This is Puzzle Problem Mess, conversations about the media economy and how to think clearly when things get messy.

In this episode, I'm joined by Guy Bisson. Guy is one of the UK and Europe's leading entertainment market analysts and has specialized in the global television business for more than 30 years.

He is co-founder of Ampere Analysis, a London-based global analyst house focused on the entertainment, sport and game sectors. In this episode, Guy and I focus on ad tiers on SVOD services. On the surface, this might sound like a narrow topic, but with a large share of gross subscriber editions now coming through ad supported plans for many of the major streamers, the move into advertising is starting to reshape the subscription streaming business in some fundamental ways.

In this episode, I'm joined by Claire Enders. Claire is the founder of Enders Analysis, the UK's leading media, telecoms, and technology research firm. Since founding the company in 1997, she's become one of the most influential analysts in the European media sector advising on the economics of television, streaming, digital platforms, and the wider creative industries.

Claire's work is widely cited by the Financial Times, the Economist, and the BBC. Claire is a fellow of the Royal Television Society and was awarded a CBE in 2024 for services to media.

When I sat down with Claire in early February, 2026, we set out to talk about public service media, its current pressures, the trust question, platform distribution, innovation, and lastly, what all of that means for people building careers in media.

The conversation widened into a much richer exploration of public service media's place in a changing Europe, and of the strategic realities now shaping broadcasters platforms and the wider media ecology.

So I've separated the conversation into six parts:

Part one: Public Service Media at a European turning point (02:05)

Part two: UK PSB, collective action (11:20)

Part three: Platform economics and distribution realism (20:52)

Part four: Broadcaster and streamer partnerships (30:32)

Part five: Trust and legitimacy (41:50)

Part six: Career development (1:02:17)

Claire's truly excellent firm, Enders Analysis, is here: https://www.endersanalysis.com/

Ian Whittaker is a London-based analyst with over twenty years’ experience covering media and technology equities, and he’s one of the clearest voices making sense of the shifts underway in the media sector — particularly around advertising and marketing.

In this conversation, we focus on the rise of YouTube, and why broadcasters and content owners continue to struggle with where to place it in their strategic thinking.

We cover:

- Whether the current ‘YouTube is TV’ debate is slightly out of focus, with the focus on audience comparisons with broadcast obscuring the monetisation differences and competitive dynamics in the ad market

- Why it is that broadcasters in particular struggle with how and where to fit YouTube into their audience and monetisation strategies

- The foundational questions broadcasters must ask of themselves in order to meet the challenge posed by YouTube

- Ian’s career advice for those making their way in this increasingly messy sector.

https://ianwhittakermedia.com/about/