TV Story of the Week
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and the BBC have confirmed that the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest will be hosted in the United Kingdom on behalf of this year's winning broadcaster, Ukraine's UA:PBC. It was announced that representatives of the UA:PBC will work with the BBC to develop Ukrainian elements of the show with a logo reflecting the unique circumstances of staging to be revealed later.
Industry Story of the Week
UK adspend saw a year-on-year rise of 28.3% in the first Quarter of 2022, reaching a total figure of £8.6bn. All media recovered compared to the first three months of 2021, when the country was still in a national lockdown, and forecasts were exceeded across all media. James McDonald, director of data, intelligence and forecasting said they will be closely monitoring spend over the next few months as growth is expected to be affected by inflationary pressures in 2023.
Social Media Story of the Week
Meta announced its first-ever drop in revenue during an update on its financial results for the second quarter of the year, citing the 'economic downturn' for having an impact on its digital advertising business. Compared to the same period in 2021, the Facebook owner saw a 1% drop in overall revenue. CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Meta is slowing its pace of investments and plans to 'steadily reduce' employee growth after a hiring blitz earlier this year.
Press Story of the Week
According to results from Press Gazette, Metro and The Independent saw the biggest month-on-month growth in June out of the UK's ten largest newsbrands by audience size. Both brands grew audience size by 7% month on month. LADbible saw the fastest growth last month, reaching 9.2million consumers online, 36% more than in May.
Partnership Story of the week
Grey Goose announced an extension of their partnership with athlete empowerment brand Uninterrupted. They will be releasing a six-part series across Uninterrupted's YouTube channel featuring intimate conversations between athletes and entertainers. The two brands are aiming to continue celebrating real connections with the help of cocktails and conversations. Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Masego is one of the guests scheduled for the show.
