The Media Leader Podcast

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 content14:36: What explains recent job cuts across the tech sector?16:37: How this year's elections and developments in AI will impact trust in media33:00: Gerry D'Angelo and Lindsay Clay want media to rediscover its sense of creativity35:47: IPA Bellwether's optimistic outlook for 202437:17: Netflix and Disney's CES announcements38:52: 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---Visit The Media Leader for the most authoritative news analysis and comment on what's happening in commercial media. LinkedIn: The Media LeaderThreads: @TheMediaLeaderTwitter: @TheMediaLeader YouTube: The Media Leader

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."Highlights2:03: What advertisers need to know about where we are in the process of cookie deprecation5:58: Do cookies deliver effective media results?7:33: Havas' relaunch of Converged as a post-cookie product15:35: The value of first-party data in a cookieless future23:50: How should media agencies adapt to better fit their clients' needs?---Visit The Media Leader for the most authoritative news analysis and comment on what's happening in commercial media. LinkedIn: The Media LeaderThreads: @TheMediaLeaderTwitter: @TheMediaLeader YouTube: The Media Leader

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 creep8:35: Context for Channel 4's lay-offs14:00: Will Amazon Prime Video's ad tier be a success?27:10: Publishers considering cost-cutting measures in response to reduced traffic from social29:39: Substack's backlash32:17: 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---Visit The Media Leader for the most authoritative news analysis and comment on what's happening in commercial media. LinkedIn: The Media LeaderThreads: @TheMediaLeaderTwitter: @TheMediaLeader YouTube: The Media Leader

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.Highlights01:42: Economic shifts in 202406:41: Media consolidation and its impact on advertisers11: 34: Ad agency value and creativity18:54: Private equity investment26:13: Procurement and advertising reviews30.25: Improving the industry through better pitching processes35.23: Why marketers create waste and inefficiencyThis episode was edited by our production partner Trisonic.---Visit The Media Leader for the most authoritative news analysis and comment on what's happening in commercial media. LinkedIn: The Media LeaderThreads: @TheMediaLeaderTwitter: @TheMediaLeader YouTube: The Media Leader

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 highlights2.07: A mystery guest!5.20: Warner Bros Discovery - Paramount merger talks14.57: New York Times sues OpenAI23.11: Elon Musk and Twitter's valuation drop25.08: Predictions for the year ahead---Visit The Media Leader for the most authoritative news analysis and comment on what's happening in commercial media. LinkedIn: The Media LeaderThreads: @TheMediaLeaderTwitter: @TheMediaLeader YouTube: The Media Leader

2024 is set to be another big year for large media agencies with many major global and UK accounts set to be reviewed by advertisers.But only one in 10 (11%) major multinational brands believe the current agency model fits their future needs.Even worse than that, one in four big brand marketers believe the current agency model is “unfit for future purpose”.Those are the tough findings from the World Federation of Advertisers and the consultancy MediaSense, whose Future of Media Agency Models report in October called for a new breed of agile, specialist, tech-focussed agencies to add value to a more centralised model”. So what have we learned since then? What has been the reaction to the report and what should needs to improve in 2024 between media agencies and the brand advertisers that employ them?Joining Omar Oakes to talk about why so many marketers seem to have a problem with the way they hire and work with agencies is Ryan Kangisser, director and practice lead, models, at MediaSense.The study found that while nearly all (92%) of the brands surveyed believe speed and agility are important, just 31% are satisfied with how their agency delivers in this area, creating a gap of 61 percentage points.”This episode was edited by our production partner Trisonic.---Visit The Media Leader for the most authoritative news analysis and comment on what's happening in commercial media. LinkedIn: The Media LeaderThreads: @TheMediaLeaderTwitter: @TheMediaLeader YouTube: The Media Leader

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.---Visit The Media Leader for the most authoritative news analysis and comment on what's happening in commercial media. LinkedIn: The Media LeaderThreads: @TheMediaLeaderTwitter: @TheMediaLeader YouTube: The Media Leader

How hard is it for a traditional broadcaster to build a streaming service?“It’s a really easy thing to say, it’s quite a hard thing to deliver," ITV CEO Dame Carolyn McCall told editor-in-chief Omar Oakes at The Future of TV Advertising Global in London earlier this month.McCall reflected on the launch of ITVX, ITV's ad-supported streaming service, one year after its launch, and discussed what's next for the broadcaster as it seeks a more global footprint.ITVX now has 40 million registered users and has racked up 2.5 billion streams.A full write-up of McCall's interview can also be read on The Media Leader.---Visit The Media Leader for the most authoritative news analysis and comment on what's happening in commercial media. LinkedIn: The Media LeaderThreads: @TheMediaLeaderTwitter: @TheMediaLeader YouTube: The Media Leader

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 mainstream10:45: Ella's biggest story: Commercial radio's Brucey bump12:37: Out-of-home and cinema's post-pandemic comeback22:51: Jack's biggest story: 'Contentification' — how social video is changing other mediums30:07: TV's big streaming transition32:25: Cass's biggest story: 'Enshittification' of the internet---Visit The Media Leader for the most authoritative news analysis and comment on what's happening in commercial media. LinkedIn: The Media LeaderThreads: @TheMediaLeaderTwitter: @TheMediaLeader YouTube: The Media Leader

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."---This episode was edited by our production partner Trisonic.Visit The Media Leader for the most authoritative news analysis and comment on what's happening in commercial media. LinkedIn: The Media LeaderThreads: @TheMediaLeaderTwitter: @TheMediaLeader YouTube: The Media Leader