Universal Ads is live in the UK. Now what? With Channel 4's Rak Patel

Universal Ads is live in the UK. Now what? With Channel 4's Rak Patel

June 29, 2026 · 31 min · Season 5 · Episode 99

About this episode

The episode discusses the launch of Universal Ads in the UK and features an interview with Channel 4's Rak Patel about the current state of the UK TV industry.

This episode was produced in partnership with Channel 4 . For the second year in a row, the UK's commercial TV companies made a splash at the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity. After unveiling Universal Ads — the broadcasters' marketplace for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) — last year, Sky, ITV, Channel 4 and Comcast officially launched the product on Tuesday. And on Monday, Channel 4 announced it had partnered with 5 demand-side platforms to make advertising with Channel 4 more accessible to advertisers. During the week, in partnership with Channel 4, host Jack Benjamin sat down with Channel 4's commercial chief, Rak Patel, as well as members of its commercial leadership team, Jay Kassam and David Amodio, in separate interviews. He asked Patel, Kassam and Amodio about the latest news, the state of the UK TV industry, and how Channel 4 is balancing the need to reduce enough friction to make TV easy to buy, while retaining enough friction to make it a trustworthy medium for advertisers. The Media Leader will be releasing the episodes in two parts, the first with Patel and the second with both Kassam and Amodio. "You can be easy to buy, but retain your superpower,"…

People in this episode

Host: Jack Benjamin

Guest: Rak Patel

Topics covered

Keywords

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Channel 4, Sky, ITV, Comcast

Products: Universal Ads

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