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Douglas said the news business “desperately needs and wants more innovation."

“The news media today looks identical to the news media in 1990. The news format looks the same, the [big] brands are the same,” McCabe said, pointing to the struggles experienced by start-ups launched in the 2000s such as BuzzFeed that tried to shake up the industry.

He added  “Over the last three or four years, those businesses look like they turned a corner . . . media has become investable again.”

Gareth said “EA has clearly had a lot of time to prepare for this event to occur. They’re probably finding it refreshing that they can do really interesting things with clubs and players around the franchise, which is what they’ve always wanted to do.” 

Jamie said “Google Search and Amazon ads have led the pack this quarter, which is an expected flight to safety by advertisers prioritizing short-term return on investment. The search and e-commerce havens are also sheltered from the effects of Apple’s privacy changes since they are largely contextual and close to the point of purchase. That resilience contrasts with the weakness shown by Meta, Snap, YouTube and Twitter.”

He added "If you look at absolute growth, what agencies are reporting isn’t inconsistent with the platforms’ results."

Douglas said he was unsurprised by the initial findings for the first quarter of 2022. “It was always going to be great,” he said, especially compared to the lockdowns that haunted the same period in 2021.

“Advertising spend is moving closer and closer to transaction, and retreating away from big brand campaigns that are all about profits and emphasising brand coolness."

Francois said he perceived TF1 and M6’s statements to be a “bargaining strategy” to apply pressure on the French Competition Authorities and have them greenlight the merger without too many conditions.

“M6 and TF1 have been arguing from the start that this merger was crucial to create a major French media group and face off the competition from global platforms, so here they’re alerting the market that if the regulators are setting the bar too high with conditions, they will not bend over."

Alice said "The hearings into the January 6th events are top of the media agenda in the US, and Trump is not emerging as unscathed by his behaviour. The soft base of Trump is peeling away. DeSantis is young and charismatic and likely to be a stronger contender for the next Presidential election, especially against Biden."

"Murdoch likes to back winners rather than losers, and Trump lost the last election - that's plain as day - and Ron DeSantis is more likely to win on 5 November 2024 and deliver the Republican agenda of low taxes."

She added "Fox had a brilliant time in terms of ad revenues when Trump was all in to the Murdochs, always dialling in and on tap to provide commentary. Now that he is not, because of the 'treachery' of Fox News over the election, they would certainly like to curry favour with DeSantis to replace Trump's pulling power."