Taking the friction out of open-web advertising

'Technology is going to make the open web as efficient as the walled gardens, but still allow it to keep its independence.' Stephanie Himoff is bullish on the future of the open web. As EVP for publishers at Teads, it's practically in her job description. But in this episode of the MediaCat podcast, Himoff talks about why she thinks the immediate future of the open web has promise, from new technologies that will rid the medium of its 'complexity tax' to the return of the 'human premium'.

A substantial proportion of the advertising that people see and hear now does not come from the ad industry but from other sources — sources that don't care much whether the content is legal, decent, truthful or honest. The markets, and the platforms that host a lot of the scam ads, won't fix this problem by themselves, argues media agency veteran Nick Manning. Only legislative intervention can do that. It might be time for the ad industry to embrace the idea of being more heavily regulated.

In this episode of the MediaCat UK podcast, editor James Swift talks content marketing with Carlotta Rossi Spencer, head of branded entertainment business development at Banijay. Banijay is the world's largest independent production company (and it might be about to get even bigger), with titles including MasterChef and Peaky Blinders in its library. As media commentators predict that more brands would pivot to become content creators in their own right in 2026, Spencer talks about the costs and rewards involved in making branded entertainment, and why there’s more of it around than you may think.

Craft Media London doesn't buy or make ads. The agency provides clients with comms strategy, filling the hole that exists between media and creative agencies, but nothing else. Given the agency's neutral position, we thought it'd be fun to ask Craft's co-founders, Sally Weavers and Jenny Jones, to weigh in on a bunch of the biggest media debates of the year. And we were right — it was a lot of fun. In this episode of the MediaCat UK podcast, Weavers and Jones give 2025 a score out of 10 and discuss fragmentation, AI and influencers, as well as full-jaw replacements and Angel Delight. NB: We had some issues with the sound recording on this podcast: the volume sometimes drop, and it sounds like the guests were recording from a broom cupboard. We were, however, in the same room.

The state of social media depends very much on the perspective you take. Financially speaking, it's in rude health. WARC predicts that brands will spend $300bn on the channel in 2026, which would represent something like a quarter of global advertising expenditure. It's no less prevalent than it was, either. According to Ofcom, 60% of news consumption now takes place on 'online intermediaries', which includes social media platforms, as well as online news aggregators. And yet... A great many people who post or lurk on social media would argue that it's passed it's peak. There's no longer one platform that sets the agenda in the same way that Twitter did in the years before Elon Musk acquired it, for example. And public feeds have increasingly become colonised with video content from professional (or aspiring) creators. There isn't much data that proves social media has become less social, but in 2023, Instagram's Adam Mosseri seemed to confirm it in an interview, when he said: ‘Your friends don’t post that much to feed’. Against this backdrop, we chatted with Beth Thomas and Michael Corcoran, a former campaign operations manager at TikTok and the head of social at Ryanair, respectively, who have co-founded a new consultancy called Slice Social. Listen to find out whether 'enshittification' has irreparably worsened social media, how marketers can make the channel pay, and which brands Thomas and Corcoran are doing it right (and neither of them say Duolingo, which makes a nice change).

Nick Manning has got principal-based media buying in his sights. The former media agency co-founder — who has begun a movement to help the industry ‘get its mojo back’ — has published a paper on the money-making practice, called A World of Pain. Principal-based media buying is sometimes presented as a win-win-win situation for everyone involved: agencies get extra income, advertisers get cheaper media, and media owners don’t have to hustle so hard to sell their inventory. But that’s not Manning’s view. In this 45-minute podcast, Manning talks to MediaCat UK's editor, James Swift, about why he thinks, in the long-run, everyone loses out when agencies become re-sellers of media. Main image by Alexander Grey on Unsplash

For this podcast MediaCat's Opinions Editor, Mike Piggott, spoke to Dan Calladine, head of media futures at dentsu, and Grace Letley, head of strategy UK at iProspect, about dentsu's new report, The Year of Impact: 2025 Media Trends. They went through the report, section by section, discussing the rapid evolution of the media landscape and how they now believe the industry to be moving into the algorithmic era of things. The discussion touches on AI-powered media solutions, micro-moments and forging stronger connections with customers, niche communities, CTV and live sport, media publishers boosting shopper capabilities, and localisation and personalisation issues for global brands. We hope you find this podcast insightful. The report In its fifteenth year, dentsu’s latest media trends report delves into the trends that are shaping today’s media landscape. It details how 2025 will drive towards a fully addressable, shoppable, and accountable media ecosystem, marking a shift into what is being defined as the 'Algorithmic Era of Media.' The report explores the ten trends that will shape this era — including the tangible value of generative AI, the new territories for storytelling, and the quest for quality across the media value chain — and how brands can harness them to drive tangible impact and growth.

For this podcast MediaCat's Opinions Editor, Mike Piggott, spoke to Tom Gent, founder and Head of Creative at award-winning content agency, Founder Creative. With a career spanning two decades in the media and entertainment industries, Tom has done a lot. He’s worked for the BBC on a plethora of sports content, produced Top Gear for a year, directed a film for UEFA, and worked as Global Creative Director for video games publisher, Electronic Arts. He now has clients on his roster, including McLaren, EA, Mercedes and mobile gaming studio, Supercell. Mike spoke to Tom about the early days working for MTV on Pimp My Ride UK, getting into creative producing with his work on sport for the BBC, and winning BAFTAs for work on the Summer Olympics and Formula One. They also discussed how, during his time at EA, he managed to work with legendary composer Hans Zimmer on video game FIFA, blending the virtual and physical worlds, working with football stars like Ronaldo. Tom also talks about how music is fundamental, in terms of creating compelling video content, evoking emotion, and linking narrative. He reflects on what's changed with the media and entertainment industries over the last twenty years, and how this has impacted briefs from clients in terms of formats of content and delivering video content across multiple platforms, as well as proving effectiveness of content in terms of client briefs. Finally, they end by discussing Tom's time working on Top Of The Pops and Top Gear — and how the focus for his agency going forward is on gaming and sport clients; which is where Tom expects growth, and believes this is where the industry is ultimately going. We hope you enjoy this podcast.

For this podcast our Editor Mike Piggott spoke to Bob Sheard, co-founder of brand design agency FreshBritain. They discussed how Bob got into brand design, and how he was quite possibly the first man in Yorkshire to own a certain pair of adidas trainers. They talk about how he got into buying and selling denim, and how he was once brought on board to 'unfuck Levi's'... in the words of the client. The discussion then moved onto how Bob loves the 'elegant decay of denim' and the preloved fashion market, and how imperfection in products are actually a good thing. They discussed how Gen Z and Gen Alpha are becoming more defined by what they do rather than what they own, and how Bob is working with Central St Martins to create pathways for more creatives to work their way up to the boardroom. They talk about brand design being on the cusp of massive change, how brands need to shift from making things to selling intelligence, experience and knowledge. And finally Bob shares how he once told Noel Gallagher he couldn't have a free pair of trainers.

In this podcast MediaCat's Opinions Editor Mike Piggott spoke to Simon Akers (founder and partner at Archmon) and Jaz Poke (Business Development Director EMEA at Omnicom Media Group), co-founders of new industry initiative, Neurodiversity in Media (NDIM). They discussed how the initiative got started and why there is a need for it in the industry, NDIM's Manifesto and what change and action they'd like to see from industry leaders, and how there is simultaneously both more understanding of neurodiversity in the industry right now, but also still a lot of neurodiverse ignorance to overcome. If you work in the industry and would like to get involved and understand ways you can get your agency or brand involved, see Simon's post here, or head to their Substack and subscribe. Featured image: Hiki app / Unsplash