What should TV leave behind? Five European senior marketers have their say

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At Cannes Lions 2026, five of Europe’s most senior marketers gathered for a panel session on one of the industry’s defining questions: what does television even mean anymore?

The session, “Rewriting the playbook: How Europe’s CMOs are redefining TV in the connected era”, brought together the global chief marketing officers of Mini and MediaMarkt Saturn alongside Samsung Ads’ commercial director for the DACH and FRITES regions, and two senior figures from Serviceplan Group and Mediaplus International, its media planning arm.

Below, each panellist answers in their own words.

What should TV leave behind — and what should it double down on — in the connected era?

Christian Russ, commercial director DACH and FRITES, Samsung Ads

“TV will stay essential to brands as long as it solves for mass reach and relevance and drives KPIs and sales at the end of the day. The one thing TV should leave behind is probably silos. We need to come to holistic solutions that include linear streaming, but also new opportunities such as the home screen of televisions and pause ads. What it should double down on is the strength of actual measurement in the connected era.

“I think we’re still thinking about TV too much in a traditional sense, which obviously has its value. But there’s a lot to be gained by marrying up the old world and taking full advantage of the new data-driven digital solutions that we have.

“In the connected era, brands can really act as storytellers and almost as broadcasters and bring their own content to consumers rather than just disrupt the content of others. That’s number one. Number two is interactivity, whether that’s in traditional ad pods or through other formats.”

Uwe Roschmann, managing director, Mediaplus International

“Cross outlet, cross platform, cross channel, cross device reach frequency capping — SVOD, BVOD, classically whatsoever — just make it possible to frequency cap and target people, no matter where they watch, but on what they watch and how often you want to approach them. That would be absolutely amazing.”

Michael Schuld, global chief marketing officer, MediaMarkt Saturn

“Forget about the simple fact of reach. I would love that we would be much more present in customer journeys in the moment. Customers live in the present moment. When they need something, we need to address and reach them in the right way. That would be my wish.”

Jennifer Treiber-Ruckenbrod, global chief marketing officer, Mini/BMW Group

“TV has to leave behind that it just tells the audience a story and has no interlinked or direct connection with them, like performance or connected TV. I want it to be much smarter, so you can integrate it. For example, if you see a product, such as a Mini, then you can have a direct link with information, or the information can come directly to more information on the website within ChatGPT and so on. Directly.”

Yvonne Wicht, director, C-Community management, Serviceplan Group

“Start with the audience and then with the channel. I think the one thing TV should leave behind is the organisational silos and to double down on the integrated approach.”

This content was produced in association with Samsung Ads.