In this week’s Week in Charts, Les Binet on the impact of AI, Ofcom finds TV-based podcasts improve fan experience, and breaking down brand safety risks in TV news.
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Brand Safety Risk in TV News is Concentrated and Predictable Says Wurl Research
While news content is often avoided outright by advertisers due to brand safety concerns, research from Wurl suggests a more targeted approach should be considered in CTV, as “risk in news is concentrated in specific, predictable areas tied to subject matter, particularly coverage of real-world events and conflict.” Although news content is often flagged in brand safety categories such as death/harm, violence and war, Wurl found that the risk profile is lower for drugs, profanity and sexual content, “in many cases comparable to or lower than non-news content.”
Video Podcasts Linked to TV Shows Improve Fans’ Viewing Experience Finds Ofcom
Over half (56 percent) of weekly podcast listeners in the UK listen to podcasts that are linked to TV shows, such as The Traitors: Uncloaked and The Apprentice: Unfinished Business. According to Ofcom, the majority of these listeners say video podcasts have improved their TV viewing experience (59 percent), and would be interested in watching more of these video podcasts (60 percent), although opinion is split on whether video podcasts constitute poor-quality TV.
Major Digital Brands Cut Advertising Intensity as Revenues Rocket
As major digital brands such as Amazon, Google and Meta see huge revenue growth, their own advertising intensity is slowing down, according to analysis from Madison & Wall. The research tracks 19 “digital endemic” companies representing $1.6 trillion in annual revenue and $65 billion in annual advertising expenses. Madison & Wall found that the group’s ad spend as a share of their revenues has declined from 4.2 percent in 2024 to 3.7 percent in the first quarter of 2026.
Average Gap Between Seasons of Streaming Originals Has Almost Doubled in Five Years
Fans of scripted original shows on streaming services are waiting “longer than ever” for the next season, according to research from Ampere Analysis, with the average gap between seasons almost doubling from 12 months in 2020 to 21 months in 2025. “While audiences remain loyal to hit titles such as Severance and Wednesday, longer waits risk fuelling subscriber churn if platforms fail to keep viewers engaged,” said Christen Tamisin, Senior Analyst at Ampere.
The Week in Stocks
Agencies
Shares in Stagwell jumped on Monday after its brand measurement platform BERA.ai announced the launch of BERA LLM Brand Rankings, helping marketers improve their presence in large language models.
TV
Netflix shares are down signalling market caution around the streaming giant’s growth and leadership transition, with co-founder and chair Reed Hastings leaving the company this month.
Publishers
Thomson Reuters’ stock price is on the rise after the media and tech company shared its standard for Fiduciary-Grade AI, a new benchmark for AI used in professional contexts.
Ad Tech
In a strong week for ad tech stocks, Viant’s share price climbed 21 percent after announcing a new partnership with news ratings business Ad Fontes Media, enabling reliability-based targeting for news inventory on CTV.
Tech
Adobe stock is on the rise ahead of the software firm’s earnings update next week.
