Week in Review: Netflix Considers a Free Offering, Publicis Makes Content for Machines, and EU Finds YouTube Liable for Some Third-Party Content

In this week’s Week in Review: Netflix earnings fall short of Wall Street expectations, Publicis plans to ramp up content production for machines, and the CJEU rules against YouTube in content liability case.

The Week in Tech

Ofcom Announces Crackdown on Online Scam Ads

Ofcom has proposed new “fraud-fighting rules” to hold Big Tech firms accountable for scam ads on their platforms, the UK regulator announced last week. Under the Online Safety Act, the new draft code sets out nearly 40 measures for tech companies to follow, including banning bad actors who post scam ads, ensuring that anyone posting ads for banking or investment services is legally allowed to (such as being registered with the Financial Conduct Authority), and combatting criminals who exploit AI ad tools to create scam content. “Platforms should not drag their heels – they can start making improvements for their users now,” said Oliver Griffiths, Ofcom’s Online Safety Group Director. “And sites and apps that fail to meet their legal duties, once in force, can expect to face serious consequences.”

UK Government Plans Default Social Media Curfew for Teenagers

The UK Government has announced overnight curfews on social media apps for 16 and 17-year-olds, under new proposals designed to protect young people “from the most addictive online features that can have a harmful impact on their wellbeing.” Apps such as Instagram, TikTok and YouTube will be set to be unavailable by default between midnight and 6am, but users will be able to disable the curfew in their account settings. The government also said “addictive features” such as auto-play and infinite scroll will be disabled by default. The new restrictions will be laid before Parliament by the end of this year, with measures expected to come into force in spring 2027.

Ofcom Launches TikTok Investigation Over Child Age Checks

Ofcom has launched an investigation into TikTok over whether the short-form video company is doing enough to keep children off its platform. The UK watchdog will examine how the app assesses if a user is a child, and whether the firm has adequate systems in place to prevent children from viewing harmful content. A TikTok spokesperson said the company was “confident that we meet our Online Safety Act obligations and will work with Ofcom to demonstrate it.”

System1 Rejects £43.1 Million Takeover Offer From Brave Bison

System1, a marketing research and effectiveness company, has rejected a £43.1 million takeover offer from Brave Bison, a media, marketing and tech firm that currently owns 28 percent of the business. The System1 board said the proposed cash-and-share offer significantly undervalues the company and fails to provide an appropriate premium for shareholders. Brave Bison said in a statement that the combined company “would have the scale, capital, and strategic backing to accelerate product development, attract and retain world-class talent, and compete aggressively for the growth opportunities that the current AI-driven transformation in marketing technology is creating.”

TiVo Ads Brings Home Screen Inventory to Teads Ad Manager

TiVo Ads has partnered with ad tech company Teads to allow advertisers to buy and activate its inventory alongside other omnichannel placements within a single AI-powered workflow, the partners announced last week. Through the partnership, TiVo Ads’ HomeScreen masthead placements will be available in Teads Ad Manager (TAM), in the UK, US and Canada. “HomeScreen is where attention lives before a single piece of content plays,” said Simon Klein, Global SVP Commercial Strategy CTV at Teads. “Partnering with TiVo to bring that inventory to market through Teads Ad Manager is a meaningful step in how we’re making activation more seamless on one of the most impactful surfaces in advertising.”

GumGum Launches Mindset Agent for Building Audience Segments

Ad tech company GumGum has launched the Mindset Agent, a new AI tool that turns campaign briefs into custom “mindset segments” that can be activated by brands and agencies. The solution is powered by the Mindset Graph, GumGum’s engine for understanding when audiences are most receptive to a brand’s message. The company said The Trade Desk is the first platform to support activation of the Mindset Agent, while Heineken, e.l.f. Cosmetics and the BBC are also among the first to use GumGum’s mindset solutions.

The Week in TV

BBC Urges Government to Modernise Funding Model or “Abandon the BBC to Managed Decline”

The BBC has called for “radical reform” to ensure its survival in its Annual Report and Accounts for 2025/26, urging the government to use its upcoming Charter review to modernise its regulatory framework and funding model. The public service broadcaster (PSB) did not back any specific funding model for the BBC, saying it remains “open-minded” on the mechanism ultimately selected. But the organisation was clear in its position that the current system is “no longer sustainable” and modernising the model is “essential” to the continued success of the BBC.

“A Charter that simply maintains the status quo will not be enough to deliver any recognisable version of the BBC in the years ahead,” said the report. “It would abandon the BBC to managed decline and deny UK audiences the benefits of public service media at scale.” Read more on VideoWeek.

Viaplay Ad Sales See Slight Growth in Q2

Viaplay posted its Q2 2026 results on Friday, with net sales totalling SEK 5,509 million, up 1 percent year-on-year on an organic basis. The Nordic broadcasting group said ad sales were up slightly, thanks to digital growth offsetting the ongoing decline in linear TV advertising. The results follow the announcement that Viaplay is selling its Dutch business in order to reduce debt levels and focus on the Nordic markets. “We are on track to deliver our 2026 financial targets, and we still have much to do to deliver our longer-term ambitions of double-digit EBITDA margins and healthy free cash flow generation,” said Viaplay CEO Jørgen Madsen Lindemann.

US State Attorneys General File Lawsuit to Block Paramount’s WBD Acquisition

A dozen US states are seeking to block Paramount’s $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), according to The Guardian, arguing in a lawsuit filed on Monday that the merger would harm competition and drive up prices for consumers. Led by California attorney general Rob Bonta, the coalition also includes the states of Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon and Washington. “The unlawful merger of these two entertainment behemoths would lead to higher prices, lower quality, and less content for film and television, harming movie theaters, basic cable distributors, and ultimately, audiences on every sofa and movie theater seat in the US,” Bonta said in a statement.

Disney+ Explores Plans for Free Content

Disney is exploring making some Disney+ content available for free, Business Insider reported last week, as the entertainment giant seeks to compete more directly with YouTube and other free ad-supported streaming services. Product and tech chief Adam Smith proposed the move towards free content during a town hall, according to people familiar with the matter, though he did not share a timeline for this initiative. Streaming rival Netflix is also considering a ⁠free option, the company said in its latest earnings call.

TF1 PUB Launches ‘Drive to Store’ for Measuring In-Store Impact

TF1 PUB, the sales house of French broadcaster TF1, is adding further performance tools to TF1 AdManager, its self-serve ad platform, with the launch of a new offering called ‘Drive to Store’. Powered by Smart Traffik’s oKube solution, the offering includes a ‘Store Visits’ campaign objective, enabling advertisers to track in-store traffic and measure the impact of video campaigns on the TF1+ streaming service or TF1’s linear channels. “With Drive to Store, TF1 PUB demonstrates that television is now capable of meeting concrete business objectives such as generating foot traffic to points of sale,” said Dimitri Marcadé, Deputy Managing Director at TF1 PUB.

M6 Unlimited and Heroiks Partner on AI Agents for TV Sponsorship

M6 Unlimited, the French broadcaster’s sales house, has announced a collaboration with Heroiks, a growth marketing platform, to automate media buying through agentic AI. The partners said that M6 Unlimited’s AI agent is now directly accessible in North AI, Heroiks’ marketing operating system, enabling agents to communicate with each other to identify appropriate TV sponsorship opportunities. “With this AI agent dedicated to sponsorship, we are taking a decisive step: making our inventory accessible in real time, directly within the agencies’ tools,” said Hortense Thomine-Desmazures, CEO of M6 Unlimited. “This is our vision of an AI-enhanced advertising sales house: smoother, faster, and more useful for our partners.”

ProSieben to Launch New Linear Channel

ProSiebenSat.1 Group is launching a new linear channel this winter, the German broadcaster announced on Wednesday. SAT.2 will be geared towards women, according to the company, and will be available on linear TV, the Joyn streaming service, and third-party platforms. “Our clearly positioned target group channels have grown significantly in recent years,” said Henrik Pabst, Chief Content Officer at ProSieben. “With SAT.2, we aim to strategically expand our portfolio and, in particular, offer viewers aged 50 and older a new and additional alternative for their entertainment needs.”

Rakuten TV Launches 20 Sony FAST Channels

Rakuten TV has launched 20 free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) channels from Sony Pictures Entertainment, across the UK, Spain, Germany, France, Italy, Austria, the Nordics and the Netherlands. The line-up includes branded channels for Dragons’ Den and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, alongside genre channels such as Comedy TV and Thriller TV, with programming including Seinfeld, Breaking Bad and Charlie’s Angels. The channels are localised for individual markets, while Nordic viewers will receive English-language versions.

Lionsgate Attracts Takeover Interest From Bollore and Banijay

Lionsgate Studios, the entertainment company behind the Hunger Games and John Wick franchises, has attracted takeover interest from suitors including France’s Bollore Group and Banijay Group, Reuters reported on Tuesday. Sources familiar with the matter said the company, which has a market value around $3.8 billion, has been working with an investment bank to evaluate inbound approaches. They added that a deal is not certain and the studio could remain independent.

The Week for Publishers

Publisher Ad Supply Falls as AI Traffic Drops Bite

Publisher ad supply in the UK and US was down 40 percent year-on-year in Q2, according to benchmarking data from Ozone reported by Digiday. Many publishers have publicly shared that they’ve seen drops in traffic coming from search engines, as AI chatbots draw users away from traditional search, and AI capabilities embedded within search engines answer users’ queries before they’ve clicked through to a website. However eCPMs have risen as supply has fallen, meaning that ad revenues for publishers haven’t plummeted as steeply as publisher ad request volumes.

Semafor Expands its Video Efforts

American news website Semafor, which was founded in 2022 by news veterans Ben Smith and Justin B. Smith, is making a concerted push to expand its video output, Adweek reported this week. The company has hired Adam Banicki, previously GM of video at Fortune Media, as its first head of video. Video isn’t new for Semafor – its first YouTube video was published three years ago — but Banicki will be tasked with building a video business which caters to the C-suite. The idea, according to Adweek’s report, is to focus on quality of views rather than quantity.

Washington Post Builds ‘Ask The News’ AI Tool for News Publishers

The Washington Post’s in-house media tech business Arc XP this week announced a new AI-based product which is designed to keep audiences on publishers’ owned-and-operated sites, rather than using third-party chatbots for news content. ‘Ask The News’ is an AI tool which can be embedded directly in publishers’ own digital properties and trained on their own content, allowing consumers to ask news-related queries and receive answers based on that website’s own reporting.

“The industry has spent years worrying about Google and social platforms,” said Joey Marburger, VP of Content Intelligence at Arc XP. “The next threat is quieter and faster: readers learning to ask AI instead of visiting a news site. Ask The News puts publishers back in that conversation.”

Global Research Highlights Media’s Role in Building Community

New research released by Global and MG OMD examines the role of communities when it comes to defining individuals’ identities in the UK, finding that traditional demographics don’t paint the full picture. The Belonging in Britain report found that eight traits shape the average person’s identity, with family, personality, passion, and friends listed as the most important factors. Meanwhile, nearly one in five say the brands, media, and events they choose form part of their identity. Eighty-one percent of people in communities say they feel a sense of community with at least one media channel, while 74 percent say media contributes to who they are.

The research also highlighted the commercial value of communities, as people in communities are more likely to feel they have control over their lives, to feel confident about the future, and to have been influenced by something they’ve seen or heard in their groups.

Nic Newman Says Claude’s Liquid Content Capabilities Pose Serious Challenge to News Media

Much has been said about AI’s impact on news media organisations, and the ability of AI tools to ingest and replicate publisher content. But perhaps one overlooked aspect is its ability to translate stories across different media types — something which Nic Newman, senior research associate at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, says poses a serious challenge to news media.

Speaking at a conference last week, as reported by Press Gazette, Newman spoke about AI chatbot Claude’s ability to create graphs and infographics to illustrate datapoints and help readers understand stories. “Content is becoming much more fluid, whether we like it or not,” said Newman. “It’s going to be remixed in many different ways, and audiences will expect and like that level of personalisation, that they can get the content in the format that they want.”

Newsletter Platform Beehiiv Opens Up to Programmatic

Newsletter publishing and distribution platform Beehiiv announced a major product expansion this week, part of which includes the introduction of programmatic advertising capabilities for newsletter creators. “Publishers set it up once and programmatic ads scale as their lists grow – choosing the ad with the best fit and highest payout potential based on their audience, content and historical performance,” the company said in its announcement. “Publishers earn revenue they’d otherwise be leaving on the table, with programmatic ads serving as a natural complement to direct-sold campaigns by helping fill available inventory automatically.”

The Week for Brands & Agencies

Video Budgets See Strongest Performance in Two Years in Latest IPA Bellwether

Video continued its upward trajectory in Q2 2026, according to the latest IPA Bellwether Report, becoming the only media category tracked by the study to see upward revision in marketing budgets. Based on the net balance of UK marketers upping their budgets for each category, video saw its highest rate of growth since Q3 2024, highlighting ongoing investment in brand-building despite challenging economic conditions. The findings are set against a backdrop of inflationary headwinds, and a decline in financial confidence among UK businesses. Despite this economic uncertainty, Maryam Baluch, Economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence and author of the Bellwether Report, said the results indicate marketers’ “commitment to investment and brand-building activities that underpin growth.” Read more on VideoWeek.

WPP Reportedly Gears Up for Job Cuts

UK-based holding group WPP is reportedly preparing for another round of job cuts, with AdAge reporting the business is seeking to cut a number of positions in the mid-to-high hundreds. The layoffs will take place between now and the end of the year, though it’s not known exactly which business units and role types will be affected. CEO Cindy Rose had previously warned that job cuts were on the way, as part of the group’s ongoing turnaround process. WPP is looking for £500 million in annual cost savings by 2028.

Omnicom’s Acxiom Expands Online/Offline ID Capabilities

Omnicom’s data and technology arm Acxiom this week announced what it describes as a significant expansion of its Digital Recognition solution, which connects digital signals to offline identifiers using its in-house Real ID. Acxiom claims the solution is able to drive a ten percent increase in website conversion rates and 50 percent higher recognition rates for email remarketing. “Real ID’s unique ability to connect online signals to offline data allows brands to recognise people for longer periods of time and engage them across channels,” said Keith Camoosa, Acxiom’s chief product and technology innovation officer. “With only 35 percent of brands using household identifiers for recognition today, this marks a significant opportunity.”

Stagwell Launches In-House Curated Marketplace ‘Stagwell Curate’

Agency network Stagwell on Thursday launched Stagwell Curate, which it describes as a “centralised deal marketplace and bespoke inventory curation platform that consolidates preferred supply relationships across the Stagwell network into a single, always-on source of trusted supply”. The marketplace will house inventory across streaming TV, video, display, and audio, using AI to curate inventory based on quality standards and performance signals. Brands and agencies meanwhile will be able to use those tools to curate inventory themselves.

Publicis Media Retains Reckitt’s US Media Account

Publicis-owned media agency Zenith has retained US media responsibilities for FMCG brand Reckitt, Adweek reported this week, beating out WPP media in a competitive pitch process. WPP Media won Reckitt’s European media account at the end of last year, but Zenith has come up on top in the US, holding onto an account worth $400 million.

Havas Media Picks Up King’s Global Media Business

Activision Blizzard’s mobile gaming unit King, best known as the maker of Candy Crush, has chosen Havas Media Network UK to lead global media strategy, planning, and buying, Campaign reported this week. The account will be handled by Arena Media UK, its specialist gaming team, which also runs media for fellow video game companies Blizzard and Bethesda — all of which fall under Microsoft’s ownership.

Hires of the Week

Waitrose’s Nathan Ansell Named Advertising Association President

The Advertising Association, a UK trade body, has named Nathan Ansell, Chief Customer Officer at Waitrose, as its next President. Ansell will take up the role in 2027, following the completion of Andria Vidler’s two-year tenure as President. Ansell will help guide the group as it focuses on building public trust in advertising through its Value of Trust campaign, supporting talent recruitment and retention via the All In initiative, and taking positive action on climate change through Ad Net Zero.

MultiChoice’s Simon Rexworthy to Lead Strategy at Channel 4

Channel 4 has appointed Simon Rexworthy as Chief Strategy & Corporate Development Officer, reporting to Chief Executive Priya Dogra and joining the UK broadcaster’s Executive Committee. Rexworthy will lead Channel 4’s corporate strategy, drive revenue diversification, and deliver innovation around new technologies and AI. He joins from South African pay-TV business MultiChoice, where he served as Chief Strategy and Product Officer.