Mediatel News’ Top 10 most-read columns of 2021

We at Mediatel News are pleased to feature some of the most thought-provoking and authoritative opinion leaders in the media industry that write for us on a regular basis.

This year Professor Karen Nelson-Field joined our Media Leaders roster to write about her vision of “revolution” in digital media, while editor Omar Oakes introduced the Week in Media column to summarise and provide context to the most significant stories happening in the industry.

Niki Grant from The Kite Factory has written many insightful articles about issues relevant to the differently abled, while Jan Gooding, Nick Manning, Bob Wootton and Raymond Snoddy continue to provide valuable perspectives from their experiences of marketing, inclusion policies, trade bodies, media strategy, client service, and the trade of journalism.

We also introduced Strategy Leaders, a place for agency, brand-side and media-owner strategists to share ideas and challenges about commercial media strategy.

There are further plans to broaden our thought leadership in the New Year, but until then please enjoy the most-read opinion pieces from the last 12 months.

1. Attention Revolution: a new column by Professor Karen Nelson-Field (July)

Globally renowned media science researcher and founder of Amplified Intelligence Prof Karen Nelson-Field introduced her new column and set out her vision of a “True North” for the digital media industry.

2. Why old master Rupert Murdoch sees something new in Piers Morgan (September)

Raymond Snoddy examined the very different current trajectories for two big beasts of the British journalism jungle – Andrew Neil and Piers Morgan – each of whom made sudden exits in extraordinary circumstances this year.

3. Deadline looms for Channel 4 ownership consultation (September)

Ray Snoddy warned of the government messing with an already successful broadcasting formula on the last day of Channel 4’s public ownership consultation.

4. Dacre, sisterly advice and the three planks of government media policy (September)

Ray Snoddy analysed the spreading stench of sleaze during the consideration of Paul Dacre’s potential appointment to Ofcom. Dacre has since returned to the Daily Mail publisher as editor-in-chief of the newspaper’s parent company after pulling out of the Ofcom process.

5. Week in Media: Tim Pearson exit from Sky shows how crossing the divide can be brutal (October)

Can it be a coincidence that two consecutive MGOMD bosses left their media-owner jobs  so quickly, asked Mediatel News editor Omar Oakes in his Week in Media column. Mediatel News broke the story that Pearson had left Sky Media after just six months in the job.

6. Why BARB has not yet given Project Origin a tick (November)

BARB and ISBA’s Project Origin have each been making progress towards the delivery of cross-platform measurement this year. BARB’s CEO Justin Sampson reflected on the progress it has made to include SVOD in its TV audience reporting, despite a lack of participation of the online platforms.

7. Ritson, Warren, Sorrell & the return to work (May)

Bob Wootton discussed effective creativity, the return to office-based work and some of the movers and shakers ruffling industry feathers.

8. Attention Revolution: guidelines for building a new measurement category (November)

While we are building an attention-based audience measurement category, guiding rules around data quality must be followed, Professor Karen Nelson-Field asserted.

9. The new ‘Mediapalooza’: how and why it’s different this time (June)

In the midst of a flurry of media agency reviews, Nick Manning assessed what had changed across the pitching landscape.

10. Media in-housing: the future is now clear (February)

Nick Manning revisited the question of what ever happened with media in-housing.

Media Leaders: Mediatel News’ weekly bulletin with thought leadership and analysis by the industry’s best writers and analysts.
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Strategy Leaders: Mediatel News’ weekly bulletin with thought leadership, news and analysis dedicated to new ideas, challenges, and excellence in commercial media strategy.
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