Media agency anxieties, guest editors, where now for Netflix and more: Editor's Overview

Last year we were hearing about rebates in media agencies, then recently more about ad misplacement on YouTube, meanwhile the 'big four' consultancies, such as Accenture Interactive, are shaping up to help clients with their digital media buying needs. The recent months for media agencies have been far from rose-scented.

Add to that the growth of in-house trading desks – one more move that could really eat the lunches of some of the media agencies, should top spending clients go down that route.

Most clients are highly risk averse at the best of times, so the opportunity to have more control of their own media will be one that, depending on difficulty and cost, is hard for them to ignore. As the headlines about ad misplacement continue to appear, why shouldn't they want to avoid the gamble that their expensive agencies are seemingly not capable of steering?

Transparency and collaboration is needed more than ever in the media business. I'm not worried that they will disappear; let's not be naive. Very few brands want, or can, handle the workload themselves – but if they can justify where the spend and where the creative is being seen (and if it is effective) some may just feel they could do a better job internally instead.

How long does Netflix have left?

Something I have been wondering for a long time now is how Netflix can continue to thrive as a business. Is its shelf life already apparent?

It began as a streaming platform other content producers could sell the rights to their unused content on in order to drive more revenue. This worked - for a while. Then it started making its own content - House of Cards and Orange is the New Black both proving massive hits.

That's when content providers realised they had helped create an enemy and dialed back on that distribution, developing their own streaming services instead.

Netflix now has the problem of selling monthly subscriptions, while spending billions on content in an effort to persuade its users to remain. However, it also faces a subscription base that is hoovering up the content, at a pace production speeds cannot keep up with.

Add to that the fragmentation of streaming and it means people's favourite shows and movies may now be found elsewhere instead.

So what next? The documentary format is a relatively fast and cheap route to go down and the number of those appearing on all streaming sites is growing. I'll be releasing an interview with Cooper Hefner this week, in fact, about a drama/documentary Amazon has made about the life of his father, Playboy founder Hugh Hefner.

It's a real battle for all of these platforms. And without a long term legacy of content to perch upon, I can't help but wonder how long Netflix can keep up the momentum.

Our guest editors

Last week I hinted that we would be making some exciting announcements and make them we did. Our next issue of the magazine is being edited by Prince Andrew on the subject of human technology while our July issue will be edited by three of Facebook's top executives - Sheryl Sandberg, Mark D'Arcy and Nicola Mendelsohn. Both issues will be unique in many respects and I think will offer a wide number of insights to the industry that have previously gone untapped. I look forward to sharing those with you over the coming months.

Elsewhere at The Drum this week

We are in full push mode with the Future of Marketing, with Zoella's other half Alfie Deyes set to be interviewed on his views on the success and the future of influencers. Already we have announced another exciting keynote in the form of Eric Schultz, senior advisor to former President Barack Obama.

More details on the line up, which is continually growing, can be found on the FoM website.