Produced by:
From content-led to audience-led
How media marketing is changing
Produced by:
From content-led to audience-led: how media marketing is changing
Giorgio Tacchia
Managing Director at Globant
Emily Latham
former Head of Martech at Channel 4
In this interview with TechPros.io, Emily Latham, former Head of Martech at Channel 4, and Giorgio Tacchia, Managing Director at Globant, discuss the shift in media marketing from content-first to audience-first strategies. With her background in marketing and technology, Emily shares insights from implementing data-led approaches that increased viewer engagement by 36 percent per marketing pound at Channel 4, while Giorgio brings perspectives from building a streaming platform that grew to 60 million users before joining Globant to help clients modernise and monetise their business models.
Emily, could you tell us about the digital changes you led at Channel 4?
I approached this from a marketing perspective rather than a technological one. My task was to help Channel 4's marketing teams shift from a broadcast-style, show-led approach to a more customer-focused method using data, tools and technology to deliver relevant messaging.
We needed to move from one-to-many marketing moments to always-on, one-to-few or even one-to-one activation across the ecosystem. This represented a major mindset shift for marketing.
My role involved creating a service blueprint where we developed a vision for what the business wanted to achieve, and then I helped unlock the people, processes, data and technologies that would drive that forward.
We needed to move from one-to-many marketing moments to always-on, one-to-few or even one-to-one activation across the ecosystem.
- Emily Latham
Giorgio, what's the biggest misconception traditional broadcasters have about digital changes?
The biggest misunderstanding is that digital change is simply about adopting new technologies or platforms. Many believe that just implementing new digital tools will automatically lead to success, but it requires a fundamental shift in mindset and culture within the organisation.
For established broadcasters, digital is often seen as an additional layer on an existing core business, which can become a major mistake. While value will eventually shift from traditional to digital channels, most revenue still comes from the old model, creating friction between departments.
To navigate this challenge, it's essential to have a clear, documented vision incorporated into a strategic plan, along with a management team genuinely willing to embrace these changes. Understanding that it will be a long, challenging process is crucial, but it presents a significant opportunity for learning and evolution.
Digital change isn't simply about adopting new technologies - it requires a fundamental shift in mindset and culture within the organisation.
- Giorgio Tacchia
Emily, what were your key achievements at Channel 4?
We built a digital centre of excellence comprised of Martech (including CDP and a programme manager), marketing analytics (which wasn't previously in the business), and digital performance capabilities.
The traditional TV marketing model focuses around shows – great franchises that drive success. Broadcasters excel at creating mass cultural moments, but what we weren't focusing on was what happens after viewers arrive.
We started thinking about audience lifecycles. When they land on the platform, what's the right message? Are they new customers who need onboarding, or heavy users whose preferences we know? We considered the signals and intentions to serve the next best message based on our intelligence.
This omni-channel approach underpinned everything. Previously, marketing teams worked in channel-specific ways. Once we moved to a customer-centric approach, we used journey mapping, which forced teams to consider all touchpoints – from in-stream promos to email triggers, in-app messages, and social media.
We focused on the efficiency of our marketing levers – those push and pull points across the customer experience – and maximised our owned assets, which are cost-effective yet powerful for driving incremental viewership.
The organisational structure was challenging because teams weren't set up for this approach. We had to work cross-functionally to build squads and find business sponsors while using the capabilities we were unlocking.
We started thinking about audience lifecycles. When viewers land on the platform, what's the right message based on who they are and what we know about them?
- Emily Latham
What specific data were you capturing and how did you use it?
We needed visibility of marketing spend data, view time metrics, click-through rates, and how they translated to business outcomes. The goal was tracking all the way down the funnel to see if someone viewed content on the platform – and most importantly, if it was an incremental view.
The Customer Data Platform (CDP) was foundational, allowing us to do first-party data experiments with control groups to measure the impact of targeting specific segments or trying new creatives.
We built real-time dashboards where teams could see the impacts of experiments as they happened, which powered collaboration. Access to data was crucial for fostering change, because without evidence to back up new ways of working, teams would revert to business as usual.
The Customer Data Platform was foundational, allowing us to do first-party data experiments with control groups to measure the true impact of our marketing initiatives.
- Emily Latham
Giorgio, how can artificial intelligence take audience engagement to the next level?
With streaming services, there are two key concepts: the return channel that allows interaction with clients, and global distribution potential.
Generative AI can now create high-quality subtitles in 40 languages in real-time, opening opportunities to distribute content worldwide – something that just five years ago required significant budget and resources.
AI-powered recommendation engines can increase the relevance of suggested content based on client interests, improving the experience and helping monetise deep catalogue items rather than just promoting new releases.
Dynamic advertising is another application, where AI tailors ads in real-time by understanding a viewer's behaviour patterns, increasing engagement and impressions.
In content creation, AI can generate highlight summaries during live sports events, multiplying one live feed into thousands of different content pieces that can be monetised differently – perhaps offering the live event as premium while highlights create new engagement opportunities.
AI can generate highlight summaries during live sports events, multiplying one live feed into thousands of different content pieces that can be monetised differently.
- Giorgio Tacchia
Emily, what excites you about the future of AI in marketing?
AI is incredibly promising, but it comes back to having solid data foundations. Unless you have robust data to train these systems on, you risk bad decision-making.
I'm particularly interested in synthetic data. Most marketing models are based on past information, but the world is changing rapidly. Synthetic data sets allow pre-testing on future possibilities rather than past patterns. You can pre-test budgets and optimisations using data that predicts future behaviour.
For example, broadcasters have struggled to recruit diverse demographics for research, but can now build synthetic datasets to test concepts from ideation through to marketing campaigns.
As AI agents become more common on devices, we'll need to consider whether the data in our campaigns is coming from humans or AI – a complex question as artificial intelligence increasingly influences what people see.
Synthetic data sets allow pre-testing on future possibilities rather than past patterns. You can pre-test budgets and optimisations using data that predicts future behaviour.
- Emily Latham
Giorgio, how do you see the relationship between content, data and audiences evolving?
It's fundamentally about data. If you have first-party data and client relationships, you can build deep knowledge of behaviour patterns. The first step is transforming an audience member into a client, then building a tailored experience based on their history.
Advertising itself should become content – adjusting the same material to provide different messages depending on the audience. For example, if you're interested in flying to Rome, a website can show different content about the city depending on you, the season, and current events. This increases engagement in ways static content cannot.
Ten years ago, content was king. Now, while quality content remains essential, the concepts of data, audience understanding, and organisational culture are equally important. Broadcasters need to think differently – a strategy needs to consider all these elements, with AI as an accelerator.
The human element remains crucial, however. Technology connects the dots, but you must have the right strategy, culture, and data foundation for success.
Ten years ago, content was king. Now, while quality content remains essential, the concepts of data, audience understanding, and organisational culture are equally important.
- Giorgio Tacchia
Globant is a digitally native company that helps organizations reinvent themselves and unleash their potential. They bring innovation, design and engineering together at scale to create impactful solutions. Globant specializes in digital strategy, design, and development, leveraging cutting-edge technologies and trends. With their agile pods methodology and commitment to innovation, Globant is a trusted partner for top brands looking to lead their industries in the digital landscape. They create digital transformations using disruptive technologies like AI, blockchain, and cloud computing. Major clients include Google, EA, and Disney. Globant bridges the gap between design and engineering to develop innovative software products. Overall, Globant helps global organizations reinvent themselves digitally.
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