Dan Meier

While viewing on SVOD services continues to grow in the UK, overall at-home video viewing declined last year, according to the latest Media Nations report from Ofcom, while younger audiences are “reaching saturation” in streaming consumption.

UK ad spend rose to £ 11.7 billion in Q1 2026, according to the latest Expenditure Report from the Advertising Association and WARC, prompting an upward revision in the ad market forecast for 2026 and 2027.

The World Cup provided fresh commercial opportunities, including the much-discussed hydration breaks in every game, but tackling measurement remains a challenge for advertisers. Jason Hicks, GM at Kochava for Advertisers, explores how brands can connect their World Cup campaigns to commercial outcomes.

In this week’s Week in Review: ITV reports H1 earnings, the World Cup boosts sales for Unilever and Coca-Cola, and AI traffic drops hit UK publisher revenues.

As media agencies take on more of a consultative role, WPP Media is placing agency staff directly in clients’ offices, in order to move closer to their commercial strategies. “I think it’s feeling less like a supplier arrangement, and being more of an extension of their own marketing team,” says James Weinberg, Executive Director at WPP Media (T&P).

In this week’s Week in Charts, ITV’s Chris Kennedy on premium targeting, drama underpins UK SVOD growth, and brands underinvest in TV.

In this episode of the VideoWeek podcast, Vincent Flood, Editor-in-Chief at VideoWeek, is joined by David Bradford, Managing Director, Europe at Bloomberg Media.

Transparency remains a major sticking point in CTV, with buyers

The rise of CTV has created a certain amount of confusion among media owners as to who they should be speaking to at agencies. Max Noss, Head of AV at JAA Media, says the independent agency provides clarity by operating a hybrid CTV team, combining the digital team and the AV team – and therefore combining the skill sets of both specialisms.

In this week’s Week in Charts, The Trade Desk’s Jeff Green on competitors’ “lack of objectivity”, HBO Max sees ad tier growth, and Gen Z are a minority on Insta and TikTok.