The Media Leader Podcast

In a new mini-series, former Media Leader editor-in-chief Omar Oakes is joined by former Dentsu International CEO, now AI strategist Hamish Nicklin to argue over the nuances of AI development and its use in the creative industries.
In episode four, the duo debate for and against the prompt: “AI sycophancy will run wild, and it will be bad for business."
Taking the “for” side of the argument is Oakes, while Nicklin represents the “against” side, posing sceptical questions.
While both Oakes and Nicklin agree AI sycophancy is an active problem for business leaders, Nicklin suggests that thoughtful prompting can help ameliorate concerns that chatbots are misleading you to try and keep you happy. These include giving the AI explicit permission to reject ideas and asking chatbots to give feedback as though it is for a third party as opposed to the user.
As Nicklin argues, subordinates can be sycophantic, too, and "sniffing out the bullshit" is already a core skill for business leaders. But Oakes asks: what happens when you "don't know what you don't know"?
Highlights:
2:12: Recent developments in AI: AI-generated music on Deezer, Los Angeles's AI art museum
6:01: What is AI sycophancy and does it mean bad ideas aren't getting killed?
16:52: Four tips for combatting AI sycophancy and making a chatbot a "critical friend"
34:44: How to "sniff out the bullshit" when you don't know what you don't know
45:38: Second-order effects: commercial damage of wrong decisions; impact on psychology, communication standards; AI education
1:00:58: Verdicts

Is there a more important relationship in our industry than that between the CMO and the CFO?
Given the macroeconomic environment – war, inflation, AI threatening to upend entire industries – how are the the interests of financial leaders changing as they relate to marketing?
Nimmi Shah is a consultant finance director for the media, marketing and PR industries and has worked with major agency groups.
Sameer Modha is the outcome measurement innovation lead at ITV, and one of the individuals spearheading the broadcasters’ in-development outcome measurement solution, Lantern.
The duo join host Jack Benjamin to discuss how financial pressures are having downstream effects on media investment, why outcomes-driven measurement has emerged as the way forward in the boardroom, and how AI is leading to new opportunities and new conundrums for marketers.
Is media still being spent on eyeballs? Or is it being spent on, as Modha puts it, "a receipt that says I got something that I can take to the CFO which will continue to justify my budget".
Highlights:
1:34: How CFOs are navigating volatile macro pressures, and where the CMO fits
9:24: The move to outcomes measurement as a "recepit", and how it's benefitted tech platforms
23:58: Lantern, making TV show up in the nearer term, and the power of platform models
36:37: Are platforms marking their own outcomes homework? How auctions work, and why "the machine knows better than you".
46:48: Implications of the AI cost push: Is AI generating value? Will OpenAI compete with Google?
1:05:19: What happens if finance and media decisions become automated?
Related articles:
How Lantern will bring outcome measurement to TV — with Sameer Modha and Matt Hill
How to make marketing indispensable to the CFO? Focus on incrementality
Marketers must take an ‘investor mindset’ to bridge the CEO-CMO gap, McKinsey advises
Ian Whittaker: How brands can truly ensure their CEO, CFO and CMO work together

In a new mini-series, former Media Leader editor-in-chief Omar Oakes is joined by former Dentsu International CEO, now AI strategist Hamish Nicklin to argue over the nuances of AI development and its use in the creative industries.
In episode four, the duo debate for and against the prompt: “AI is turning the internet into a sea of slop, and journalists are helping it happen."
In a change from prior episodes, taking the “for” side of the argument is Oakes, while Nicklin represents the “against” side, posing sceptical questions.
"Stories come from people," Oakes insists. But are most journalists well-funded and well-positioned to provide quality reporting today? Can AI be used to help journalists, or is it mostly just being used to produce slop?
Highlights:
1:00: Recent developments in AI: Esquire Singapore's 'interview', CTZN's AI-driven wine
6:58: Is AI useful for journalism? Oakes' experience using AI as an independent writer
26:59: 'Copy, paste, print': Have publishers devalued their own product and made it vulnerable to AI?
46:43: Second-order effects: Impacts on local news, failing business models, transparency and trust
59:56: Verdicts

This week, The Media Leader is embarking on its first ever Retail Media Week in Focus.
The fledgling channel has been having a moment. Investment in retail media has grown substantially – in 2025, adspend in the channel grew 17.5% year on year, according to the latest AA/Warc figures.
Brands are seeking to join up the ends of the funnel by targeting consumers based on their shopping habits and measuring directly the link between ad delivery and outcomes within closed-loop retail environments.
But, as attendees heard at The Media Leader's Future of Brands event last week, with growth has come some scepticism – is retail media overhyped? Is it just useful for lower-funnel activations? How is it being defined on media plans?
One of the largest retail media players here in the UK is Tesco. Recently, The Media Leader reported that Tesco Media had launched new video ad inventory on its website and app as it looks to offer brand advertising opportunities to marketers.
Tash Whitmey is the managing director of the Tesco Media and Insight Platform. She joined host Jack Benjamin recently via video call to discuss the latest innovations the company is making, the state of the retail media market and how Tesco sizes up to global competitors like Amazon, and whether shopping habits are changing amid macroeconomic turbulence.
Highlights:
4:36: What's driving growth in retail media?
9:11: Innovations in retail media allowing movement up the funnel
15:49: How does Tesco stand up against its competitors, many of which are global?
24:57: Measurement standardisation needed
27:23: How shopping behaviour is changing amid macroeconomic headwinds
Related articles:
Tesco Media launches premium video inventory across website and app
Is AI accelerating Google, Meta and Amazon’s dominance? Takeaways from Big Tech’s Q1
Global partners with Sainsbury’s and Nectar360 on audio measurement tracking
If retail media networks want to talk like ITV, they have to act like ITV

In a new mini-series, former Media Leader editor-in-chief Omar Oakes is joined by former Dentsu International CEO, now AI strategist Hamish Nicklin to argue over the nuances of AI development and its use in the creative industries.
In episode three, the duo debate for and against the prompt: “AI means you don't need human creativity in ads anymore. You come to a media owner or platform, you tell them your objective, connect your bank account, and everything is done for you."
Taking the “for” side of the argument is Nicklin, while Oakes represents the “against” side, posing sceptical questions.
The argument derives from a claim by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg made last May that Meta (and platforms like it) will be able to automate the entire planning, buying, and creative process on behalf of advertisers.
As Zuckerberg described, this would be made possible by leveraging the data from billions of ad campaigns across its platforms, including what worked, what didn't, what audiences to target and with what creative.
Just hype, or a reality the advertising industry will need to reckon with sooner rather than later?
Highlights:
00:35: Recent developments in AI: Meta's "Claudenomics" rankings, Anthropic's Mythos
7:08: The technological case for Zuckerberg's argument. Do you just need a bank account, some brand assets, and a partner platform to make an effective ad campaign?
16:11: Is targeting more important than the big idea? Does creative still matter at the bottom of the funnel? What about brand building?
26:56: Unintended consequences: declining trust, impact on production businesses, K-shaped job market
35:47: Is it "intellectual snobbery" to avoid using AI and complain about AI content? Or is the creative process the point?
47:14: An experiment, reversion to the mean, and the power of prompting
52:09: Verdicts