Week in Review: Disney Announces AI and Vertical Video Plans, UK Mulls an X Ban, and Omnicom Unveils Revamped Omni Platform

In this week’s Week in Review: Disney announces its big tech plans, Ofcom prepares to take action against X, and Omnicom unveils its revamped Omni platform following the completion of its IPG merger.

The Week in Tech

Channel 4 and mediarithmics Renew Data Partnership

Channel 4 has renewed its partnership with mediarithmics, the customer data platform that has provided the UK broadcaster’s data capabilities since 2019. The partnership has enabled the broadcaster to scale the value of its first-party data across TV, digital, streaming, apps, CTV, audio and display, according to the companies, allowing Channel 4 to build targeted and measurable audiences for advertisers. mediarithmics added that its upcoming introduction of agentic AI capabilities will enable the broadcaster to integrate and activate its data more rapidly.

Comscore to Measure YouTube Creator Content in Spotter Partnership

Comscore, a media measurement and analytics business, has been announced as official independent measurement partner to Spotter, a YouTube creator platform. Under the partnership, Spotter will use Comscore’s Cross-Platform Content Measurement (CCM), Video Metrix and Media Metrix products to assess the performance of YouTube creators’ content. “At Spotter, we believe long-form creators are delivering the hit TV shows of today, commanding massive audiences and cultural influence week after week,” said Nic Paul, President and Co-Founder of Spotter. “They’re building franchises, audiences, and cultural moments that rival traditional TV and now, through our partnership with Comscore, we can measure that impact with the same credibility as broadcast, cable, and streaming.”

PubMatic Introduces Agent-to-Agent Operating System

PubMatic, a supply-side platform (SSP), has launched PubMatic AgenticOS, an operating system designed to orchestrate agent-to-agent ad transactions across digital environments. The OS allows advertisers to define objectives, guardrails, brand safety requirements and creative parameters in their preferred LLM interface, according to the company. PubMatic’s platform can then implement these processes through a set of agents that plan, execute and optimise campaigns.

Magnite to Deliver Programmatic Ads on PHȲND’s Smart TV Cloud Gaming Platform

PHȲND, a cloud gaming platform for Smart TVs, has announced sell-side platform (SSP) Magnite as its ad tech monetisation launch partner. The company will use Magnite’s SpringServe ad server and programmatic capabilities to fuel direct and programmatic advertising across PHȲND’s gaming library. “This creates meaningful value for players through free games, while enabling advertisers to precisely target audiences in an environment that’s brand-safe and truly engaging,” said André Swanston, Co-Founder and CEO of PHȲND.

Brand Metrics Launches Pause Ad Measurement and SDK-Less Formats

Brand Metrics, a brand lift measurement specialist, made a series of announcements at CES in Las Vegas this week, including the launch of pause ad measurement and interactive surveys on CTV. The company also unveiled SDK-less formats, allowing publishers to deploy interactive formats without integration hurdles. “Removing the SDK requirement is a game-changer,” said Robby Kraai, Head of CTV at Brand Metrics. “It eliminates friction for publishers and accelerates adoption of interactive formats.”

IAS Goes Private in Acquisition by Novacap

Integral Ad Science (IAS), a media measurement and optimisation company, transitioned to private ownership in December upon being acquired by private equity firm Novacap. First announced in September, the all-cash deal valued IAS at approximately $1.9 billion, with shareholders receiving $10.30 per share. “We’re excited to officially enter IAS’s next chapter as a private company, with the support and resources to enhance our leadership in global media measurement and optimisation and provide even greater value for our customers around the world,” said IAS CEO Lisa Utzschneider.

Reddit Pledges to ‘Open the Black Box’ with New Automated Campaigns

Social sharing platform Reddit has today announced the launch of ‘Max campaigns’, a new campaign type which automates targeting, creative selection, placements, and budget allocation. The idea, as with similar products offered by some of the other major tech companies, is to reduce the manual burden on advertisers and help them more efficiently optimise towards their objectives. But while similar products, like Google’s Performance Max and Meta’s Advantage+, have come under criticism from some parts of the industry over a lack of transparency, Reddit says it is “opening the black box” within the new offering. Read more on VideoWeek.

DoubleVerify Unveils AI Solution for Reporting and Optimisation on Streaming TV

DoubleVerify, a media measurement and verification company, has launched DV Authentic Streaming TV, an AI-driven solution enabling advertisers to unify premium content discovery, reporting, analytics and optimisation into a single workflow. The company said the solution boosts transparency and addressability in streaming TV by incorporating program-level signals with app-level intelligence, including attention insights. “This breakthrough heightens transparency, strengthens performance and brings true accountability to streaming TV,” said DV CEO Mark Zagorski.

Adform Acquires Splicky for DOOH Capabilities in DACH Region

Adform, a Denmark-based ad tech business, has acquired Splicky, the ad tech division of Goldbach Group. The Berlin-based company specialises in Digital Out-Of-Home (DOOH) advertising across the DACH region. Adform said the acquisition strengthens its global omnichannel platform by adding local market expertise and DOOH capabilities in “one of Europe’s most advanced programmatic markets.” Financial terms were not disclosed.

Host-Read Podcast Ads Less Effective on YouTube Finds US Study

As video podcasts gain popularity, a US study has suggested that host-read podcast ads are less effective on YouTube than in audio-only environments, as reported by the WSJ. Marketing agency Oxford Road and audio measurement firm Podscribe assessed 1,000 campaigns, and found that host-read ads on YouTube were up to 25 percent less effective at driving purchases, possibly due to lower rates of attention on the video service compared to audio podcast platforms. “If your attention isn’t immediately grabbed within the first 30 seconds or the first two minutes, it’s very, very easy to lose viewers,” said Giles Martin, EVP Strategy at Oxford Road.

The Week in TV

Warner Bros. Discovery Rejects Paramount’s Latest Advances

Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) has rejected Paramount Skydance’s latest takeover offer to acquire the entire WBD business, after Paramount upped its bid to $108 billion. While the figure exceeds the existing $72 billion deal that WBD has agreed with Netflix, the Board of Directors told shareholders on Wednesday that the sweetened bid “is not superior, or even comparable, to the Netflix merger.” In a public letter to the shareholders, the board said the deal still includes “many of the deficiencies” it has previously identified to Paramount, “none of which are present in the Netflix merger agreement.” Read more on VideoWeek.

NBCUniversal Test Out Agentic Buying Across Linear and Digital Inventory

NBCUniversal announced this week it is running tests of cross-platform agentic media transactions in partnership with FreeWheel, Newton Research, and independent agency RPA. The US broadcaster claims these tests will involve several firsts for the industry, including the first use of AI agents to automate live sports inventory on linear TV. “This step forward will redefine how inventory is bought and sold, and what better place to start than within our live sports inventory,” said Mark Marshall, chairman of global advertising and partnerships at NBCUniversal. “Together, we’re on the leading edge of innovation and this is just the beginning of how technology and premium content will transform the advertising industry.” Read more on VideoWeek.

M6 Plans SME Tools for its Ad Manager This Year

M6 Unlimited, the sales house of French broadcaster M6, says it hopes to attract spend from very small businesses and SMEs through a dedicated buying portal which it plans to launch later this year. This tool will be built within M6’s existing ad booking platform My6, a platform that handles plan creation, brief submission, availability checks, campaign tracking, and performance reporting. M6 says the SME tool will offer a turnkey experience covering booking, reporting, and invoicing. Ease and simplicity will be the focus, with M6 claiming that advertisers will be able to set up and launch campaigns in a matter of minutes. Read more on VideoWeek.

EBX Becomes MFE Advertising

Ad sales house European Broadcaster Exchange (EBX) has wound down its operations, but continues its proposition as MFE Advertising. EBX was established in 2018 as a joint venture between Channel 4 (UK), Mediaset (Italy and Spain), ProSiebenSat.1 (Germany) and TF1 (France), to offer pan-European access to premium BVOD inventory. Following the acquisition of ProSieben and Mediaset España by MFE, MFE Advertising will continue to represent Channel 4, Mediaset, ProSieben and TF1.

DAZN to Honour Belgian Football Deal in Latest Contract Dispute

DAZN must continue broadcasting top-tier Belgian Pro League football under new orders from arbitration body Cepani, one month after the sports streaming company terminated its rights deal with the Belgian Jupiler Pro League. The €84.2 million per-year deal, struck in December 2024, gave DAZN broadcasting rights to the Belgian football league from the 2025/26 season until the end of the 2029/2030 season. Less than 12 months later, DAZN pulled the plug on the deal, having failed to close any distribution deals, despite reportedly holding talks with telcos such as Orange, Proximus and Telenet. Now, Belgium’s centre for arbitration and mediation has ruled that DAZN must continue production and broadcast services until the end of the 2025/26 season, and pay the league all outstanding and future fees. Read more on VideoWeek.

WBD and RTL to Bundle HBO Max and RTL+ in Germany

Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) and RTL will offer the HBO Max and RTL+ streaming services as a joint subscription in Germany, under a new deal between the media companies. The bundle announcement comes ahead of HBO Max’s official launch in Germany on 13th January. The agreement builds on the existing partnership between the two companies, with RTL’s Ad Alliance already handling ad sales for HBO Max. “With this bundle, we’re taking the next step in the RTL+ success story and providing HBO Max with a strong platform for its market launch in Germany,” said Stephan Schmitter, CEO of RTL Deutschland.

Amazon Brings James Bond and Rocky Movies to Netflix

Amazon has struck a deal to bring several of its franchises to rival streaming company Netflix, including several James Bond films. Die Another Day, No Time To Die, Quantum of Solace and Skyfall will arrive on the streaming service on 15th January, while the Rocky, Creed and Legally Blonde movies will also land on Netflix this year. The deal additionally includes TV shows such as The Man in the High Castle and Hunters.

The Bear Arrives on ITVX in Disney+ Content Exchange

ITV launched its ‘Taste of Disney+’ library this week, bringing select titles from Disney+ onto the ITVX streaming service. This month’s selection will include The Bear season 1, Stolen Youth: Inside The Cult At Sarah Lawrence, and Ed Sheeran: The Sum of it All. Meanwhile Disney+ will carry a selection of ITV titles in its ‘Taste of ITVX’ rail.

Canal+ to Carry HBO Max in Belgium and Austria

Pay-TV company Canal+ will carry HBO Max in Belgium and Austria under a new multi-year agreement with Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD). The deal also sees the renewal of the group’s distribution of HBO Max, HBO and Cinemax in Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania. In addition, the agreement renews the distribution of 12 thematic WBD channels across MultiChoice Group in African territories, following MultiChoice’s acquisition by Canal+ in 2025.

Channel 4 Integrates UKTV’s U Streaming Service

Channel 4 has integrated UKTV’s U streaming service into its own BVOD offering, bringing “thousands of hours” of UKTV content to Channel 4 streaming. UKTV originals and BBC shows will now sit alongside Channel 4 content on the streaming service, including The Office, QI XL and Would I Lie to You?.

RTL and ProSieben Celebrate Record Streaming Viewership

RTL+, RTL Deutschland’s streaming service, has surpassed seven million paying subscribers, the German broadcaster announced on Monday. The SVOD service also attracted an average of more than 10 million monthly users in 2025. Meanwhile rival German broadcaster ProSieben announced that its free streaming service Joyn surpassed 12 million users in December, putting the AVOD service “ahead of its competitor RTL+ (10.5 million) in terms of total reach.”

ITV Announces Media for Equity Investment in Joe Wicks Fitness App

ITV has announced an investment in The Body Coach, a health and fitness app created by TV presenter Joe Wicks. Through ITV Adventures Invest, its Media for Equity investment fund, ITV will invest up to £3 million in return for ad inventory across ITV’s channels and ITVX. The app’s TV ad launched on ITV on 1st January.

The Week for Publishers

First Wave of Publishers Signs Up to The Trade Desk’s OpenAds

The Guardian, Hearst, and People Inc. are among the first wave of publishers who have signed up to The Trade Desk’s OpenAds, an ad auction framework released by the demand-side platform last year after Prebid’s decision to stop using transaction IDs in its own auction framework. The Trade Desk said that its own auction model would be beneficial for publishers as it would be more transparent and efficient, a sentiment backed by several of the publishers involved. Dave Strauss, VP of revenue operations and strategy at the Guardian, said OpenAds’ model means that “the highest bid wins in a transparent, auditable auction environment that publishers can independently verify”. AccuWeather, The Arena Group, BuzzFeed, Newsweek, and Ziff Davis have all also signed up.

Surprise Display Ad Jump Powers Continued Revenue Growth for UK Digital Publishers

The latest Digital Publishers’ Revenue Index from the UK’s Association of Online Publishers (AOP) and Deloitte found that participants’ revenues were up by an average of 4.24 percent year-on-year in Q3, the third consecutive quarter of growth, though there was an even split between publishers reporting revenue growth and those reporting losses. Income was boosted by an unexpected lift in display advertising, which was up 3.88 percent year-on-year, its first increase since Q3 2022. Meanwhile subscription revenues were up 11.55 percent, online video revenues grew by 20.08 percent, and sponsorships jumped by 15.37 percent. “It’s fantastic to finally see both of the major revenue drivers for digital publishing return to growth,” said Richard Reeves, the AOP’s managing director. “Though it’s too early to tell whether this marks a lasting change in fortunes for display advertising, I hope this is the start of publishers enjoying the best of both worlds following years of work in revenue diversification.”

Global Acquires Majority Stake in Video Podcast Group The Overlap

Media group Global on Tuesday announced it has bought a majority stake in The Overlap, the sports media group founded by ex-footballer Gary Neville which produces podcast series Stick to Football. Global says that the investment will help The Overlap build out a media network spanning multiple brands and channels and sports verticals. Global’s platforms, relationships, and marketing power will help support this growth, and The Overlap will also leverage Global’s distribution, data insights, and monetisation capabilities.

DC Thomson Reports Ad Growth for Fiscal 2025

Publishing group DC Thomson, which owns publications including Stylist, Beano, The Sunday Post, and the Evening Express, reported total revenue growth for the year ending March 31st 2025 of £30 million, though income from investment and pension assets played a large part in this growth. From its core trading activities however, the publisher did see growth in advertising income, which climbed from £17 million to £19 million, despite challenging market conditions.

Good Food Launches New Sub-Brand Good Health

Immediate-owned food publication Good Food on Wednesday announced the launch of Good Health, a new social media-based sub-brand which will cover health and wellness topics. Good Health will post video content on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube, including videos made by an in-house team as well as videos from specialist contributors. The launch is backed by new research from Good Food which found a lack of trust and clarity from UK audiences on how to eat healthily.

The Week for Brands & Agencies

WPP Delivers Expertise Through AI Agents with ‘Agent Hub’

UK-based agency group WPP on Monday announced the launch of ‘Agent Hub’, a collection of AI agents trained on WPP’s proprietary data and institutional knowledge which it says will give clients and staff direct access to WPP’s marketing expertise. Agent Hub, which will sit within the WPP Open platform, contains a range of specialised agents, into which the agency group says it has distilled the expertise, insight, and judgement of its staff. Examples of these agents include a ‘Brand Analytics Agent’ trained on WPP’s Brand Asset Valuator data, a ‘Behavioural Science Agent’ which emulates the thought processes of a behavioural scientist, and an ‘Analogies Agent’ which helps solve problems by drawing inspiration from parallel situations in different industries.

“Agent Hub is how we deliver WPP excellence at scale for our clients,” said Stephan Pretorius, chief technology officer at WPP. “This is about human brilliance, amplified by AI, enabling us to offer clients commercial models based on business outcomes, not simply time and materials.”

Havas Launches Unified LLM Portal ‘AVA’

At this week’s CES conference in Las Vegas, French agency group Havas announced the upcoming launch of ‘AVA’, a global LLM portal which it says will provide secure, centralised access to various AI models. The portal will give Havas teams and clients direct access to models including GPT-5, Claude Opus 4.5, and Gemini 3, which the company says will help teams choose the best AI partner for any task. “We’re building an AI-driven, human-powered future where innovation and imagination work hand in hand to grow our clients’ brands in an increasingly complex world,” said Yannick Bolloré, chairman and CEO of Havas. “In this context, AVA securely unifies leading AI in one portal for our teams and clients, driving efficiency, consistency, and innovation.”

New Junk Food Rules Come Into Force in the UK

On Monday, new regulations around advertising for less healthy food and drink (LHF) products officially came into force in the UK. The new rules ban ads which show specific unhealthy foods from being shown on TV before a 9pm watershed, and are totally banned online. However brand campaigns which don’t show any specific unhealthy product are exempt from the new rules. While the legislation has only officially come into force this year, players across the industry have been applying the new rules since October last year.

Omnicom Leans on Amazon and Roku for New Reach and Frequency Measurement Capabilities

At CES this week, US agency holding company Omnicom announced new TV reach and frequency measurement capabilities which it says will help clients better optimise campaign exposure and reduce waste, Digiday reported this week. To measure campaigns, Omnicom will tie together Amazon Ads’ authenticated graph, Roku’s TV data, platform viewership data from Omnicom’s own Omni platform, and audience data drawn from Acxiom (which Omnicom newly owns, having completed its merger with Interpublic Group). Through this combination of datasets, Omnicom says clients will be able to more accurately measure how frequently consumers are exposed to ads, and then match those views to conversions.

WPP and Stagwell Launch New Sports Offerings

Sports was a big focus for the agency groups last year, as evidenced by the bevy of athletes found up and down the Croisette at last year’s Cannes. This week, Stagwell and WPP both launched new sports offerings to advance their investments in the space. Stagwell’s SPORT BEACH is named after its Cannes activation, and is described by the company as “a global platform where business leaders and trailblazing athletes connect to drive business at the intersection of sport and culture”. Meanwhile WPP Sports, unveiled on Tuesday, is pitched by WPP as “a unified sports and gaming practice delivering premier, scalable sports sponsorships, integrations, and content to drive intelligent growth with fans, wherever they are”.

Publicis and WPP Come Out On Top in Kenvue Global Review

Consumer health company Kenvue, which owns brands including Tylenol, Neutrogena, Band-Aid and Listerine, has completed its global agency review, with Publicis and WPP coming out on top according to Adweek. Publicis has been handed responsibility for media, commerce, healthcare and technology for all of Kenvue’s brands, according to Adweek, and will also handle creative and production for Neutrogena. WPP meanwhile will lead creative production for all of Kenvue’s brands outside of Neutrogena.

Omnicom Agrees New Google Partnership Based on Consumer Intent

US agency group Omnicom has agreed a deal with Google to create a new AI agent, called the ‘Consumer Prompt Insights Agent’, which is designed to give Omnicom staff and clients a deeper understanding of consumer intent by looking at how audiences are prompting in AI search tools. The two companies say the agent will draw on a variety of search signals to give a clearer understanding of what consumers are searching for. The deal is part of a wider ‘Future of Search’ partnership between Omnicom Media and Google, according to Digiday, which was first announced at CES last year.

WPP Picks Up Jaguar Land Rover Account Win

Over the Christmas break, WPP picked up a major account win as it came out on top in Jaguar Land Rover’s review of its integrated creative and marketing account pending final contract negotiations, Campaign reported. WPP is understood to be set to take over media planning and buying responsibilities, despite the fact that these weren’t originally part of the review. Accenture Song and Omnicom, incumbents on the creative and media sides respectively, contested the account, as did Publicis.

Hires of the Week

IAS Names Melissa Furze as Head of Data Science

Integral Ad Science (IAS), a media measurement and optimisation business, has appointed Melissa Furze as Head of Data Science. Reporting to the Chief Technology Officer, Furze will lead the company’s global data science, AI and analytics strategy. She joins IAS from LinkedIn, where she most recently served as Global Vice President of Customer Science for LinkedIn Marketing Solutions.

Publisher Collective Appoints Andrew Buckman as CEO

Publisher Collective, a digital advertising business, has named Andrew Buckman as CEO. His appointment follows the company’s merger with ad tech company Snigel last year. Buckman has spent 26 years in ad tech, previously serving as CEO at digital ads business Sublime.