The Media Leader Podcast

Andrew Cole, board member of Liberty Global and one of the original backers of GB News, talks to Omar Oakes about shaking up the status quo of TV measurement and trading.Cole's new venture, Digital Audience Data, seeks to get all major telecoms operators in advanced economies to jointly share data for a "more accurate" TV measurement system than legacy ones such as those operated by Barb and Kantar Media in the UK.He also talks about his track record working with Steve Jobs and Apple on the iPhone's launch and how his career has been built on "disrupting" legacy systems.And, amid rumours of GB News following in TalkTV's footsteps by going online only, Cole answers questions about the rationale for launching the channel in 2021 – a move that attracted calls for an advertiser boycott before it began programming.Further reading:UK telcos plot audience measurement and ad sales platformTelcos can transform the UK ad industry for the better---Thanks to our production partners Trisonic for editing this episode.--> Discover how Trisonic can elevate your brand and expand your business by connecting with your ideal audience---Visit The Media Leader for the most authoritative news analysis and comment on what's happening in commercial media. LinkedIn: The Media LeaderYouTube: The Media Leader

Omar Oakes and Maria Iu digest the big stories of the week and Les Binet talks to The Media Leader about why he's created an AI version of himself. Binet, group head of effectiveness at Adam & Eve/DDB and a renowned ad authority, talk to Oakes at Cannes Lions about his long history with AI, his Cannes diary and his battle against the industry's "shiny object" syndrome.Highlights:2:30: What will change in media and advertising under Labour?7:20: What analysts are saying about the economy under Labour10:00: Commissions from Netflix and Amazon are up – confidence returning to TV?12:30: Fox launches Tubi in the UK – is the market saturated?15:10: London's most attention-grabbing bus shelters – where and why?16:45: What to do about election leaflets posing as fake newspapers20:00: Les Binet interview---Visit The Media Leader for the most authoritative news analysis and comment on what's happening in commercial media. LinkedIn: The Media LeaderYouTube: The Media Leader

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.Highlights00:53: Dominic Williams on testing new things02:56: Patrick Affleck speaks about people and optimism06:10: Rob Edwards discusses the importance of measurement and creativity for advertisers08:48: Thomas Bremond's views on sustainability and building the future of TV11:14: 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---Visit The Media Leader for the most authoritative news analysis and comment on what's happening in commercial media. LinkedIn: The Media LeaderYouTube: The Media Leader

Reporters Jack Benjamin and Ella Sagar are back with a look at the stories that mattered most in media and advertising this week.The duo unpack The Media Leader Awards, which saw Mail Metro Media awarded four gongs, including a Grand Prix for chief revenue officer Dominic Williams. They also discuss the importance of media in the run-up to next week's general election and the EU's potential action against Apple under the Digital Markets Act.Highlights:00:26: The Media Leader Awards and Mail Metro Media's aggressive AV strategy5:11: General election run-up – whether fact-based political ads can be regulated, plus the importance of social media to this year's campaigns14:57: Apple found in breach of the Digital Markets Act17:40: News round-up: European Programmatic TV Initiative, UN framework for tackling misinformation and disinformation, contingency plans for the US TikTok ban, Bauer's Rayo app and Telegraph Media Group lossVisit The Media Leader for the most authoritative news analysis and comment on what's happening in commercial media. LinkedIn: The Media LeaderYouTube: The Media Leader

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, TiVo07:45: David Jones, founder and CEO, The Brandtech Group15:30: Louise Johnson, CEO, Fuse (Omnicom)19:35: Chris Volmer, managing director and managing partner, MediaLink28:20: Anne-Laure Dreyfus, TV director, Egta33:35: Marc Guldimann, founder and CEO, Adelaide42:48: Jake Dubbins, Conscious Advertising NetworkThanks 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. ---Visit The Media Leader for the most authoritative news analysis and comment on what's happening in commercial media. LinkedIn: The Media LeaderYouTube: The Media Leader

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 Lions4:28: Media owner activity at the event – Amazon, Meta, Reddit, TikTok, Pinterest, Netflix — and what they're trying to sell to the global advertising community13:20: The Media Lion Grand Prix and other award-winning work20:03: 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---Visit The Media Leader for the most authoritative news analysis and comment on what's happening in commercial media. LinkedIn: The Media LeaderYouTube: The Media Leader

It's Cannes Lions this week, so we've brought you a special debate about the future of bringing creativity and media planning together in advertising, featuring senior decision-makers at major brands and one of the UK's foremost media strategy consultants:>> Olya Dyachuk, global media and data director, Heineken>> Sebastien Bourne, head of media for north-west and central Europe, HP>> Sally Weavers, co-founder, Craft MediaOmar Oakes asks them about how media and creative should reconcile in an industry where audiences are becoming more fragmented across digital media: how does "the big idea" get sold to advertisers when audiences are seeing different messages at different times? Recorded at The Future of Brands in April.Stand by in the coming days for what the media vibes are from Cannes Lions as The Media Leader sends its biggest contingent of journalists to the festival this year – Omar's intro sets out what you can expect from us and why you should remember Cannes' "dirty secret"…Who should we interview next? We're open to requests! Email omar.oakes@uk.adwanted.com---Visit The Media Leader for the most authoritative news analysis and comment on what's happening in commercial media. LinkedIn: The Media LeaderYouTube: The Media Leader

Reporters Jack Benjamin and Ella Sagar are back with a look at the stories that mattered most in media and advertising this week.The pair discuss how growth in the Chinese ad market has driven upward revisions in GroupM's mid-year ad forecasts, the industry's response to António Guterres' call for a global fossil-fuel ad ban and what Apple's WWDC announcements mean for publishers.Highlights:1:00: Unpacking GroupM's latest adspend report5:02: UN urges fossil-fuel ad ban to muted industry response9:20: OOH surpasses 5% market share threshold12:20: Apple WWDC AI announcements16:35: News round-up: BFI Imax anniversary, May box office, Bauer podcasts, Paramount's Skydance talks and BeReal acquisition

Where has the joy gone in digital advertising? And how can we get it back? James Chandler, chief marketing officer at the IAB, thinks that while the start of the digital scene was "an incredibly exciting space", the feeling of "joy and magic dissipated" somewhere along the way.In a study with advertisers, the IAB found that this came down to two things: "unease" about the pace of change and a feeling of "futility mainly around creativity", where advertisers do not feel "they have got much agency" in a world of algorithms and AI.Indeed, as Chandler acknowledges, in a seven-year career at the IAB, there have been "big moments" including brand safety, fraud and ad-blocking – all of which have had "advertisers questioning the integrity of the performance of digital".So the focus should be on getting people to "rediscover" joy, fun and creativity in digital advertising.Chandler joins Ella Sagar to discuss joy in digital advertising and highlights sessions from the recent Engage conference, including talks from former UK MD for Twitter Dara Nasr and EssenceMediacom's Geoff de Burca and Lindsey Jordan. Highlights03:32: Why joy in advertising is so important and where it has gone 07:15: What would a two-tier dystopian internet look like?11.56: A rallying cry for creativity from EssenceMediacom strategy chief Geoff de Burca 12.38: Former Twitter UK MD Dara Nasr on making the internet fun 15:58: Holding a mirror up to society 19.47: Key takeaways from IAB Engage

Reporters Jack Benjamin and Ella Sagar are back with a look at the stories that mattered most in media and advertising this week.The duo discuss what the pre-election period means for held-up government adspend, recent M&A activity by MediaSense and Mediaplus, and why the Evening Standard has fallen on troubled times.Highlights:0:40: How much government adspend has been put on hold during the pre-election period4:39: MediaSense acquires PwC's media advisory6:36: Indie merger: Total Media and Mediaplus9:50: Why the Evening Standard dropped its daily edition12:28: Takeaways from IAB Engage14:25: The AA's new report on trust16:30: News round-up: Election debate overnights, new leadership at Ocean Outdoor, plus The Washington Post, X's adult content and Netflix's gaming additions