The WIR: Smart TVs Unveil AI Integrations at CES, Bauer Buys Clear Channel Europe-North, and Disney Agrees Fubo Deal

In this week’s Week in Review: Smart TV makers unveils new AI integrations at CES, Bauer Media buys Clear Channel’s Northern European business, and Disney agrees a deal with Fubo.

The Week in Tech

Meta Scraps Fact-Checkers in Favour of X-Style Community Notes

Mark Zuckerberg has announced that Meta will no longer use independent fact checkers on Facebook and Instagram, calling third-party moderators “politically biased”. Instead the social media giant will follow Elon Musk’s lead in using “community notes” to moderate content, where users comment on posts they consider misleading or inaccurate. The move follows the appointment of Joel Kaplan, former Republican White House Deputy Chief of Staff, as Meta’s Global Affairs Chief, following Nick Clegg’s departure from the company. The decision has been met with criticism from campaigners against misinformation who accused Meta of pandering to right-wing pressure. “Zuckerberg’s announcement is a blatant attempt to cozy up to the incoming Trump administration – with harmful implications”, said Ava Lee, Campaign Strategy Lead at non-profit group Global Witness. “Claiming to avoid “censorship” is a political move to avoid taking responsibility for hate and disinformation that platforms encourage and facilitate.”

EX.CO Makes CTV Move with Machine Learning-Driven Auctions

EX.CO, an online video platform, is expanding its ad server to support auctions in connected TV and digital OOH, the video tech firm announced on Monday. The update sees the company expand its ad serving capabilities beyond online video, enabling media owners to run automated ad auctions in CTV and DOOH environments. Read more on VideoWeek.

Roku Offers Audience and Ad Campaign Data for Advertisers

Roku, a US-based smart TV and streaming business, has unveiled Roku Data Cloud, a data collaboration suite that provides audience and ad campaign data to support planning, optimisation and measurement. Advertising partners can connect to Roku Data Cloud via Roku’s clean room, according to the firm, then drive outcomes by accessing inventory in Roku Exchange, the company’s programmatic network. “Starting with Roku Exchange, we have been working for greater interoperability in the entire programmatic ecosystem, and Roku Data Cloud is the perfect next step on delivering business outcomes for our advertisers,” said Miles Fisher, Senior Director of Strategic Advertising Partnerships at Roku.

Streamr.ai Unveils Fully AI-Generated CTV Ads

Streamr.ai, a GenAI video ads business, unveiled CTV ads made using its image-to-video model at CES 2025. The GenAI 3.0 model, developed by the firm’s GenAI Labs team, generates complete CTV ads, according to the company, including script, voice, music and image-to-video animations. “These aren’t just 5-second surreal b-roll clips with no audio like you get with Sora, Runway, and other GenAI LLMs,” said streamr.ai. “These are complete commercials ready to launch on TV.”

Precise TV Secures £21 Million Private Equity Investment

Precise TV, a contextual ad tech firm, has received a £21 million minority investment from LDC, a private equity investor which is part of Lloyds Banking Group. The company, which uses machine learning models to connect brands and agencies to contextually relevant video across YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, CTV and mobile gaming, said the investment will help support its international expansion. “This is an important milestone for the business,” said Precise TV Co-CEO Nadav Shmuel. “Since we founded the company almost a decade ago, we’ve focused on building the best contextualised advertising tech stack in the market for our clients. With LDC’s support, we can continue investing to stay ahead of the curve whilst taking our proposition to a wider market, with a particular focus on the US where we see a significant growth opportunity.”

Digital Envoy Launches Location-Based ID to Address IP Volatility

Digital Envoy, an IP and location data provider, has launched a new geospatial identifier called LocID, in partnership with Hoppr, a market intelligence and audience insights business. The system is designed to address the challenges of using “volatile” IP addresses in digital advertising; Digital Envoy says an average 40 percent of IP addresses are reallocated to new locations in any given 30-day period, which leads to wasted ad spend. LocID provides a fixed geospatial ID that is consistently updated, according to the companies, using Hoppr’s location-based audience insights to ensure geolocation data remains consistent and privacy-compliant.

Utiq Confirms Roster of SSP Integrations

Utiq, the identity solution created by four European telcos, has announced integrations with a range of supply-side platforms (SSPs) and inventory partners, including Adform, Azerion, Equativ, Exte, Index Exchange, Magnite, Onetag, PubMatic, Seedtag, TripleLift and Virtual Minds. The platforms all support the passthrough of Utiq’s first-party identifier, which is now available in Germany, Austria, France and Spain. Utiq added that it will soon launch in the UK and Italy.

Yahoo Provides DSP Access to Roku CTV Supply

Yahoo has partnered with US smart TV company Roku, allowing advertisers using Yahoo’s demand-side platform (DSP) to access Roku’s CTV supply. The deal also integrates Yahoo ConnectID solution, enabling targeting and measurement capabilities across Roku buys. “Roku’s collaboration with Yahoo DSP is intended to bridge the gap for advertisers seeking scalable and effective solutions in CTV,” said Miles Fisher, Senior Director of Strategic Advertising Partnerships at Roku. “By combining Roku’s extensive audience reach and Yahoo DSP’s advanced programmatic capabilities, we’re allowing brands to connect with viewers in ways that are more data-driven, measurable, and impactful. We believe this partnership represents a significant step forward in delivering a seamless and effective advertising experience across the growing CTV landscape.”

TVision and Inspace Team Up for Co-Viewing Data

Measurement firm TVision has extended its partnership with Inscape, VIZIO’s data unit, under a new multi-year agreement. TVision’s passive measurement panel will enrich Inscape’s data, which is based on over 24 million opted-in devices, in order to provide cross-platform and co-viewing data. “Synergizing TVision’s person-level viewing activity across all linear and CTV, hundreds of apps, and thousands of programs with Inscape’s nationally representative data and measurement will help all parts of the industry become smarter and make better decisions,” said TVision CEO Yan Liu.

X Raises Premium Subscription Price to “Support Creators”

X has upped the price of its premium plan in the US, in efforts to boost creator payments on the Elon Musk-owned platform. The monthly subscription fee rose from $16 to $22, according to the social media firm, as the company leans increasingly on subscriptions in light of its dwindling ad revenues. “Your subscription now more directly fuels our evolving creator program,” X said in a blog post. “We’ve shifted our revenue share model to reward content quality and engagement rather than ad views alone.”

The Week in TV

Disney Unveils New Ad Tools as Streaming Ad Reach Tops 157 Million

Disney unveiled a host of new and expanded tech solutions at its fifth annual Global Tech and Data Showcase in Las Vegas yesterday, while also announcing that the global monthly average reach of its streaming platforms (Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+) topped 157 million over the past six months. Among the new announcements were ‘Disney Compass’, a new proprietary data platform which gives advertisers centralised access to key audience data and campaign metrics; a new AI-based tool for creating lookalike audiences, available within its proprietary clean room; and biddable deals for live sports which will be available through Google’s DV360, The Trade Desk, and Yahoo’s DSP. Read more on VideoWeek.

Comcast Targets Social Media Advertisers with New Self-Serve Platform ‘Universal Ads’

US media giant Comcast has announced the launch of Universal Ads, a new buy-side offering which it says will give advertisers of all sizes access to TV inventory across many of America’s largest providers, including NBCUniversal, Warner Bros. Discovery, Paramount, Fox Corporation, and Roku. Universal Ads will include a free self-serve ad buying tool, Universal Ads Manager, as well as a marketing API which will enable developers to build reporting and measurement applications. Comcast also plans to add free AI creative production tools further down the line. Read more on VideoWeek.

VideoAmp Marks Continued Currency Growth with Renewed Paramount Deal

US measurement provider VideoAmp has announced an extension of its long-term partnership with Paramount Global, in a deal which will see Paramount continue to use VideoAmp’s data to measure viewing across its media properties, while also offering VideoAmp as an alternative currency to its advertising partners. “We’re proactive in measurement and currency as an investment in our future,” said John Halley, president of Paramount Advertising. “Through our long-standing partnership with VideoAmp, we’re able to collectively drive innovation and accelerate progress by delivering advertisers and agencies the tools to make smarter, data-driven decisions.” Read more on VideoWeek.

UK Streaming Ad Market Hits £1 Billion Finds Ampere

The UK streaming ad market will have passed £1 billion in 2024, according to Ampere Analysis. The forecast comes two years on from Netflix’s introduction of ads in 2022, when the UK streaming ad market hit £746 million, compared with the £3.9 billion traditional TV ad market. Now the latter is in decline, Ampere suggests, shrinking to £3.58 billion last year.

Netflix Scores Exclusive FIFA Women’s World Cup Rights in US

Netflix will stream the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2027 and 2031 in the US, under an exclusive deal that includes studio shows and coverage in all languages. The move marks another significant push into live sports for the streaming giant, whose Christmas Day NFL broadcasts attracted an average 26.5 million US viewers. “Bringing this iconic tournament to Netflix isn’t just about streaming matches, it’s also about celebrating the players, the culture and the passion driving the global rise of women’s sport,” said Netflix Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria.

DAZN to Acquire Foxtel for $2.1 Billion

DAZN, a sports streaming service, will acquire Australian pay-TV company Foxtel from News Corp for $2.1 billion, the companies have confirmed. The deal will give News Corp a 6 percent stake in DAZN, and a seat on its board of directors. Australian telco Telstra will also sell its 35 percent stake in Foxtel, and gain a 3 percent stake in DAZN.

NBCU Launches Home Page, Live Events and Vertical Video Placements on Peacock

NBCUniversal announced new ad products at CES 2025, including new formats for its Peacock streaming service. These include a ‘Live in Browse’ feature that opens up Peacock’s home page placements to advertisers, and a Pause Ad format that is now available within live events. NBCU also trailed upcoming product features for its Peacock mobile apps on iOS and Android, including curated vertical video playlists, which will soon be available to advertisers.

TF1 PUB to Sell Réels TV Inventory

French TV channel Réels TV has selected TF1 PUB as its sales house, under a new agreement that aims to attract advertisers to the CMI France-owned channel. “We are delighted to collaborate with TF1 PUB, a key player in the advertising market in France,” said Christopher Baldelli, President of Réels TV. “This partnership will allow Réels TV to benefit from recognised expertise and access a network of leading advertisers. We share the same ambition with TF1 PUB: to offer innovative and relevant advertising solutions while supporting quality media.”

Joyn Monthly Users Climbed 37 Percent in 2024

ProSieben-owned streaming service Joyn grew its monthly user base by 37 percent YoY in 2024, according to the German broadcaster, with viewing time up 27 percent. “Joyn is growing faster than the market,” said Henrik Pabst, Head of Content at ProSiebenSat.1. “It is paying off that we have placed Joyn at the center of our content strategy.” The company also announced that its linear channels achieved 20 percent market share among 14-59-year-olds last year.

The Week for Publishers

Washington Post Lays Off Four Percent of Staff

US newspaper the Washington Post has let go of around four percent of its workforce, Reuters reported on Tuesday, in an effort to cut costs. The newspaper, owned by tech billionaire Jeff Bezos, has seen falling readership, and reported losses of $77 million in 2023. Revenues also took a hit last year after more than 200,000 people were estimated to have cancelled their subscriptions, in response to Bezos’s decision that the Post would not endorse a candidate in last year’s presidential election.

Apple Plans Apple News Expansion

Apple is planning to expand its Apple News platform, the Financial Times reported this week, as it seeks to grow its role as a source of revenue for publishers. The tech giant is contemplating releasing its app in new markets (it is currently available in the US, UK, Canada, and Australia), as well as expanding local capabilities and adding a puzzle section in the UK.

Apple News has already grown to become a major traffic source in its existing markets since launching ten years ago – the FT reports that it accounts for close to a quarter of all online readership for UK newspaper the Mirror.

City AM Focuses on Video as it Ends Monday Print Edition

UK business newspaper City AM confirmed this week that it is ending its Monday print edition, Press Gazette reported this week, though the newspaper says it will still print on Mondays where necessary (for example in response to major events). The change comes as the newspaper looks to invest more in its video and audio output, according to editor Christian May.

Axel Springer Finalises Business Split

European media giant Axel Springer announced over the Christmas break that it has finalised a deal to split its media business apart from its classified advertising business. The classifieds businesses – the Stepstone Group and AVIV Group – will be held as separate joint venture companies with KKR and CPP Investment as majority shareholders, while Axel Springer will maintain a ten percent stake. Meanwhile Axel Springer’s media holdings, alongside digital marketing businesses idealo, Bonial, and Awin, will remain within Axel Springer.

DPG Media Partners with Brand Metrics for CTV Measurement

Belgian media group DPG Media this week announced a new partnership with measurement specialist Brand Metrics, which will measure brand lift generated by CTV ad campaigns on DPG Media’s VTM GO streaming platform. Brand Metrics uses a custom VAST ad tag to measure frequency and time of campaign exposure, and then sends a question to the user’s CTV device, which they can respond to via their remote. Advertisers will be able to see uplift in awareness, consideration, preference and action intent using this methodology.

Tortoise Media Post Falling Revenues, but Cuts Losses

UK slow news company Tortoise, which recently agreed a deal to acquire The Guardian’s Sunday title The Observer, saw falling revenues of £6.1 million in 2023, according to Press Gazette. But losses improved compared with 2022, down to £2.9 million from £4.6 million the previous year.

The Week for Brands & Agencies

WPP Issues Return to Office Order

Mark Read, CEO of British holding group WPP, sent a memo out to staff this week stating that the company is updating its work from home policy, that most staff will be expected to be in the office for an average of four days per week. Read said the decision has been made as the company’s leadership believes that “we do our best work when we are together in person”. He added that WPP has found employee engagement and client satisfaction increase with higher levels of office attendance.

GroupM Unveils New ‘Predictive Performance’ Strategy

Brian Lesser, global CEO of WPP’s media investment arm GroupM, said in an interview with Axios that the company is pursuing a new strategy centred on ‘predictive performance’. Lesser, who returned to GroupM last year after a period working outside of the agency world, is centring GroupM around WPP Open, WPP’s AI-based operating system for marketing. And his belief is that WPP Open uses more data from external sources to find insights and drive targeting than rival groups’ data units, which he believes will be an advantage in driving results.

Omnicom Pushes Data Partnerships at CES

American agency group Omnicom used this week’s CES conference and exhibition in Las Vegas to announce a series of new data partnerships with media businesses, which it described as ‘first mover’ deals according to Digiday. These include a deal with Google to create a new planning tool and AI-based agent which will provide investment and creative guidance; an agreement with TikTok which will give Omnicom extended search keyword access; and a deal with Roku which will grant access to viewer search data on the Roku platform.

Publicis Scales Back DEI Department

French holding company Publicis Groupe is scaling back its diversity, equity, and inclusion division, Ad Age reported this week, and has laid off its chief diversity officer Geraldine White. Cuts were reportedly made at the end of last year both at the group level and within individual agencies, with nearly half of White’s team said to have been let go. Publicis isn’t shuttering White’s role however, and is currently looking for her successor, while White will continue to work with Publicis on a consulting basis.

Vodafone Reports One Third Drop in Advertising Carbon Footprint

Telco brand Vodafone says it has managed to cut the carbon footprint of its advertising and media activities by a third, thanks to its Sustainable Media Programme which it launched towards the end of 2022. Part of the work involved identifying which media channels cause particularly high carbon emissions and optimising accordingly: Vodafone found cinema and out-of-home to be particularly inefficient, while TV was found to be one of its most efficient channels, according to LBB.

Dentsu Uses Merkury for End-to-End Measurement on The Trade Desk

Japanese advertising group Dentsu this week announced an expansion of its data and identity partnership with demand-side platform The Trade Desk, which it says enabled advanced integration of Dentsu’s data platform Merkury with The Trade Desk and its UID2 identifier. Dentsu says that the integration “enables closed-loop of reach across The Trade Desk for Dentsu clients for the first time, giving them more insights into sales lift and return-on-ad-spend against audiences outside of walled gardens”.

Havas Expects 2024 Revenues on Lower End of Guidance

French agency group Havas released a trading update this week, stating that it expects full 2024 revenue growth to be in line with previous guidance, albeit on the lower end of that guidance. Havas had previously projected full year net revenue organic growth between -1 percent and 0 percent, and now says the figure will sit between -1 percent and -0.5 percent.

Hires of the Week

GroupM Appoints Flywheel’s Sandy Welsch to Oversee Commerce Partnerships

GroupM, WPP’s media unit, has hired Sandy Welsch in a new role leading global commerce partnerships. Welsch spent seven years at Flywheel, the commerce platform acquired by Omnicom in 2023. In his GroupM role, Welsch will oversee commerce strategy, retailer relationships and technology.

Disney Promotes Tony Chambers to President EMEA in Regional Restructuring

Disney has named Tony Chambers as President EMEA, replacing Jan Koeppen who steps down in February. The move forms part of a restructure for Disney’s entertainment businesses in the region, which will see the D2C, Ad Sales, Platform Distribution, Networks, Local Original Content, Studio Marketing, Theatrical Distribution and Sports divisions reporting directly to the global leaders of those businesses. Chambers has been at Disney for 30 years, most recently serving as Head of Global Theatrical Distribution.

Publicis Hires Amazon’s Amy Armstrong as CRO

Publicis has announced Amy Armstrong as Chief Revenue Officer. From 1st March, Armstrong will be responsible for connecting the sales organisations across the group’s Connected Media businesses, including Epsilon, Publicis Media, PMX and the company’s Commerce and Digital Experience agencies. She joins from Amazon Ads where she served as Director of Global Customer Development.

OMG Names PHD’s Katie Klein Chief Investment Officer NA

OMG, Omnicom’s media division, has appointed Katie Klein as Chief Investment Officer for North America. Klein previously held the same role at Omnicom agency PHD USA. She started her career at Publicis-owned Zenith in 2004, before joining PHD in 2022.

Adform Announces Jens Bargmann as VP Retail Media

Adform, a demand-side platform (DSP), has named Jens Bargmann as Vice President of Retail Media. The company said he will lead Adform’s collaborations with premium retailers to deliver bespoke commerce solutions. Bargmann has more than 25 years of experience in digital marketing, including a five-year stint at DSP MediaMath.