Advertising is in a structural shift due to AI and the video boom. AI tools are growing the reach and capabilities of smaller advertisers, fuelling robust demand. 

WPP must challenge Publicis’s dominance in 2026 and show it is positioned to benefit from AI even as Omnicom and IPG combine to create a new global behemoth.

Amazon is taking the fight to adtech by strengthening its connected TV and retail media positions. Adtech is building partnerships and becoming more end-to-end in response.

Europe experienced flat service revenue growth in Q2, with French trends worsening as SFR’s woes intensified.

There are signs of better pricing momentum in several markets, particularly in Italy and in Germany where O2 has softened its aggressiveness.

This, together with expected improved momentum in the UK, and a likely resolution in France, paints a more positive outlook—and will be particularly helpful for Vodafone’s German turnaround ambitions.

Italy’s MediaForEurope (MFE) is set to become the majority shareholder of Germany’s ProSiebenSat.1 (P7S1) and the largest FTA broadcaster in Europe.

In a consolidating German market, P7S1 had no alternative credible option than to accept the (increased) MFE offer.

MFE believes that its new leadership position in European broadcasting will allow it to challenge platforms such as YouTube for regional advertising budgets.

Comcast is selling Sky Deutschland to RTL Group, for a €150 million cash consideration, but with a performance-dependent variable of up to €377 million

In a fluid but competitive German market, RTL vies for leadership

Having turned Sky Deutschland around, this divestment allows Sky to be much more focused on core regions with more diversified businesses

In the year following its IPO, Reddit has defied our expectations, reporting five straight quarters of positive adjusted operating income and strong growth.

Profitability stems from disciplined cost management alongside exceptional user growth, with a focus on advertising performance and limited distractions.

The platform's human-generated conversations are proving valuable in the AI era, but AI strength could become a vulnerability if synthetic content overwhelms authentic discussion.

The Berlusconi family-backed MediaForEurope’s (MFE) public offer may not be taken up by many ProSiebenSat.1 (P7) shareholders, but will allow it to raise its stake to above 30%.

Without a core shareholder, ProSieben has flipped-flopped through unsuccessful strategies to meet the digital transition challenge.

MFE believes that European commercial television must build cross-border scale to compete with global streamers.

Use of publisher content to train AI models is hotly contested. Unacknowledged scraping, licensing deals, and lawsuits all characterise the publisher-AI company relationship.

However, model training is not the whole story. More and more products rely on up-to-date access to content, and some are direct competitors to publisher offerings.

Publishers can’t depend on copyright to deliver them the value of their IP. They need to track which products are catching on with users for licensing deals to make sense for them, and to ensure their own products keep up with the competition.

Service revenue growth dropped off by 2.7ppts this quarter, and into negative territory, as operators in all markets suffered weaker growth
 

Operators in France and the UK implemented price increases this quarter but re-contracting absorbed any positive revenue impact. In Italy, regulatory intervention thwarted operator plans to raise prices
 

Increasing competitive intensity in France and Germany comes at a time when operators can ill-afford ARPU dilution and high churn
 

Service revenue growth was broadly flat at 1.7% as improvements in Germany offset weaknesses in Italy.

The impact of price increases has been mixed, with subscriber losses dulling their upside, and the mixed picture looks set to continue into Q2.

The market continues to be challenging with elevated competition at the low end, pressure from some regulators to increase network coverage, and a somewhat soft EBITDA outlook.

Reddit, a unique and valuable online space, has reported its first quarterly results as a public company, following a very successful IPO.

In the longer term, Reddit is doomed to scratch out an unprofitable existence as a wannabe scale ad platform, echoing peers in the public markets.

Advertising is probably the least-bad business strategy, as user payments, ecommerce and licensing revenues are even less proven. Dialling back growth ambitions to improve the bottom line is the most sustainable path.