Dan Meier

ProSiebenSat.1 shareholders are gearing up for a pivotal vote at its annual general meeting (AGM) at the end of the month, as its main investor MFE-MediaForEurope seeks greater control of the German broadcaster. But after a difficult financial year for ProSieben, the company has reported a positive start to 2024, potentially strengthening its hand ahead in negotitations with MFE.

Samsung this morning announced the promotion of Alex Hole to SVP and General Manager of the European Services businesses. Hole will lead the newly combined services division, which brings together the advertising, partnerships and product units, including Samsung’s gaming and streaming offerings.

One of the current game-changers in the world of sport broadcasting is the wave of clubs and sports leagues launching their own streaming services, allowing teams to serve video content directly to fans across connected devices – and unlike traditional TV deals, around the world. FC Barçelona has just launched Barça One, a free ad-supported streaming service, housing the La Liga team’s live content, news shows and documentaries.

Market research firm Ipsos this morning announced it will add UK viewing data from YouTube into its online audience measurement platform, Ipsos iris.

Nordic streaming company Viaplay has reported a solid start to 2024, becoming the latest European broadcaster to indicate signs of recovery in the TV ad market. The company’s sales climbed 6 percent YoY during Q1, matching the quarterly growth rates of both MFE and ProSiebenSat.1.

Deutsche Telekom this morning announced that MagentaTV, the German telco’s TV offering, will enable addressable advertising from mid-2024. Addressable ads will be traded programmatically through Equativ, a French ad tech firm which owns an ad server, supply-side platform (SSP) and demand-side platform (DSP).

In this edition of the Buy-Side View, we speak with Harry Packshaw, Head of AV at Havas Media Network. Packshaw discusses the challenges of navigating a convoluted CTV market, the threat of ad fraud in the video ecosystem, and how Havas is working to curate trusted supply across smaller CTV publishers.

The Financial Times (FT) this morning announced a deal with OpenAI, the company behind generative AI tools including ChatGPT, Dall-E and Sora, allowing the tech firm to use FT content to train its AI models.

Of all the innovative companies in the TV advertising space, one of the most distinctive businesses is Telly, the US startup that offers users a free dual-screen TV with ads delivered on the second screen. Today the company makes its debut at the IAB NewFronts in

TV revenues may have been showing signs of recovery at the start of 2024, but new research from WARC suggests linear TV gains will ultimately be dwarfed by social media over the next year. Meta alone is forecast to overtake all global linear TV ad revenues in 2025, as Facebook and Instagram continue to dominate the advertising landscape.