As the summer months quickly approach and our series of egtabites takes a well-deserved break until September, we put the spotlight on the latest addition to the team – egta’s newly elected President.
The recent voting procedure with regards to egta’s Statutory session marked the transfer of egta’s presidency, with outgoing President Malin Häger, Commercial Director, Advertising Nordics – TV4 Media, handing leadership of the association to Laurent Bliaut, Deputy General Director, Marketing and R&D, TF1 Publicité.
The entire egta team would like to expressly thank Malin for all her work during her presidency and the many great initiatives and events we had the opportunity to work on together.
Laurent was kind enough to share his thoughts on egta, his presidency, and the future of our industry in the years to come in a short interview.
1. Can you tell us what made you decide to run for egta President?
I sincerely admire all the work done by the egta team in recent years. Beyond the many exchanges the association sets up, and which allow us all to be inspired by the best in our industry all over the world, egta has become an essential interlocutor with bodies such as the WFA and the MRC in particular. More than ever, we -TV companies- need to speak with a unified voice when it comes to setting new standards, in the face of the global tech giants who are now in our competitive universe.
2. Do you have the feeling that the world has somehow changed between the moment you applied and the time of your election? Have your short- and medium-term priorities changed as a broadcaster and as the association’s President?
Of course, the COVID 19 crisis has short- and medium-term impacts from which we all suffer. We are rightfully focused on the very short term now, in order to preserve the resources of our companies as much as possible – the majority of which depend mainly on advertising. However, like all crises, this one accelerates pre-existing tendencies rather than creates real ruptures. Our vision for “Total Video” is more just than ever and our industry must prepare to play the central role it deserves. This was already my roadmap before the crisis, which has only reinforced my conviction.
3. What do you think are the biggest challenges and opportunities for our industry in the next few years?
Our industry is at a turning point entering the Total Video era. Content is fluid, without any borders. Our content is the best and can now really be watched or listened to anytime, anywhere, on any device. This will give us a lot of new opportunities. Our media already provided incomparable reach with the strongest commitment from our audiences. They can now, thanks to addressable and data, provide more targeting, and provide their strengths to a broader client portfolio. Thanks to those new skills I am convinced that the coming years will be those of new conquests! It is amazing how many new clients we will be able to take on board thanks to programmatic, data and addressable.
4. What message would you like to share with egta’s members?
We, all together, must play a central role to accelerate the convergence of media planning KPIs. This job is started, but we must not underestimate adversity. Platforms play a double game, pretending they agree, but are not ready to open their garden to real and comparable measurement. I’m convinced that this battle is crucial, and egta is our best weapon to win it, as demonstrated by the Paris January 2020 BAM event.
Year after year TV and radio still demonstrate how efficient they are to drive both brand equity and sales, but part of this power is still too often confiscated by “last click” specialists. We cannot allow that to happen. I would be honoured to help as much as I can.
OTHER CASE STUDIES
M6 UNLIMITED TESTS AI SPOT CREATION FOR SMALLER TV AND STREAMING ADVERTISERS
22. 5. 2026M6 Unlimited is building a simpler route into TV and streaming advertising for smaller and newer advertisers. Its offer combines a dedicated SME buying path through its future ad manager, lower entry budgets, support across strategy, creative production and measurement. During a POC with Waymark, M6 Unlimited explored how to reduce the cost and complexity… Continue reading EGTABITE 306: AN INTERVIEW WITH EGTA’S NEW PRESIDENT
THE TV ADVERTISING PARADOX, A THINKTV NEW ZEALAND CASE STUDY (2/2)
22. 5. 2026The strategic response: the TV advertising paradox. The TV Advertising Paradox did not begin as a creative idea in search of a problem. It emerged as the strategic response to what the market review revealed. At the centre of the response sat a contradiction that could not be ignored. Linear television was being described as… Continue reading EGTABITE 306: AN INTERVIEW WITH EGTA’S NEW PRESIDENT
A BIG-SCREEN STUDY FINDS STRONGER ATTENTION ON TV4 PLAY THAN ON YOUTUBE
24. 4. 2026TV4 just launched its third attention study, comparing the viewing experience on its streaming service (TV4 Play) with YouTube’s big screen experience at home. It confirms once again the assumption that the streaming environment provided by a qualitative TV network (BVOD) delivers a much bigger attention than UGC platforms, such as YouTube. An at-home test… Continue reading EGTABITE 306: AN INTERVIEW WITH EGTA’S NEW PRESIDENT
THE TV ADVERTISING PARADOX, A THINKTV NEW ZEALAND CASE STUDY (1/2)
24. 4. 2026In late 2024, ThinkTV New Zealand, under the leadership of Jacqueline Freeman, GM Communications, undertook a full market review to understand how television was being perceived, valued, and used across the New Zealand marketing ecosystem. This was a broad diagnostic rather than a simple pulse check. It drew on perspectives from CMOs, CFOs, insights people,… Continue reading EGTABITE 306: AN INTERVIEW WITH EGTA’S NEW PRESIDENT
AD EMISSIONS MEASUREMENT: LESSONS FROM THE FINNISH MARKET
31. 3. 2026Finland’s commercial TV broadcasters spent the past year developing a carbon emissions measurement framework for linear TV advertising, starting with no local methodology and ending with a validated model owned by an industry body. For markets facing the same challenge, the experience offers a useful reference point. Start narrow, then scale The project focused exclusively… Continue reading EGTABITE 306: AN INTERVIEW WITH EGTA’S NEW PRESIDENT
A NEW WAY FOR FRANCETV PUBLICITÉ TO SELL CONTEXTUAL VIDEO ADVERTISING
27. 3. 2026FranceTV Publicité (FTP), the advertising sales house for French public television, has introduced Context.IA into its digital video offer. The solution uses programme context to decide when an ad should appear, instead of relying only on fixed scheduling. That makes Context.IA a new commercial tool inside FranceTV Publicité’s own video inventory. Context.IA links programme cues… Continue reading EGTABITE 306: AN INTERVIEW WITH EGTA’S NEW PRESIDENT
BUILDING A SHOPPABLE, ATTENTION-READY CTV OFFER: THE BIG BROTHER CONTEXTUAL CASE
26. 3. 2026In 2025, Paramount Australia, in partnership with FreeWheel and egta, hosted a webinar outlining a forward-looking view of the evolving advertising market. One key topic explored the industry’s shift to pull-based discovery, experience-driven engagement, and frictionless content-commerce integration. Paramount Australia’s Contextual Advertising Suite directly responds to these trends, reinforcing the company’s leadership in premium CTV… Continue reading EGTABITE 306: AN INTERVIEW WITH EGTA’S NEW PRESIDENT
GLOBO CREATES HOME SCREEN PROMINENCE FOR FREE-TO-AIR TV ON SMART TVS
26. 2. 2026Globo, Brazil’s largest commercial TV group, is rolling out DTV+, a next-generation free-to-air TV standard designed for connected TVs. It brings broadcast channels into the TV operating system, with app-like navigation, login and interactive layers placed directly on top of live programming. The move fits Brazil’s viewing reality. Linear TV accounts for 57.9% of total… Continue reading EGTABITE 306: AN INTERVIEW WITH EGTA’S NEW PRESIDENT
THE VISUAL TRANSFER EFFECT: HOW SOUND BUILDS BRANDS
24. 2. 2026In collaboration with neuro-marketing agency Unravel, Talpa Media has produced the scientific proof that audio does not just complement TV. It actively reactivates it, reconstructing visual brand memories in the consumer’s mind through sound. The findings carry significant implications for how audio is planned, sold, and valued within the wider media mix. Context Talpa Media… Continue reading EGTABITE 306: AN INTERVIEW WITH EGTA’S NEW PRESIDENT
RMB TURNS QR CODE VOTING INTO A SHARED VIEWING MOMENT THAT STRENGTHS BRAND IMAGE FOR SPRITE AND DELI CHOC
24. 2. 2026Campaign objectives The chocolate snack Deli Choc and soft drink Sprite brands worked with RMB to reach younger audiences by becoming part of Belgian hip-hop show “PLAYGROUND”, supporting new rap talent through a live QR vote and cross-platform content. This helps the brands appear as enablers of the format rather than separate ads. For RMB… Continue reading EGTABITE 306: AN INTERVIEW WITH EGTA’S NEW PRESIDENT
CANADIAN SUPERSTAR ANDREW PHUNG HELPS VIA RAIL CHALLENGE CAR CONVENIENCE ASSUMPTIONS WITH LONG-FORM STORYTELLING ACROSS CBC’S TV ECOSYSTEM
24. 2. 2026Campaign objectives VIA Rail, the company operating Canada’s national passenger rail service, combined a new product launch with brand building, using long-form content to tackle misconceptions that tend to block conversion in travel: comfort, ease, and whether rail feels like a realistic alternative to driving for intercity trips. The objectives behind this campaign were to… Continue reading EGTABITE 306: AN INTERVIEW WITH EGTA’S NEW PRESIDENT
HOW L’ORÉAL PARIS AND RTL MADE STREET HARASSMENT HARD TO IGNORE
24. 2. 2026Context Sexual harassment in public spaces is one of the most common forms of gender-based violence in the world. Two figures frame the issue: 80% of women have experienced street harassment, but 85% of people say they lack training on how to intervene. Ad Alliance and L’Oréal created a campaign to respond to this problem… Continue reading EGTABITE 306: AN INTERVIEW WITH EGTA’S NEW PRESIDENT