" at major tech companies, a succession plan for Rupert Murdoch, and of course, Elon Musk dominating headlines for his tumultuous ownership of Twitter.

In a special year-end episode of the podcast, host Jack Benjamin is joined by editor-in-chief Omar Oakes, reporter Ella Sagar, and guest Cass Naylor to debate the question: what was the biggest story in media this year?

Highlights:

1:55: Omar's biggest story: AI goes mainstream

10:45: Ella's biggest story: Commercial radio's Brucey bump

12:37: Out-of-home and cinema's post-pandemic comeback

22:51: Jack's biggest story: 'Contentification' — how social video is changing other mediums

30:07: TV's big streaming transition

32:25: Cass's biggest story: 'Enshittification' of the internet

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On the surface, the global ad industry appears to be in rude health. GroupM upwardly revised its This Year Next Year global ad revenue forecast for 2024 and expects it to surpass $1tn for the first time – and that’s excluding US political advertising, which itself totalled $15.1bn.

In the UK, despite uncertainty regarding the country's political and economic future, the ad market grew 8.3%, with further 7% growth now expected for 2025.

But, of course, there are numerous unpredictabilities next year, such as around how a new Donald Trump administration could impact global trade or pursue Big Tech regulation. Meanwhile, most ad growth is being driven by just five companies: Google, Meta, Amazon, ByteDance and Alibaba — suggesting a consolidation of ad revenue into fewer, bigger hands.

Kate Scott-Dawkins is GroupM's global president of business intelligence and author of the This Year Next Year report.

In conversation with Jack Benjamin, Scott-Dawkins explained that advertisers have grown accustomed to managing uncertainty over the past five years and that growth drivers such as retail media and streaming TV, as well as an influx of new AI-based startups, are likely to provide a boost to future ad spending.

"The uncertainty that advertisers are dealing with has existed and will continue to exist into next year," she said. "The advertising economy is going to continue despite that."

Scott-Dawkins will be presenting further details from This Year Next Year at The Media Leader's Future of TV Advertising Global conference in London next week.

Highlights:

2:24: Toplines: positive growth despite uncertainty

8:13: Big Tech's domination of ad revenue growth – is it healthy?

12:26: Why the UK is outperforming expectations

16:43: Volatility in the Chinese market

20:26: Opportunities and knock-on effects as sport becomes more important for TV

23:36: The importance of supporting publishing as it loses market share

27:02: Tech brands to watch as they spend on marketing to promote AI

Related articles:

Global ad industry to grow 9.5% this year as revenue flows to tech giants

OOH tops £1bn in ad revenue in 2024 so far

UK TV exports fall 2% despite strong US demand

Explained: how we should treat GroupM, IPG and Zenith adspend forecasts

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Out-of-home (OOH) advertising is the oldest form of advertising there is, and it has had a whirlwind of the past three-and-a-half years. The medium was hard hit by pandemic-era lockdowns, but has recovered quickly and now, according to the World Out of Home Organization’s Global Market Index Report, it is set to surpass $40bn in global revenue for the first time this year.

Route Research CEO Denise Turner joins host Jack Benjamin and reporter Ella Sagar to discuss the current state of the OOH market, developments in ad measurement, the viral success of fake OOH ads, and whether we've yet reached a 'new normal' when it comes to how individuals are traversing metropolitan areas.

Ella also speaks about her recent interview with Clear Channel Europe CEO Justin Cochrane, who told her the OOH company is seeking to become a US-only business.

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Omar Oakes interviews Simon Myciunka, the CEO of Bauer Media Audio UK.

Speaking at The Future of Audio & Entertainment, Myciunka discussed his first year in the job, his vision for the business, and why he believes continued innovation will be the key to radio's future success in the year radio celebrates its centenary.

Highlights

2.55: Myciunka's unconventional route to becoming a media CEO

8.13: Why he got the job and what he plans to do

14.33: Reaction to leadership changes at Global

16.37: His key challenges

19.46: Plans for Hits Radio, why merge local stations, and how to make that brand distinct

23.24: In a digital audio market, will talent routinely be bigger than radio brands?

28.14: Plans for developing Rayo, Bauer's putative rival to Global Player

32.26: Opinion on the BBC selling UK ads on podcast platforms

Links:

>> Watch this interview (Adwanted UK YouTube)

>> Our Rajar coverage (Q1 2024)

Coming up next week: Oakes and Nick Manning will discuss the ANA report into principal-based media and where it fits into wider issues with the way is media is traded globally today.

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Editor-in-chief Omar Oakes and reporters Jack Benjamin and Ella Sagar preview the Future of Media in London on 11-12 October. The trio look ahead to the big event and discuss some of the biggest stories from around the industry.

The key players in The Telegraph sale: Jack lists who has thrown their hat in the ring for The Telegraph, and why Sir Paul Marshall in particular may have a tough time juggling a bid while fending off Ofcom investigations at GB News.

Read Raymond Snoddy: "The future of Ofcom and the future of The Telegraph are at stake"

SEC's crackdown on Clear Channel: Ella talks about the recent charges filed by the US Securities Exchange Commission against outdoor company Clear Channel, why they occurred and what it means for the company.

Commercial radio's big anniversary: A series of interviews written by Ella take a look at the state of the commercial radio industry and how far it's come since the very first broadcast in 1973. She discusses some key takeaways from her discussions with News UK and Global.

Brainlabs taking on the world: Jack, who interviewed Brainlabs's global CEO Daniel Gilbert, talks about his vision for the future of the agency following a major new investment from Falfurrias Capital Partners.

Plus: The trio talk about what they're most looking forward to at The Future of Media and The Future of Gaming next week, and reveal why they're so passionate about media.

Omar's column: Why passion is the best litmus test

Next month, Global CEO Stephen Miron will officially step back from his role after 16 years at the helm of one of Britain's largest media enterprises.

When Miron joined Global as CEO in 2008, it was a £200m business with only one national radio brand. In March, he’ll leave an almost £1bn business, with numerous national radio brands, a digital ad exchange, dedicated listening app and substantial OOH footprint.

Miron will still be involved at Global as chairman, replacing former ITV and Granada CEO Lord Charles Allen, who himself will become a senior non-executive director. Former STV CEO Simon Pitts is succeeding Miron as Global’s CEO.

In an interview with The Media Leader in October, Global’s chief commercial officer Mike Gordon said: “We’re very lucky because Stephen’s not leaving the business. We have Stephen and we have Simon – it’s great to have somebody join the business with the experience that Simon’s got. No-one has a monopoly on a great idea.”

Miron sat down last autumn with The Media Leader columnist and former editor-in-chief Omar Oakes for a conversation at our Future of Media London event to reflect on his career and legacy.

“You have to know when to exit stage left,” Miron said. “It’s been the most amazing journey for 16 years, but I also think the business needs different thinking in the next 15 years.”

Highlights:

3:13: Looking back on Global's beginnings and Miron's early career path

13:54: Lessons from Associated Newspapers

18:50: Working with Ashley Tabor-King to identify growth in radio and OOH

31:02: Defining Global's unique culture and identifying and inspiring talent

Related articles:

‘Disrupt yourself before someone disrupts you’: Stephen Miron on 16 years of Global

Global commercial chief Mike Gordon: Radio has ‘grown up and adapted’

STV’s Simon Pitts to succeed Stephen Miron as Global CEO

‘A tough act to follow’: Industry reacts to Stephen Miron’s departure from Global

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David Abraham, founder and CEO of Wonderhood Studios, speaks to Omar Oakes about the future of the "big idea" in marketing, his company's approach to ad-funded programming and his view on Channel 4, the broadcaster he used to run for seven years as CEO.

Skip straight to 6:15 for the interview!

Abraham believes we still need the “big idea” and the creative agencies behind them, amid a fragmented media landscape and an increasing feeling that this industry is no longer “fun”.

In his keynote interview at The Future of Brands in April, Abraham talked of advertising that “can reach you at such a deep, emotive level that you’ll remember that core idea that surrounds that brand for the rest of your life”. So a big idea “actually creates memory structures that create brand equity over time”.

Useful links:

• Summary of Abraham's interview (our website)
• The video version of the interview (YouTube)
• Editor’s note: Let’s trust each other to get real about sponsored content (our website)
• The Future of Brands (Adwanted Events)

Email the editor! omar.oakes@uk.adwanted.com

We want to know what you think about this podcast, who we should interview, what topics we should address... everything!

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Laurence Green, the IPA's effectiveness director, speaks to Omar Oakes about the rise of media agencies submitting entries for the new IPA Effectiveness Awards, whose shortlist is published this week.

The awards, which run every two years, have seen a "dramatic" increase in media agencies submitting best-in-class advertising effectiveness work. Green discusses the reasons behind this and whether advertising and marketing are being more led by media planning and buying.

Green, who has founded ad agencies and is one of the UK's most renowned brand strategists, also discusses the state of Cannes Lions and the work showcased this year at the world's biggest advertising show.

Thanks to our production partners Trisonic for editing this episode.

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Omnicom Media Group’s head of futures Phil Rowley has recently joined The Media Leader‘s stellar list of regular columnists. His debut column argues that predictions can still be highly useful even when they’re wrong.

Rowley speaks to Omar Oakes about the science of predicting, whether predictions are getting harder and whether brands are becoming more conservative when it comes to innovation in media and marketing.

Of course there is a lot to say about what’s happening at Twitter under the rule of Elon Musk, as well as Meta’s huge investment in the “metaverse”.

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In a special edition of The Media Leader Podcast, editor-in-chief Omar Oakes and reporter Jack Benjamin report live from last week's Connected TV World Summit in London.

The pair discuss a number of topics in the world of TV that cropped up at the conference, such as the development and increasing popularity of FAST channels, the importance of TV operating systems to creating discoverability for broadcasters, and how media planners and buyers should be considering TV and the broader medium of "video" in 2024.

Also featured are snippets from throughout the day, including an interview with Sky Media' investment director Ruth Cartwright, a presentation by Wavemaker's chief strategy and planning officer Elliott Millard, and more.

Read our coverage from the event, including on how broadcasters are replacing lost linear audiences for advertisers, the future of addressable TV, and whether streaming services should be bundled on our website at themedialeader.co.uk.

Highlights:

0:37: Highlights from Day 1: new remote controls; the importance of smart TV operating systems; subscription bundling.

3:48: Sky's Ruth Cartwright on the importance of measurement and collaboration.

5:00: Retail media has come to TV.

6:31: Highlights from Day 2: How everything is "video" now.

13:40: What is and isn't working in FAST.

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Host Ella Sagar welcomes editor-in-chief Omar Oakes and reporter Jack Benjamin to examine the past week in media, including TalkTV's decision to come off linear TV, Reach's "better-than-expected" earnings and Global appointing Simon Pitts as its next CEO after Stephen Miron. 

The trio also discuss Isba's plans for spinning off Origin into a separate company, ITV selling its 50% stake in BritBox International to BBC Studios, February's box office and Apple's €1.8bn fine from the European Commission.

Highlights:

0:21: STV's Simon Pitts to become Global CEO beginning Q1 2025

3:02: Will 2024 be a Mediapalooza?

7:47: Takeaways from The Media Leader's interview with The Sun MD Ben Walmsley

10:50: The implications of TalkTV coming off linear TV

21:52: Reach's better-than-expected earnings report – is the publisher turning a corner?

29:36: Quick hits: Isba spinning off Origin; February's box office and the success of Dune: Part Two; ITV's sale of BritBox International; Apple's European Commission fine

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Digital ad platform Teads has in recent years expanded its footprint beyond its digital display roots into connected TV. And, like many digital players, it is looking to leverage AI and machine-learning tools to the benefit of clients.

Teads co-CEO Jeremy Arditi caught up with host Jack Benjamin to talk about how AI is powering creative solutions while being capable of respecting user privacy.

Speaking from Advertising Week New York, Arditi explained: “It might feel like, to a user, that they're seeing ads that are much more personalised, but that doesn't necessarily mean that the machine needs to know a whole lot of specific attributes, and private attributes, of that user."

Arditi also discussed how moving into CTV has been "organic and natural" for Teads, despite some challenges.

Read the full write-up of the interview on The Media Leader.

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Reporter Ella Sagar and deputy editor Maria Iu look at the stories that mattered most in media and advertising this week.

The pair discuss new culture secretary Lisa Nandy's in-tray, Ofcom’s ruling on BBC spin-off stations, Meta's view that news is "substitutable" and Paramount Global’s merger with Skydance Media.

Highlights

0:26: What you need to know about the new Labour government

3:54: Ofcom delays early launch of BBC Radio 2's "pop nostalgia" service

8:30: Industry reaction to Meta saying news is "substitutable"

12:15: Paramount Global and Skydance Media merger

14:30: Bundling could be "consolidation lite"

16:57: News round-up: Channel 4's chief revenue officer will depart at the end of the year; Spotify has added a comments feature for podcasts; the UK and Ireland June box office is up 7%; The Independent has been having “more than half a dozen serious conversations” with global publishers about partnerships; and latest IPA TouchPoints data showing 38% of Brits "are not coping" on their current income.

Related links

Big changes ahead in media under a new government

Ofcom delays launch of BBC Radio 2 ‘pop nostalgia’ service

Paramount ends merger saga after reaching ‘definitive’ Skydance agreement

Disney bundling found to lower churn in US

Channel 4 sales chief Veriça Djurdjevic exit: CEO’s letter to staff in full

June box office up 7%

The Independent’s CEO eyes publisher partnerships beyond BuzzFeed

Reporters Jack Benjamin and Ella Sagar look at the stories that mattered most in media and advertising this week.

The pair discuss media coverage around the Euros and Olympics, takeaways from the latest IPA Bellwether, how Labour intends to support the current BBC funding model and more.

Highlights:

00:24: Summer of Sport – Olympics and Paralympics coverage; keyword-blocking of Reach articles

8:14: IPA Bellwether shows business optimism

10:51: Labour's commitment to the BBC's licensing arrangements

15:45: News round-up: UKTV's U masterbrand; another Telegraph Media Group auction; Omnicom earnings; Taboola and Apple strike adtech deal; Euros viewing figures

Related Links:

UKTV launches U masterbrand with ‘biggest-ever’ campaign starring Cher

Channel 4 creates ‘most accessible’ sponsorship idents yet for Paralympics 2024

Half of Reach’s Euro 2024 coverage wrongly identified by brands as unsafe

Labour quietens BBC funding chatter for now as it commits to licence fee to 2027

ITVX pulls in its biggest live-stream audience for England semi-final victory

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Are managers well-equipped to wear all the different hats we ask of them in today’s workplace?

It’s a question worth considering in an era when, according to Nabs’ All Ears study, managers are increasingly being hired younger, report being undertrained and have become more responsible for the mental health of their team.

Sue Todd is the CEO of Nabs, the media and advertising industry charity focused on workplace wellness.

After joining The Media Leader Podcast last year to discuss concerns around stress and burnout, especially relating to the pitch process, Todd returns to chat about a new initiative launched by Nabs, Managers' Mindsets, that aims to offer mental health training to managers.

Todd discussed the impetus for the initiative and considered whether managers are being set up for success given what appears to be a chronic lack of time and resource available to media industry employees.

Highlights:

1:26: Why are managers undertrained and being asked to take on more responsibility?

7:55: Impacts of managers skewing younger

11:20: Structure of Nabs' Managers' Mindsets training programme

21:50: Does it all come down to money?

29:01: Advice to younger managers

Related articles:

Nabs launches manager wellness training

3 ways to create future-ready leaders

Third ad industry All In Census to launch in March

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The Media Leader's new columnist Nicola Kemp joins Omar Oakes to talk about the progress women have made in making media a more equitable career and the barriers which still remain.

Kemp, who is editorial director of Creativebrief, warns if we want to stop women from being edited out of the media industry, we must be honest about addressing burnout and "fake flexibility".

What advice does she have for women in media and what more can leaders do?

Read the first in her new monthly column: "Face the truth: women are still being edited out of the media industry"

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Columnist Nicola Kemp returns to the podcast alongside host Ella Sagar and reporter Jack Benjamin to review the past week's news in media and advertising.

In her latest column, Kemp wrote about how the hustle culture is having negative effects on us all – especially caretakers. She implored media professionals to embrace the art of saying “no” this year.

The trio discuss the column, as well as how and why ads are coming to Amazon Prime Video, plus the downturn in the TV ad market resulting in lay-offs at Channel 4.

They also touch on 2023's box office revenue figures, the post-cookie future and how publishers must innovate in response to losing traffic from social media.

Highlights:

1:13: The art of saying "no" to hustle culture creep

8:35: Context for Channel 4's lay-offs

14:00: Will Amazon Prime Video's ad tier be a success?

27:10: Publishers considering cost-cutting measures in response to reduced traffic from social

29:39: Substack's backlash

32:17: Will box office ever surpass pre-pandemic levels?

35:14: What do people need to know about cookie deprecation?

38:28: Our favourite films and TV shows of 2023

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Cookies are deprecating on Google Chrome – finally – although they aren’t going away all at once. Just 1% of Chrome users have seen the cookieless future so far, with more to come over the next year.

In response, many media agencies, media owners, publishers, adtech companies and, well, just about everyone wise in the digital media industry have been hard at work creating new advertising solutions to allow marketers to target consumers online without infringing on their privacy.

One such company is Havas Media, which earlier this month announced a relaunch of its Converged platform that can act as an AI-powered solution for transparent, cross-platform media planning.

Host Jack Benjamin sat down with Havas Media Group’s chief data and product officer, Laura Kell, to talk about Converged, life after cookies, data privacy and what she thinks of the current media agency model.

"When you look at what the cookie actually delivers, it delivers short-term media metrics to track performance against and it delivers quite short-term targeting options," Kell explained. "I don't believe these are the ways brands actually grow their business.

"You need to properly understand people, not just look at what [they're] doing online and the websites they go to."

Highlights

2:03: What advertisers need to know about where we are in the process of cookie deprecation

5:58: Do cookies deliver effective media results?

7:33: Havas' relaunch of Converged as a post-cookie product

15:35: The value of first-party data in a cookieless future

23:50: How should media agencies adapt to better fit their clients' needs?

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With more people turning to the likes of Instagram and TikTok for their entertainment, advertisers, including and especially luxury brands, have begun using influencers to help spread their brand messaging and sell their products in more ostensibly authentic ways.

Working directly with such talent can be both a big creative boon, and a headache for brands and advertisers. Influencers are regularly flagged by the Advertising Standards Authority for breaking existing codes of conduct.

That is why some more recently are turning to AI influencers, which are growing followings. One Spanish agency, The Clueless, recently used AI tools to create Aitana, a 25-year-old pink-haired "woman" from Barcelona who, according to the agency, looks real enough that an unnamed human celebrity slid into her DMs to ask her out. Aitana reportedly has netted the agency $11,000 in monthly revenue and has over 170,000 followers on Instagram.

Scott Guthrie, director general of the Influencer Marketing Trade Body, joins Jack Benjamin to talk through the opportunities and risks of developing and employing AI influencers, and also touches on the importance of professionalising the influencer market to create a sustainable growth outlook for the industry.

Drawing a distinction between influencers and other talent used in marketing, Guthrie said: "Influencers live and die by their community."

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Last week, digital advertising trade body IAB UK unveiled new research forecasting a matured digital market, a fast-growing video and retail media market, and strong potential for gaming.

It also found, based on interviews with 40 industry leaders, that the marketing funnel as we have known it may well not survive a digital future in which more media channels become shoppable and generative AI proliferates, changing how consumers seek information about products and services.

In a companion op-ed to the report, James Chandler, IAB UK's chief strategy officer, argued that not only is the future funnel-less, but that all media will soon become retail media.

Chandler joined host Jack Benjamin to elaborate on his argument and discuss how advertisers should adjust their media strategies as the consumer journey gets truncated by shoppable advertising in AV formats.

"Immediacy is going to be the biggest thing," said Chandler. "With the advent of AI and the sophistication around digital, you can go from awareness all the way through to buying something and becoming a customer in the space of seconds."

Highlights:

1:11: Takeaways from the IAB's Futurescape research

6:34: Should agencies move away from a channel-led approach to planning?

11:33: The opportunity in shoppable formats

17:32: How AI is changing consumption habits and what it means for advertisers

24:31: Is there a new heuristic that can replace the funnel?

Related articles:

The future is funnel-less — adapt your ad strategies accordingly

100 years of doing it wrong — and how to do it right

‘Full funnel measurement must accelerate’ — media priorities for Arla Foods’ Rob Edwards

4 principles to create an effective full-funnel measurement strategy

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Consultancy in some form may become part of a media practitioner's career at some point, but how does it work in reality?

Rachel Forde and Marco Bertozzi, co-founders of consultants' collective The Zoo.London, join Ella Sagar to talk about founding a company, misconceptions about consultancy and the senior brain drain in media.

For Forde, the days when consulting was seen as "something to do in-between jobs" are gone and consultants have "a really super smart way to work", focusing on projects they enjoy doing without the politics of a full-time role.

At the same time, Bertozzi believes companies choosing the right consultant is "more important than ever".

He adds: "It is a tough market. And I think that all points to the fact that companies, whether it's consultancy or full time, they're evaluating way more carefully every pound they're spending on their business. So this all ties together for us. It's like, yes, consultancy might be an easier step for them rather than hiring."

Highlights

02:41: How TheZoo.London started

06:10: How TheZoo.London is going

12:00: The rise of the fractional CMO

15:41: Misconceptions about consultancy

21:50: Advice for founders

25:05: Advice for consultants

30:31: Media needs to change its attitude to senior talent

32:53: Forde and Bertozzi's animal psychology results

35:03: Why are you passionate about media?

JC Decaux's co-CEO in the UK, Dallas Wiles, tells Omar Oakes why the outdoor media company thinks 2023 will the year of the public screen. He reveals why, contrary to what many predicted, people have not fled cities during the pandemic and we have already arrived at "the new normal".

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Last month, ITV launched two ads that were created primarily with the use of generative AI.

Made for new-to-TV small businesses Travel House and Sheepbridge Interiors, the spots feature AI-generated imagery and were created by augmenting ITV Commercial’s normal creative process by using licensed generative-AI image and video tools alongside ITV’s in-house voiceover artists.

The result received a lot of attention. ITV has billed the project as a way to democratise advertising on TV for small and medium-sized businesses that otherwise would not be able to afford high-quality creative production. But consumers and industry leaders have questioned the effectiveness of the ads and how the creative industry might be impacted by the new technology.

Jason Spencer is business development director at ITV and Alan Hall is creative production lead at ITV.

Both had a direct hand in the creation of these AI ads. They joined Jack Benjamin to discuss the creative process using AI and why they believe AI tools have a lot to offer for new-to-TV advertisers.

Highlights:

2:06: Why did ITV begin developing ads using generative AI?

4:35: How AI ads could democratise TV advertising

10:30: How effective are these ads?

16:57: Best practice for using AI to develop creative

20:56: AI versus humans

23:53: Copyright implications

Related articles:

The future of TV ads? ITV creates two spots with generative AI

Small business, big picture: What ITV’s gen-AI play tells us about thinking local

Stories that mattered this week: Origin launches – now what?

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Why are women in media leaving the jobs they love?

That is one of the questions The Media Leader has tried to tackle this year as part of our mission to promote talent in media and advertising. Issues raised this year, in our op-eds and analysis, include concerns about better flexible working, accommodating women going through menopause, and how to stop women bearing the brunt of the industry's 'missing middle' phenomenon.

As summer comes to a close and it's back to school or work for most this month, it's a good time to reflect on the many within the media industry who balance various responsibilities as well as their work. Ella Sagar sits down with two leading women who have worked agency-side and media owner-side to discuss the unique experiences and challenges faced by women in their media careers, and how the industry can and should do more to make the workplace more equitable.

Tobi Asare is managing partner and director of growth at OMD UK, and author of The Blend: How to Successfully Manage a Career and a Family.

Stefanie Daniels is founder of Life Begins at Menopause, a 20-year media careerist, and a Media Leader columnist.

“If you don’t buy in to supporting women at various different life stages, then I think you are missing a trick," commented Asare.

On the topic of the menopause, Daniels added, “For the sake of my mum, for my grandma, for my daughter, the buck stops here. We are going to change this narrative and we are going to empower these women so they absolutely can, one by one, take back control of this life stage.” 

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Columnist Nicola Kemp joins host Jack Benjamin, editor-in-chief Omar Oakes and reporter Ella Sagar to unpack earnings results from swathes of Big Tech companies, including Meta, Amazon, Google, Spotify and Snap.

The group discusses the big winners of earnings season and whether media has become too concentrated in fewer, more dominant players. As US senators ponder regulation of social media, Kemp and Oakes consider moral and business arguments for doing so.

"We have this huge existential crisis as an industry in terms of what we are actually doing to adequately police these [social media] platforms, because clearly what we're doing is not enough, particularly when it comes to the impact on children's mental health," said Kemp.

Also mentioned: TikTok and Universal Music Group's fallout; Fox, Disney and Warner Bros Discovery's new live sports streaming service; what the latest Barb figures say about streaming growth; Apple Vision Pro's upsides and downsides; and whether Super Bowl ads matter as much as they used to.

Highlights:

5:13: Disney, Fox and Warner Bros Discovery's live sport offering

7:27: Meta's impressive earnings and an "unprecedented moment" at last week's US Senate hearing

14:10: Why Snap doesn't want to be considered "social media"

18:30: Spotify's new non-exclusive podcast distribution strategy and growth in audiobooks

23:23: Is Amazon more of an advertising company than a retailer?

27:33: Does Google have a future-proof business model?

31:10: Adspend is continuing to consolidate: is this healthy for the industry?

34:50: Quick hits: Spotify takes aim at Apple; Apple Vision Pro reactions; TikTok and Universal Music Group's fallout; UK SVOD dips despite global uptick; Super Bowl Sunday.

Note: During this episode there were two mentions of United Music Group. This was supposed to be Universal Music Group. 

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What does the future of digital publishing, and in particular, digital news publishing, look like? Raymond Snoddy, the former presenter of BBC News Channel’s NewsWatch and a longtime columnist for The Media Leader, and Richard Reeves, MD of the Association of Online Publishers, join the podcast to discuss.

Digital publishing has been in a near-constant state of development and transition since it began supplanting traditional press two decades ago. But with the recent dissolution of BuzzFeed News, the bankruptcy and sale of Vice Media, and ever-quickening developments in generative artificial intelligence, today’s digital publishing leaders perhaps have their hands full now more than they ever have.

In a wide-ranging conversation, the pair spoke to Jack Benjamin talked about publishers' progress in defending their intellectual property from "scrupulous" tech vendors and large language AI models, the challenge of making hard news appealing to young people, and the importance of consumers' trust in news.

On the increasing popularity of comedic news content on short-form video platforms, Snoddy said: "The only hope for legitimate news and ultimately the survival of legitimate democracies is to keep focusing on trust, accuracy, meaning, explanation... if the world is totally dominated by the funnies, we’re all in a very serious position indeed.”

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Host Ella Sagar is joined by reporter Jack Benjamin and columnist and ex-media agency founder Nick Manning to discuss hot topics in the media industry from the past week.

The trio examine the 'Forbesgate' scandal and the trouble marketers and publishers are having over efforts to tamp down on adspend being wasted on Made-For-Advertising sites.

They also chat about March's box office figures, News Group Newspapers' latest financial results, and how publishers and influencers are experimenting with SMS to engage with audiences.

Highlights:

00:26: The row over defining what a "Made-For-Advertising" website is.

09:52: What the Forbes-MFA scandal means for the state of the digital advertising market.

23:05: Looking ahead to the Future of Brands and Future of Audio & Entertainment events.

25:30: Quick hits: March box office; Vevo's shoppable TV formats; Havas Media Network UK's "Avengers"; publishers using WhatsApp; News Group Newspapers' mixed financial results

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Reporters Jack Benjamin and Ella Sagar are back with a look at the stories that mattered most in media and advertising this week.

Highlights

00:35: ANA report on principal media

3:47: Rajar Q1 takeaways

5:54: Changes to Google and Safari search and the impact on publishers

10:01: Streaming TV bundles

13:59: Takeaways from Advertising Week Europe

16:59: Other important updates this week: mental health awareness, Channel 4 and ITV updates, Clear Channel earnings, and more.

What do you think of this new format? Contact jack.benjamin@uk.adwanted.com

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Like other social media companies, Reddit has made big changes over the past few years as it seeks to become a more attractive digital platform for advertisers. These include a redesign in 2018, changes to its API last summer and a broader focus on sharing video content. A subset of Reddit users has at times decried such changes, even as they make Reddit a more commercially viable platform.

Much like TikTok and Pinterest, Reddit is billing itself as the place for communities to form online. The old saying goes that there is pretty much a subreddit for anything you could imagine, from the Premier League to celebrity gossip to global news. That also includes unseemly topics, for which Reddit tackles using volunteer community moderation.

Reddit says it can offer opportunity for brands looking to reach audiences in ways that are often hard to find elsewhere. Gamers and tech enthusiasts, for example, go to the platform for news, product recommendations and crowd-sourced knowledge.

Paul Peterman, Reddit’s senior managing director, large customer sales, North America, joined host Jack Benjamin to discuss the future of the platform, its usefulness to advertisers attempting to reach niche communities and whether changes made to please advertisers risk alienating its existing user base.

“If traditional social media is people you know really well talking about things that you may not care that much about, then community is people that maybe you don’t know talking about things you care deeply about," said Peterman.

Highlights

3:22: Impressions of CES

5:29: Why Reddit sees itself as a "community of communities" as opposed to a more traditional social media

9:14: How should marketers target hard-to-reach audiences like gamers?

18:01: The relationship between AI and Reddit communities

20:48: Reddit's embracing of the ad community and its relationship with users

23:31: Reddit's content moderation strategy

27:10: The transitioning of social media from "me" to "we"

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Outvertising's Cass Naylor joins host Ella Sagar and reporter Jack Benjamin to dissect BBC director-general Tim Davie's big speech about the BBC's commercial future and look ahead to how media and advertising will play its part in this year's UK general election.

Highlights:

3:20: The future of the BBC's commercial activities

18:20: Which media channel will be a key 2024 election battleground?

29:20: Quick hits: why Instagram is minimising political content; Reddit's IPO; Outsmart/KPMG's sustainability in advertising study; Spotify's move into educational content; and Astrolab's plan to put ads on the moon

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We're back for Season 2 with a banger!

Advertising legend Sir John Hegarty speaks to Omar Oakes in the first of a two-part interview - the second of which will be at our Future of Brands event in London (25/26 April).

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Caroline Johnson, director and co-founder of The Business Model Company, talks to editor-in-chief Omar Oakes about why media agencies are no longer fit for purpose and need to get rid of charging models based on employees' time.

Agencies that provide media, advertising and marketing services are having to work harder than ever while hiring increasingly expensive talent to stay relevant. Johnson argues that agencies need to reposition themselves as consultants and start charging based on the outcomes they provide for advertisers, not just units of time spent working on an account.

Jack Benjamin and Omar Oakes discuss the major stories of recent weeks following a brief summer hiatus. Key stories include Google's second antitrust case in the US this year, Sir Paul Marshall's purchase of The Spectator and the dissolution of EssenceMediacomX.

Highlights:

1:32: What to know about Google's adtech antitrust trial

11:56: The Spectator sale – what's Sir Paul Marshall's aim?

15:46: X's lack of appeal to mainstream advertisers

17:49: EssenceMediacomX dissolves

19:13: TV no longer the top place for news

21:56: News Corp's activist investor

23:30: August box office boom

25:28: The importance of the TfL account to Global and JCDecaux

Related links:

CMA suggests Google has abused dominant positions in adtech

EssenceMediacomX is no more

Marketers’ trust in ads on X drops to historic low

TfL reappoints Global and JCDecaux

August box office tops £120m as summer ends on high note

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At The Future of TV Advertising Global event this week in London, there was an air of anxiety over the future of TV and whether the medium can stave off threats from Big Tech to reduce its prominence on media plans.

Editor-in-chief Omar Oakes breaks down takeaways from the event alongside reporters Ella Sagar and Jack Benjamin. The trio discuss the challenges facing the TV ad market, how Netflix and Disney+ have faired in their first year after instituting ad tiers, and why broadcasters are making a stronger effort to sell themselves to advertisers.

Oakes also asks Sagar and Benjamin about X losing over a million UK users in under six months, major job cuts at Spotify, out-of-home regaining pre-pandemic form, and the latest flurry of global adspend reports.

Highlights

1:05: Anxiety around proving TV's worth

3:00: Key talks: ITV CEO Carolyn McCall, analyst Ian Whitaker, Disney ads chief Rita Ferro, Netflix VP of ads Peter Naylor.

21:35: The most interesting things Jack and Ella heard at the conference

28:53: Peter Field's barnstorming talk on why TV investment should not just continue, but increase

34:47: Why X has lost so many UK users

36:13: Job cuts at Spotify

37:56: ITV restructuring its audience analytics and data science team

39:07: Comparing GroupM, IPG and Dentsu global adspend reports

41:55: Out-of-home is back to pre-pandemic revenues

Or, if you just fancy hearing an American try to do a Winston Churchill impression, skip to the 25-minute mark....

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Jamie Barnard, former Unilever in-house lawyer and CEO of privacy and data governance platform Compliant, joins Omar Oakes to discuss what he learned from his time at the coal face as a large global advertiser grappled with data privacy and media ethics and how he is now trying to help brands develop ethical media policies for an advertiser-funded internet.

Merry Xmas + see you in the new year for Season 2!

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Dr Grace Kite, a business economist and founder of Magic Numbers and Magic Works, joins Omar Oakes to discuss the importance of independence in media consulting, trends in effectiveness, Cannes Lions and what it takes to be a successful business founder.

Kite is one of the industry's most respected voices on what makes advertising effective and has just sold Magic Numbers to US-based tech consultancy Analytic Partners.

She says: "My experience as an independent is that the client themselves will tell you more stuff and they'll treat you more as a partner because you're not trying to sell them the next media campaign, you're not trying to steer them towards your media partners who can get you a better deal and you can get more commission on them."

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Have you ever thought about moving across the pond? Two media industry Brits that have recently made the jump over into the massive, frenetic media environment in America—more specifically, the Big Apple. They’re eager to share what they feel is different about the media industry Stateside as compared to the UK.

Wayne Blodwell is the founder and CEO of digital advertising consultancy TPA Digital, formerly known as The Programmatic Advisory, as well as a podcast host in his own right for The AdPod. His new monthly column for The Media Leader, ‘An Englishman in New York’, debuted in February. In it, Blodwell discusses the challenges and opportunities that the American media market offers.

Making her second appearance on the podcast, Amy Williams is the founder and CEO of purpose-powered ad platform Good-Loop, which she began in 2016 to help brands do charitable work at scale. Williams moved to the States earlier this year, where she hopes to grow Good-Loop.

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At the tail end of March, Digital Cinema Media (DCM), the UK’s largest cinema ad sales house, hosted its annual upfronts in the Leicester Square Odeon.

It was a way to celebrate cinema’s strong start to the year and look ahead to the 2025 and 2026 film slates, but also an opportunity for brands to consider whether to position the channel more prominently on their AV plans.

Among the presentations, new research from DCM found that cinema is well-placed to drive price premiums – that is, consumers were willing to pay on average 12% more for a brand that advertised in cinemas than if it had advertised on other media channel. It's a finding that could prove useful in an era marked by continued macroeconomic uncertainty and the desire for brands to retain pricing power.

DCM CEO Karen Stacey joined host Jack Benjamin to discuss the research and unpack what has driven the sales house's 33% revenue growth in Q1. Stacey also explored where cinema belongs on media plans today and how the channel can grow its share of adspend.

Highlights:

1:30: Stacey's career path, advice for leaders and priorities for Wacl

14:59: DCM's strong start to 2025 – what's behind the growth in revenue and cinema admissions?

24:52: The opportunity for cinema to embrace programmatic

30:45: Will box office and admissions ever get back to pre-Covid levels?

34:59: How cinema drives strong price premiums

Related articles:

Cinema drives up price premium, research suggests

Bridget Jones leads 20% growth in February box office

Are all ‘views’ created equal? With TikTok, DCM, Total Media and Mindlab

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Terry Hornsby, founder and executive vice-president of Mantis, joins Jack Benjamin to discuss how keyword blocklists remain in use by advertisers to the detriment of publishers.

Hornsby explains that blocklisting is being used irresponsibly by too many advertisers, many of which often add words to their blocklists without sufficiently checking which may be worth taking off.

These could include adding "Paris" after the 2015 terrorist attacks or "Taylor Swift" after her Vienna concert was nearly attacked, and then never remembering to take these keywords off.

The result? Publishers having much of their brand-safe work demonitised.

Hornsby also discusses why this keeps occurring and what needs to change for publishers to earn revenue on articles that brands would in fact want to advertise against.

This episode was recorded earlier this summer, before the Paris Olympic Games began.

Highlights

2:00: Why Hornsby founded Mantis

5:12: The problem with keyword-blocking

11:38: Are brands being too cautious?

19:54: The importance of contextual advertising regardless of the future of the cookie

26:41: Other brand-safety verification vendors

29:23: What needs to change?

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The Media Leader Podcast

Host Ella Sagar is joined by editor-in-chief Omar Oakes and columnist Nick Manning to discuss takeaways and announcements from the ITV Palooza, the UK's biggest commercial broadcaster's annual upfront.

The trio also talks about Manning's latest column about impact and effectiveness, and how a brand can grow through mass reach and a targeted approach.

The proliferating options with channels and technology led Manning to say: "If I were a media planner right now, I would be thinking this is the moment."

In the quick hits, they cover the biggest media news stories of the week including OpenAI's CEO, The Telegraph sale being put on hold, Meta's change in fortunes, major advertisers leaving X, whether Nigel Farage is worth a reported £1.5m for ITV's I'm A Celebrity and Amazon's deals with social media platforms.

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The newly promoted Jack Benjamin and outgoing editor-in-chief Omar Oakes discuss a flurry of updates about streaming service user numbers and how their "premium versus ad" strategies are evolving.

They also discuss MediaSense’s latest acquisition, Spotify’s latest earnings, a Newsworks study on youth news consumption habits and more. 

Highlights:

01:00: Takeaways from Barb's Establishment Survey: Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video and Paramount+

18:15: Why media consultancy MediaSense has acquired R3

20:30: Young people actually do consume news, after all – what is the industry getting wrong?

23:10: Spotify earnings: Why profits have surged despite an advertising slowdown

28:00: A dark festive period ahead for ITV?

Related articles:

Total UK SVOD subs stay flat as ad tier users grow at pace

MediaSense buys R3 as consultancy expands to US and Asia

How Spotify delivered a profitable combo despite advertising slowdown

ITV expects 6-7% ad revenue decline in golden quarter

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“You’ve got to do a different job on pricing.”

That is the core theme of the new book Madison Avenue Makeover, according to its author Michael Farmer.

Farmer, a former consultant, is also the author of Madison Avenue Manslaughter, which the Financial Times called a “damning critique of the modern advertising industry”.

His latest book, a sequel, addresses attempts by Huge CEO Mat Baxter to transform the IPG agency and restore its dynamism. But as reporter Ahmed Elkady writes in his review, the raison d’etre of Madison Avenue Makeover is to serve as the industry’s guide for what another paradigm of agency relationships could look like.

Farmer previously spoke to editor Omar Oakes in a 2022 interview in which he discussed whether the industry had made progress since Manslaughter‘s release in 2015. Now, in a new interview with The Media Leader, the strategy consultant returns to explore the themes and key takeaways of his sequel.

Elkady sat down with Farmer to speak in detail about its development and key lessons for the industry. A partial transcript of the conversation has previously been published, and now you can listen to the audio in full.

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On a panel at The Future of Media Manchester a few weeks ago, members from Stagwell agencies HarrisX and Goodstuff took the stage to unpack new research which found that advertising adjacent to quality news is brand safe — even against "hard news" subjects like war and politics.

The research undermined common concerns that advertisers express about not wanting their ads to be placed next to hard news content, which they often, wrongly it seems, deem brand unsafe.

Since then, there has been an additional study by Teads and Lumen which came to a similar conclusion.

The panel session was hosted by Ozone’s client services director Emma Cranston, and featured Alex Chizhik, chief commercial officer at HarrisX, and Paul Gayfer, planning partner at Goodstuff Communications.

“We need to recognise that blocklists are a very blunt tool," said Gayfer.

Chizhik added: “I’m hoping brands see that limiting their spend, limiting advertising based on the different stories folks can run, just leads us down a really bad path from a citizenship perspective, from a humanitarian perspective, and frankly from a business perspective.”

Highlights:

2:38: Summary of Stagwell's findings

7:09: Initial reaction from advertisers and publishers

8:56: Why are brands using keyword blocklists?

10:13: The halo effect of trust and premium inventory

14:45: Hope for change

Related articles:

Advertising adjacent to quality news content is brand-safe regardless of topic

Lessons from Manchester: Media’s industrial revolution needs you

Half of Reach’s Euro 2024 coverage wrongly identified by brands as unsafe

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As TikTok continues to develop what it says is a full-funnel advertising solution, such as through increased commerce capabilities, how it measures its advertising and drives effectiveness becomes increasingly important to marketers.

TikTok’s head of client measurement for Europe, Israel and global gaming, Steve Lockwood, joins Jack Benjamin to discuss the company's approach to measurement and how the industry needs to rethink the practice for the contemporary era.

Lockwood reveals, for example, why he has soured on last-click attribution and explains what new measurement standards need to be considered in the post-cookie future. The pair also discuss TikTok’s ongoing research into attention measurement and how the platform is working to collaborate on cross-media measurement initiatives like Project Origin in the UK.

Highlights

5:57: Why TikTok views itself as an entertainment platform more than a traditional social platform

8:21: Why last-click attribution is an outdated model for measurement and what a better model is

19:57: Where does attention measurement come into play for TikTok, given its short-form focus?

24:36: How much TikTok is like TV from a user perspective and a measurement perspective

29:05: TikTok as a true full-funnel offering

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Yannick Bolloré, CEO and chairman of Vivendi and Havas, talks to editor-in-chief Omar Oakes about the future of media, how Vivendi can compete on a global scale, what's the grand strategy behind the company's acquisitions and where Havas' new ad agency Uncommon fits in.

Speaking at our recent The Future of Media conference in London, Bolloré also answered questions about greenwashing and working for Shell as a new client and how the company has a policy around sustainability and making sure advertisers adhere to policies.

With thanks to audience questions from columnist Nick Manning, Liberty Sky Advisors' Ian Whittaker, and Pixability MD Cadi Jones.

Read a write-up of the conversation by reporter Ella Sagar here.

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Last month, concerns around brand safety and the opaque nature of programmatic advertising flared up again following a report from adtech transparency startup Adalytics, which found that a huge number of big-name brands have been accidentally placing ads on a website that hosts a great deal of child sexual abuse material (also known as CSAM).

How did this happen? Do brands actually care about brand safety? And, if they do, what steps can they take to make sure they’re supporting quality media?

Emily Roberts is head of digital at the Responsible Marketing Advisory, an independent marketing consultancy. She is also co-founder of the Women in Programmatic Network and an inaugural member of The Media Leader’s Future 100 Club.

Roberts joined host Jack Benjamin to unpack the Adalytics report and share tips on how brands can avoid supporting harmful content online.

Highlights:

6:17: Is programmatic advertising a sustainable model for publishers?

8:40: Unpacking the Adalytics report and the flaws in current brand-safety practices

19:26: What brands should do to avoid accidentally showing up against CSAM online

23:40: Brand safety on social media platforms

31:48: How the Women in Programmatic Network has reacted to DEI "sunsetting"

Related articles:

How can brands avoid advertising against CSAM?

Time to replace brand-safety paranoia with a nuanced approach

Brand safety in a Donald Trump-led world

Advertising adjacent to quality news content is brand-safe regardless of topic

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Elliott Clayton, managing director, international sales, at Epsilon, joins Omar Oakes to discuss how the data-led marketing business has fared since being acquired by Publicis Groupe five years ago and what's next.

Clayton also has strong views on what marketers should do now that Google has decided not to get rid of third-party advertising cookies on its platforms.

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The medium is the message. A well-known phrase in this industry, but how do you quantify how much that is true?

Richard Kirk, joint chief strategy officer at EssenceMediacom, sat down with Ella Sagar to unpack what this means in practice through new research into "signal strength," which Kirk explained "is very likely to be an enduring thing that does not change much."

Kirk also debunked some misconceptions about the correlation between time spent and actual cost of media with how special or trusted consumers perceive a media channel to be.

Read Kirk's corresponding Strategy Leaders column: How to map media quality for physical and mental measures

Highlights

01:04: What can we learn from God's agency brief?

04:40: Signal strength and peacocks

08:55: Four big findings

13:09: Young people much more open to suggestion of advertising

16:39: Two key ingredients for signal strength

18:51: Communicating signal strength and outcomes to clients

20:19: How to use signal strength in planning

31:38: EssenceMediacom's eight "out there" 2024 predictions

35:25: Why are you passionate about media?

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Omar Oakes and Ella Sagar prove their dedication to B2B podcasting by missing the England v Nigeria World Cup penalty shootout to record this episode with their analysis on the industry's biggest stories.

OFCOM'S MEDIA NATIONS REPORT - is broadcast media suffering from 'fragmentation' or does it really have a deeper cultural problem with more consumers preferring short-form content? Spoiler for Omar's opinion, which features in his column today.

RAJAR - did the BBC score an own goal by letting Ken Bruce walk away with Popmaster? The Rajar radio audience figures once again provided a plethora of interesting audio stories... but do we need to play closer attention to talk radio and the rise of GB News/TalkTV?

PLUS Omar and Ella reflect on Sky Media trialling ITV's self-serve ad platform, why so few people in the US are taking up ads on Netflix and Disney+, and why Omnicom is giving media owners and advertisers marks out of 100 for how sustainable they are.

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Cass Naylor, strategic advisor at Purpose Union and co-director of advocacy at Outvertising, returns to the podcast alongside host Omar Oakes and reporters Ella Sagar and Jack Benjamin to unpack 2024 predictions in media and advertising and what was said by industry leaders at The Media Leader's annual Year Ahead event.

They discuss their anxieties around AI-generated content spreading misinformation and disinformation during an election year, whether the ad market will remain strong throughout the year and why tech companies continue to lay off staff.

The quartet also touch on the latest IPA Bellwether Report, the future of Kantar Media and the runaway success of Mr Bates vs The Post Office on ITV.

A special shout-out to Ella, who featured on BBC Radio 4 this week to discuss Amazon Prime Video's new ad tier. Be sure to give her a listen.

Highlights:

10:29: Trepidation and frustration with AI-generated content

14:36: What explains recent job cuts across the tech sector?

16:37: How this year's elections and developments in AI will impact trust in media

33:00: Gerry D'Angelo and Lindsay Clay want media to rediscover its sense of creativity

35:47: IPA Bellwether's optimistic outlook for 2024

37:17: Netflix and Disney's CES announcements

38:52: Will Kantar Media be sold?

41:09: Does ITV's Mr Bates vs The Post Office prove we're underrating the power of TV?

43:52: Future 100 Club pushes for progress on DEI and talent retention

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Jack Benjamin and Omar Oakes discuss the major stories of the past week, including the proposed sale of The Observer to Tortoise Media, scenes from recent Radiocentre, Thinkbox and Who Cares? events, and product updates from Meta and Snap.

Highlights:

1:04: Guardian Media Group shares earnings and considers sale of The Observer to Tortoise

12:35: Takeaways from Radiocentre's Tuning In conference

15:53: Broadcasters express concerns over Isba's use of Barb data in Origin

19:18: Who cares about Who Cares?

22:32: Instagram's changes for teens and the age-verification problem

26:54: Snap's new Spectacles and the appeal of smart glasses

31:29: Programmatic DOOH market growth

Related links:

Guardian ad revenue plunges as it plans Observer sale

Commercial radio revenue grows 5% in H1

Who cares about advertising? Those who are willing to say ‘no’

ITV warns advertisers over Isba plan to launch Origin without Barb

Programmatic DOOH grows as advertisers move budget from other channels

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We’ve just finished one of our big London events, The Future of Audio and Entertainment, where we had some of the most influential players in commercial audio and online platforms get together to talk about the future of content, production, AI, ads, sponsorships and measurement.

If you subscribe to our YouTube channel, you’ll see that we’re also regularly publishing flash interviews from our events, via The Media Leader Live studio, and today we bring you two of those conversations by our audio reporter Ella Sagar.

The first one is with Matt Payton, CEO of commercial radio industry body Radiocentre, which launched some stark findings on the day of the event that showed if the BBC decided to introduce advertising across radio, the financial impact on commercial radio would be “devastating”, with a 36% forecast decline in revenues.

And Michael Bayston, Acast's vice-president of adtech solutions, discusses why measurement is still such a key challenge this year, both for legacy radio broadcasters and digital platforms.

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This summer, climate change-caused unseasonal weather events continued to devastate huge areas of the world, and yet, earlier this month the UK Government diluted its 2030 net zero commitments. As the climate crisis gets worse, it is more important than ever to ask what a sustainable media and advertising ecosystem looks like.

Anne Coghlan, the chief operating officer and co-founder of carbon emissions data specialist Scope3, and Hannah Mirza, the founder of The Responsible Marketing Agency, join Ella Sagar to unpack the state of sustainability efforts, media's immediate climate goals, and the ethics of advertising for fossil fuel companies.

"Purely looking at the supply chain of the execution of advertising, I think there's more opportunity to get to net zero faster," said Mirza. "I'd love to see that."

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Are audience-targeting practices too simple in an era of big data? Advertisers and their agencies tend to use demographics to target people across media channels, but perhaps that model is outdated.

Natalie Bell is CEO of MG OMD. The Omnicom media agency is coming out with new research on how community-based targeting might be a new model worth considering and she joined host Jack Benjamin to preview early findings.

As a trustee of Nabs and member of Wacl, Bell also spoke to concerns around a rollback in DEI initiatives across the media industry, led by the US market.

She discussed the ethical conundrums of striving for responsible marketing in what feels like a new era, where progress is at risk of being rolled back, and what leaders should be doing to fight for what’s right for their employees and their clients.

Highlights:

5:40: Why brands should reconsider targeting practices to focus on communities

13:17: Learnings from working on the government account during the Covid-19 era

18:50: Media agency brands aren't dead

23:38: How agency leaders are reacting to a "sunsetting" of DEI and ESG initiatives

Related articles:

ESG has become a key differentiator for the investment community

Let’s harness the power of community for mental wellness

Podcast: Why social media is all about community now – with Reddit’s Paul Peterman

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Social media gets a lot of flak. Its critics accuse platforms of causing massive negative externalities on society – everything from crumbling democracies to mental health crises gets blamed on social media.

And “social media” as a term has even become so toxic that social media companies themselves prefer to call themselves anything but “social media”. The tagline to Snapchat’s marketing campaign last year was: “Less social media. More Snapchat.” TikTok calls itself an entertainment platform.

But does social media need to be this way? Perhaps not.

WeAre8 is a challenger platform that wants to prove social media can have a positive social impact. The platform has a unique opt-in advertising experience that enables users to be paid to watch ads, with proceeds optionally donated to charities of their choosing.

The startup calls itself “The People’s Platform” – but does it have the requisite scale to attract advertisers looking for strong business results and not just a morally driven goal of spending with supposedly nicer players?

Laura Chase, WeAre8’s UK managing director, joins host Jack Benjamin to explain the app's features, commercial model and how it is working to attract investment from brands.

"We can fix big problems by watching ads," she says.

During the interview, Chase also reveals that WeAre8 is launching a voice note ad product in time for less healthy food ad restrictions.

Highlights:

5:12: WeAre8's mission to "bring the best of social" while removing "the bad bits"

9:34: Scale, product development and brand-safety efforts

15:12: WeAre8's opt-in ad model: control, effectiveness and charitable benefits

28:44: Supporting publishers and partnering The Independent on Bulletin

38:09: Moving beyond algorithmic feeds

Related articles:

‘This is for everyone’: Tim Berners-Lee is continuing his search for a benign online world

‘Positive’ platforms improve purchase intent, Pinterest says

The Fishbowl: Laura Chase, WeAre8

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On Halloween, industry wellbeing charity Nabs released the results of its All Ears consultation. The report found that more than one-third of industry professionals feel unable to discuss mental wellness in the workplace, that stress and burnout are normalised, and that those with a minority ethnic background are significantly less likely than those with a white ethnic background to see a future for themselves in media.

Nabs CEO Sue Todd and Assembly managing partner James Appleby join Jack Benjamin to examine tangible steps agencies and industry leaders can take to better the working lives of their staff.

Appleby, who also works to lead Nabs’ Fast Forward training programme, explains the challenges and positives of the pitch process, and how to handle both acute and chronic mental health challenges.

“Everyone’s got the same expectations of work and wishes of work," said Sue Todd. "People want clear boundaries between work and home. People want safe spaces to have conversations. People feel the same sorts of pressures.”

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Origin, the world-first cross-media measurement platform led by Isba, went live in September through the launch of beta trials with 35 major UK advertisers.

While advertisers in the beta trials have signalled their excitement, Origin has been received with a more tepid response by some stakeholders, particularly in TV broadcasting and at some agencies, over its inclusion of non-Media Rating Council-standard viewability measures.

Last month, The Media Leader editor-in-chief Omar Oakes sat down with Isba director-general Phil Smith at The Future of Media London conference to ask him tough questions about the future of Origin, concerns around measurement and what advertisers are making of the beta trials so far.

Smith explained: "[Critics] come from a background which is about currency measurement, where historically the real creed has been apples with apples. [They] come to this with a different set of views from those that are really hell-bent on evaluation, where what they're really looking for is richness in the data and granularity."

He added: "Change is never easy."

Highlights

2:11: What has been learned from the beta phase so far?

4:08: Why Barb hasn't bought in

10:30: Origin's perception in the market

13:42: Funding and development

Related articles

Isba’s Origin goes live with real audience data for first time

Justin Sampson: Barb and Origin must find consensus

Opinion: Origin is not a currency and won’t replace Barb

Opinion: Origin: Broadcasters are barking up the wrong tree

Lack of Origin data transparency puts broadcasters on ‘backfoot’, says Sky Media exec

Isba launches quarterly Origin Media Landscape Study

After months of it being an open secret that Facebook was looking to reduce its emphasis on news, parent company Meta announced this month it would be “deprecating” news on the platform in the UK, France, and Germany beginning in December.

While publishers likely saw this coming, it is just the latest bit of news in what has been a challenging year for the digital publishing industry.

Ozone CEO Damon Reeve joins Jack Benjamin to discuss the state of news publishing and how publishers are navigating a pivot away from relying on social media for audience growth and toward building up their own brands, as well as how advertisers can help support a transitioning industry.

The pair also speak about consumers' waning trust in news, advertisers' trust in publishers, and how outlets are working to diversify their revenue.

"If brands took an active interest in knowing where their advertising spend goes, very quickly you would see that spend gravitate towards places that are trusted and safe," said Reeve.

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A conversation about the future of TV advertising featuring executives from Sky Media, Direct Line Group, Channel 4 and Samba TV.

At our recent Future of Media Manchester event, this panel stood out for revealing key insights about how advertisers and broadcasters have made significant changes over recent years to make the most of digital tools and measurement.

Moderated by The Zoo.London co-founder Rachel Forde, the speakers were:

• Amy Taylor, head of investment, Sky Media
• Ewan Douglas, head of sales and business development, Channel 4
• Sam Taylor, head of performance marketing and CRM, Direct Line Group
• Jay Fowdar, vice-president, international customer success, Samba TV

“We’re at a tipping point where quality data will drive effective outcomes – and it’s less about the cost per unit and it’s more about outcomes.” – S Taylor

"[A]s viewing continues to fragment, linear viewing will become increasingly important to advertisers who want to secure a line with key cultural moments." — A Taylor

“You can’t measure clicks on TV, which has always been the driving factor in digital.” — Fowdar

"[TV has] become more flexible and that will continue to happen." — Douglas

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Host Jack Benjamin is joined by reporter Ella Sagar and Outvertising and Purpose Union's Cass Naylor to discuss fears of AI's ability to spread disinformation, Journalism Matters week takeaways, and the strength of the ad market as we approach the holiday season.

The trio also digs into whether recent box office figures are sustainable, the IAB's first ever brand-building campaign, and whether CEOs are entering their 'supervillain era' in mandating returns to the office.

Commenting on takeaways from last week's AI summit, Naylor said: "The most important things that came out of Bletchley were A) an identification of the problem and a mutual agreement of what the problem is among the people that matter — America, China, and the EU — all of whom are taking different speeds in their approach to this; and B) proposals for the industry to institute various forms of self-regulation, which I think is the only way we're going to keep ahead of this."

Show highlights:

1:30: The risk of AI-generated misinformation

8:31: The dangers and possibilities of tailored GPTs

15:13: Big Tech’s ‘existential threat’ to news publishers

17:45: The strength of the ad market heading into Christmas season

20:44: Growth of the holiday season and favourite Christmas ads

28:59: Rapid fire questions

29:33: IAB’s “chief digital cheerleader” brand-building campaign

31:17: Is the UK’s recent box office success sustainable post-Barbenheimer?

34:51: Clear Channel’s earnings and upfronts

36:15: Support for the media in the king’s speech

39:05: Return-to-office mandates – are CEOs entering a supervillain era?

41:54: Why is Cass passionate about media? 

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Welcome to this special four-part series of the podcast, which we've produced with Bloomberg Media. For the first time, we've recorded the podcast in a studio, so you can also watch/listen on our YouTube channel.

The Future of Marketing is a series of conversations about the essential strategies and skills needed for marketers and their teams to thrive in today's complex cross-platform ecosystem. Hosted by editor-in-chief Omar Oakes, each episode this month will bring together the buy side and sell side of media to discuss the opportunities and pitfalls in 2024 and beyond.

Episode 2: How to master the impact of insights and data tools

Omar Oakes is joined by Bloomberg Media’s Phil Robinson and Havas Media Network UK's chief planning officer, Jackie Lyons. They delve into the transformative impact of incorporating insights and data tools into your advertising strategy.

Conversation outline:

• The best ways of measuring brand perception in the market
• How marketers can craft responsive strategies that enhance their brand’s image
• What are marketers generally not doing when it comes to gaining data-driven insights and how should they improve this in 2024?
• Why it is important for marketers to be strategic leaders within their businesses and the support they need

Next week: "How to really move the needle with storytelling and engaging audiences" with Bloomberg Media's Duncan Chater and Wavemaker's Ann Wixley.

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Host Jack Benjamin is joined by reporter Ella Sagar and The Guardian’s director of clients, marketing, and research James Fleetham to discuss takeaways from The Guardian's upfronts and how publishers are looking to highlight the importance of trust as misinformation on social media platforms runs rampant.

"We've become a rarer commodity," said Fleetham. "If there's less stuff you can trust out there, the places that you can trust become more important. That's common sense to me."

Fleetham is a member of The Media Leader's Future 100 Club.

The trio also touches on media coverage of Cop28, Meta allegedly knowingly collecting data of underage users, Google selling ads on questionable sites against their own policy, and the latest intrigue over The Telegraph sale.

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The creative industries' fight to protect their intellectual property from AI companies reached a crescendo last month amid the end of a government consultation on how it should handle copyright in the age of AI. But will public pressure be enough to convince governments to maintain copyright laws and not cave to tech giants promising strong economic growth?

Alongside the wider creative industries, the publishing sector has argued that offering tech companies leniency around copyright would severely undermine existing business models for publishers and artists.

One industry leader at the forefront of the fight to protect publishers’ IP is Professional Publishers Association (PPA) CEO Sajeeda Merali.

In a conversation with Jack Benjamin, Merali explained the arguments being made by AI companies and by publishers over copyright, as well as what the government is currently considering as it weighs the desire to drive technological and economic growth while protecting its outsized creative industries from harm.

The pair also discussed how magazines are adapting to new business realities – such as those created by consumer shifts towards AI usage and away from print readership – by transitioning to multiplatform content and commercial strategies.

Highlights:

4:46: Outlining arguments by AI companies and publishers over IP protections

13:03: Where the UK government presently sits on the policy debate

17:51: What's at stake for publishers in the age of AI

25:10: Unpacking the latest ABC figures – where are publishers in the transition to digital?

Related articles:

UK creative industries call on government to ‘make it fair’ in AI era

‘End of an era for search as we know it’? Publishers grapple with gen-AI search

‘Show me the money’: Will business models be ‘redefined’ by AI agents?

---

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Are ambitious marketers suffering from a 'Steve Jobs complex'? Is Sir John Hegarty right to say that marketers and most marketing is simply "boring"? Is there any point doing "purpose" in marketing"?

These are among the key questions answered by a trio of media and advertising leaders who joined The Media Leader editor Omar Oakes to discuss the state of marketing and key themes from The Future of Brands.

Craig Tuck, chief revenue officer at Ozone, Rachel Forde, former UK CEO of media agency UM, and Chloe Davies, head of social impact at ad agency Lucky Generals, joined Oakes in front of a live audience at the Future of Brands venue in central London.

The panel discussed key learnings from the event's invite-only brand leaders' club, in which some of the UK's top brand marketers discussed their challenges and how to improve the conditions for sales and advertising, as well as key insights from Oakes' interview with advertising legend Sir John Hegarty.

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Mudit Jaju, global ecommerce lead at Wavemaker talks to reporter Ella Sagar about how the retail media ecosystem has changed since the pandemic, who does retail media really well and what new partnerships between ITV and Channel 4 and retail media partners mean for the industry.

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BARB CEO Justin Sampson discusses what's next for the UK TV measurement company as independent audience data for Netflix and Disney+ becomes available for the first time.

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What has made gaming so hard for marketers to crack?

According to Rob Gay, the CEO of gaming adtech company Venatus, agencies and brands still need to get better educated about the burgeoning medium.

Gay spoke with Jack Benjamin at our The Future of Gaming event in London last month about the different options brands have to speak to gamers, including in-game advertising, next-to-the-game advertising, and around-the-game advertising.

He would rather 'start small and do gaming advertising right' and then build up to larger budgets, as opposed to starting with a big, risky activation that could sour brands off of gaming altogether if it fails.

"If it doesn't work, we're all burnt. If one gaming advertising company burns them in mobile or burns them in console, they're burnt for gaming. [...] We need brands to trust the environment they're going into."

A write-up of the key takeaways from Gay and the rest of the Future of Gaming delegates can be read online on The Media Leader.

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Milka Privodanova, head of Europe, Middle East and Africa at Pinterest, joins Omar Oakes to talk about the next step in the picture-sharing platform's journey as it reaches nearly 500m users and progresses ecommerce deals with Amazon and Google.

Privodanova, who was known as Milka Kramer before announcing her name change in The Media Leader two years ago, is clear about how Pinterest can succeed as an ecommerce enabler while avoiding the "toxicity" that has plagued social media. She insists its user base is much wider than "housewives and mothers" and is proud of a significant Gen Z cohort that advertisers crave.

She is also candid about ad load and responds to questions about why Pinterest's shares declined in response to its recent earnings report, why the company shedded 5% of its workforce last year and, of course, why she is passionate about media.

Privodanova says: "When you look at explicit signals, which people are telling you what they like, so they're telling you what they pin, what they save, what they search for… the type of content that comes on top, it's like 'How do I make a dinner tonight for my family?', 'What do I wear?' – it's that more positive content. Throughout our history, as a company, we have had industry-leading initiatives around mental wellbeing and really preventing toxicity from coming on to the platform."

Highlights

1:46 Pinterest's Q4 earnings, digital media market trends in 2024 and partnerships with Amazon and Google

6:41 Pinterest's appeal to Gen Z and efforts to maintain a positive platform

11:54 Growing business through user retention and international markets

15:43 AI, ad load and partnerships in the digital advertising industry

21:10 Pinterest's growth, audience and advertising

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Host Jack Benjamin is joined by editor-in-chief Omar Oakes and columnist Nicola Kemp to discuss NABS' All Ears consultation results, hybrid working pressures, and the latest AA/WARC figures, which found that TV experienced a summer recession.

The trio also digs into the latest earnings results for Meta and Amazon, and gives one word for what they think about Boris Johnson's new gig as a presenter for GB News.

"There is a really big 'say-do gap, particularly in media," warns Kemp. "It's really important that we have leaders sharing thought leadership articles on mental health... but is it having an impact on the lived experiences of employees? This All Earns research suggests that no, it isn't.

"Addressing that say-do gap is so vital, because otherwise, leaders look not just out of touch, but they're in danger of gaslighting their own employees with their words."

Read Kemp's latest column: "Don't blame women for working flexibly"

Show highlights:

1:49: Mental health in the workplace, the say-do gap.

4:23: Hybrid work and its impact on mental health.

9:38: Hybrid work model's impact on mental health and communication.

15:05: Workplace flexibility and gender equality.

19:39: Why the UK TV advertising market has had a tough summer + Paramount's decision to scrap My5 as a separate BVOD service

30:04: Rugby World Cup: why is sports broadcasting not innovating?

35:15: Quick-fire round: Meta, Amazon and retail media, Boris Johnson on GB News.

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"There's so much change all the time in terms of new channels popping up, the way ID and privacy fit together and create challenges; there's just so much to constantly be on top of and ahead of."

AudienceProject's UK commercial director Martin Bentley was one of several Future of Brands conference delegates reflecting on the biggest challenges and opportunities facing the media industry in the near future.

Speaking with reporters Jack Benjamin and Ella Sagar at London conference in April, Bentley, as well as Neil Robinson, EMEA advisory for media, tech, sports, and entertainment at Salesforce, Nick Henthorn, UK VP of sales at InfoSum, and Mark Cross, engagement director at JICMAIL, also gave personal takeaways and learnings from the event.

This episode was edited by our production partner Trisonic. For more on our events, including our upcoming The Future of Media conference, check out our events portal.

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Jack Benjamin and Omar Oakes unpick the media coverage and what's in store for the industry with another Donald Trump US presidency.

They also discuss announcements from Origin and Barb, Sky’s big ad revenue miscalculation, GB News getting fined £100K by Ofcom and more.

Highlights:

01:00: Hot takes about hot takes about Trump

12:30: Why Isba's Origin is starting to produce its own research

14:30: Sky Media on the hook for underpaid ad revenue

18:15: Why Barb is launching co-viewing data for the first time on linear and VOD

20:40: Industry reactions to the budget

24:10: GB News fined – is £100,000 a fair amount?

28:15: Tech giants' earnings

Related articles:

Isba launches quarterly Origin Media Landscape Study

Sky Media’s ad blunder occurs at pain point in TV’s transition to digital

Barb to reveal TV co-viewing data for linear and streaming

‘Welcome clarity’: Ad industry reacts to Labour’s autumn budget

Ofcom issues first financial penalty to GB News for Rishi Sunak Q&A

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Flash interviews from the Croisette with media leaders — what's it really like here, what makes it worthwhile for media people looking to sell and ink deals, where are the best parties and how do you stand out?

This is an epic episode — skip to your favourite part!

Highlights:

03:10: Chris Kleinschmidt, VP, advertising, TiVo

07:45: David Jones, founder and CEO, The Brandtech Group

15:30: Louise Johnson, CEO, Fuse (Omnicom)

19:35: Chris Volmer, managing director and managing partner, MediaLink

28:20: Anne-Laure Dreyfus, TV director, Egta

33:35: Marc Guldimann, founder and CEO, Adelaide

42:48: Jake Dubbins, Conscious Advertising Network

Thanks to TiVo for sponsoring this conversation with The Media Leader! While some of our coverage is sponsored, all of it is independently created by the editorial team when one of our journalists is involved.

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Is the metaverse dead? Was it ever alive to begin with?

At last month's The Future of Gaming event in London, host Jack Benjamin took the stage alongside Shay Thompson to chat about her views on the gaming market.

Thompson is a presenter and broadcaster covering gaming, and among the most respected journalists in the UK on the subject. She has collaborated with the likes of Bafta, McLaren, Xbox, Activision, and Ubisoft, and she currently appears on the BBC Sounds podcast Press X to Continue.

In the fireside chat, the pair ran the gamut of gaming topics, talking about everything from this year’s biggest releases and how The New York Times has become a major gaming company to why Shay thinks the metaverse is “dead in the water”.

A write-up of the debate over the metaverse can be read online on The Media Leader.

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Prioritising talent and creativity should be top of the list for media leaders this year, according to attendees at The Media Leader Summit.

The Media Leader reporters Jack Benjamin and Ella Sagar bring you highlights in a special episode from their conversations with senior figures around what the top focus should be for the industry this year.

Sustainability, measurement, inclusion, consistency and trust were also discussed as key topics.

Some of the winners of The Media Leader Awards' Leader of the Year category — Patrick Affleck, CEO of Havas Media Network UK and Ireland; Thomas Bremond, senior vice-president and chief revenue officer, international, at FreeWheel; Rob Edwards, head of media and digital at Arla Foods; and Dominic Williams, chief revenue officer at Mail Metro Media — share their thoughts.

We also hear from Cath Waller, managing director of advertising at Immediate Media, and Chloë Davies, founder of It Takes A Village.

Highlights

00:53: Dominic Williams on testing new things

02:56: Patrick Affleck speaks about people and optimism

06:10: Rob Edwards discusses the importance of measurement and creativity for advertisers

08:48: Thomas Bremond's views on sustainability and building the future of TV

11:14: Chloë Davies highlights the need for the media and advertising industry to "hold the line"

14:36: Cath Waller calls for more action on trust in media

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Welcome to this special four-part series of the podcast, which we've produced with Bloomberg Media. For the first time, we've recorded the podcast in a studio, so you can also watch/listen on our YouTube channel.

The Future of Marketing is a series of conversations about the essential strategies and skills needed for marketers and their teams to thrive in today's complex cross-platform ecosystem. Hosted by editor-in-chief Omar Oakes, each episode this month will bring together the buy side and sell side of media to discuss the opportunities and pitfalls in 2024 and beyond.

Episode 3: How to really move the needle with storytelling and engaging audiences

Omar Oakes is joined by Ann Wixley, executive creative director at WPP media agency Wavemaker, and Bloomberg Media European managing director Duncan Chater. They dive into breakthrough thought-leadership solutions and building valuable custom content that promises to convey your brand's unique value proposition through the art of storytelling.

Conversation outline:

• Has the importance of "the big idea" changed in 2024 – ie. reaching people with a singular campaign message as audiences become more fragmented?
• In-house expertise available when working with media owners
• Optimal ways to work with studios and content creators
• How does the media strategy impact on the storytelling? Which one should be planned first?
• Data insights and tools that make your brand’s storytelling better

Next episode: "The magic of video: Captivating content for all seasons" with Bloomberg Media's Duncan Chater and Starcom's Dan Plant.

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Thanks, as always, to our production partners Trisonic for editing this episode and for producing this series, which was recorded at Create in London. 

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In-game advertising has proven to be a tough nut to crack for brands and marketers. But are agencies set up well to take advantage of the burgeoning possibilities in the medium?

Rhys Hancock is a technology, media and entertainment consultant who previously worked at Epic Games and, before that, co-founded metaverse studio and agency Metavision.

In a conversation with host Jack Benjamin, Hancock gives his perspective on whether agencies are well-suited to planning and buying gaming inventory.

"That separation between creative and media, I don't think can hold in gaming much longer," says Hancock.

Highlights:

7:05: Breaking down intrinsic and immersive in-game advertising options

11:20: In-game advertising campaigns that have worked well

17:06: Are agencies well-suited to executing on gaming campaigns?

25:50: The future of gaming – VR, cross-platform and cloud gaming, shoppable gaming and generative AI

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In November, a report from global advisory MediaSense found that an overwhelming majority of advertisers — three-quarters — are looking to make changes to their agency compensation model in the next three years.

A similar number of survey respondents indicated that they are seeking to better align agency compensation to business performance, however it may be defined by the brand.

According to Ryan Kangisser, chief strategy officer at MediaSense and co-author of the report, it is “unprecedented” for so many brands to want to change their compensation models at once.

Last year, Kangisser spoke on The Media Leader Podcast about how advertisers do not find the current agency model to be fit for current and future needs.

Now, he returns to discuss whether the agency remuneration model is fit for purpose and what a new outcomes-based approach could look like as a replacement in the near future.

"At the heart of this is the need for speed and agility," Kangisser said.

Highlights:

2:14: Overwhelming desire to change remuneration models

7:00: Moving to outcome-based compensation — are brands and agencies on board?

13:23: Have agencies moved to future-proof their business? "From attention to intention"

19:24: Misaligned incentives between brands and agencies

21:26: The impact of AI on fees and the future of talent and working practice

Related articles:

Three-quarters of advertisers want to change their agency compensation model

Why agencies must move from a buffet model to à la carte service

Marketers cut spend in main media as cautious approach continues

MediaSense reveals ‘biggest blocker’ to business transformation

MediaSense appoints Jamie Posnanski as global CEO

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2024 is guaranteed to be a year of change for media and advertising, with higher interest rates, more AI and general elections in the UK and the US.

What will it mean specifically for media agencies and agency networks, and what is the mood of the investment community in a world where debt is more expensive and cash becomes even more important?

Editor-in-chief Omar Oakes interviews Richard Pinder, one of advertising's most influential executives in recent times, with 30 years' experience in a number of roles across the industry and has led businesses in the UK, Asia and EMEA. He spent five of those years as chief operating officer at Publicis Groupe, where he helped then CEO Maurice Lévy expand in the US and digitally transform. Pinder has built or helped to build startups such as the ad network The House Worldwide and Universum, an employer branding company that sold to Axel Springer. He now runs Rankin Creative, the agency founded by the famous photographer.

Highlights

01:42: Economic shifts in 2024

06:41: Media consolidation and its impact on advertisers

11: 34: Ad agency value and creativity

18:54: Private equity investment

26:13: Procurement and advertising reviews

30.25: Improving the industry through better pitching processes

35.23: Why marketers create waste and inefficiency

This episode was edited by our production partner Trisonic.

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Reporters Jack Benjamin and Ella Sagar are back with a look at the stories that mattered most in media and advertising this week.

Highlights

00:28: Barb joins the Media Rating Council

3:34: GB News facing potential Ofcom sanction

8:25: Netflix upfronts

12:45: IPA survey: Ad industry "demoralised" about climate crisis

15:50: Other important updates: Comcast's streaming bundle, gaming news publisher consolidation, Bauer Media's new HQ, ThreadsDeck and more.

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Alan Rusbridger is one of Britain’s most acclaimed journalists. As editor of The Guardian for 20 years, he oversaw the outlet’s transition into the digital world and landed a Pulitzer Prize for publishing information leaked by Edward Snowdon about the US National Security Agency.

Since 2021, he has worked as editor of Prospect, a leading British current affairs magazine celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. Prospect had an exceptional year in 2024, nearly doubling its digital circulation to more than make up for losses in print circulation.

Rusbridger joins host Jack Benjamin to discuss what is driving strong growth for Prospect. The pair also weigh up the sustainability of news media business models, the differences between US and British press standards, whether social media platforms provide a net benefit to publishers and what journalism will look like in the age of AI.

"We're in a world of information chaos," Rusbridger says. "We're in a world where people don't know who to believe or what to believe, increasingly. We know there are bad players who are deliberately pumping out information that is wrong.

"You've got the most powerful man in the world actively trying to create a world in which disinformation, misinformation flourish and facts and fact-based journalism don't. And it's really frightening.

"Advertisers are part of that world. The advertisers I've spoken to are dismayed by the thought of their content swimming in this sea of garbage – I'm using a polite word – because it's not good for their brands. it's not good for trust in information."

Highlights:

2:09: What drew Rusbridger to Prospect and his editorial strategy for the magazine

8:46: Drivers of Prospect's digital growth

14:16: Can advertising models still support news media?

24:38: Journalism's messy relationship with AI

29:51: The failure of trust in news in the US and the UK

38:18: Why platforms are "good, bad and ugly"

43:49: What keeps Rusbridger up at night

Related articles:

‘End of an era for search as we know it’? Publishers grapple with gen-AI search

Stagwell out to prove business case for investing in news

Consumer ABCs 2024: 5 key takeaways

---

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Host Jack Benjamin welcomes editor-in-chief Omar Oakes and reporter Ella Sagar to examine Thinkbox's new members, headlines from the consumer ABCs and what is happening with GB News and Ofcom.

The group also discusses why every media channel should have a Clearcast, BuzzFeed exploring a licensing deal with The Independent and Apple's potential fine from the European Commission. 

Highlights:

3.47: BuzzFeed's licensing deal with The Independent

8.05: Thinkbox's new members – Amazon, Disney, Netflix, Vevo and Warner Bros Discovery

17:41: What is happening in magazine publishing? Headlines from PAMCo and consumer ABCs

26:13: Quick hits: Apple's potential fine from European Commission, RedBird IMI acquires All3Media, Ofcom opens new investigation into GB News and Global's Capital Breakfast gets a new presenter.

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Editor-in-chief Omar Oakes, deputy editor Maria Iu and reporter Jack Benjamin look back on their time at the 2024 Cannes Lions, from the application of "meaningful" AI to the dominance of adtech, from media owner activity to Media Lion winners.

Highlights:

00:45: Impressions of the 2024 Cannes Lions

4:28: Media owner activity at the event – Amazon, Meta, Reddit, TikTok, Pinterest, Netflix — and what they're trying to sell to the global advertising community

13:20: The Media Lion Grand Prix and other award-winning work

20:03: Key learnings from the week – sustainability, the value of pacing yourself, the rise of the creator economy, cookies, bringing people into the tent amid a tough market

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