In this week's Week in Review: ITV reports an ad market rebound, IPG to up its use of principal media, and the NBA turns its back on Warner Bros. Discovery. Top Stories ITV Digital Ad Revenues Climb 17 Percent in H1 ITV has welcomed a recovery in the TV ad market, with digital ad revenues Read More ..read more

Netflix announced its Q2 2024 earnings this week, reporting a 17 percent YoY uptick in revenues. Global subscriptions also reached 277 million, while the ads tier saw user growth of 34 percent quarter-on-quarter. VideoWeek asked five experts from across the industry for their take on the results. Raj Shah, Managing Partner, North America Lead, Telecoms, Read More ..read more

UK ad spend on BVOD services is expected to surpass £1 billion for the first time this year, according to the latest figures from the Advertising Association and WARC.  The Expenditure Report forecasts 13.7 percent YoY growth for BVOD spending, driven by a summer of sport comprising the Euros, Olympics and Paralympics. The research also Read More ..read more

Informa, a British publishing and events group, has agreed to buy Ascential, owner of the Cannes Lions festival, for £1.16 billion. The Cannes Lions will become part of a new Informa Festivals business, with plans to expand the Ascential brands into fast-growing markets, including Africa and the Middle East. The London-based group already owns a range of interntaional business events, including the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show and World of Concrete, as well as analysis firm Omdia. The deal brings Ascential’s range of B2B properties under the company’s wing; as well as the Cannes Li ..read more

This summer will see swathes of the UK population jetting off in search of sun, but for advertisers, that journey starts before travellers set off on holiday. Marketers can target users at different points in the booking process, whether promoting particular travel destinations at the start of their search, or reminding them of brands available at Duty Free before they head to the airport. Tripadvisor Advertising, the ads division of the consumer reviews and comparison website, says its logged-in user environment provides those audiences to advertisers. By understanding the type of consumer us ..read more

In this week’s Week in Review: Peter Naylor leaves Netflix, positive news for UK marketing budgets, and WBD considers splitting up its business. Top Stories Netflix Ads Membership Continues to Rise, but Peter Naylor Departs Netflix added eight million subscribers overall in Q2, the company reported in its financial results this week, taking total global subscriptions up to 277 million. And its ad-supported membership is continuing to grow too, as ads tier membership grew 34 percent quarter-on-quarter. Growing its ad-supported tier membership and its ad revenues remains a big priority for the s ..read more

Today VideoWeek is pleased to announce the shortlists for this year’s European Video Awards. The European Video Awards, now in its third year, celebrates the industry’s leading innovators in video and CTV advertising. This year’s selection of entries has been incredibly strong, and we’d like to offer a big congratulations to all who have made their category’s shortlist. Two of our individual award categories, Rising Star and Leadership in Video, will be put to a public vote, so be on the lookout for when the vote goes live. The awards ceremony will be held in the Grand Connaught Rooms in Lond ..read more

Back in April, IAB forecast digital video to surpass linear TV in US ad spend this year. Now the trade organisation has released part two of its ‘2024 Digital Video Ad Spend & Strategy Report’, to examine the motivations of buyers who now consider social video (70 percent) and CTV (69 percent) a “must buy” on their media plans, including where those budgets are coming from. Perhaps unsurprisingly, 40 percent of those CTV advertisers are reallocating budgets from linear TV. This is tipping the scales to give digital video a 52 percent share of ad spend this year, compared with last year whe ..read more

WPP has announced Brian Lesser, currently Chairman and CEO at Infosum, is taking over as Global CEO of GroupM, the holding company’s media unit. He replaces Christian Juhl, who has spent five years in the role. Juhl will remain at WPP as President, Corporate Development. The move will see Brian Lesser rejoin WPP in September 2024, having previously spent 10 years at the advertising giant, beginning with the acquisition of 24/7 Real Media in 2007. In 2011 he founded Xaxis, a programmatic media buying platform later folded into GroupM Nexus, alongside GroupM Services and Finecast. He then served ..read more

While retail and commerce media are major focal points for all the big agency holding groups, Omnicom has made one of the most notable acquisitions in the space, with its $835 million acquisition of digital commerce business Flywheel nine months ago. And Omnicom says this investment is already paying off, as Flywheel’s ability to target media and demonstrate outcomes using transaction data is helping the company win media pitches. Speaking on an earnings call following the group’s Q2 results, CEO John Wren said that Flywheel is helping the group launch new measurement and targeting capabiliti ..read more