The Media Leader Podcast

Netflix is in the midst of a commercial expansion. In May, the streaming giant announced its ad tier would be coming to 15 new markets, including 9 in Europe.
The streaming giant has invested in developing its own tech stack and acted aggressively to grow its programmatic business. The company is also expanding its live sport portfolio, and is dabbling in video podcasting and gaming, all leading to new potential commercial opportunities in the near future.
Damien Bernet is Netflix’s EMEA ads VP. He spoke with host Jack Benjamin in his native France at the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity last month about how Netflix is rolling out its ad tier expansion in Europe and new innovations aimed at automating programmatic buying.
Since the pair's conversation, Netflix announced its Q2 2026 earnings report. Revenue grew 13% year-on-year to $12.6bn, with Netflix's ads business on track to double year-on-year to $3bn by the end of the year.
Media analysis firm Madison & Wall has estimated Netflix's ad revenue now comprises 7% of its total revenue in the US, a small but "increasingly meaningful" driver of growth, and that Netflix will crack the top 30 global ad sellers this year, putting its ads business on par with the likes of RTL.
Despite this, investors appear spooked by reports of declining engagement, with shares of the company down more than 20% year-to-date. A report by The Wall Street Journal this summer raised concerns of worsening viewership metrics, and Netflix has moved to reduce the cadence of its What We Watched report, reducing transparency into engagement figures.
Highlights:
4:20: Netflix's ad tier expansion in Europe and its late-mover advantage
10:32: New innovations: Brand partnerships, reach and frequency, outcomes
15:53: Moving from programmatic to fully automated programmatic and scaling ad personalisation
21:25: Commercial opportunities in podcasting, live sport
29:01: Goals for H2
Related articles:
‘From arts to arts and science’: Netflix becomes ‘programmatic-native’ as it expands ad tier into 15 new territories
Netflix embraces publishers in ‘fit for TV’ push
Exploring the TF1 / Netflix win–win partnership
Goalhanger reaches milestone as Netflix continues to test the podcast waters
Amazon, Netflix and Google will control half of CTV advertising market by 2030, says Omdia

Is YouTube TV? It’s a question that pretty much everyone in this industry has an opinion on. YouTube, surely, would benefit from receiving TV budgets from advertisers. And, after all, more people are watching YouTube on TV sets.
At the same time, YouTube isn’t exactly leaning into TV measurement standards. It’s been in a back-and-forth here in the UK with TV measurement company Barb, most recently sending it a cease-and-desist over Barb’s effort to measure TV set viewing of a specific subset of YouTube channels. Before the measurement initiative was shut down, it had revealed that much of YouTube viewing on TV sets was clearly being done by very small children, with viewership in the UK relatively light and limited to shows like Peppa Pig and Bluey.
Of course, whether YouTube should be considered TV is just one question for YouTube, which has been wrapped up in social media bans for under-16s and has been found by a US jury to have designed its platform to be harmfully addictive.
For brands, though, one of the biggest challenges they have with their YouTube strategy and managing its fragmented nature – there’s long-form, there’s TV set viewing, there’s Shorts, and there are creators working across it all, many of whom marketers may have no idea who they are, even as they’re microcelebrities within their own community.
Kim Larson is the global managing director and head of YouTube creators. She sat down with host Jack Benjamin in Cannes last month to discuss the platform, how it works with creators, and how the latest news of bans and concerns around measurement might impact the business.
Highlights:
3:20: Reaction to social media bans for under-16s and how it might impact young creators.
5:32: Is YouTube TV? 'Absolutely' - even if measurement standards are under question.
8:09: Why YouTube is the best for creators wanting to earn a living.
11:20: Ad disclosure standards.
12:43: How advertisers can deal with YouTube's own fragmentation of long and short form.
15:00: Professionalisation of the creator economy
Related articles:
Google hands cease-and-desist letter over YouTube measurement
Barb’s first 7 weeks of YouTube channel data reveals over-indexing of child audiences
What YouTube sees that you don’t: The future of media is a system, not a bunch of channels
YouTube isn’t social media. So why is it being banned?

This episode was produced in partnership with News UK.
News UK’s The Sun is one of many titles to embrace video in recent months.
According to the publisher, its videos have driven 60m views and a 110% increase in returning viewers. Its movement into video has also helped secure new sponsors, including Allwyn, DAZN, Betfair, Cardfactory and 32Red.
Owen Griffiths is the commercial revenue director of The Sun.
At the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity last month, The Media Leader's content director James Longhurst sat down with him to discuss The Sun’s video strategy, what makes the publisher’s output unique, and how the World Cup is driving growth this year.
Highlights:
1:25: Takeaways for publishers from Cannes: Positioning journalists as creators
2:15: Expanding video for editorial and commercial purposes
6:00: The Sun's first "video-first" and AI-powered World Cup
7:29: Is AI a threat to publishers, or an opportunity?
8:37: How do journalists feel about becoming creators?
9:54: H2 plans: New video experience in beta, expanding membership, growing in the US
Related articles:
‘Place as many bets as possible’: Behind The Sun’s hybrid paywall strategy
‘The division between church and state isn’t sustainable’: Journalists weigh-up life as a creator
Why do publishers struggle to find their social voice?

The New York Times is something of a rarity in contemporary news publishing: a legacy giant that is seeing double-digit revenue growth and consistent readership growth.
It's no surprise, then, that many commercial leaders at other publishers here in the UK have pointed to the Gray Lady as having developed a model they want to emulate.
So to kick off our publishing week in focus here at The Media Leader, it was a pleasure to sit down with Tom Armstrong, The New York Times’s VP of global advertising.
Host Jack Benjamin spoke with Armstrong in sunny Cannes about how NYT’s “solar system” strategy of surrounding its reporting with verticals like cooking and games has driven commercial opportunity, the publisher’s strategy for international expansion, and how NYT is embracing multimedia journalism.
Highlights:
1:19: What's driving NYT's growth: Portfolio transformation, subscription-first strategy
4:59: Is NYT not just a news company anymore?
6:52: International growth strategy
8:23: Why it's important for publishers to be sought out by name in the new era of AI search
12:07: Pivoting to video (again) - opportunities and pitfalls
Related articles:
‘We are a destination’: NYT’s global ads chief talks the Gray Lady’s international ambitions
New York Times publisher warns journalism faces its ‘Napster moment’
‘The division between church and state isn’t sustainable’: Journalists weigh-up life as a creator
Publishers advised to be ‘niche at scale’ amid the winding road to Google Zero

This episode was produced in partnership with Channel 4.
At Cannes this year, The Media Leader sat down with several members of Channel 4's commercial leadership team to discuss how the TV company is looking to drive new commercial growth now that Universal Ads is live in the UK and Channel 4 is integrated with a new slew of demand-side platforms.
On an previous episode of the podcast, host Jack Benjamin spoke with commercial chief Rak Patel about the latest news, and in this episode, he sits down with members of his sales team to discuss their commercial strategy in greater depth.
David Amodio is head of sales at Channel 4, and Jay Kassam is head of business operations and revenue innovation at Channel 4.
The trio talked sales strategy, how the broadcaster is making progress with mid-market advertisers, and how they are applying learnings from their time with tech platforms to the TV market.
Highlights:
2:31: Channel 4's evolved leadership team
5:24: Taking a 'platform mindset' to the TV market
9:20: What an 'advertiser-first, agency-led' strategy entails as Channel 4 embraces the mid-market
17:11: Channel 4's new CEO and hopes for H2 2026
Related articles:
Universal Ads is live in the UK. Now what? With Channel 4’s Rak Patel
Universal Ads goes live in UK, providing TV with ‘easy button’
Leading Questions with Rak Patel – Channel 4 Sales
Meet the Media Owner: Channel 4 adopts a platform mindset
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