Global advertising is proving more resilient than the headlines suggest — even as the Middle East conflict and rising oil prices rattle energy markets, consumer confidence and supply chains. In episode 92 of the WPP Media Intelligence podcast, Kate Scott-Dawkins, Jeff Foster and Nidhi Shah break down what the oil disruption really means for ad budgets, why the ad market floor is holding, and what brands should do right now.

Plus: two landmark court rulings find Meta and YouTube liable for platform harm, Netflix makes its live sports debut with MLB opening night and draws 18 million viewers to its BTS concert, micro dramas emerge as a serious global media format, and the US ad market closes 2025 with a surprising 14.7% growth figure.

Key Topics Discussed

• Middle East conflict & oil disruption: Why global ad growth may hold despite the macro shock — and which sectors face the biggest risk
• Scenario planning for advertisers: Bull, base and bear case outlooks for 2025–2026 ad budgets
• Meta & YouTube legal verdicts: Platform liability, child safety rulings and what it means for brand advertisers
• Netflix live sports & live events: MLB opening night broadcast, the BTS concert hitting 18M viewers and top 10 in 80 countries, subscription price increases and the live events strategy
• Micro dramas: How short-form vertical video storytelling is going global and what the ad revenue model looks like
• US ad market 2025 results: 14.7% growth, digital advertising up 15.6%, digital newspapers up 10.4%
• 2026 US ad forecast: 7.4% growth projected, local TV under pressure in a midterm election year, out-of-home boosted by the World Cup

Chapters

00:00 - Middle East conflict and global ad market impact

15:57 - Meta and YouTube platform liability verdicts explained

20:47 - Netflix live sports, BTS and subscription price increases

25:39 - Micro dramas: the short form format going global

31:04 - US ad market 2025 results and 2026 forecast

34:20 - What to watch next week

Oil is surging and the headlines say brace for impact — but the relationship between energy prices and advertising spend is more nuanced than it looks. In this episode of the Media Intelligence Podcast, WPP Media's Kate Scott-Dawkins, Jeff Foster and Nidhi Shah break down what rising oil prices actually mean for advertising budgets, media planning and brand strategy across five key markets: the US, Canada, the UK, Europe and Australia.

The team unpacks why an oil shock today works as a macro stress multiplier rather than a direct spending killer — and what that means for marketing investment decisions in 2026.

Then it's into eCommerce, where US online retail crossed $1.23 trillion in 2025 and the UK hit nearly 29% of all retail sales online — and what the rise of global retail media networks means for brands and advertisers navigating this shift.

Topics covered: oil price impact on CPI and consumer spending, inflation risk by market, retail media growth, OpenAI's commerce strategy, Amazon's advertising ecosystem, and the global eCommerce players reshaping media investment.

00:00 Introduction

01:50 Oil prices and the macro stress multiplier

02:37 Market by market: US, Canada, Europe and Australia

14:30 China: EVs, exports and the labour market shift

17:17 eCommerce: where retail growth is actually happening

20:06 Retail media, agentic commerce and the $1B+ club

26:26 Amazon's content and commerce ecosystem

📊 Read the WPP Media Advertising Intelligence Framework — the full analysis of how AI is reshaping advertiser capabilities, competitive positioning and partner selection: https://www.wppmedia.com/thought-leadership/research-business-intelligence/advertising-intelligence-framework-first-edition?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=ep91

Women's Sports Are Booming — But Is Your Brand Keeping Up?

This week on the WPP Media Intelligence Podcast, hosts Kate Scott-Dawkins, Jeff Foster, and Nidhi Shah are joined by special guest Denise Ocasio, Executive Director and Head of Investment at WPP Media, to unpack three of the biggest conversations shaping media and advertising right now.

First, they dive deep into women's sports — still on a record-breaking trajectory despite a quieter 2025 calendar. Denise shares why authentic storytelling, the creator economy, and smarter holistic video strategy are the keys to unlocking this still-undervalued media asset.

Then, as geopolitical tensions in the Middle East ripple through energy markets and newsrooms, the team examines what it means for advertisers — from out-of-home disruption in MENA to cable news preemptions in the US — and how brands navigate uncertainty without pulling back.

Finally, they break down the 2025 Top 50 Global Ad Sellers leaderboard — who climbed, who slipped, and what the rise of commerce media players like Uber, Netflix, and Reliance Industries signals about where the industry is headed.

Timestamps:

• 00:00 – Intro & episode overview
• 00:41 – Welcome: Denise Ocasio, Head of Investment, WPP Media
• 01:45 – Women's sports viewership trends: 2025 in review
• 03:13 – The power of athlete storytelling (Caitlin Clark effect)
• 04:31 – Brand authenticity in women's sports sponsorship
• 06:11 – Navigating fragmented video: reach vs. engagement
• 07:25 – The creator economy as the "new Hollywood"
• 08:27 – Are athletes exhausted by content creation demands?
• 10:51 – Sports rights fragmentation & the future of leagues
• 12:00 – AI, new platforms, and where sports media is headed
• 15:52 – Geopolitical tensions: economic and advertising impacts
• 17:31 – Energy prices, inflation, and central bank pressures
• 20:06 – MENA advertising: OOH, news demand, and cautious messaging
• 21:37 – US market signals: EVs, gas prices, cable news preemptions
• 24:08 – Versant Q4 earnings: $6.7B revenue, 9% ad decline
• 25:52 – 2025 Top 50 Global Ad Sellers leaderboard breakdown
• 29:05 – New entrants: Uber, Netflix, Reddit, Reliance, Globo
• 30:34 – Who fell: legacy TV broadcasters and newspapers
• 32:36 – Commerce media's growing dominance (9 of top 50)
• 34:10 – International Women's Day: female CEO & board representation
• 35:10 – What the team is watching next week