Ogilvy has bought a minority stake in Article 41, an agency that works with athlete creators and arranges brand deals with college athletes, because sport is one of the last bastions of mass culture and everyone in the ad world wants a slice. Also, did we mention that we’re hosting a free event on effective sponsorship next month in London?
Agencies are reportedly finding Cannes Lions’ new global integrity standards ‘burdensome’. The stricter rules about awards entries, introduced after a spate of reports about scammy winners in 2025, boil down to ‘don’t include information you can’t verify’ and do ‘check with the CMO’.
Media owners:
2026 might really be the new 2016 because BuzzFeed has somehow became relevant again. On Monday (11 May) the company confirmed that it had sold a controlling stake for $120m to Byron Allen, a media entrepreneur and on-screen personality. Allen, who will take over as CEO, said he will focus on ‘expanding into free-streaming video, audio and user-generated content’, and suggested BuzzFeed will use AI to try and compete with YouTube.
Speaking of YouTube, it used its Brandcast event to announce that it’s adding the ability to make purchases directly on connected TVs. The ‘Buy with Google Pay’ feature offers a two-click checkout option for shoppable adverts, reducing the friction of scanning a QR code to visit a brand’s website. CEO Neal Mohan also announced features that use AI to determine ad placement and presentations. Most of the show was dedicated to introducing upcoming shows, including ones by Trevor Noah, Alex Cooper and Man City striker Erling Haaland.
Visits to Trump-owned Truth Social increased 45% in April, year-on-year, according to TheRighting. The progressive website, which covers the news that right-wing press are covering, analysed Similarweb data and found that Truth Social had 48.8m visits in April 2026 compared to 33.7m in April 2025. However, the vast majority of the top 20 right-wing sites saw massive traffic decline, including the Daily Wire (-39%), The Federalist (-31%), Newsmax (-22%) and Breitbart (-25%).
Commercial radio extended its lead over the BBC in Q1, according to the latest RAJAR figures. The data shows that commercial radio now accounts for 54.3% of all radio listening, compared with 43.4% for the BBC. It was a strong quarter for Global which saw its portfolio of stations maintain its reach of 29m listeners each week, with LBC a standout performer. Meanwhile, GB News Radio claimed the fastest year-on-year audience growth of any network station, increasing weekly reach by 21% to 676,000 listeners. In terms of how people listen to the radio, online listening now holds a 30.4% share; AM/FM sits at 24% and smart speakers account for 18.8%.
TikTok has introduced an ad-free subscription for £3.99 each month. The social media site also unveiled a host of new ad tools at its annual TikTok World event, including updated Top Reach placements, Mini Series and Mini Games promotions, and new AI-powered ad creation options.
ITV confirmed it remains in ‘active discussions’ with Sky over a sale of its media and entertainment business during its Q1 trading update. ITV Studios revenue increased 4% in the quarter, while M&E revenue fell 2% and total advertising revenue was down 1.5%. ITV said it expects the latter to increase 10% in the next quarter, thanks to increased demand for the World Cup. There were some positive results to post, as digital revenue ‘largely’ offset linear declines. Digital advertising revenue grew 14% and ITVX saw its total streaming hours increase 13%.
Brands:
Airbnb chief executive officer Brian Chesky told TBPN that marketing is one of the hardest jobs in the business because of banner blindness. He highlighted how ‘once something works, it almost becomes stale’ and marketers have to keep changing things as consumers become blind to it.
Pokémon is selling a limited-edition cereal, in partnership with Kellogg’s. This is one of several sponsorships that the world’s highest-grossing media franchise is running in the UK this year to celebrate its 30th anniversary. It’s also partnering with the Natural History Museum and the National Trust, among others. The cereal boxes are already selling for more than three times shelf price on eBay.
Fifa has announced performers including BTS, Madonna and Shakira for the half-time show at the finals of this year’s World Cup. While it remains unconfirmed if the International Football Association Board will grant an exemption to the standard 15-minute half-time limit, the event is guaranteed to be a massive draw for global advertisers. Shakira’s the one to keep an eye on. Her performance at the 2024 Copa América final stretched to 25 minutes and attracted criticism from viewers.
Burberry’s chief financial officer, Kate Ferry, promised to increase marketing spend this year during the brand’s earnings call on Thursday. The luxury brand will prioritise China, with ‘a series of Burberry expeditions, documentary films produced in partnership with Chinese National Geography.’ Burberry will also launch a ‘large-scale brand experience’ in Shanghai, with further activations planned across the USA and Europe.
