YouTube's Pedro Pina Delivers James MacTaggart Memorial Lecture

Brilliant insights from Pedro Pina at this year’s MacTaggart lecture at Edinburgh TV Festival. The media landscape looks completely different than it did a decade ago, but the opportunity for brilliant British content has never been higher. Proud to be a part of this company that’s investing in the epic future of British storytelling!

Last week we held our Breakfast Club event The Future of TV at Soho's Century Club, bringing together senior leaders from BBC, Goalhanger, Recurring Character, UKTV, Warner Bros. Discovery and YouTube to tackle the most pressing challenges facing the TV and broadcasting industry right now. Across two provocative panels, we dug into how broadcasters and media owners can capture younger audiences and stand out in the crowded TV landscape. 📺 Watch the sizzle reel below for a flavour of the morning 👇 👉 Missed out? We've got the full breakdown, including all the key takeaways, on the blog: https://lnkd.in/en9AgFut

The path into radio, like many careers, often involves unexpected turns and a touch of serendipity. While formal training wasn't the initial route, a lifelong passion for communication paved the way. The journey into hosting a show wasn't instantaneous but stemmed from existing connections and an opportunity that aligned with a natural inclination. Navigating the landscape of broadcasting, especially the shift from local ownership to corporate influence, highlights how different motivations can shape programming and content strategy. #Radio #Broadcasting #CareerPath #MediaIndustry #ProfessionalJourney

YouTube dominated the Edinburgh TV Festival after EMEA chief Pedro Pina used the MacTaggart Lecture to argue that forcing prominence for UK public broadcasters would jeopardise future partnerships, calling visibility on the platform a “zero‑sum game.” The UK government rejected that premise, signalling plans to protect key areas of British TV. The clash comes as producers pursue direct‑to‑consumer models and as the new BBC boss, a former Google exec, prepares to push back against YouTube’s influence. https://lnkd.in/dteW2qFx

The Emmys just lost nearly 10% of their audience in one year—and the bigger concern may be what happens next. Moving television’s biggest awards show from NBC to Amazon Prime Video could be a huge mistake, making an already shrinking event even less accessible and visible to the mass audience. https://lnkd.in/ewrQ4q9q

In my Who Does that? Documentary https://lnkd.in/gnQ987ra about the 2023, 191 day Hollywood Strikes, I mentioned the flaw with the Emmy Awards. Social Media created content SHOULD NOT be competing with Broadcast Television content for Emmy Awards. The flogging of Network Programming by social media content, makes the Emmy Awards less appealing for fans of Network Broadcast Television.

As viewing habits continue to shift, what role could YouTube play in the future of scripted television? Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s The Media Show from the Edinburgh TV Festival, Founder and CEO Claire Mundell discussed the opportunity for YouTube to complement traditional commissions - extending the world of a show, reaching audiences on the platforms they already use and helping drive them towards long-form scripted content. Claire also reflected on the challenge facing producers as audiences continue to expect premium production values, great casting and ambitious storytelling, while the industry explores new business models to support them. Listen to the full discussion, ‘YouTube and the battle for television’s future’, here: https://lnkd.in/eHx_WTUt

BEYOND THE BROADCAST | MEDIA INSIGHTS Good broadcasting starts with good listening. As presenters, we spend a lot of time talking—but some of the most important work happens before the microphone goes on. Understanding what people care about, recognising the questions they are asking and knowing when a conversation needs to go deeper are all part of the craft. Every interview, call-in and on-air conversation teaches us something about our audience. And after years in broadcasting, those lessons become more than experience—they become insight. Being a presenter is not simply about having something to say. It is about knowing how to make a conversation matter. #BeyondTheBroadcast #CapitalFM #MediaInsights #Broadcasting #Radio #AudienceEngagement #Zambia

The Broadcasting Research Council of SA TVM Establishment Survey 2026 overturns one of the South African media industry’s biggest assumptions: that television viewing has disappeared. Instead, it has evolved, CEO Gary Moore Whitaker tells Glenda Nevill. #themediabeat

#TV audiences in SA🇿🇦 👇🏽📺 #BRC Ceo, Gary Whitaker..."Television remains the centre of viewing. Around 68% of South Africans watched television or video in the previous seven days. Among those viewers, 71% spend more than two hours watching on a typical weekday. Most significantly, 86% still watch the programmes they watch most on a television set. Entertainment and relaxation remain the primary reasons people watch TV, suggesting television continues to function as a shared leisure activity rather than simply another content platform".