Media Intelligence

The numbers are in — and they're bigger than anyone expected. WPP Media's President of Global Business Intelligence,  Kate Scott-Dawkins , breaks down the  This Year Next Year 2026 Global Midyear Forecast , and the headline says it all: global advertising revenue is now projected to grow  8.9% to $1.3 trillion  by year's end — a significant upward revision from December's 7.1% forecast. So what's...

The numbers tell one story. The forces behind them tell a far more interesting one. In this mid-year edition of This Year Next Year, Kate Scott-Dawkins unpacks a forecast that has been significantly upgraded since December — not in spite of geopolitical turbulence, but in some ways because of it. From the AI investment cycle reshaping advertiser behaviour across every category, to a new advertisin...

In one of the most consequential earnings weeks of 2026, hosts Kate Scott-Dawkins and Jeff Foster break down results from Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, Apple, Reddit, Roku, Comcast, Rogers, Televisa Univision, and Spotify. The overarching story: digital advertising is not just healthy — it's accelerating, decoupling from broader macroeconomic pressures, and being fundamentally reshaped by...

The headlines this week are loud — but the real story is in the fine print. In this episode of the Media Intelligence Podcast, WPP Media’s Kate Scott-Dawkins, Jeff Foster and Nidhi Shah unpack why the viral claim that Meta is about to overtake Google in advertising is far more misleading than it first appears, and what it really says about revenue reporting, market share and media coverage of the...

Global advertising is proving more resilient than the headlines suggest — even as the Middle East conflict and rising oil prices rattle energy markets, consumer confidence and supply chains. In episode 92 of the WPP Media Intelligence podcast, Kate Scott-Dawkins, Jeff Foster and Nidhi Shah break down what the oil disruption really means for ad budgets, why the ad market floor is holding, and what...

Oil is surging and the headlines say brace for impact — but the relationship between energy prices and advertising spend is more nuanced than it looks. In this episode of the Media Intelligence Podcast, WPP Media's Kate Scott-Dawkins, Jeff Foster and Nidhi Shah break down what rising oil prices actually mean for advertising budgets, media planning and brand strategy across five key markets: th...

Women's Sports Are Booming — But Is Your Brand Keeping Up? This week on the WPP Media Intelligence Podcast, hosts Kate Scott-Dawkins, Jeff Foster, and Nidhi Shah are joined by special guest  Denise Ocasio , Executive Director and Head of Investment at WPP Media, to unpack three of the biggest conversations shaping media and advertising right now. First, they dive deep into  women's sports...

The ad market is starting to look like a three-body problem:  streaming growth, linear decline, and event-driven spikes (sports + politics) — all colliding as deal rumors swirl around Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD). Kate Scott-Dawkins  hosts  Jeff Foster  and  Nidhi Shah  (WPP Media Business Intelligence) to break down Paramount and WBD earnings:  Paramount+ up 17% with 78.9M subs ,  Pluto TV down 1...

Ad revenue is still holding up in key quarters—even as some US economic signals flash stress and platform reporting gets a bit murkier. Kate Scott-Dawkins joins Jeff Foster and Nidhi Shah to break down fresh earnings signals (Roku, Walmart/eBay, Pinterest, travel platforms, Reddit), then brings in WPP Media search experts Katelyn Taylor and Teddie Cowell for a fast-moving conversation on how “sear...

The Super Bowl isn’t just football—it’s the biggest advertising marketplace in American TV. Kate Scott-Dawkins (live from Levi’s Stadium) joins Jeff Foster and Nidhi Shah to break down  Super Bowl commercials , the  cost of Super Bowl ads , and why brands still pay for the last truly mass, shared TV moment. They also unpack a major earnings week— Amazon, Alphabet (Google/YouTube), Uber, Disney, an...

Meta’s ad engine keeps accelerating—even as legal and regulatory pressure builds. Kate Scott-Dawkins is joined by Jeff Foster and Nidhi Shah to break down a packed earnings week and the theme they see everywhere right now:  concentration and consolidation —of ad spend, audience attention, and especially  AI investment . They unpack Meta’s surprisingly strong growth and a striking geographic disclo...

Netflix says ads are booming—but are viewers actually watching more? Kate Scott-Dawkins and Jeff Foster dig into Netflix’s latest earnings:  ~$3B in projected ad revenue for 2026 ,  325M paid memberships , and a surprisingly modest lift in  hours watched . We unpack what that gap could mean for advertisers, why big IP (including  Warner Bros. Discovery/WBD ) suddenly looks even more valuable, and...

Is your next big purchase going to be made by AI? In this “super pod” crossover between WPP Media Intelligence and Madison & Wall, Kate Scott-Dawkins, Brian Wieser, Luke Stillman, Jeff Foster, and Nidhi Shah unpack the week’s biggest shifts in media and marketing. We explore: Google & OpenAI’s new  agentic commerce  protocols — and what AI shopping means for brands. Why US banks grew ad sp...

Smart glasses everywhere, robots in your living room, and 73.9% of global ad spend concentrated in just 25 companies. Kate Scott-Dawkins, Jeff Foster, and Nidhi Shah break down what really matters for advertisers from CES: the explosion of robotics and smart home ecosystems, a wave of smart glasses and next-gen TVs, and what this growing “surface area” for media means for targeting, measurement, a...

Host Kate Scott-Dawkins is joined by Jeff Foster and Nidhi Shah to break down WPP’s newly released global advertising forecast across 60+ markets and every major media channel. Discover why 2025 global ad revenue is now projected to grow  8.8% to $1.14 trillion , how AI is driving a shift toward “intelligence” advertising, and what the milestone of  commerce surpassing TV ad spend  means for brand...

Earnings season meets forecast crunch time | Kate Scott‑Dawkins, Jeff Foster, and Nidhi Shah break down the latest media and marketing shifts: European broadcasters in decline, OOH gains from travel rebound, Amazon’s surge in cloud and streaming ads, Tubi’s early AVOD profitability, and the mixed fortunes at Peacock, Paramount+, Warner Bros. Discovery, and Disney. From sports rights battles to ide...

This week, Kate Scott-Dawkins, Nidhi Shah, and Jeff Foster discuss Netflix’s 17% growth and plans to expand its ad business, Spanish-language broadcasters facing declines, political ad trends, luxury sector resilience, and a flood of AI news — from OpenAI’s browser to Samsung’s AI TVs — plus Google’s cancer research breakthrough. Chapters 00:00-Introduction 01:18-Netflix Q3 earnings and Brazilian...

This week on the  WPP Media Intelligence Podcast , Kate Scott-Dawkins, Nidhi Shah, and Jeff Foster are diving into the big stories shaping media, marketing, and the economy right now. The IMF has bumped up its global growth forecast, China’s trade numbers are surprising everyone, and luxury brands like LVMH are showing early signs of recovery. Banks are riding high on AI investments, IPO activity...

How privacy rules, AI growth, and EV competition are reshaping advertising In this episode of the Media Intelligence Podcast, the team unpacks the week’s biggest stories in media, marketing, and global business. From Europe’s push toward ad-free social media to AI’s economic boom and the worldwide EV race, they explore how regulation, consumer values, and technology are reshaping advertising strat...

On this week’s  Media Intelligence Podcast , Kate Scott-Dawkins, Jeff Foster, and Nidhi Shah from WPP Media’s Business Intelligence team discuss some of the week’s biggest media and marketing stories. Topics include TikTok’s $14B valuation and what it means for the platform’s future, the latest UK inflation data, rising streaming subscription prices, Netflix’s new partnership with AB InBev, and Op...

Kate Scott-Dawkins and Jeff Foster break down the Fed’s first rate cut in a year, new US income data, and what a “two-speed” economy means for brands. They cover TikTok’s uncertain US future, the rumored Warner Bros. Discovery–Paramount mega-merger, billion-dollar sports rights, fresh AI usage insights from Anthropic and OpenAI, and the IPOs that could reshape ad spend transparency. Key Topics Dis...

Pharma ad crackdown, Murdoch succession, NFL streaming surge, EV ad spend, plus economy, 2030 ad trends, and Apple’s latest showcase. Kate Scott-Dawkins and Jeff Foster unpack a busy week in advertising and media: the Trump administration’s potential crackdown on pharma ads, the Murdoch family’s succession deal, NFL’s streaming surge from Brazil, and aggressive EV ad spending from Lucid, VinFast,...

In this week’s  WPP Media Intelligence Podcast , Kate Scott-Dawkins, Jeff Foster, and Nidhi Shah break down the biggest media and advertising stories shaping the global market. From last-minute US carriage deals to the NFL’s free-to-air push in the UK, and a major European media merger, we explore what these moves mean for advertisers. Plus, we look at newspaper ad revenue trends, China’s growing...

Kate Scott-Dawkins is joined by Jeff Foster and Nidhi Shah to break down the latest trends in the economy, media, and advertising. They chat about what lower-than-expected US inflation means for consumers, how Chinese retailers are staying strong despite economic challenges, and some exciting moves in sports streaming and local TV. Plus, they dive into the rapid rise of AppLovin and what it means...

This week, Kate Scott-Dawkins is joined by Jeff Foster, Nidhi Shah, and special guest Aisha Khan to break down the latest Q2 earnings reports from major media and commerce players. They talk about Disney’s NFL-ESPN deal, Fox’s Tubi success, Warner Bros. Discovery’s struggles, and the booming growth of retail media. Plus, they explore how tariffs are affecting businesses, AI’s growing role in adver...