Julian said “Although the trend is obviously shifting more and more online and particularly through social media channels, TV is still the most important source for people to consume their news.So from that perspective I suppose it makes sense that if you are looking to launch some sort of news provision you’re going to look at potentially using some sort of TV channel.”

He added “It’s regulated very carefully so that’s why people who still continue to watch news on TV – because they believe they are able to get an independent view. That isn’t to say different sources don’t have certain leanings…”

Claire said “It’s probably been the most difficult time that ITV has ever faced. In financial terms, the company’s in much better shape than it was in 2008/09”. But, she says, “it is an equivalent nightmare." 

She added “It’s very niche. It would have been very naive if the company believed that launching Britbox would somehow revive its fortunes the way that Disney Plus is reviving Disney's fortunes.”

“Ultimately, it seems very likely to me that ITV will eventually form part of someone else’s global scale play. It looks inevitable and the Covid crisis will have advanced those arguments.”

Joseph said Spotify offers an ad-free experience to paying subscribers who tune in to the app for music, but he points out, they’ve decided “they are comfortable serving ads in podcasts”.    

“Spotify sees podcasts as a way that they can serve ads to their paying subscribers. I think that's a big reason they're actually getting into this."

He added that “Most listening time currently goes to live broadcast radio which obviously has a large variety of content, and is a sort of ‘lean back and push’ medium where you just hit a button and it entertains you for as many hours as you want to listen."

As the journalism industry collapses, writers are turning to newsletters to make money and launch whole publications.

“This whole trend is part of a larger shift away from our reliance on excessive amounts of display advertising, overwhelming the reader and making the whole experience unpleasant,” says Douglas McCabe, CEO of media research company Enders Analysis. 

Joseph Evans of Enders Analysis says: “The games industry is growing faster than any other media industry. A business [like Epic] that provides a lot of the plumbing and tools that games realtors use could be very sizeable.” 

Game engines are the scaffolding of the industry: the set of software tools and physics models used to create the expansive 3D worlds that hundreds of millions of people dive into on evenings and weekends. The jaw dropping demo in May was the coming out party for the latest version of Epic Games’ Unreal Engine, one of the most widely used. But it is also key to a hostile dispute that involves two of the world’s biggest companies, one of the biggest video games and hundreds of millions of dollar

Pinduoduo is the latest behemoth produced by China’s tech machine, an online shopping site that specialises in extraordinary discounts on everything from tissues to Teslas. And its market value has more than doubled in recent months to $114bn (£87bn).  

Jamie MacEwan, an analyst at Enders, says: “Pinduoduo’s discount model has powered its impressive growth story. The company has achieved massive user growth in the last two years, which it has prioritised over profits.”  

The measure introduced one year ago, August 1, 2019, by members of the BGC turned out to be highly successful, as a study by Enders Analysis found out the number of betting ads seen by children aged between 4 and 17 years, fell by 97%.

According to the comprehensive analysis, the first 5 months after the measure became effective produced 1.7 billion fewer views of gambling ads, and there were 109 million fewer views over 4 comparative weekends.

One reason for the decline is the way social-media sites work. Facebook, the most popular, has been demoting news in users’ feeds. Publishers reacted to that by deprioritising Facebook as an outlet to promote their work, notes Alice Pickthall of Enders Analysis, a research firm. Moreover many websites have erected paywalls, reducing the supply of high-quality free content on social networks.

Sanchit said it would be wrong for marketers to take it at face value that customer spend will be limited to essentials only for now.

“During the 2008/09 crash, we saw inexpensive ’eventised’ categories such as personal care, cinema and hospitality do incredibly well too,” he says, saying that while households dropped their overall expenditure levels, and were uncertain about the future, they still sought some ways to enjoy themselves.

“We will see similar behaviours again this time,” he says. Though, he concedes that the reality of social distancing means out-of-home spending will remain hampered for the time being"

Sanchit said “It's important to remember that while we're in a worse economic situation than a decade ago, the underlying drivers are entirely different."

Pointing to the 2009 financial crisis, he added “Though that was devastating, it didn't create the same level of economic uncertainty as the pandemic has. Households are worried about job security, overall health and their future economic prospects — to an extent not seen a decade ago. Nevertheless, marketers cannot afford to fall into the same cautious mindset as consumers at the moment — in doing so, they will forego invaluable opportunities.”