100% Media Roundup: 6 June- 10 June
This is a daily digest of news stories from around the media world, updated by The Media Leader team, to ensure you’re 100% up-to-date.
Friday, 10 June
NABS’ Stranger Than Summer fundraising gala raises £100k
NABS’ annual Stranger Than Summer fundraising gala raised £100k in support of wellbeing of advertising and media industry employees.
The gala was the first in three years due to the pandemic and the first to be held under the new leadership of CEO Sue Todd.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, NABS has experienced a £1.75m loss in income despite seeing a 23% surge in demand for its various support services.
Read more on NABS:
NABS: mental health crisis worsens in advertising and media
Brixton Finishing School launches paid internship programme with R/GA London
The Brixton Finishing School and agency R/GA London have launched an internship programme aimed at helping talent from underrepresented backgrounds start and develop their careers.
The eight-week paid programme is called R/GA Futures and will focus on building careers in visual design, story design and experience design.
Bud Light creative account up for review with ‘five accounts pitching’
Anheuser-Busch light beer brand Bud Light’s account was up for review earlier this week, and five agencies have begun competing for the account, according to a report from Ad Age.
The interested agencies include Anomaly, Johannes Leonardo, Gut, WPP’s Cavalry, and the Martin Agency.
Previous account holder Wieden+Kennedy, who won the account in 2015, declined to participate in the review process.
Dentsu UK & Ireland introduces emergency carers policy
Dentsu UK & Ireland has announced a new dedicated emergency carers policy, coinciding with Carers Week this week.
The new policy gives UK employees who have caring responsibilities up to two weeks paid leave a year on top of their annual leave in recognition of the fact these employees can face unexpected emergencies or challenges in their caregiving roles.
The carers policy also gives guidance to line managers to help their team members who carry out unpaid care on a regular basis and offers emotional and practical support within Dentsu and through external resources.
Two CNN Digital executives to depart this month
CNN Digital interim chief Alex MacCallum and CNN Digital chief technology officer Robyn Peterson both announced they would be leaving the news organization by the end of the month.
The announcement was made by new CNN CEO Chris Licht, who named SVP of global video, CNN Digital Wendy Brundige the new interim head of CNN Digital.
The resignations continue a trend of top-level staffers departing from CNN following parent company Warner Media’s merger with Discovery – CNN Digital editor-in-chief Meredith Artley also announced she was exiting in May.
Disney fires top TV content exec Peter Rice
Disney CEO Bob Chapek has fired Peter Rice, chairman of Disney’s general entertainment content, according to reports.
Dana Walden, previously TV entertainment chair under Rice, has been announced as his replacement.
Thursday, 9 June
Prostate Cancer UK launches ‘Ode to Dads’ campaign for Father’s Day
Prostate Cancer UK has launched a multimedia campaign as “a love letter” to Dads ahead of Father’s Day this year which also serves as a reminder of how people would miss them if they were not around.
There will be film and TikTok activations from 7 June, and then activations running for two weeks across TV, social channels, radio and OOH with digital out-of-home and out-of-home sites in major UK cities coordinated by Clear Channel, JACk, part of BUIDHOLLYWOOD, CityLights and Open Media from 9 June.
An edited 90-second TV spot which will air on 19 June on Channel 4 during Celebrity Gogglebox set to a cover version of ‘She’s the One’.
The campaign’s principal aims are to raise awareness about the disease, fundraise for research to help with earlier diagnoses that could save lives and prompt viewers to visit www.prostatecanceruk.org/fathersday.
The “Ode to Dads” is specifically targeted at an audience of people with fathers over 50 years old who may find themselves worrying about their parent’s health.
Research by Prostate Cancer UK found more than 11,500 men die from prostate cancer each year, with more than 30 men estimated to die this Father’s Day alone.
The media agency was the7stars and creative was by BBH.
Channel 4 and Lucozade Alert launch branded content comedy series
Channel 4 and Lucozade have launched a short-form immersive game show comedy series, Razor Sharp, to promote the new stimulant drink, Lucozade Alert.
In the five-part series, comedians and celebrities including Remi Burgz, Abi Clarke, Joel Dommett, Toussaint Douglass, Nick Helm, Guz Khan, Olga Koch, Lady Leshurr, Scarlett Moffatt and Katherine Ryan will be blind-folded and driven to a mystery location where they will be put in real-world scenarios they have to react to in real-time.
The series will be shown across Channel 4’s YouTube channels with shorter edits released on Channel 4 and Lucozade Alert’s Facebook and Instagram accounts. There will also be an edit appearing as a linear TV ad which will premier during Celebrity Gogglebox on 10 June and then air across the broadcaster’s other channels.
Lucozade’s media agency is MediaCom’s Creative Systems division, creative was by Adam&eveDDB, and production by Interstellar TV.
Belazu appoints Bountiful Cow to handle UK media planning and buying
Bountiful Cow has won a competitive pitch to handle premium food company Belazu’s UK media planning and buying account.
The independent media agency takes over the account from incumbent December 19 and will be responsible for the brand’s relaunch and fully integrated media strategy.
The pitch process was handled inhouse by Belazu, which specialises in Mediterranean and North African cooking ingredients.
Asian Media Group joins Ozone Project stable
The Ozone Project, the digital advertising platform for publishers, has announced a new partnership with Asian Times and Eastern Eye parent Asian Media Group.
This new relationship will see the group’s consumer websites become part of Ozone’s media portfolio, while at the same time using Ozone’s unique publisher-built technology and expertise to grow its digital revenues.
Global launches NFT collection for Capital’s Summertime Ball
Global is partnering with green NFT platform OneOf to release an NFT collection to celebrate the Sunday return of Capital’s Summertime Ball, the first since before the Covid pandemic.
The NFT collection will be the first time a UK radio brand has released a digital collectible.
The collection will allow music fans to purchase unique digital memorabilia from the Ball, such a digital lanyard featuring the official lineup.
Limited edition NFTs release today.
Read more on NFTs:
NFTs revisited: how brands should proceed during the decline
Elton John AIDS foundation launches LGBT-QR code campaign across Europe
The Elton John AIDS Foundation has turned digital out-of-home sites (DOOH) across the UK and Europe into donation points for Pride Month.
Out-of-home specialist, Clear Channel UK, and creative agency, Ogilvy UK, have altered images of Sir Elton John to include “LGBT-QR codes” (pictured- below) to allow passers-by to instantly donate to the foundation.
The campaign will be shown across thousands of DOOH sites in major European cities and along Pride march routes, first debuting in Utrecht and Rome before rolling out across the rest of the UK and Europe.
The digital screens urge people to “Put your money where your pride is” and scan the code to directly donate on the charity’s website.
Read more on QR code and charity campaigns here.
Big Issue launches personalised digital OOH campaign celebrating vendors
Boots launches ‘media-first’ Christmas campaign with QR codes and AdSmart targeting
BARB appoints Kantar exec as research operations director
BARB, the UK’s television audience measurement service, has hired Caroline Baxter as research operations director.
Baxter (pictured- below) will join on 8 August from Kantar and take responsibility for ensuring BARB’s research contractors meet industry expectations of “gold-standard” audience measurement.
In the role she will work closely with an audiences director that will be responsible for BARB’s continued development of its services, a role which BARB is currently recruiting for.
The creation of these two roles follows the resignation of BARB’s research director, Simon Bolus, who was first appointed in 2010 and overseen evolution of the industry’s agreed measurement of what people watch.
Baxter has been at Kantar for more than 12 years, moving from head of project management to program director for UK & EMEA where she oversaw major industry research projects like managing recruitment for the representative panel of homes built for the BARB contract that began in 2010.
Read more on BARB here:
Sampson: BARB has evolved for streaming services but they must adapt too
Twitter to ‘comply with Musk’s demands’ to access bot data
Twitter’s board will comply with Elon Musk’s demands to access internal data on the number of fake accounts on its platforms, according to a report by The Washington Post.
On Monday, lawyers for Musk delivered an official threat that the billionaire was willing to walk away from his deal to buy the social media company for $44m if he was not provided with the data.
Twitter will offer Musk complete access to its “firehose” data stream, which comprises more than 500 million tweets posted every day, as early as this week.
Read more on Twitter and Musk here:
Arnell: How does partnering with Twitter sit with ITV’s diversity agenda?
Clarke: It’s not about Twitter. Elon Musk’s strategy is to take over the media industry
TikTok ‘investigating claims executive denigrated maternity leave’
TikTok is investigating claims that Joshua Ma, the short-form video platform’s head of e-commerce, Europe, made disparaging remarks about maternity leave, according to reports.
Ma has said that he “didn’t believe” firms should offer maternity leave, according to a Wednesday report by the Financial Times.
The report also found additional evidence of “toxic” company culture.
In a statement to The Guardian, a spokesperson for TikTok stated: “We are investigating the alleged statements and actions to determine whether there has been a breach of company policies.”
The Financial Times is also reporting that Ma is “stepping back” from his role following the probe.
Read more on TikTok here:
Ryan: how to de-code TikTok (and what to ask TikTok for)
Wavemaker UK appoints Omnicom exec as new head of addressable
Wavemaker UK has hired Alasdair Pearmund as head of addressable.
Pearmund (pictured- below) joins from Omnicom’s dynamic creative optimisation (DCO) specialist agency Adylic where he was addressable lead for more than four years working across brands including Audi, Sainsbury’s Levi’s and Virgin Atlantic.
Prior to this he worked at Cablato, which designs and produces solutions for personalising and distributing professional video and digital TV advertising.
In the new role he will be responsible for developing the WPP agency’s growing addressable content function and cross-channel innovation for its clients.
He will also work closely with data, innovation, content and ecommerce experts alongside GroupM’s Nexus and WPP’s Choreograph and Hogarth.
According to GroupM predictions, 50% of client brands’ creative will be personalised by 2025.
Read more about Wavemaker here:
Amazon’s Audible chooses Wavemaker for global media-buying
Outvertising debuts film celebrating adland’s queer community for Pride
Outvertising has released a film featuring queer people and allies from agencies, brands, and consultancies working toward inclusive workspaces in celebration of Pride Month.
A 2021 survey by Trans Actual showed that 93% of UK trans people believe that media transphobia had translated into real world discrimination when out in public, and 81% reported it has impacted their experience with colleagues.
“By purposefully putting people at the heart of our film, we’re taking a confident step in the direction of making advertising completely LGBTQ+ inclusive,” said joint Outvertising CEO Lucy McKillop.
AA’s All In next actions to focus on mental health, LGBTQ+ and physical disability
The Advertising Association has announced the next three actions of the cross-industry All In initiative will focus on the experience and representation of mental health, LGBTQ+ and physical disability in the UK advertising industry.
In line with this, there are several recommendations on how companies can support the mental health of colleagues, the experience of LGBTQ+ and disabled talent in the workplace on the All In website.
These actions have been developed by the Advertising Association’s Inclusion Working Group, industry groups NABS and Outvertising and industry professionals with lived experience of these topics in conjunction with data from the landmark All In Census which surveyed 16,000 advertising professionals.
These three additions to the All In action plan will come in alongside pre-existing actions on improving the experience and representation of female, black, Asian, disabled, working class and older talent.
Further to this, next week the Advertising Association will reveal its first All in Champions, namely companies that can provide evidence of adopting and championing the earlier components of the All In action plan and the All in Census will be repeated in March 2023 plus every two years afterwards to track progress.
Wednesday, 8 June
NPR appoints Juana Summers as co-host of flagship news program All Things Considered
US National Public Radio (NPR) has named veteran reporter Juana Summers co-host of its flagship afternoon news program All Things Considered.
Summers previously worked at NPR as a political correspondent.
She replaces Audie Cornish, who left the show in January to join the now defunct CNN+.
All Things Considered debuted in 1971 as NPR’s first news program.
Newsquest Media Group reports more than £45m profits in 2021
Regional publisher Newsquest reported £45.2m in profit in its annual financial statements for last year.
This marks a recovery from £45.1m loss in 2020.
Revenues grew from £139.7m to £142m in the full year to 31 December 2021.
However, the average number of full-time equivalent employees went down from 1820 in 2020 to 1489 in 2021, with most losses in marketing and sales departments which went from 566 employees to 407.
Top Gun: Maverick passes $500m in international ticket sales over second week
Cinema ticket sales for Tom Cruise’s Top Gun: Maverick have only decreased by 29% in its second weekend after release.
Normally blockbuster box office sales drop by at least 50% in the second week after release, but domestic and international sales for the sequel this week to the 1986 original surpassed expectations.
The film took $90m over the weekend and after 10 days in theatres has grossed $295m at the US box office.
Internationally, the Paramount and Skydance film has taken $231m so far, making its global total more than $550m and putting it as a strong possibility to Tom Cruise’s biggest film at the box office.
Read more about Top Gun: Maverick box office weekend sales here.
UK government ‘genuinely open-minded’ about future of BBC funding model
Culture Minister Julia Lopez told the House of Lords Tuesday that the government is “genuinely open-minded” about the future of the BBC funding model.
The Communications and Digital Committee hearing occurred in the wake of Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries announcing the freezing of BBC’s licensing fee for two years in January.
Lopez touted the BBC’s coverage of Russia’s invasion in Ukraine as well as the Platinum Jubilee celebrations while also reiterating concerns over the licensing fee.
The government is seeking alternative funding arrangements ahead of 2027, when the current funding deal expires.
“This is not some kind of culture war,” Lopez added. “I think this about valuing public service broadcast.”
ITV Studios has partnered with Reality Gaming Group to create the “Thunderbirds: International Rescue Club”, a premium, utility-focused Non-Fungible Token (NFT) community experience that represents an exciting re-imagining of the classic property’s unique style and vision for the 21st century.
ITV inks NFT partnership for Thunderbirds
ITV Studios has partnered with Reality Gaming Group to create the “Thunderbirds: International Rescue Club”, in which fans of the 60s show will be able to buy and trade official NFT artwork.
Owners of Thunderbirds: International Rescue Club artworks will be granted access to their own unique avatar for use in The Sandbox metaverse alongside unique competitions, giveaways, free drops and official merchandise, ahead of an “art drop” in August 2022.
The partnership with Reality Gaming Group represents ITV Studios’ debut in the so-called Web3 space, a new iteration of the World Wide Web based on blockchain technology.
Capital continues TikTok deal for Summertime Ball
Capital’s Summertime Ball concert will be live-streamed worldwide on TikTok again this year, Global has announced today.
The continuing partnership follows the live stream of Capital’s Jingle Bell Ball Christmas concert last year, on TikTok, which attracted over 2 million unique viewers in 20 countries.
The annual concert at Wembley Stadium takes places on Sunday 12 June.
Tuesday, 7 June
Global AVOD revenues will double to reach $70bn by 2027
A new forecast by Digital TV Research predicts global AVOD revenues will increase by $37bn between 2021 to 2027.
Read more on our sister title Videonet.
NBCUniversal, ESPN, and Netflix eye Formula 1 US media rights
NBCUniversal, ESPN, and Netflix are competing for the US media rights to the Formula 1 international racing circuit, according to a report from Insider.
ESPN has held the rights to Formula 1, which expire at the end of this year, since 2017.
Reportedly, ESPN’s latest bid of $70m to retain the rights was below Formula 1’s target of $100m.
La Liga and Premier Sports renew UK & Ireland broadcast partnership
La Liga and Premier Sports have renewed their partnership in the UK and Ireland for three years.
This means Premier Sports will retain the exclusive broadcast rights to top flight La Liga Santander matches in the UK and Ireland for the 2022/23, 2023/24 and 2024/25 seasons.
LaLigaTV, the competition’s 24/7 channel offering all live matches, will remain available on Amazon Prime Video Channels and the Premier Sports Player.
Haymarket acquires Podcast Awards Ltd
Haymarket Media Group has acquired Podcast Awards Ltd, the company that runs the British, Irish, and Australian Podcast Awards.
The company will be added to Haymarket’s suite of marketing communications companies alongside Campaign and PRWeek.
Co-founded by Matt Deegan and Matt Hill, the Podcast Awards were originally launched in Britain in 2017 before expanding to Australia in 2019 and Ireland in 2022.
Haymarket will also become a partner in the Podcast Day 24 24-hour-long global podcasting conference.
ITV Commercial appoints new client strategy and planning controller
ITV Commercial has appointed Mike Liall as client strategy and planning controller across ITV’s nine regional teams.
Liall will join ITV’s regional senior leadership team in August and be responsible for insight and effectiveness across ITV’s advertisers and the agency planning community.
He joins from UM Worldwide where he has been strategy director since May 2021.
Liall has also had roles at iProspect, Dentsu International and MediaCom North.
Pearl & Dean and DIVE to create giant outdoor light installations this summer
Cinema advertising contractor, Pearl & Dean, and its experience agency DIVE have announced an experiential light installation campaign with an outdoor cinema brand.
The partnership will place branded Little Moons glowing inflatable mochi ice cream balls (pictured- above) at 50 of The Luna Cinema’s UK locations during its open air cinema season this summer.
The first Luna Cinema screening will take place on 23 June and Little Moons will also feature on-screen with a gold spot in the ad-reel of all film screenings alongside an exclusive range of flavours available on the outdoor cinema menu.
Read more about Pearl & Dean and DIVE here.
Acast, Audioboom and Wavemaker claim audio first for TfL campaign
Wavemaker, Acast and Audioboom have collaborated with Transport for London (TfL) to create the “first-ever” long-form content using spatial audio recorded in the real world, rather than post production.
A podcast hosted by film director Chris Sweeney (and host of the Homo Sapiens podcast, pictured, above), uses the tech in the background sound of the podcast, such as the infamous ‘mind the gap’ announcement on Tube platforms.
Podcasts are an element of TfL’s ongoing campaign to tackle sexual harassment, which launched in October 2021.
Good-Loop raises £2.5m for good causes in 2021
Good-Loop, the ad tech platform that allows consumers to donate to their favourite good causes by watching ads, has announced it raised £2.5m for global charities last year.
According to its annual Impact Report, this is a 171% increase from the previous year, bringing the grand total raised since the company was founded in 2016 to £3.9m.
These charities included The Trussell Trust, the WWF, Save The Children and Great Ormond Street.
Read more about Good-Loop here.
GroupM provides roadmap for audience measurement partners
GroupM has developed a roadmap for audience measurement partners “following an upfront season that lacked significant conversation about measurement.”
To drive the industry towards improved measurement standards, GroupM will require measurement partners to:
- Incorporate feedback from the buy-side and input from the ANA
- Gain universal acceptance and utilization by all media partners
- Provide traditional and digital partner coverage, with the opportunity to add new metrics like attention
- Provide fair and accurate audience representation
- Move towards standardization and greater transparency and plan to undertake the MRC audit process (if not already accredited)
- Provide interoperability across GroupM’s tools and systems
- Share new commercial models to fund measurement
Fox unveils delayed Fall schedule
Fox unveiled their fall schedule and premiere dates on Monday after it withheld the information from this year’s upfronts.
The only new series for Fox, Monarch, will debut Sunday, September 11 before sliding into its regular slot on Tuesdays at 9pm ET.
Other big changes include the loss of Thursday Night Football to Amazon Prime Video; Fox will fill the 8pm ET slot with Hell’s Kitchen.
AT&T completes sale of adtech company Xandr to Microsoft
AT&T has completed the sale of its global programmatic advertising marketplace, Xandr, to Microsoft.
The deal was originally announced on December 21, 2022.
Terms of the transaction were not disclosed, though reports have previously valued the deal around $1bn.
New specialist media agency PASHN launches
PASHN, a specialist media agency serving fashion, leisure and entertainment brands – has launched today.
Founded by Adam Hopkinson and David Swannell (pictured, below), the agency is launching in the UK with founding clients Boohoo Group and Prevayl.
Swannell was previously managing partner at The Specialist Works. Hopkinson had co-founded blockchain-enabled media agency TRUTH in 2017, which is no longer trading.
Monday, 6 June
Musk officially threatens to walk away from Twitter deal
Elon Musk’s lawyers have threatened in a letter to Twitter that the billionaire is within his rights to walk away from his deal to buy the social media company for $44m if he is not provided with data on fake accounts.
The lawyers contend that Twitter is withholding comprehensive data on fake accounts and that Twitter offering to share its testing methods is not sufficient to satisfy Musk’s request.
Musk has for weeks publicly criticized Twitter for purportedly misrepresenting the number of fake accounts on the platform.
Pinterest launches UK and Brazil creator funds
Pinterest has launched a fund for creators from historically marginalised communities in the UK and Brazil after last year’s launch in the US.
The funds will include both finance and resources like training and education earmarked for creators from communities including Black, LGBTQIA+, Asian, Indigenous people and people with disabilities, in an effort to make the platform more inclusive.
The UK creator fund will focus on LGBTQIA+ creators who create fashion and beauty-related content.
Applications open today and close on 19 June.
CNN offers new guidance on ‘Breaking News’ banner
CNN chairman and CEO Chris Licht issued new guidance to staffers instructing them to cut back on the use of the “Breaking News” banner the outlet is commonly lampooned for overusing.
In a memo to staff, Licht said: “Something I have heard from people both inside and outside the organization is complaints we overuse the ‘Breaking News’ banner. I agree. It has become such a fixture on every channel and network that its impact has become lost on the audience.”
He added: “We are truth-tellers, focused on informing, not alarming our viewers.”
The change comes a month into Licht’s tenure and signifies an attempted shift towards more nuanced reporting.
US ad employment shrinks by 2,400 jobs in May
The US advertising industry cut 2,400 jobs in May, according to the most recent data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The data cover employment in advertising, public relations, and related services. 474,600 individuals were employed in these industries in the US in May.
Despite the month-over-month decrease, jobs in the sector are still up 35,600 (8%) from May of last year.
Ocean Outdoor rebrands London’s Alfa Laval banner to Alpha
Ocean Outdoor has been awarded the long-term contract to operate the Alfa Laval roadside banner along the M4 motorway.
The location has undergone a full refurbishment ahead of its relaunch today as Alpha. The non-alcoholic drinks brand CleanCo Spirits is the launch partner.
Measuring at 474sqm, the Alpha shows ads to inbound visitors and traffic travelling from London Heathrow airport and commuters entering the capital from the affluent south-west London corridor.
Media Smart’s TikTok course now caters for special education needs
Media Smart, UK advertising’s non-profit education programme – has adapted its film-based educational resource, TikTok: Adverts, Creators and You, for SEND (special education needs and disabilities) students.
The videos feature successful TikTok creators and empower 13- to 17-year-olds with the tools they need to navigate TikTok’s commercial side, ensuring they have the most positive online experience possible.
The resource is also designed to help teachers, parents and carers who want to increase their own knowledge in helping young people confidently and securely use TikTok.
The films have been made for use in UK schools for PSHE and Media Studies courses in Key Stage 3, 4 and 5. Media Smart is one of only five organisations to be awarded a media literacy grant from the Department of Digital, Culture, Media & Sport.
Sheryl Sandberg steps down from Meta after 14 years
Meta’s Chief operating officer, Sheryl Sandberg, announced over the weekend she would step down from her role at the big tech company after 14 years.
Sandberg, who will continue on the board of Meta, shared the news in a post on her Facebook page.
“Today, I am sharing the news that after 14 years, I will be leaving Meta,” she said. “I am beyond grateful to the thousands of brilliant, dedicated people at Meta with whom I have had the privilege of working over the last 14 years. Every day someone does something that stops me in my tracks and reminds me how lucky I am to be surrounded by such remarkable colleagues.”
Mark Zuckerberg, CEO, said it was “the end of an era” in a Facebook post and said Sandberg’s position at the company would not be replaced, though Javier Olivan will become Meta’s new chief operational officer.
He said: “It will be a more traditional COO role where Javi will be focused internally and operationally, building on his strong track record of making our execution more efficient and rigorous. As part of this, Molly Cutler, our VP Strategic Response, will join Javi’s team and report to Naomi Gleit.”
Toby Emmerich to step down as chairman of Warner Bros. Pictures Group
Toby Emmerich announced last week he will step down as chairman of Warner Bros Pictures Group to launch is own production company at the studio.
The new production company will be focused on film, television and streaming and has an exclusive five-year deal with Warner Bros Discovery to receive financing and gain distribution rights to films and series.
Emmerich originally joined Warner Bros in 1992 as a dual development and music executive. He has been chairman of Warner Bros Picture Group since 2017 and previously was president and chief content officer.
In case you missed it last week:
Ofcom: UK online sector revenue grows to £33.5bn in 2021
Havas Media Group and Lumen launch global partnership
Ocean Outdoor CEO Bleakley: The ‘new normal’ was a mirage
Love Island series 8 ‘will be the true litmus test of its popularity’
Is there still a place for Clubhouse?
Top Gun: Maverick opens with quarter-billion dollar worldwide gross