The Media Leader Podcast

At last month's The Year Ahead 2024 event in London, media's current and future leaders convened to discuss what is likely to happen in 2024 and what they would like to happen over the course of the year.Editor-in-chief Omar Oakes and reporter Ella Sagar were on the scene to interview a number of delegates. One key question they asked was: if you could wave a magic wand, what would you do to improve the media industry in the year ahead?Responses varied greatly. Some called for a creativity renaissance, while others warned of the need to be better on sustainability and DEI practices.Interviewees included: TikTok UK general manager Kris Boger; UM London CEO Kara Osborne; Clear Channel UK managing director Richard Bon; Newsworks insight director Heather Dansie; Pearl & Dean group senior operations and business analyst Charlene Williams; Initiative chief digital officer Lauren Ogúndèkó; and Acast managing director, international, Megan Davies.---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

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 measuresHighlights01:04: What can we learn from God's agency brief?04:40: Signal strength and peacocks08:55: Four big findings13:09: Young people much more open to suggestion of advertising16:39: Two key ingredients for signal strength18:51: Communicating signal strength and outcomes to clients20:19: How to use signal strength in planning31:38: EssenceMediacom's eight "out there" 2024 predictions35:25: Why are you passionate about media?---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 Nick Manning returns to the podcast alongside host Ella Sagar, editor-in-chief Omar Oakes and reporter Jack Benjamin to discuss the latest results from Netflix and why Omnicom's recent acquisition of Flywheel reflects the increasing importance of digital commerce and retail media.The group also looks at a number of recent industry reports, including last month's US Association of National Advertisers programmatic study, last week's IPA Bellwether Report and, out this week, the Advertising Association/Warc Expenditure Report and the IPA Agency Census.Highlights:0:40: Why Omnicom's acquisition of Flywheel could change the face of adland6:32: Is marketing a "bellwether" sector any more?12:29: Netflix's financials: where is growth coming from?21:36: ANA programmatic study shows staggering digital waste34:35: IPA Agency Census – nothing to write home about37:36: S4 Capital lowers forecasts38:50: BBC Mid-Term Review – reports of lack of trust in the organisation are overblown---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

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.Highlights3:22: Impressions of CES5:29: Why Reddit sees itself as a "community of communities" as opposed to a more traditional social media9:14: How should marketers target hard-to-reach audiences like gamers?18:01: The relationship between AI and Reddit communities20:48: Reddit's embracing of the ad community and its relationship with users23:31: Reddit's content moderation strategy27:10: The transitioning of social media from "me" to "we"---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

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