Welcome to The TV Room. Your weekly digest of television, streaming, and digital media insights that matter.

This week we're covering:

• ⚽ David Beckham’s Ad Under Fire

• 🥤 Zevia Serves Up All-Natural Sass

• 🎥 Creative Spotlight: Walmart - “Give the Gift that Shows You Get Them”

• 💵 Omnicom’s Big Buy

Beckham’s Ad: Naughty or Nice?

A festive advertisement featuring David Beckham has landed kitchen appliance brand Ninja in hot water after viewers spotted a potentially dangerous oversight.

The 30-second commercial shows Beckham preparing Christmas dinner using the brand's new wood-fired oven. Eagle-eyed viewers quickly noticed the appliance appeared to be used indoors - despite explicit warnings against indoor use in the product manual.

The user guide states: "DO NOT use indoors. If used under overhead cover, toxic fumes, including carbon monoxide, may accumulate and cause serious bodily injury or death."

The controversy prompted multiple complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), which confirmed they are "carefully assessing" claims that the ad is misleading. One YouTube viewer reported the commercial directly to the ASA, expressing concern that viewers "would be forgiven for thinking" the oven could be used inside.

Ninja quickly responded to the backlash, with a spokesperson clarifying: "David Beckham was cooking in an outdoor kitchen during the filming of this advert, in compliance with the Woodfire Outdoor Oven's usage instructions." They also noted the ad was cleared by Clearcast before airing.

The former soccer star's passion for cooking was shown in last year's Netflix documentary, where he spoke about spending evenings in his $50,000 barbecue tent: "It's my escape. I'm in here from 11 to 9 or 10 o'clock at night, sometimes later, just grilling. That's all I do."

Read More:

• David Beckham’s Christmas Ad Reported After Dangerous Mistake Spotted - Express Co UK

[Webinar] TV Advertising, Reimagined

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When:
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TV Industry Updates

• Streaming's profitable pivot: Disney+, Max, Peacock, Paramount+, and Tubi ad leaders predict a bright future for streaming.

• Larry David's nostalgic return: Larry David reprises his Seinfeld role as George Steinbrenner in a Fanatics commercial to promote a new baseball card set.

• AI parody wars: Zevia takes a jab at Coca-Cola's AI ads with a snarky campaign that boasts its all-natural ingredients.

• Streaming spend soars: A New Comcast report shows 97% of advertisers plan to maintain or increase their streaming TV spend in 2025.

Stay up to date on the latest in TV advertising by joining our Slack community!

Creative Spotlight: Walmart - “Give the Gift that Shows You Get Them”

Walmart embraced 90s nostalgia with its Christmas commercial, reuniting the stars of the 1997 cult classic "Love Jones."

The Details:

• The 30-second ad starred Larenz Tate and Nia Long reprising their roles as lovers Darius Lovehall and Nina Mosley from the original movie.

• The commercial hinted that the characters stayed together and may now have a teenage daughter, serving as an unofficial sequel to the film's ambiguous ending.

• Some praised the ad as amazing, while others accused Walmart of hypocrisy given its recent decision to roll back many diversity initiatives.

What We Loved: The ad provided a clever and nostalgic twist by reuniting beloved characters in a fresh yet familiar way, creatively closing the story of the original film.

Marketing Mix

• Agency mega-merger: Omnicom has agreed to acquire Interpublic in an all-stock deal that will create the world's largest agency group.

• IPG restructuring: Interpublic Group has sold its digital experiences agency Huge to private equity firm AEA Investors, who will merge it with Hero Digital.

• TV's mixed future: Global advertising revenue will top $1 trillion in 2024, but GroupM predicts linear TV ad revenue will fall 3.4% in 2025.

• AI's creative challenge: RenderNet AI's concept ad for Levi's joins the ongoing debate about AI in advertising and authenticity.

• Sports streaming surge: Fubo reports upfront commitments increased 40% year-over-year, driven by automotive, pharmaceutical, and CPG advertisers.

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