Streaming Meets Shopping: Alex Hodge and Tim Norris-Wiles on the Future of CTV x Retail at Retail Media Summit UK

Connected TV is colliding with retail media, opening up entirely new possibilities for brands, retailers, viewers, and shoppers alike. In this discussion at Retail Media Summit UK, brought to you by SMG and ADWEEK, Tim Norris-Wiles (Ecosystem Development UK, LiveRamp) and Alex Hodge (Senior Director, Head of Digital Strategy & Innovation, Warner Bros. Discovery, UK, Ireland & International) explored what happens when CTV’s premium environments meet retail media’s data-rich capabilities. From shifting consumer behaviour to the new economics of streaming, they dug into the tension between brand-building and performance, and the opportunity to connect them more meaningfully than ever.

The Bottom Line

Retail media and CTV are colliding, and the result is a channel that can deliver both emotional reach and measurable outcomes. With the right data, creative formats, and partnerships, CTV becomes the newest checkout moment: premium, measurable, and primed for conversion.

The Takeaways

CTV Blurs the Line Between Linear and Digital — And That’s the Opportunity

Hodge’s background across Sky, Triad, Discovery, and now Warner Bros. Discovery gave him a unique vantage point: linear and CTV aren’t separate worlds anymore — they’re converging. TNT Sports streaming the Champions League final might technically be “CTV,” but it behaves like both.

“It’s on an app… so is it linear or is it CTV?” — Alex Hodge

CTV lowers the barrier to entry, expands creative formats (pause ads, collapsed ad breaks), and enables measurable outcomes. But it also reintroduces something brands have quietly missed: serendipity and scale. The trick is knowing when to value precision — and when to let the brand breathe.

Measurement Is Expanding — Not Just Becoming More Granular

Both speakers challenged the obsession with tracking everything. Yes, CTV enables addressability and outcome measurement — store footfall, online purchase, household penetration — but that doesn’t mean brands should optimise themselves into a corner.

“Just because you can measure everything doesn’t mean you should.” — Alex Hodge

Instead, Hodge urged brands to think in terms of full-funnel fluency. Use data to connect brand and commerce, don’t separate them. The Cadbury gorilla ad didn’t need precise attribution to become iconic — but today’s retailers can use data to pair big, emotional creative with performance outcomes in ways that weren’t possible before.

In Retail Media x CTV, Collaboration Is the Real Differentiator

CTV doesn’t fit neatly into the old media-buying model. Retailers bring customer data; broadcasters bring household-level insight; brands bring objectives; partners like LiveRamp provide the connective tissue. That’s a multi-stakeholder puzzle — and when tackled collaboratively, it becomes a powerful differentiator.

“Relationships aren’t one-to-one. They’re one-to-four. The success comes when everyone leans in together.” — Alex Hodge

Warner Bros. Discovery’s WBDA (Audience Insights & Measurement) shows what’s possible: combining broadcaster 1P data with retailer and advertiser datasets to build richer insights, smarter planning, and more relevant activation — without going so granular it harms reach.

Quote to Remember

“For retail media to really permeate and move across the entire funnel instead of being bucketed into specific parts, it’s important that we see an embrace of the typical branding and kind of more kind of endemic advertising measures that came before because it allows for further breadth and a bit more kind of holistic planning and execution.” – Tim Norris-Wiles