Douglas said “The Mail is unique: it has the most successful print newspaper, and a hugely successful online service, yet the two circles in the venn diagram are surprisingly apart. Pushing them together is a huge organisational and cultural challenge, but necessary from an economic perspective alone. If the Mail has the biggest challenge of all the publishers, it also has one of the media industry’s biggest opportunities.”

Joseph said “For more sophisticated games, we know brands are keen to experiment, as in-game is a chance to get in front of hard-to-reach audiences in an immersive context."

He added “[Y]ou either have custom branded integrations that involve huge investment and a high creative bar for one-off experiences, or you’re sticking virtual posters on in-game ad environments. That looks tacky and there’s none of the attribution you would get with web banners. The data brands get out of gaming platforms is pretty basic: number of visitors to the experience, and from which regions. If you build a custom app then you can measure in-game activity and get the usual analytics, but then you don’t have the built-in audience, and it’s an even bigger development challenge.”

Enders Analysis’ Karen Egan told City A.M. that Niel’s swoop for Vodafone was undoubtedly driven by his firm’s failed bid to buy Vodafone’s Italian unit for more than €11bn (£9.6bn) in February. 

She said this, combined with shareholder frustration, was a key driver for the businessman, who also has an expansive portfolio across Europe and Africa.

 

Douglas McCabe, CEO and director of publishing and tech at Enders Analysis, estimated the lost advertising could equate to around 15 million pounds ($17 million) a day for TV companies, 2 million pounds ($2.3 million) for radio, 2 million pounds for billboard owners, and 1 million pounds ($1.1 million) for newspapers.

Not all that money will completely disappear, McCabe said. There is likely to be pent-up demand from brands who want to return to advertising at an appropriate time. Many publishers and out-of-home media owners will have received ads from companies looking to pay tribute to the Queen, McCabe added. 

He added "They could have sold three or four times more. Demand for newspapers was greater on Friday [September 9] than it has been for many decades, with retailers selling out early in the morning."