Each December, GroupM, the investment arm of WPP, releases its annual This Year Next Year report. The report highlights an all-encompassing view of the global ad market, summarizing both the past year, and looking forward to what we can expect from the next year and over the next five years. This year’s report estimated global ad revenue growth to be 5.8% to total $889bn. GroupM anticipates next year will see a slight deceleration to 5.3%. Kate Scott-Dawkins, the author of the report and GroupM’...
Dec 04, 2023•27 min•Season 3Ep. 37
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...
Nov 30, 2023•40 min•Season 3Ep. 36
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 exc...
Nov 27, 2023•43 min•Season 3Ep. 35
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 b...
Nov 22, 2023•45 min•Season 3Ep. 34
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' ...
Nov 16, 2023•14 min•Season 3Ep. 33
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 Benj...
Nov 13, 2023•48 min•Season 3Ep. 32
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 ...
Nov 09, 2023•44 min•Season 3Ep. 31
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...
Nov 06, 2023•16 min•Season 3Ep. 30
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 im...
Nov 01, 2023•43 min•Season 3Ep. 29
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 adve...
Oct 30, 2023•35 min•Season 3Ep. 28
Host Jack Benjamin and is joined by reporter Ella Sagar and editor-in-chief Omar Oakes to discuss this quarter's Rajar figures and how podcasts are not just an audio format anymore. So if podcasts aren't just audio, why are we still calling them "podcasts," asked Oakes. The trio also talks about the latest earnings results for Spotify, Netflix, and the major media agency holding companies, as well as argue why advertising on streaming video platforms like Netflix and YouTube makes for such a bad...
Oct 26, 2023•43 min•Season 3Ep. 27
"The Duracell bunny" of advertising — that’s how ITV describes peak time TV spots, because, they say, their benefit keeps going and going. ITV and media investment analysts ViewersLogic have published a cross-market study that proves the value of peak airtime of responsive advertising. They say that peak TV spots deliver direct responses in the short term, but their hidden value is in their longevity, generating responses long after other TV spots advertising have finished working. To explain wh...
Oct 23, 2023•27 min•Season 3Ep. 26
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...
Oct 19, 2023•23 min•Season 3Ep. 25
Host Jack Benjamin is joined by reporter Ella Sagar and editor-in-chief Omar Oakes to unpack the key takeaways from last week's The Future of Media and The Future of Gaming events in London. The trio also discuss how the Israel-Hamas war has caused trouble for social media companies and the BBC alike. Read Raymond Snoddy's latest column: "BBC’s rigidity over ‘the T word’ is damaging its reputation" Show highlights: 1.58 Key takeaways from The Future of Media - how can we measure the full "impact...
Oct 18, 2023•52 min•Season 3Ep. 24
Ahead of the online video giant's YouTube Festival event to woo UK advertisers this week, Kevin Allocca tells editor-in-chief Omar Oakes why being 'viral' is less important and how the rise of TikTok and changing attitudes to online video have impacted YouTube's strategy. Allocca and Oakes also discuss why YouTube's research claims more than half of YouTube viewers are happy to watch ads attached to content of favourite creators in order to support them, and why 42% of viewers in the UK say that...
Oct 10, 2023•31 min•Season 3Ep. 23
Over the past year, The Media Leader has been championing three key issues facing the media industry: declining trust in media, sustainability, and the talent crisis. Those issues have frequently been discussed in this podcast and our coverage this year. At last October’s The Future of Media conference, we held a debate on what we should champion and those were the topics chosen by the audience . And in just a few days at The Future of Media this year, it's time to debate the most important aspe...
Oct 05, 2023•44 min•Season 3Ep. 22
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 ...
Oct 04, 2023•43 min•Season 3Ep. 21
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, joi...
Sep 27, 2023•45 min•Season 3Ep. 20
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 navigat...
Sep 20, 2023•38 min•Season 3Ep. 19
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 ...
Sep 13, 2023•47 min•Season 3Ep. 18
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 ...
Sep 06, 2023•43 min•Season 3Ep. 17
Jack Benjamin and Ella Sagar are missing the holidaying Omar Oakes but are nevertheless back on the podcast this week to analyse some of the industry’s biggest stories. The rise of fake out-of-home: The pair discuss the rise and implications fake out-of-home ads , in particular talking through Gymbox's recent fake bus top out-of-home campaign and press release . They ponder if mocked-up billboards will become more common not just for brands but bad actors, including in politics. Negotiating The ...
Sep 04, 2023•47 min•Season 3Ep. 16
Brands are still coming to terms with how to market to gamers, a number of brand strategists have highlighted on The Media Leader in recent weeks. And this is despite several years of work by ad professionals trying to crack the gaming market. With an audience of over 3 billion worldwide, gaming has developed over the past few decades into one of the most-loved and most-lucrative forms of entertainment, and brands want in on the action, hoping to reach audiences they often struggle to find elsew...
Aug 30, 2023•50 min•Season 3Ep. 15
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 ma...
Aug 23, 2023•50 min•Season 3Ep. 14
2023 has seen a startling spike in anti-queer rhetoric and misinformation around the world and brands have been caught up in the culture war. Earlier this year, Bud Light was victim of a right-wing boycott for a partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney, and Target received a high-profile onslaught of threats against staff for offering Pride products during the month of June. Both companies responded by capitulating to pressure. Cass Naylor is co-director of advocacy at Outvertising...
Aug 16, 2023•51 min•Season 3Ep. 13
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 mar...
Aug 14, 2023•35 min•Season 3Ep. 12
2023 has been touted as the year of retail media. Between Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury's, Lidl, Boots, Target, Kroger, Uber, Deliveroo, Revolut, and Walmart, retailers have been jumping at the chance to expand their media footprints. But what should retail media’s space be on the media plan? Kiessé Lamour, Wunderman Thompson's global head of media, commerce, and Simon Akers, founder of marketing consultancy Archmon, join host and reporter Ella Sagar to future of retail media, including why Lamour and ...
Aug 09, 2023•40 min•Season 3Ep. 11
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 K...
Aug 07, 2023•37 min•Season 3Ep. 10
Commercial radio superseded the BBC in share of radio listening in the past year, and in tandem with the growing popularity of podcasts, audio is having a moment. Radiocentre CEO Matt Payton joins lead audio reporter Ella Sagar and host Jack Benjamin to discuss the past, present and future of the medium. The trio discuss the post-pandemic ascendancy of commercial radio, the need to innovate audio measurement tools and standards, and hurdles and opportunities in getting the upcoming Media Bill pa...
Aug 02, 2023•46 min•Season 3Ep. 9
Google's EMEA president Matt Brittin spoke to Omar Oakes at the recent Cannes Lions advertising festival to discuss how the online advertising and media behemoth is approaching AI and how it's being discussed with advertisers, publishers and media agencies. Plus: ever wondered what it takes to become a senior exec at a massive tech company? Brittin's background and career journey may surprise you. The Media Leader Podcast's production partner is Trisonic. --- Visit The Media Leader for the most ...
Jul 27, 2023•21 min•Season 3Ep. 8
