Future of Media London: Themes to look out for in 2026

At the Future of Media London 2025, held at Kings Place on the 4 and 5 November, several industry experts dropped by The Media Leader Studios to give their thoughts on themes to look out for in 2026.

The themes were wide ranging but the experts gave insightful tips on how to react and stay ahead of the curve.

Watch the video below:

Brand building

Sophia Ahmed, chief consumer officer at Sky UK, stressed the importance of brand building and not overly focusing on short-term metrics.

She said: “Short-term metrics serve a purpose, but they have to be part of a balanced scorecard.

“You have to be thinking as a brand, how do I build long-term value, customer lifetime value and meaningful business growth.”

Brand value is “one of the most important” metrics.

Getting the balance of tech and people right

Dan Hagen, global chief data and technology officer, Havas Media Network underlined the entrenched nature of understanding how many people are needed for a task, and how technology and AI is shifting this.

Hagen said: “We have to start changing that dynamic and we have to start thinking about how does my investment in people balance with my investment in technology and how do the two work together.”

He highlighted the opportunities that will come with when the art of empowering people with technology is mastered.

Sustainability

Lisa Boyles, head of go to market and media at giffgaff, outlined how as AI use increases so does the environmental impact and the responsibility of the industry to take action on this.

“It’s more important than ever that we are putting in this conscious effort, before it gets regulated, because regulation will come and before the world burns down around us.”

Data

Laura Rowe, managing partner, head of decisions science at OMD UK discussed the challenge of data and ways to use it in an effective way.

She said how finding human truths within the data should be the focal point which is then utilised to define media strategy.

“The more precise you become in the people you’re going after the smaller that pool, the smaller the opportunity you have to convert those people into your brand,” said Rowe.

“The art form of using data and information is to generate understanding and fresh understanding and recognising there are still things that unify us as human beings.”