Today's Edition
ABU DHABI (WAM)
On the opening day of the world’s largest debut media event - BRIDGE Summit 2025 - in Abu Dhabi, a talk session titled ‘Blueprint for Building Iconic Media Brands’ turned the spotlight on how media brands must create authentic engagement with their audiences in order to have impact and scale profitability.
For Jim Bankoff, Co-founder & CEO of Vox Media, who was part of the 3-member panel discussion, the strategy must focus on raising the bar to support the creator economy by finding relevant talent and building formats around them.
“At Vox Media we are a little bit of a hybrid. We try and prove to our audiences that we are worthy of their attention,” he said.
Featuring shows such as Pivot, Criminal, and Today, Explained, the Vox Media Podcast Network is one of the largest in the United States. Bankoff emphasised that media houses should create programs that engage audiences and remain resilient to the volatility of algorithms. “For instance,” he added, “live experiences are very difficult to replicate through digital algorithms.”
Expanding on the shift in audience behavior, Christine Cook, Chief Commercial Officer of Bloomberg Media, highlighted an important trend: “People are moving back to enjoying entertainment in smaller, intimate settings. Which is why live events and theatre are becoming powerful.”
With her proven track record of scaling global media businesses, Cook underscored how audiences today are seeking richer, more meaningful engagement with content.
The senior commercial strategist—who leads worldwide advertising for Bloomberg across digital, video, television, audio, print, events, custom content, and programmatic platforms—said, “As consumers have access to so many more things, going back to trusting quality businesses and quality entertainment will remain.”
Sharing his perspective, Sir Martin Sorrell, Founder & Executive Chairman of S4 Capital, noted that trusted brands must blend technology with storytelling to scale influence across markets and expand revenue.
Winner of the Harvard Business School Alumni Achievement Award and named to the TIME 100, Sir Martin—one of Harvard Business Review’s best-performing CEOs in the world—shared critical insights on how AI, data, and automation are reshaping advertising. He is widely credited with turning WPP, the company he founded and led for 33 years, into the world’s largest advertising and marketing group with a market capitalisation of over 16 billion pounds.
