The brief – The Media Leader’s daily round-up of media news.

Outgoing and incoming Isba directors general Phil Smith and Simon Michaelides speak about the next stages of Origin, loss of trust between agencies and clients, challenges facing CMOs, and whether there should be an Isba for small businesses.

By absorbing Interpublic, Omnicom becomes the world’s biggest agency group but also its biggest target. In a market where scale forces prices down and clients have the upper hand, this acquisition won’t fix the problem. It accelerates it.

The Media Leader’s daily round-up of news for Thursday 27 November 2025.

The deal is expected to finalise today by close of business, creating the largest media holding group in the world.

The former IPA president speaks to Jack Benjamin about his new role at PMG, the agency’s growth strategy, whether his People First IPA agenda had an impact, and the future of the agency model.

MNC Ventures has taken a stake in Native, a company that aims to connect university students to brands.

Last night in front of a full house at Odeon Luxe West End in London’s Leicester Square, Goodstuff became Media Mind 2025 Champions

Mediasense’s chief strategy officer returns to the podcast to unpack its recent ‘Future of Media Organisations’ study and discuss why media integration – rather than scale – is the key to success moving forward.

Disney quietly announced something radical: letting fans create their own short-form IP on Disney+. But it exposes just how defensively the rest of the industry has been playing.