At this year’s CES, WPP, Omnicom, Stagwell, Reddit, Disney, Havas, NBCUniversal and Yahoo unveiled new AI features aimed at making marketing easier and more efficient.

2025 was a year of consolidation, innovation and change, and our most read news items reflected an interest in rapidly changing TV and media agency landscapes.

Welcome to the Brief for Monday 8th December, The Media Leader’s round-up of media news.

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

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

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.

Analysis: Rose candidly acknowledged in her first earnings report that WPP’s recent performance has been “unacceptable”, but suggested initiatives like WPP Open Pro, aimed at attracting small business clientele, could stimulate growth.

IPG Mediabrands’ UK and EMEA head of research and insight joins host Jack Benjamin to discuss how consumer research is changing, both in terms of how it’s practiced and what is demanded of it.

Stacy DeRiso discusses what sets her agency apart from competitors and how she’s leading her staff amid a transitory period as Omnicom awaits approval on its plan to buy Interpublic.