DoubleVerify has released its 2025 Global Insights: How Consumers and Marketers Use Walled Gardens report, – a comprehensive guide that includes platform-level insights and examines how social media continues to shape digital advertising, news consumption, and commerce. The report found that social media is a near-universal channel across EMEA, with 90% of advertisers active on social platforms and 87% in the UK. 75% of EMEA marketers say social media feeds outperform campaign baselines, increasing to 81% in the UK. Brand suitability concerns remain elevated, with 56% of UK advertisers concerned about placement suitability. However 84% of EMEA and 85% of UK advertisers consider social media newsfeeds suitable.The most valued third-party tools in the UK focus on post-bid media quality measurement (40%), and pre-bid content alignment controls (39%), highlighting the demand for greater transparency, fraud protection, and contextual control as social investment grows. Social sits at the heart of the EMEA digital advertising ecosystem, delivering both strong upper-funnel brand impact and consistent performance uplift. The continued outperformance of feeds and reels demonstrates how video-led, socially native formats are driving measurable value across the region.
Netcompany has been selected by HMRC to implement and operate the next phase of the Trader Support Service (TSS). With a strong heritage in digital trade and customs systems, the new TSS digital solution will be built on Netcompany’s market-proven ERMIS customs platform, powering the Trader Support Service Portal used by traders. Additionally, Netcompany’s AMPLIO platform will be integrated with ERMIS to provide casework management capabilities, enabling their customer support agents to manage more complex trader enquiries. ERMIS currently supports HMRC’s transit activities within HMRC Borders and Trade, facilitating over 2 million trade declarations annually in the UK. Across the European Union, ERMIS processes over 20 million declarations and 150 million transactions annually. Intelligent guidance will be embedded directly into digital user journeys in this next phase of the TSS portal, which will rapidly adapt to evolving GB-NI trade policy. Users will be digitally supported by agentic AI-powered capabilities to help resolve user queries, whilst maintaining access to trade experts for complex case resolution.
The Boat Race has handed an integrated PR, social and content brief to The PHA Group. The agency is tasked with introducing the event to new audiences and telling the stories behind the students that compete in an occasion which marks the season opener to the London sporting calendar. PHA will also be responsible for amplifying The Boat Race’s curated and user-generated content through strategic content planning, shoot management and in-house editing.
In December, Innovid is spotlighting new social media enhancements that help marketers get to insight faster, reduce manual effort, and manage paid social activity with greater accuracy, control, and visibility. It now supports full Reddit ads management, enabling creative trafficking, campaign setup, delivery, and measurement alongside other social channels. Social Ads Manager now surfaces Meta’s Opportunity Score, giving teams a clearer, more strategic view of where optimizations can make the biggest impact. A new Google CM360 integration enables teams to generate and apply both click and impression trackers in bulk within our Social Ads Manager. Marketers can also customize how trackers are built for CM360 campaigns, placements, and ad hierarchies across Meta, Pinterest, Snap, and TikTok, with more publisher support to follow. Cross-Publisher Performance Dashboard and Digital Asset Manager Integrations mean workflows are smoother and teams can act faster to keep campaigns on track.
Prime Time Beer has appointed Fan Club, the digital entertainment agency, to develop the company’s branded content strategy, lead the creation and distribution of social-first content and build its community across its own channels. Prime Time Beer was launched in 2022 by former Made in Chelsea cast members Harvey Armstrong and Sam Holmes and champions a lifestyle that balances quality and wellness.
Trade Direct Insurance has appointed Journey Further to deliver a strategic overhaul of their digital media. The agency will deliver a comprehensive growth strategy, spanning technical SEO, content, digital PR and paid search. The partnership will begin by implementing high-impact SEO improvements to strengthen Trade Direct Insurance’s technical foundation and organic visibility. Alongside this, the agency will develop a full content strategy built around sharper audience segmentation and clearer paths to conversion. The team will also run an always-on press office, monitoring emerging trends across the insurance sector and turning them into earned media opportunities that build authority and trust. To support Trade Direct’s wider growth ambitions, the agency will also deliver a comprehensive PPC audit to identify hidden headroom, ensure budgets are working harder, and uncover opportunities to scale performance efficiently across both paid and organic channels.
A new partnership established between digital audio specialist Audion and global podcast advertising platform RedCircle expands podcast advertising and revenue opportunities for creators and brands on both sides of the Atlantic. The direct connection with Audion’s curated podcast marketplace gives RedCircle and its clients easy access to European programmatic podcast demand. The ‘plug-and-play’ integration opens new inventory to European brands and supports local European podcasters. Working together, RedCircle and Audion provide multi-country campaigns, enabling major global advertisers to scale across audio markets in Europe and America.
