At New Digital Age’s Foresight event, Claire Enders CBE, founder of Enders Analysis, joined NDA Editor-in-Chief Justin Pearse for a wide-ranging discussion on the changing media landscape, the rise of streaming and digital platforms, and the disruptive role of artificial intelligence. Drawing on decades of experience analysing the UK and global media industries, Enders laid out both the challenges and opportunities facing broadcasters, publishers, brands and agencies in a volatile environment.
The strength of UK production
Enders pointed to the significant growth of premium content produced in the UK, which has become the leading production hub in Europe. With more than £10 billion invested in studios over the past 15 years, the UK has become a durable source of original drama and film.
Productions made here not only reflect British talent but also benefit global streamers. She noted that for the likes of Sky, Netflix and Disney+, UK studios allow costs to be kept to roughly a quarter of what they would be in the United States, all while producing high-quality, globally-exportable material.
The result is a constant stream of premium programming alongside a parallel explosion of short-form content on platforms such as YouTube and TikTok. While the two categories of content could not be more different, both are reshaping audience expectations and creating new opportunities for brands.
Brand strategies in a fragmented landscape
The shift towards short-form, brand-driven content was illustrated by ITV’s approach with Love Island. By amplifying the show across YouTube, driving coverage on the Mail Online and integrating influencers, ITV extends the life of the brand far beyond traditional viewing hours.
For brands, however, this environment is fragmented and deeply complex. Enders explained that a population of 67 million interacts with “millions of different kinds of brands”, each with distinct cultural resonance. To succeed requires both a human understanding of consumer behaviour and sophisticated use of AI tools to interpret and segment data.
Yet the dominance of platforms like Amazon and Meta, which tightly control pools of consumer information, creates headwinds. Many of the fastest-growing microbrands trade exclusively on these ecosystems, meaning data is inaccessible to outsiders.
For marketers, navigating these closed environments remains one of the toughest challenges.
The resilience of search and digital advertising
Despite global economic uncertainty, Enders emphasised the resilience of digital markets. In the second quarter of the year, search in the US grew by 10%, while overall digital advertising rose 16%.
Far from disappearing, search remains a central pillar of digital marketing.
Enders also argued strongly for the corporate relevance of AI. While chatbots may generate concerns, she predicted Google’s Gemini will emerge as a global standard in business life due to its safety and reliability for professional users.
However, she distinguished between AI’s ability to replicate prior knowledge and the unique expertise held by analysts and researchers.
Agencies and brands navigating AI together
On AI adoption, Enders suggested large agencies such as WPP are often ahead of clients in their thinking, while brands themselves face disruption and uncertainty in their own industries.
For major advertisers, partnering closely with agencies to explore AI while maintaining effectiveness and measurability will be a defining feature of the coming period.
However, efficiency is still hard to achieve on platforms such as Amazon, where brands face high costs to drive traffic and the pressure of competing on global lowest pricing.
Returns and waste remain unresolved structural issues for ecommerce. Yet Amazon’s corporate responsibility initiatives, such as the “multi bank” project with Gordon Brown, highlight how platforms are increasingly pressured to respond to concerns about sustainability and waste.
Collaboration over regulation
When asked about regulation and brand safety, Enders was clear that in the UK there remains a strong preference for commercial collaborations over heavy-handed intervention.
She cited Google’s role in supporting premium publishers and helping steer advertising investment towards high-trust environments.
In her view, Google’s approach to AI training, ensuring it pays for access to high-quality journalism, demonstrates a collaborative model that benefits both media and technology. For newspapers, profitability in 2022 was actually higher than in 2017, counter to long-standing narratives of inevitable decline.
Platforms like YouTube have also evolved over 20 years towards a more premium environment, reflecting an “arms race” with bad actors and the investment of significant AI resources in moderation.
While regulation such as the Online Safety Act remains vital, Enders argued it will be applied with restraint by authorities like Ofcom to avoid disrupting collaboration.
Knowledge versus information
A key theme for Enders was the distinction between knowledge and information.
While she acknowledged Google’s ambition to “own the world’s information”, her focus remains on knowledge-driven work and analysis, which she described as far more durable than clickbait or gossip-fuelled content.
Google, she noted, has little interest in click-driven publishers, instead prioritising “authoritative, high trust, analytical brands”, the kind of journalism consumers pay to access.
For publishers such as the Financial Times, that positions them as valuable partners in the AI-driven future.
The real risks: piracy, malware and instability
Looking ahead, Enders cautioned against overhyping AI’s dazzling potential at a time when many companies are facing day-to-day crises.
She highlighted the risks of piracy with AI-generated clones of trusted brands, and the growing prevalence of malware, including attacks distributed through consumer technologies like Amazon Fire Sticks.
For clients, particularly large brands such as global car manufacturers and consumer goods companies, boardroom discussions are dominated by uncertainty and short-term challenges.
Agencies, therefore, must support brands with practical, grounded strategies rather than contributing to confusion.
A future shaped by collaboration
Enders concluded with a clear vision: collaboration across platforms, agencies, brands and regulators will define the next stage of media and advertising.
AI will play an increasingly central role, but human judgment, creativity and trust will remain essential.
In her words, the media industry is living through “daily madness” yet continues to deliver extraordinary growth in digital consumption and an unparalleled stream of premium material.
For agencies, brands and creators alike, the task is to balance innovation with resilience, and above all, to help audiences and businesses navigate a transformed landscape.
