Cath Waller – MD Advertising, Immediate

Q1: It’s been a busy year, what have been some of the highlights from your business in 2024? 

It’s been a busy one! Across the business we celebrated hitting a record number of paid subscribers across our channels, driven by exceptional growth in digital subs on both the Good Food and Nutracheck apps and the launch of the Radio Times app – continuing to bring joy to our audiences, however and wherever they chose.

Our live events business flourished, with consumer demand high to connect with our loved brands in real life, and we launched several highly successful new events including Good Food at Sea, in partnership with Princess Cruises, and History and Gardening weekends in collaboration with Warner Hotels. We also launched PRISM, our next level first party data proposition, providing partners with access to our unique fusion of audience and sector data and insight.

Last but by no means least, a key highlight for me was our brilliant ads team winning the AOP Sales Team of the Year – a super proud moment and a mighty celebration.

Q2: What are some of the standout commercial partnerships from this year?

We have been lucky to work on many commercial partnerships this year with our fantastic partners. There are so many to pick from across our brands, but some standouts were on Good Food this year. As we celebrated its 35^th birthday with a record number of subscribers, we also shed the BBC blocks, resulting in many media first, highly integrated, and creative partnerships.

We took the Mars Spring Bake partnership to new heights in our fifth year of working together with our first ever Good Food native cover and recipes. We also worked in partnership with Wavemaker to deliver a standout scaled partnership with Morrisons, packed full of media firsts including Good Food’s first official supermarket partner. From a cheese supplement with Boursin, to native cocktail recipes with Diageo and Pernod, to Good Food Recommends with Finish, so many clients benefitted from the freedom to get their products and brands more deeply integrated within the UK’s favourite food media brand.

We also successfully collaborated with Inspired Villages on the Radio Times Soap Awards and Sky Stream on the Radio Times Screen Test Awards, celebrating the positive impact and power that TV has on the nation.

Q3: What are your top priorities for 2025?

We’re really looking forward to helping our partners access all the benefits of PRISM, whilst also, as the no.1 brand in the food space, providing support and guidance for those navigating the new food promotion legislation.

For our audiences, we will continue to focus on bringing joy and utilising AI to unlock our treasure trove of trusted content in new and exciting ways. Sustainability and ED&I remain crucial to our business internally and continuing to understand the impact and influence our content has on millions of consumers so we can drive positive change.

I am really looking forward to working closely and collaboratively with our other PPA Magnetic partners, in proving the importance and value that all our trusted editorial brands have in our communities and the distinct benefits we provide for advertisers.

From a personal point of view, I really need to prioritise taking more holidays!

Q4: What are you most looking forward to over the festive break? 

Sleeping lots. Christmas Eve lake swimming, followed by swimming somewhere significantly warmer at New Year!