The Media Leader Podcast

At the end of January, The Media Leader held its first ever Audio In Focus Week. The audio landscape is evolving at a breakneck pace – with growing digital audio audiences, and audio businesses moving into video production. So, we decided to dedicate an entire week’s worth of our coverage to exploring the innovations, strategies and voices shaping the media channel.
The week was launched in partnership with Octave Audio, the digital audio marketplace owned by News Broadcasting.
During the week, host Jack Benjamin sat down with Octave’s managing director Russell Pedrick, as well as News Broadcasting commercial director Dave Wilcox, at in News' London Bridge studio to discuss how the company’s audio offering has developed over the past year.
Octave came under the full ownership of News UK last summer, after News bought out Bauer’s share. Bauer went on to launch its own digital audio marketplace, AudioXi.
Pedrick was appointed MD in April ahead of the relaunch of Octave, and he’s since worked to expand the service to encompasses visual inventory as well, as News Broadcasting products talkSport, Times Radio, Virgin Radio and Talk Radio transform from radio and podcast shows to visual shows commonly watched online and on TV screens.
Pedrick and Wilcox discussed audio's transition to video, Octave’s new AI product, and why they believe digital audio is undervalued in the current market. Hint: it involves needing better measurement standards.
Highlights:
5:03: Octave's strategic priorities
7:31: Octave AI: balancing generative AI creative with desire for the human element
12:04: Audio and video are merging, creating new commercial opportunities
18:53: Embracing an omnichannel approach and a platform-led audience strategy
24:04: Does podcasting need its own JIC?
27:24: World Cup opportunity and why digital audio is undervalued
Related articles:
Octave MD reflects on how ‘audio is becoming a bit of a bolt on’ in podcasting
Predictions for audio in 2026 from industry experts
Why the 2026 World Cup should be the ultimate multi-channel showcase
Rajar Q4 2025: Top Takeaways
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This month, advertising industry trade bodies the IPA, Isba and the Advertising Association are spending a great deal of combined energy highlighting the issue of trust.
That includes at the annual LEAD conference, which takes place this Thursday, and in a report released last week by the IPA that found trust-building ad campaigns improve business outcomes.
Trust is what drives consumers to purchase goods and services from one brand over another; to give their attention to one media channel over another. And in a world of AI slop, misinformation, and falling trust in traditional institutions — a world in which trust is increasingly at a premium — it’s no surprise that the issue has been a core topic among executives in recent months, particularly those leading media channels like publishing and audio.
Matt Bourn is the communications director at the Advertising Association. James Best is chair of the Committees of Advertising Practice (CAP) and Credos, the Advertising Association’s think tank.
On February 3rd, the duo are releasing a new book, published by Kogan Page, titled Trusted Advertising – How to harness the value of trust in your brand.
Bourn and Best joined The Media Leader to discuss takeaways the book, whether advertisers are sufficiently valuing trusted media channels, and what they can do to better build trust in their brands.
Highlights:
7:37: How the dynamics of trust have changed in the 21st century
15:27: Understanding the public's trust in the advertising industry and trust in individual ads
22:40: The business case for trust
28:18: The tricky phenomenon of trust in influencers
34:01: The AI issue: More slop, but also more monitoring
36:56: What makes a trusted advertising campaign? Media choice, creative, measuring trust as a KPI
Related articles:
Trust-building ad campaigns improve business outcomes, IPA research finds
Bauer Media Advertising MD Simon Kilby: We’re in a world that needs to start supporting trusted environments
Why quality pays: the power of trusted editorial in media planning – PPA Magnetic and The Media Leader
Does trust matter in media?
Trust is essential to the future of media. But how can advertisers measure it?
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It's nearly the end of January, and from a macroeconomic perspective, it’s been an absolutely wild month.
The US threatened to invade Greenland and institute tariffs on European countries mobilising to resist that effort. In Davos last week, Trump appeared to walk back some of those threats, but it’s safe to say uncertainty is and will continue to be at very high levels.
Uncertainty raises questions for the media industry, which sits at the centre of global business activity.
Earlier this month, The Media Leader convened its annual Year Ahead event in London. The invite-only event is always a great way to kick off the year.
This year, Tom Standage, The Economist’s deputy editor, gave a fantastic run-down of some of those macro factors to look out for, and we separately interviewed him afterward to ask a couple follow up questions.
In addition to Tom, The Media Leader's content director James Longhurst and senior reporter Jack Benjamin to the stage both to recap some of the key themes from last year, and also raise key questions to industry leaders on their plans for 2026.
The duo wanted to involve the audience, so they also asked Mail Metro Media’s commercial chief Dominic Williams, Thinkbox CEO Lindsey Clay, Bauer Media Advertising MD Simon Kilby, and World Media Group CEO Jamie Credland to share their predictions for the year ahead, too.
Highlights:
2:02: Key themes from 2025 in media: Consolidation, getting "easier to buy", AI search
5:30: Stories to watch in 2026: European-American business relations, trust, ROI on AI
9:30: Dominic Williams: The World Cup opportunity
11:12: Lindsey Clay: A return to brand building
13:39: Simon Kilby: Valuing trusted media amid AI slop and harmful images
16:05: Jamie Credland: Quality journalism in an age of AI
Related articles:
2026 will be the year of…
The Economist: A look at the political economy
Inside the Grok CSAM scandal and how brands have faced ‘weaponised political pressure’ to spend with X
World Media Group members on how AI will reshape the media industry in 2026
Nine AI tool announcements from CES 2026

A year ago, the Alliance of Independent Agencies and the Land of Independents collaborated to launch a new initiative aimed at sharing knowledge and support for independent media agencies.
Enter the Alliance of Media Independents (AMI), which has served as a single route to the indie media agency market for suppliers and media owners.
The AMI has spent the last year expanding, now with over 30 members that represent combined billings that rival the global holding groups.
Martin Woolley and Paul Phelps are co-founders and chairs of the AMI. Woolley also works as executive chair of indie media outfit What’s Possible Group, which owns agency The Specialist Works, and Phelps is CEO of AMS Media Group.
The duo sits down with host Jack Benjamin to discuss how and why the alliance was founded, the benefits its delivered to members, their plans for expansion, and why indies might be the beneficiaries of a consolidating agency landscape.
As Woolley points out, a few years ago there were “never indie-only pitch lists”. Now? “Half the pitches in our business are indie-only. So something’s changed.”
Highlights:
3:20: Why and how was the AMI created?
13:10: Benefits of the Alliance: Media owner interest, incremental growth, resource sharing.
23:00: Competing with holdcos: Loss of trust amid trading deals, lack of transparency.
29:02: Could clients leave agencies in favour of self-serve platforms?
35:20: Why 2026 will be the year of indies.
Related articles:
Shaping the industry’ next phase: One year on as AMI
Alliance of Media Independents announces Experian as first official partner
Alliance of Media Independents adds 16 members and doubles billings
Indie agencies team up for Alliance of Media Independents
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Last month at the Future of TV Advertising Global event in London, three key brand marketers spoke about how they view the strengths of TV, particularly as they compare to other audio-visual platforms.
Richard Brooke is the global media trading and operations director at Unilever. Sorin Patilinet is the global marketing effectiveness lead at PepsiCo. Alison Keith was until recently the head of global marketing effectiveness at Kraft Heinz and, before that, the VP of global media at Coty.
The trio sat down with event producer and Media Leader contributor Justin Lebbon to discuss what brands want from the TV and where TV is now situated in their marketing strategies compared to other video platforms.
Is TV still "cool"? Does it have a narrative problem with ad buyers? Is YouTube TV? Brooke, Patilinet and Keith unpacked a media channel in flux.
Brooke also discussed why Unilever moved to increase its spend on social media platforms last year – a bold move that could well have heralded in a new era of confidence for the creator economy.
Highlights:
1:25: Reactions to TV consolidation
3:40: TV is effective, but the creator economy is the shiny new thing
8:21: The definition of “TV” is changing, but the standards of quality aren’t the same
15:19: Is ad investment consolidation in Big Tech platforms healthy?
22:56: Less adspend is going through JICs. Does independent measurement still matter?
Related articles:
Comcast Ads president: Uneven measurement standards create an ‘existential’ challenge for TV
Channel 4, ITV and Sky commercial chiefs ask advertisers to ‘turn down the toxic’
Watch: TV trends to look out for