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MediaCat UK

@mediacatuk.bsky.social

31 followers 13 following 394 posts

An online publication covering the media side of the marketing industry mediacat.uk

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MediaCat UK @mediacatuk.bsky.social · 12/08/2025

'From an advertising and media perspective, data and technology are actually moving us away from people, seeing them almost as robots and machines.' Havas Media’s Emily Fairhead Keen and Dan Holt tell us how brands can reconnect with real people through empathy, usefulness and trust.

Havas and the human experience of media - MediaCat UK

Havas Media’s Emily Fairhead Keen and Dan Holt on how brands can reconnect with real people through empathy, usefulness and trust

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MediaCat UK @mediacatuk.bsky.social · 11/08/2025

In this month’s ad formats roundup, scroll depth replaces IDs, inbox tabs become product surfaces and even UX design becomes a variable in ad pricing.

Ad formats: August 2025 - MediaCat UK

New inventory from Teads, X, TiVo and more

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MediaCat UK @mediacatuk.bsky.social · 08/08/2025

Airbnb announced that it is shifting its advertising from TV to social media in its earnings call. Brian Chesky, co-founder and CEO of Airbnb, attributed the shift to changing consumer habits, saying that search is ‘switching from desktop to mobile and from Google search to social media’.

Airbnb CEO: The holy grail is to be like Netflix - MediaCat UK

Travel booking app moves away from TV and doubles down on social

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MediaCat UK @mediacatuk.bsky.social · 08/08/2025

In this month’s ad formats roundup, scroll depth replaces IDs, inbox tabs become product surfaces and even UX design becomes a variable in ad pricing.

Ad formats: August 2025 - MediaCat UK

New inventory from Teads, X, TiVo and more

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MediaCat UK @mediacatuk.bsky.social · 07/08/2025

In February, WPP’s outgoing CEO, Mark Read, described 2025 as the ‘year of execution’. Halfway through, his words sound dangerously prophetic. The holding company released its H1 results this morning. No crystal ball was needed here, a bleak July trading update had already lowered expectations.

WPP pins hopes on AI as profit plummets - MediaCat UK

WPP continued its painful 2025 with another set of disappointing results

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MediaCat UK @mediacatuk.bsky.social · 07/08/2025

Do you have a question about media, marketing or your career that you’d like answered? Ask Faris Yakob. He has a world of experience within agencies and as a consultant, and he wrote the book on Paid Attention. Just email your question to askfaris@mediacat.uk.

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MediaCat UK @mediacatuk.bsky.social · 06/08/2025

'As AI agents increasingly consume content on our behalf, will we start designing more and more content not just with AI but for AI? To what extent will we need to prioritise machines as a primary audience, designing content for algorithms whose ‘opinions’ could shape human decisions?'

The algorithmic era: rise of the consumer agents - MediaCat UK

What happens to marketing when everyone's got their own AI agent?

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MediaCat UK @mediacatuk.bsky.social · 06/08/2025

Selena Gomez’s cosmetics brand, Rare Beauty, unveiled three scratch-and-sniff billboards in New York City last week to promote its first fragrance. The billboards weren’t just fragranced — they also featured QR codes passersby could scan to order a sample from Shopify’s Shop app.

Rare Beauty billboards offer perfume samples to NYC pedestrians - MediaCat UK

The brand combines scented ads and QR codes to drive perfume sampling

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MediaCat UK @mediacatuk.bsky.social · 06/08/2025

'YouTube’s entire model depends on avoiding television’s core responsibility: accountability for what it distributes.' As we chase TV equivalence, are we failing to question what YouTube actually is?

If YouTube is TV, who’s the commissioner? - MediaCat UK

As we chase TV equivalence, are we failing to question what YouTube actually is?

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MediaCat UK @mediacatuk.bsky.social · 05/08/2025

'As AI agents increasingly consume content on our behalf, will we start designing more and more content not just with AI but for AI? To what extent will we need to prioritise machines as a primary audience, designing content for algorithms whose ‘opinions’ could shape human decisions?'

The algorithmic era: rise of the consumer agents - MediaCat UK

What happens to marketing when everyone's got their own AI agent?

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MediaCat UK @mediacatuk.bsky.social · 05/08/2025

Ad trade bodies are warning advertisers not to fall foul of the incoming restrictions on advertising less-healthy foods (LHF) during their seasonal marketing.

Don’t forget LHF rules during the holidays, warn industry bodies - MediaCat UK

Trade associations publish one-page explainer and offer online training

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MediaCat UK @mediacatuk.bsky.social · 01/08/2025

'Yes, search still works. But it’s capturing intent as opposed to creating it. If you’re only showing up when someone knows what they want, you’re competing for the narrowest slice of demand — often at the highest cost.' Brave Bison's Mark Byrne explains how search is changing

Search spend is falling. Where's the cash going? - MediaCat UK

Search still works, says Brave Bison's Mark Byrne, but it's place in the customer journey has changed

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MediaCat UK @mediacatuk.bsky.social · 01/08/2025

Heading into Meta’s second-quarter earnings call, many expected a stumble. Instead, Meta came out running. ‘The strong performance this quarter is largely thanks to AI unlocking greater efficiency across our ad system,’ Zuckerberg told analysts.

Meta turns AI into revenue, not just hype - MediaCat UK

A 22% revenue jump and $150bn added to its market cap show that Meta’s ad engine is now running on AI, with results Wall Street can’t ignore

MediaCat UK @mediacatuk.bsky.social · 31/07/2025

Campaigns run through Meta's automated ad-delivery system, Advantage+, typically outperformed manually orchestrated ones by 9% at the midway point of the campaign --- but they then lost steam. mediacat.uk/marketers-be...

Marketers best Meta's black box, report shows - MediaCat UK

AI targeting tool identifies likely buyers at the expense filling the funnel

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MediaCat UK @mediacatuk.bsky.social · 31/07/2025

'Yes, search still works. But it’s capturing intent as opposed to creating it. If you’re only showing up when someone knows what they want, you’re competing for the narrowest slice of demand — often at the highest cost.'

Search spend is falling. Where's the cash going? - MediaCat UK

Search still works, says Brave Bison's Mark Byrne, but it's place in the customer journey has changed

MediaCat UK @mediacatuk.bsky.social · 31/07/2025

Traffic to VPN providers has exploded since the UK’s Online Safety Act took effect less than a week ago. Just as publishers were beginning to find ways to stand on their own outside the walled gardens, the VPN boom is now herding advertisers straight back into the arms of Big Tech.

Online Safety Act exacerbates publishers’ ‘dark traffic’ problem - MediaCat UK

VPN adoption triggered by new age verification rules blinds advertisers and deepens the monetisation crisis for UK digital media

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MediaCat UK @mediacatuk.bsky.social · 31/07/2025

Ad trade bodies are warning advertisers not to fall foul of the incoming restrictions on advertising less-healthy foods (LHF) during their seasonal marketing. The Advertising Association, ISBA, IPA, and IAB UK have published a one-page document explaining clearly what brands can and can’t do.

Don’t forget LHF rules during the holidays, warn industry bodies - MediaCat UK

Trade associations publish one-page explainer and offer online training

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MediaCat UK @mediacatuk.bsky.social · 31/07/2025

A new meta-analysis from Haus shows that manual campaigns still outperform Advantage+ for a slim majority of brands. Still, there's plenty in the findings that Meta's salesfolk will lap up, including the stat that, on average, ‘Meta drove on average 19% lift to the brand’s primary KPI’.

Marketers best Meta's black box, report shows - MediaCat UK

AI targeting tool identifies likely buyers at the expense filling the funnel

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MediaCat UK @mediacatuk.bsky.social · 30/07/2025

It's not just grumble websites that are going to have to adjust to the new Online Safety Act... mediacat.uk/online-safet...

Online Safety Act exacerbates publishers’ ‘dark traffic’ problem - MediaCat UK

VPN adoption triggered by new age verification rules blinds advertisers and deepens the monetisation crisis for UK digital media

MediaCat UK @mediacatuk.bsky.social · 30/07/2025

New data from Digital i reveals that the most stable traffic on UK streaming platforms doesn’t come from prime-time hits or algorithmic discovery. It arrives in two daily spikes (6-9am and 5-7pm) and it’s driven almost entirely by children’s programming.

Streaming's most reliable audience can't read yet - MediaCat UK

New research shows kids content is becoming a retention engine

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MediaCat UK @mediacatuk.bsky.social · 30/07/2025

The ads business of Spotify is the ‘one area that hasn’t yet met expectations,’ according to the company’s founder and CEO, Daniel Ek. The streaming platform delivered healthy results in Q2 but saw its ad-supported revenue fall by 1% year on year.

Spotify CEO ‘unhappy’ with ads business - MediaCat UK

Execution, not strategy, to blame for poor performance

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MediaCat UK @mediacatuk.bsky.social · 30/07/2025

Traffic to VPN providers has exploded since the UK’s Online Safety Act took effect less than a week ago. Just as publishers were beginning to find ways to stand on their own outside the walled gardens, the VPN boom is now herding advertisers straight back into the arms of Big Tech.

Online Safety Act exacerbates publishers’ ‘dark traffic’ problem - MediaCat UK

VPN adoption triggered by new age verification rules blinds advertisers and deepens the monetisation crisis for UK digital media

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MediaCat UK @mediacatuk.bsky.social · 29/07/2025

The ads business of Spotify is the ‘one area that hasn’t yet met expectations,’ according to the company’s founder and CEO, Daniel Ek. Ek said Spotify has been ‘moving too slowly’ with its ads business, and it’s taking ‘longer than expected’ to see the results they anticipated.

Spotify CEO ‘unhappy’ with ads business - MediaCat UK

Execution, not strategy, to blame for poor performance

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MediaCat UK @mediacatuk.bsky.social · 29/07/2025

The in-car environment is 'one of the largest untapped frontiers in digital media', according to the driver interaction platform 4screen. And last week, Brand Metrics and LeadStory also found that in-car ads can have a significant impact on brand uplift.

In-car ads deliver 3X brand uplift, says LeadStory - MediaCat UK

Streaming platform study claims in-car consumers are 'the most engaged'

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MediaCat UK @mediacatuk.bsky.social · 29/07/2025

New data from Digital i reveals that the most stable traffic on UK streaming platforms doesn’t come from prime-time hits or algorithmic discovery. It arrives in two daily spikes — 6-9am and 5-7pm — and it’s driven almost entirely by children’s programming.

Streaming's most reliable audience can't read yet - MediaCat UK

New research shows kids content is becoming a retention engine

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MediaCat UK @mediacatuk.bsky.social · 29/07/2025

'The Magnificent Seven (possibly excepting Apple) are all in on AI. By the end of 2025 they will have spent more than $560 billion on AI in two years, for a return of just $35 billion. Investors are eager for the fruits of the promised revolution.' mediacat.uk/publishers-p...

Publishers paying the price for Google’s metamorphosis - MediaCat UK

Two new studies confirm that AI summaries are gutting search traffic. Google knows this but it’s charging ahead anyway

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MediaCat UK @mediacatuk.bsky.social · 28/07/2025

According to Ofcom’s latest News Consumption Survey, the average UK adult now spends 61 minutes taking in current events each day — they just do more of it online and through social media.

UK adults spend 61 minutes per day consuming news - MediaCat UK

Ofcom has published the findings of its 2025 News Consumption Survey

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MediaCat UK @mediacatuk.bsky.social · 28/07/2025

News Corp’s David Rowley believes that 'we need to turn the open web into some sort of hedged garden' and make it easier to 'buy a set of premium publishers in a very smooth, scaled, transactable way, for planning purposes, buying purposes and probably most importantly, for reporting.'

Will ‘hedged gardens’ save publishers? - MediaCat UK

Collective, semi-open models give publishers a shot at winning back control of ad targeting, measurement and data.

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MediaCat UK @mediacatuk.bsky.social · 25/07/2025

According to Ofcom’s latest News Consumption Survey, the average UK adult now spends 61 minutes taking in current events each day — they just do more of it online and through social media.

UK adults spend 61 minutes per day consuming news - MediaCat UK

Ofcom has published the findings of its 2025 News Consumption Survey

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MediaCat UK @mediacatuk.bsky.social · 25/07/2025

Our Media Creativity report attempts to summarise the trends and themes on show among the shortlisted and winning campaigns within the Media category at this year’s International Festival of Creativity. And it's free to download...

Media Creativity Report - MediaCat UK

Five trends from the Media category at the 2025 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity

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MediaCat UK @mediacatuk.bsky.social · 25/07/2025

A new study suggests that influencer communication has the single strongest effect on purchase behaviour, outperforming brand fit, follower count, and even perceived expertise.

Influencer marketing: Posts, not personality, drive purchase intent - MediaCat UK

Meta-study shows content matters more than casting

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MediaCat UK @mediacatuk.bsky.social · 24/07/2025

Our Media Creativity report attempts to summarise the trends and themes on show among the shortlisted and winning campaigns within the Media category at this year’s International Festival of Creativity. And it's free to download...

Media Creativity Report - MediaCat UK

Five trends from the Media category at the 2025 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity

MediaCat UK @mediacatuk.bsky.social · 23/07/2025

60% of online news consumption now takes place through online intermediaries (social media platforms, aggregators, or search engines). But people still view traditional providers as more trustworthy... mediacat.uk/uk-adults-sp...

UK adults spend 61 minutes per day consuming news - MediaCat UK

Ofcom has published the findings of its 2025 News Consumption Survey

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MediaCat UK @mediacatuk.bsky.social · 21/07/2025

According to Ofcom’s latest News Consumption Survey, the average UK adult now spends 61 minutes taking in current events each day — they just do more of it online and through social media.

UK adults spend 61 minutes per day consuming news - MediaCat UK

Ofcom has published the findings of its 2025 News Consumption Survey

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MediaCat UK @mediacatuk.bsky.social · 21/07/2025

News Corp’s David Rowley believes that 'we need to turn the open web into some sort of hedged garden' and make it easier to 'buy a set of premium publishers in a very smooth, scaled, transactable way, for planning purposes, buying purposes and probably most importantly, for reporting.'

Will ‘hedged gardens’ save publishers? - MediaCat UK

Collective, semi-open models give publishers a shot at winning back control of ad targeting, measurement and data.

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MediaCat UK @mediacatuk.bsky.social · 18/07/2025

A new study suggests that influencer communication has the single strongest effect on purchase behaviour, outperforming brand fit, follower count and even perceived expertise.

Influencer marketing: Posts, not personality, drive purchase intent - MediaCat UK

Meta-study shows content matters more than casting

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MediaCat UK @mediacatuk.bsky.social · 18/07/2025

Buried in the earnings report — then plainly acknowledged on the call — was an admission that principal-based media drove a meaningful share of Omnicom’s modest Q2 growth.

Principal media powers Omnicom’s Q2 - MediaCat UK

Buried in the earnings report — then plainly acknowledged on the call — was an admission that principal-based media drove a meaningful share of Omnicom’s modest Q2 growth.

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MediaCat UK @mediacatuk.bsky.social · 18/07/2025

The ‘BS’ about Meta making agencies obsolete needs to stop, according to Publicis Groupe’s chair and CEO, Arthur Sadoun. In an earnings call with investors on 17 July, Sadoun said people have been telling him ever since he became CEO of Publicis Groupe in 2017 that Meta ‘will eat us for breakfast'.

Arthur Sadoun: Stop the 'BS' about Meta eating us for breakfast - MediaCat UK

Publicis Groupe's CEO remains bullish about the future of agencies after another strong quarter

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MediaCat UK @mediacatuk.bsky.social · 18/07/2025

The proportion of marketers who said they were planning to cut spend increased for seven of the 10 media channels included in Mediaocean's H2 Marketer Report survey. mediacat.uk/search-suffe...

Search suffers as marketers anticipate pinch - MediaCat UK

Survey indicates that marketers are spending less on search

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MediaCat UK @mediacatuk.bsky.social · 17/07/2025

Podcast advertising is enjoying a banner year, yet Spotify appears to be building a version of podcasting that doesn’t serve ads... mediacat.uk/podcasting-i...

Podcasting is monetising without you - MediaCat UK

Podcast ad budgets are soaring, just as Spotify stops needing them

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MediaCat UK @mediacatuk.bsky.social · 17/07/2025

‘If you think that our clients are ready to give up and basically, as Meta said, give their credit card to one platform, you’re wrong.’ mediacat.uk/arthur-sadou...

Arthur Sadoun: Stop the 'BS' about Meta eating us for breakfast - MediaCat UK

Publicis Groupe's CEO remains bullish about the future of agencies after another strong quarter

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MediaCat UK @mediacatuk.bsky.social · 16/07/2025

To compete in a media landscape that is ‘more and more global’, Stagwell last week centralised media investment across all of its 70+ agencies with a new AI-powered platform.

Stagwell’s AI media platform is a bet on smarter scale - MediaCat UK

Group says its SMP platform will supercharge global media investment but won’t threaten agency sovereignty.

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MediaCat UK @mediacatuk.bsky.social · 16/07/2025

According to Mediaocean’s H2 Market report, the number of marketers who plan to increase spend on search advertising in the second half of 2025 fell 22% compared with H1 — the sharpest decline among the 10 media channels included in the survey.

Search suffers as marketers anticipate pinch - MediaCat UK

Survey indicates that marketers are spending less on search

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MediaCat UK @mediacatuk.bsky.social · 16/07/2025

Nielsen announced this week that it will add CTV coverage to its Ad Intel product in the UK from September. The integration will allow marketers to track CTV ad spending across streaming platforms, giving them a clearer understanding of the media landscape.

Nielsen adds CTV coverage to Ad Intel in the UK - MediaCat UK

New feature will also give marketers insight into competitors’ strategies, claims research company

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MediaCat UK @mediacatuk.bsky.social · 16/07/2025

A study published in European Financial Management, claims the most conspicuous social media posts by the top influencers can sway the market value of companies by 0.5% in the next day's trading. mediacat.uk/influencers-...

Influencers can move markets — but not for long - MediaCat UK

Study of 16 million Instagram posts explains how influencer activity affects investors

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MediaCat UK @mediacatuk.bsky.social · 15/07/2025

'You can see that shift starting to happen in the programmatic industry, from what we would call real-time bidding to almost real-time predictions.' MediaCat had a chat with Zuzanna Gierlinska, UK Chief Commercial Officer at MiQ, about the launch of MiQ Sigma.

'Programmatic is shifting from real-time bidding to real-time predictions' - MediaCat UK

MiQ’s Chief Commercial Officer on Sigma, the company’s answer to the fragmented programmatic ecosystem

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MediaCat UK @mediacatuk.bsky.social · 15/07/2025

Strongly-worded posts by mega influencers can hit a company’s stock returns, according to a study published in European Financial Management. That said, the researchers warn companies to proceed with caution when developing their influencer marketing strategies.

Influencers can move markets — but not for long - MediaCat UK

Study of 16 million Instagram posts explains how influencer activity affects investors

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MediaCat UK @mediacatuk.bsky.social · 15/07/2025

'The value of planners isn't micro-optimisation, its imagination and strategic thinking. As AI transforms the industry, planners must play to these strengths. Not by doubling down on invasive data collection but by embracing geographic intelligence.' mediacat.uk/geographic-d...

Geographic data and planning in the AI age - MediaCat UK

What can human planners bring in an age of AI optimisation? The answer lies in embracing geographic intelligence as the foundation for strategic thinking

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MediaCat UK @mediacatuk.bsky.social · 14/07/2025

'In the UK, Kantar reported that grocery volumes fell by 0.4% over the four weeks to 15 June and that the drop could be owed to GLP-1 drugs, as four in 100 households now include "at least one GLP-1 user".' mediacat.uk/glp-1s-consu...

GLP-1s & consumption habits: 'Humans are motivated by more than sensory pleasure' - MediaCat UK

How GLP-1 weight loss drugs are having ripple effects for marketers across categories

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MediaCat UK @mediacatuk.bsky.social · 14/07/2025

Disney+ introduces second-screen shopping and virtual concessions, and Lyft offers experience-native formats, in our latest round up of what's new in the world of ad inventory. mediacat.uk/ad-formats-j...

Ad formats (July 2025): LinkedIn, Lyft, Disney+ and more... - MediaCat UK

A guide to the newest ad formats and why they matter

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