Blue Tiger Engage July 2025
BT Engage: July Newsletter
Welcome to Blue Tigers monthly newsletter Engage, bringing you all the latest news, trends and updates from across the media landscape. In this month’s edition we look at the major news stories that captured the headlines as we head into H2.
Disney and ITV announce first-of-its-kind strategic relationship
The Walt Disney Company and ITV announced a new first-of-its-kind initiative to carry each other’s streaming services, in the form of a promotional selection, billed as a ‘Taste of ITVX’ and a ‘Taste of Disney+’ respectively. The exciting initiative brings together two of the UK’s most recognisable entertainment brands to expand viewer choice and celebrate the best of British and international storytelling, marking a further milestone in The Walt Disney Company and ITV’s long-standing relationship.
Starting 16 July, a curated, and regularly refreshed selection of hit shows and movies from Disney+ and ITVX will be available to viewers on both platforms. The agreement showcases ITV and Disney’s world-class content to each other’s complementary audiences, extending reach and allowing more viewers to discover Disney+ and ITVX.
Disney+ customers in the UK will be able to stream some of ITV’s most acclaimed scripted and unscripted content. This includes the multi-award-winning drama “Mr Bates vs The Post Office”, espionage thriller “Spy Among Friends”, selected series of the reality hit “Love Island”, popular drama favourites like “Endeavour”, “Vera”, and the first series of “Karen Pirie”, coinciding with the second series premiere in ITVX, Olivia Attwood’s immersive series “Price of Perfection”, as well as multi-generational entertainment like “The 1% Club”. ‘A Taste of ITVX’ will be available to all Disney+ customers at no extra cost.
At the same time, ITVX viewers will be introduced to a rotating rail of Disney+ shows and movies titled ‘A Taste of Disney+’, updated regularly to reflect the breadth of Disney’s global storytelling. The selection in coming months includes critically acclaimed, award-winning titles – from the first seasons of FX’s “The Bear”, Lucasfilm’s “Andor” and “Only Murders in the Building”, to selected series of reality titles including “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” and “The Kardashians”, plus family favourites including “Lilo and Stitch: The Series” and “Phineas and Ferb”. “A Taste of Disney+” will be available to all ITVX viewers at no cost, and ad free on ITVX Premium.
Channel 4 begins testing AI generated ads
In a groundbreaking move, Channel 4 is set to revolutionise the UK television advertising landscape by introducing AI-generated adverts on its streaming service. This initiative aims to make TV advertising more accessible to small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs), challenging the dominance of American tech giants in the £40 billion UK advertising market.
Channel 4’s Generative AI Solution, fully launching later this year, aims to break down traditional barriers to TV advertising such as high production costs, creative complexity, and the need for in-house creative expertise – making TV campaigns more accessible to ‘new-to-TV’ brands, from SMEs to larger businesses.
The service offers a streamlined process supported by Channel 4’s sales teams, ensuring creative is compliant with Clearcast guidelines and Channel 4’s ethical and creative standards. Going forward, the solution will also function as a lead generation and sales enablement tool, allowing brands to quickly visualise their campaigns.
Amazon Prime Day UK sales top £2bn despite consumer caution
Amazon’s biggest UK shopping event on record has delivered a much-needed adrenaline shot to Britain’s faltering retail sector – with online spending during its four-day Prime event topping £2bn for the first time.
Consumers splashed out £2.08bn online between the 8th and the 11th July, driven by steep discounts on everything from baby toys to smart home gear, according to data revealed exclusively to City AM.
The spree, driven by Amazon’s first ever four-day ‘Prime Day’ event, marked an 11.1 per cent increase on last year and nearly double the money spent during Black Friday 2024, according to Adobe Digital Insights.
The opening day of the sale saw a record £676.5m in online spend, making it the UK’s biggest e-commerce day of the year so far.
But beneath the surface of this spike, cracks remain in the consumer economy. Analysts and retailers alike are hoping the spike marks a turning point in what’s been a sluggish year for online shopping.
After months of weak demand, high interest rates, and stubborn inflation, this year’s Prime event landed at the right time. Online sales in the UK grew just 1.6 per cent in the first half of this year, Adobe said – a far cry from the exponential pandemic-era growth many retailers built their models around.
The surge in Prime spend also comes as loyalty programmes see renewed interest from anxious consumers. Amazon Prime itself – the loyalty scheme at the heart of the retail giant’s flywheel – has now got over 200 million global members paying an annual fee for fast shipping and various deals. In the US alone, membership rose nine per cent year on year by March.
While discounts dominate headlines, another retail revolution is reshaping the e-commerce landscape: AI-driven shopping. Traffic to UK retail sites from AI tools has surged 1,200 per cent since August 2024, as shoppers increasingly use chatbots and search assistants to compare prices and generate shopping lists.
Retailers are racing to keep up. Adobe found that consumers spend 23 per cent more time on sites when directed there by generative AI, and conversion rates have doubled over the past two months.
It’s a trend that gives big retail giants like Amazon an edge in data and discovery, but creates opportunities for nimble brands that can adapt easily.
For further information, please don’t hesitate to contact us at Blue Tiger Marketing, we’re here to help you navigate the changing landscape effectively, leveraging new opportunities while mitigating potential risks.
Sources:
The Guardian, Adexchanger, The Drum, Marketing Week, CityAM, ITV, C4
