Robert Williams

LAS VEGAS –Sir Martin Sorrell, executive chairman of S4 Capital, has a blunt assessment of advertising’s future. Speaking with Beet.TV contributor David Kaplan at CES 2026, Sorrell said agentic AI “fundamentally challenges the model.” Strategic and creative under attack Sorrell argued that agentic systems threaten the traditional agency stack. “Strategic and creative is under attack,” […]

LAS VEGAS – At CES 2026, Comcast’s NBCUniversal rolled out an idea that sounds futuristic but solves an old headache: buying live sports ads without losing your sanity. Ryan McConville, chief product officer and EVP of ad products at NBCUniversal, said the company is testing agentic AI to automate live sports buying across streaming and […]

LAS VEGAS – At CES 2026, Albertsons Media Collective outlined how it is tightening measurement, expanding in-store media and using AI to link advertising more directly to sales outcomes. Senior Vice President Brian Monahan said the network is focused on shared growth across brands, merchants and shoppers. “We seek to live up to our name […]

LAS VEGAS – Agentic commerce is expanding how consumers shop rather than replacing existing channels, says Michael Komasinski, chief executive of adtech firm Criteo. Speaking with Beet.TV contributor David Kaplan at CES 2026, Komasinski said AI-powered assistants should be viewed as an incremental layer that complements search, social and retail media, not a substitute for […]

LAS VEGAS – Advertisers sounded a familiar concern at CES 2026: They still struggle to measure television and video spending across platforms in one unified view. That challenge has persisted for years, Julie Van Ullen, president, CRO of iSpot, said in this interview with Lisa Granatstein, editorial director of Beet.TV. The biggest gap has been […]

LAS VEGAS – Amazon Ads and Publicis Media unveiled new research on interactive video advertising at CES 2026. The joint thought leadership study focuses on interactive formats in streaming TV. “Yes, we’re really excited to announce and release the Joint Thought Leadership Study with Publicis Media today at CES,” Maggie Zhang, head of global video […]

LONDON – Linear television viewing is declining across major European markets, driving a corresponding drop in advertising spend, says Andy Jones, VP of broadcast and connected television, EMEA, at PubMatic. The shift is consistent across regions and no longer disputed by buyers or sellers, he said in this interview with Beet.TV contributor Robert Andrews at […]

LAS VEGAS – At CES 2026, Megan Pagliuca, Chief Product Officer at Omnicom Media Group, outlined how the agency is responding to fundamental shifts in how consumers discover information, shop and engage with media. Tightly linking live content, AI-powered search signals, influencer marketing and retail media into a single, measurable system is essential. Speaking with […]

LONDON – Retail media is no longer confined to on-site placements or last-click conversions. Instead, commerce data is increasingly reshaping how brands plan and activate media across the funnel and across channels, says Nicole Kivel, managing director of Northern Europe at Criteo. Speaking with Beet.TV contributor Robert Andrews at the Beet.TV and WPP Media Leadership […]

LONDON – Equativ is positioning itself for a pivotal period in connected TV and streaming advertising as the industry heads toward consolidation, large-scale live sports and heightened demands on ad-serving infrastructure, said James Grant, SVP of Advanced Television at the adtech company. Speaking with Beet.TV contributor Robert Andrews at the Future of TV Advertising Global […]

RANCHO PALOS VERDES, CALIF. — Long-standing distinctions between brand and performance media budgets are rapidly breaking down as marketers face economic pressure and intensify their focus on measurable outcomes, said Jill Kelly, CEO, North America at Stagwell’s Assembly Global. Speaking with Beet.TV contributor David Kaplan at the Beet Retreat LA, Kelly said clients are increasingly […]

RANCHO PALOS VERDES, CALIF. – Premium connected television inventory, especially live sports, is poised for a programmatic overhaul, but technological hurdles and a need for clearer metrics are holding back a full transition, said Jean Fitzpatrick, executive vice president of commercial strategy at IPG Mediabrands. Speaking at the Beet Retreat LA to Beet.TV contributor David […]

LONDON – Contextual advertising may be one of digital media’s oldest ideas, but advances in artificial intelligence are pushing it into new territory, said Brian Gleason, chief executive of contextual advertising platform Seedtag. Speaking with Beet.TV contributor Robert Andrews at the Beet.TV and WPP Media Leadership Summit, Gleason traced the evolution of contextual advertising from […]

LONDON – Connected television and ad-supported streaming are moving firmly into the mainstream, creating rapid growth opportunities and new challenges for advertisers and the programmatic ecosystem, said Cadi Jones, SVP, EMEA, at Index Exchange. Speaking with Beet.TV contributor Robert Andrews at the Beet.TV and WPP Media Leadership Summit, Jones said CTV and ad-supported video on […]

As connected television matures, contextual targeting is set to become more intelligent, more dynamic and far more creative, according to Jessica Brown of WPP Media, speaking with Beet.TV contributor David Kaplan. Looking ahead to CES, Brown said she’s focused on three key trends in contextual CTV: using AI to scale relevance, bringing context into live […]

RANCHO PALOS VERDES, CALIF. – As artificial intelligence reshapes nearly every corner of modern media, Spark Foundry president Steve Birnbaum says its most transformative effect can be summed up in a single word: streamlining. From how agencies use data to how brands connect with consumers, AI is helping reduce complexity, accelerate decisions and surface insights […]

RANCHO PALOS VERDES, CALIF. — Retail media is rapidly evolving from a performance-driven niche into a foundational layer across the entire advertising ecosystem, according to analyst and consultant Andrew Lipsman, speaking with Beet.TV contributor David Kaplan at the Beet Retreat LA. Lipsman argued that the industry’s understanding of retail media remains too narrow. While brands […]

WPP Media takes a comprehensive approach to video, said Adam Arnegger, executive director and head of investment, in this interview with Beet.TV Editorial Director Lisa Granatstein. When it comes to planning and implementing strategies for clients, the media agency views video “holistically,” recognizing the power of linear television alongside the precision targeting of connected television […]

LONDON – As the advertising industry grapples with tighter privacy rules and the fading usefulness of identifiable user data, contextual intelligence is emerging as one of the most important tools for reaching audiences, said Marko Johns, U.K. managing director at Seedtag, in an interview with Beet.TV contributor Robert Andrews at the Beet.TV and WPP Media […]

RANCHO PALOS VERDES, CALIF. – As connected TV continues to pull viewers and ad dollars online, the advertising ecosystem is entering what may be its most dynamic, and complicated, phase yet, said Stacey Bohrer, senior vice president of buyer development for the Americas at OpenX. Speaking with Beet.TV contributor David Kaplan at the Beet Retreat […]