Welcome to the next edition of On The Record, thoughtful analysis on culture, entertainment, tech, fashion, music, sport, and brands. Here’s a round-up of key conversations and campaigns that caught my attention this week.
The throughline of this edition is ownership - of audiences, of image, of infrastructure and of narrative - and the speed at which control is becoming the defining commercial variable across sport, media and culture. Arsenal Women’s record 33,809 average attendance at the Emirates and Manchester City’s $13.5 million dedicated headquarters signal that infrastructure investment is becoming a competitive differentiator in the women’s game, with the clubs committing earliest and most decisively beginning to set standards the rest of the sport will be measured against. The WNBA’s 220 million viewing hours and $3 billion media rights valuation confirm that women’s sport has crossed from emerging category to established commercial platform - a shift Chloe Kelly’s seven-figure adidas signing and the F50 Sparkfusion campaign make tangible at the athlete level. Burberry’s return to £49 million profit under its “Burberry Forward” strategy offers a parallel lesson from luxury: that heritage clarity and product focus outperform modernisation plays when consumer confidence is fragile, even as geopolitical exposure in EMEA introduces new risk into an otherwise credible recovery. The IP and data battles accelerating across media and technology tell a more uncomfortable story. Dua Lipa’s $15 million lawsuit against Samsung over unauthorised use of her image on TV packaging exposes how badly third-party licensing chains are failing to protect talent rights at scale, while the federal lawsuit filed by journalists, podcasters and audiobook narrators against Google over alleged voice data misuse in AI training signals that the creative industries are moving from protest to litigation. Against that backdrop, the platform economics of media are quietly restructuring: TikTok’s £3.99 ad-free subscription tier follows Meta’s template in acknowledging that ad-funded reach alone can no longer sustain user trust or platform revenue, Spotify’s 20th anniversary Wrapped turns a decade of personal listening data into a retention product no competitor can replicate, and Acast’s breakthrough monetisation of Apple Podcasts’ video environment confirms that the infrastructure for a new advertising channel is now live. The Ian Wright biopic in development with Stormzy’s Merky Films and the Uncanny Valley conversation with Amelia Dimoldenberg both point in the same direction: that the most durable cultural assets are those where the subject retains creative authority, controls the narrative and owns the relationship with their audience - a principle that runs, in different forms, through almost every story in this edition.
Arsenal Women Set New WSL Attendance Benchmark as Emirates Becomes Permanent Home ⚽
Arsenal Women have closed the 2025/26 WSL season with a record average home attendance of 33,809 at the Emirates Stadium - a figure that would place them above eight Premier League clubs and 13th overall across the men’s and women’s game in England. The club has confirmed all 13 WSL home fixtures next season will also be played at the Emirates, following a further 10% rise in attendances and more than 17,000 seasonal members. UWCL league phase and domestic cup matches will continue at Meadow Park. What began as an experiment in venue ambition is now a structural commitment.
- Record WSL average home attendance of 33,809 at the Emirates in 2025/26
- 13 WSL home fixtures confirmed at the Emirates for the 2026/27 season
- Seasonal membership base exceeds 17,000, with average league crowd of 34,677
Arsenal aren’t just winning on the pitch - they’re rewriting the infrastructure logic of women’s football. Locking in the Emirates as a permanent WSL venue isn’t a marketing decision, it’s a commercial and structural signal: women’s football can sustain top-flight stadium economics, and the clubs that move first on venue ambition will be hardest to catch. 🏗️
Burberry’s Return to Profit Signals Heritage Over Hype as Luxury Navigates a Fragile Recovery 🖤
After a year of significant restructuring, Burberry has returned to pre-tax profit of £49 million, reversing losses of £66 million the previous year, as its “Burberry Forward” strategy - centred on British heritage, bestselling categories and cost discipline - begins to deliver. A 5% jump in same-store sales in the final quarter, led by a 10% surge in Greater China, provided the clearest evidence yet that the brand’s recalibration is gaining traction. However, the firm has flagged the uncertain geopolitical environment, including potential Iran conflict impact on the EMEA region, which already contributed to a 2% fourth-quarter sales decline in that division. Investors remain cautious, with shares falling 2% despite the positive headline numbers.
- Pre-tax profit of £49 million for the year to 28 March, against a £66 million loss the prior year
- Revenues broadly flat at £2.42 billion; same-store sales up 5% in Q4, with Greater China up 10% for the year
- £80 million in annual cost savings achieved; £100 million target to be reached over the year ahead
Burberry’s recovery is real but conditional - built on a return to product clarity and heritage credibility rather than brand reinvention. The lesson is increasingly familiar across luxury: authenticity and category focus outperform modernisation plays when consumer confidence is fragile. The geopolitical risk flag, while modest at 2% EMEA exposure, signals how quickly macro headwinds can interrupt momentum for brands that are still in recovery mode rather than full strength. 🧥
Ian Wright Biopic in Development with Merky Films as Sport, Culture and Storytelling Converge 🎥
An official biopic charting the life of Ian Wright is in development, co-produced by Stormzy’s Merky Films. The project will trace Wright’s journey from a South London estate to becoming one of English football’s most celebrated and culturally significant figures, with the narrative spanning his childhood, personal setbacks, family life and the path to professional football. The partnership between a grime-era cultural institution and a story rooted in Black British working-class experience signals a deliberate intention to position this as more than a football film.
- Biopic officially in development, co-produced by Stormzy’s Merky Films
- Subject covers Wright’s upbringing in South London, personal setbacks and route to professional football
- Ian Wright remains one of the most culturally resonant figures across both football and British broadcasting
This is a significant cultural pairing. Merky Films has consistently used storytelling to centre Black British experience with commercial ambition and creative credibility, and Ian Wright’s life - marked by adversity, resilience and outsized cultural impact - is exactly the kind of narrative that travels beyond sport. At a moment when football biopics are proving their audience appeal globally, backing from a producer with Stormzy’s cultural authority gives this project a positioning that a traditional sports film would struggle to replicate. 🎥
Chloe Kelly Joins adidas as Women’s Football Boot Market Intensifies 💟
Chloe Kelly has officially signed with adidas, moving from Nike to become the face of the brand’s F50 Sparkfusion - the Three Stripes’ first women’s-specific boot, developed using insight from female players to address the speed demands of the modern women’s game. Her debut campaign features British musician Kano, framing the partnership around a shared “Natural Born Winner” positioning that explicitly connects football achievement with British cultural identity. The signing follows teammate Martin Ødegaard’s recent move to adidas and reinforces the brand’s growing dominance within the Arsenal ecosystem, with Kelly joining a global women’s roster that already includes Aitana Bonmatí, Alessia Russo and Trinity Rodman.
- Kelly scored the winning goal in UEFA Women’s Euro 2022 and contributed decisive penalties in Finalissima 2023 and Euro 2025
- F50 Sparkfusion is adidas’ first boot designed specifically around the female body and the performance requirements of the women’s game
- Kelly will continue to wear Nike boots when representing England, where she remains under a separate national team kit deal
This signing does more than move a marquee athlete between brands - it signals how seriously adidas is competing for ownership of the women’s football narrative at the commercial level. Pairing Kelly with Kano in the launch campaign is a deliberate cultural statement: this isn’t a sports endorsement, it’s a positioning play that connects women’s football to British heritage, resilience and identity. As the women’s game scales commercially, the battle for athlete alignment is becoming as strategically significant as the product itself. 💟
Dua Lipa Sues Samsung for $15m Over Unauthorised Image Use as Celebrity IP Rights Come Under Scrutiny ⚖️
Dua Lipa has filed a federal lawsuit against Samsung in a California district court, seeking a minimum of $15 million in damages after the electronics company used a copyrighted photograph of her - taken backstage at the 2024 Austin City Limits festival - on packaging for a significant portion of its TVs sold across the US. Lipa alleges she became aware of the image in June 2025 and immediately demanded its removal, claims Samsung was dismissive and repeatedly refused to comply. Samsung has since stated the image was originally provided by a content partner for its Samsung TV Plus streaming service, with explicit assurance that permission had been secured, and says it remains open to resolution. The case now turns on where liability sits when image rights are passed through third-party licensing chains without the subject’s direct consent.
- Lawsuit filed in a US district court in California, seeking no less than $15 million in actual damages plus punitive damages and legal costs
- Lipa owns the copyright to the photograph, taken at Austin City Limits 2024; her existing brand partnerships include Apple, Porsche, Versace, Bulgari and Nespresso
- Lipa is alleging copyright violation, breach of California’s right of publicity statute, a federal Lanham Act claim, and trademark infringement
This case matters beyond the headline figure. Lipa’s existing roster of selective, high-value brand partnerships makes the reputational dimension as significant as the legal one - unauthorised association with a mass consumer electronics product directly undermines the scarcity and control that premium endorsement value depends on. Samsung’s third-party content partner defence may be technically credible, but it exposes a structural vulnerability in how image rights are managed across streaming and retail supply chains. As celebrity IP becomes an increasingly valuable commercial asset, this case could set an important precedent for how liability is allocated when licensing chains break down.
WNBA Viewership Hits 220 Million Hours as Media Rights Valuation Crosses $3bn 🏀
The WNBA’s commercial trajectory is no longer a projection - it is a measurable reality. The league recorded 220 million viewing hours last season, a 16% year-on-year increase, with Nielsen estimating 46.9 million US fans engaged with the sport over the course of the year, up 31% across two seasons. Regular-season ESPN games averaged 1.3 million viewers and postseason coverage averaged 1.2 million, both tracking upward. Against that audience backdrop, the league’s media rights deals are now valued at over $3 billion - a figure that reflects not just current scale but the market’s confidence in continued growth.
- 220 million hours of WNBA content watched last season, up 16% year-on-year (Nielsen)
- 46.9 million estimated US fans, representing 31% growth over two years
- Media rights deals now valued at over $3 billion; ESPN regular-season average of 1.3 million viewers, up 6% year-on-year
The WNBA has moved from a league brands were being encouraged to back to one they are actively competing to align with - and the rights valuation reflects that shift precisely. The combination of growing viewership, a demonstrably loyal and commercially engaged fanbase, and a $3 billion media rights baseline means the window for early-mover advantage is closing fast. Brands like Mars, P&G and adidas that have already committed are not just buying visibility - they are buying into a pricing curve that will only move in one direction. 📊
Manchester City Invest $13.5m in Dedicated Women’s HQ at City Football Academy 🏙️
Manchester City are opening a $13.5 million headquarters exclusively for their women’s team at the City Football Academy, marking one of the most significant infrastructure investments in the women’s club game to date. The dedicated facility places the women’s squad within the same elite sporting environment as their male counterparts, signalling a structural commitment to the women’s programme that goes beyond shared resources or incremental upgrades. At a moment when Arsenal’s Emirates attendance figures and the WNBA’s $3 billion media rights valuation are redefining expectations across women’s sport, City’s infrastructure play positions the club at the forefront of a facilities arms race that is rapidly becoming a competitive differentiator.
- $13.5 million dedicated headquarters for Manchester City Women at the City Football Academy
- Investment provides the women’s squad with a permanent, elite-standard base within one of European football’s most advanced sporting facilities
- Announcement follows a period of sustained commercial and audience growth across the women’s game globally
Infrastructure is intent made permanent. A $13.5 million dedicated facility isn’t a marketing gesture - it’s a structural signal about where Manchester City see the women’s game heading and how seriously they intend to compete within it. As clubs begin to differentiate on the quality of their women’s environments, recruitment, retention and commercial partnership conversations will increasingly follow the facilities. The clubs investing now are building advantages that will compound. 🏗️
Journalists and Narrators Sue Google Over Alleged Voice Data Misuse in AI Training ⚖️
A group of journalists, podcasters and audiobook narrators has filed a federal lawsuit against Google in Illinois, alleging the company used recordings of their voices without permission to train the AI models underpinning Gemini Live and other voice-based AI products. The case represents a significant escalation in the growing legal confrontation between the creative and media industries and the major AI platforms over the use of professional output as training data - extending the debate beyond written content and visual art into the voice performance sector. It follows a pattern of litigation that has seen authors, visual artists and news publishers pursue similar claims against AI developers over the past two years.
- Plaintiffs include journalists, podcasters and audiobook narrators, all professional voice performers
- Lawsuit filed in Illinois federal court, targeting Google’s Gemini Live and related AI voice products
- Case centres on alleged use of voice recordings as AI training data without consent or compensation (Reuters)
Voice is the next frontier in the AI training data dispute, and this case has implications that reach well beyond Google. Audiobook narrators and podcasters have built livelihoods on the distinctiveness of their vocal performance - and if AI voice models can be trained on that output without consent, the commercial value of those careers is directly undermined. As AI-generated voice becomes increasingly indistinguishable from human performance, the question of who owns the right to train on a voice will become as contested as any other form of intellectual property. ⚖️
Acast Becomes First to Monetise Apple Podcasts Video at Scale as Audio-Visual Advertising Converges 🎧
Acast has announced it is the first company to successfully monetise Apple Podcasts’ video environment at scale, launching integrated video campaigns for clients State Farm and T-Mobile through the platform. The move marks a meaningful commercial milestone for video podcasting, translating what has largely been a content format experiment into a functioning advertising product within one of the world’s most widely used podcast platforms. For the wider industry, it signals that the infrastructure for video podcast monetisation is no longer theoretical - it is live, branded and operating at scale.
- State Farm and T-Mobile are the first brands to run integrated video campaigns within Apple Podcasts’ video environment via Acast
- Acast claims the first-mover position on monetisation at scale within the platform
- Apple Podcasts remains one of the dominant global podcast distribution platforms by listener volume
This is a quiet but structurally significant moment for podcast economics. Video has been the format’s fastest-growing content layer, but monetisation has lagged behind consumption - until now. Acast cracking the Apple Podcasts video ad model at scale opens a new commercial channel that could meaningfully expand podcast revenue beyond traditional audio pre-rolls and host reads. For brands, it introduces a higher-attention, visual format within an already high-trust environment. The race to own that inventory, and the audience relationships that come with it, is now open. 📱
Google Launches UK Local Media AI Programme as Tech Platforms Court Publishers They Helped Destabilise 💻
Google has launched the 2026 UK Local Media AI Programme under its Google News Initiative, offering 30 independent local publishers access to training and resources designed to help them integrate AI tools into their operations. The scheme targets smaller publishers navigating an increasingly difficult commercial environment - one shaped in part by the platform dynamics Google itself has driven. The move arrives in a broader context where referral traffic from Google, Facebook and X has declined sharply, ad revenue has consolidated around the major platforms, and local journalism has faced sustained structural pressure.
- 30 independent UK publishers selected to participate in the 2026 UK Local Media AI Programme
- Programme delivered under the Google News Initiative, focused on AI tool adoption for smaller newsrooms
- Local and independent publishers have faced sustained revenue decline as digital advertising has concentrated around major platforms (HoldtheFrontPage)
There is an inherent tension in Google running programmes to help the publishers its platform economics have systematically weakened. AI literacy is genuinely useful for under-resourced newsrooms, and the initiative will deliver real value to participants - but it also positions Google as a solutions provider in a crisis it helped create, and extends its influence deeper into the editorial and operational infrastructure of independent media. For publishers, the calculus is pragmatic: the tools are real, the alternative is irrelevance. But dependency on platform goodwill is not a sustainable business model. 📰
Spotify Turns 20 and Weaponises Nostalgia as Audience Data Becomes a Retention Tool 🎧
Spotify is marking its 20th anniversary with an expanded Wrapped feature that allows users to look back across their entire listening history on the platform - not just the previous twelve months. The move transforms Wrapped from an annual cultural moment into a longitudinal personal archive, deepening the emotional connection between user and platform at a point when streaming competition has never been more intense. For Spotify, two decades of accumulated behavioural data is not just an operational asset - it is now a product in its own right.
- Spotify was founded in 2006; the anniversary edition of Wrapped extends access to users’ full listening history for the first time
- Wrapped has become one of the most replicated social sharing formats in the streaming era, consistently driving organic reach and cultural conversation
- The feature arrives as Spotify continues to expand its AI-driven discovery and playlist tools across both music and podcasts
Spotify’s smartest move here is recognising that longevity is a competitive moat. No rival platform can offer a user fifteen years of their own listening history - that data depth creates a switching cost that no catalogue deal or price promotion can easily replicate. By turning personal data into a nostalgia product, Spotify is reinforcing platform loyalty through identity rather than utility alone. Wrapped was always about retention dressed as celebration. This edition makes that explicit. 🎵
TikTok Launches Ad-Free Subscription Tier in the UK as Platforms Diversify Beyond Advertising Revenue 📱
TikTok has introduced a paid ad-free subscription tier in the UK, priced at £3.99 per month, allowing users to remove paid advertising from their feed while organic content remains visible. The move follows Meta’s introduction of a comparable subscription model in September 2025 and reflects a broader structural shift across major social platforms - from purely ad-funded models toward hybrid monetisation that captures revenue directly from users. For TikTok specifically, the timing carries additional weight, given the ongoing regulatory and commercial pressure the platform has faced across Western markets.
- £3.99 per month for ad-free experience on TikTok in the UK; organic content and creator posts remain visible
- Meta introduced a similar paid subscription tier in September 2025
- TikTok has over 20 million monthly active users in the UK, making it one of its most significant European markets
The shift toward subscription as a complement to advertising is now a platform-wide default rather than an exception, and it signals something structurally important: ad-funded reach alone is no longer sufficient to sustain platform economics or user trust at scale. For brands and media buyers, the growing ad-free user base represents an audience that is actively opting out of paid messaging - accelerating the premium placed on creator-led, organic and integrated content that travels regardless of subscription status. The platforms are diversifying their revenue. Brand strategy needs to follow. 📲
Amelia Dimoldenberg on Control, Creator Economy and the Influence-Focused Internet
Uncanny Valley, WIRED, hosted by Katie Drummond
Why It Matters: Chicken Shop Date creator Amelia Dimoldenberg sits down with WIRED’s Global Editorial Director Katie Drummond to unpack who holds control in the modern creator economy - and why it matters more than reach, following or revenue. It is a rare conversation that interrogates the structural dynamics of influence from the inside.
✅ Worth Your Time Because: Dimoldenberg has built one of the most distinctive and commercially resilient creator-led media brands of the past decade - without platform dependency, without a traditional distributor and almost entirely on her own editorial terms. In an edition where audience ownership, platform economics and the business of influence run through almost every story, this conversation offers a ground-level perspective that boardroom strategy decks rarely surface. Her reflections on control - creative, commercial and narrative - are directly relevant to any brand professional thinking about where power sits in the creator ecosystem right now.
👀 Things to Be Aware Of This Week
Monday 19 – Sunday 25 May 2026
🎥 Cannes Film Festival closes (12–23 May) - the 79th edition wraps this week with the Palme d’Or announcement, making it the biggest moment in the global film calendar and a key lens on where cinematic storytelling, luxury brand presence and cultural prestige are converging right now.
⚽ UEFA Europa League Final, Istanbul (20 May) - European club football’s second-biggest night takes place at Beşiktaş Stadium, a significant moment for broadcast audiences, sponsor activation and the ongoing commercial expansion of UEFA’s wider competition ecosystem.
🏈 Championship Play-Off Final, Wembley - Hull City vs Southampton (23 May, subject to change) - widely dubbed the richest single game in world football, with Premier League promotion and hundreds of millions in broadcast and commercial revenue at stake. Southampton’s participation remains subject to the outcome of an EFL hearing following allegations that the club sent a member of staff to observe Middlesbrough’s training ahead of their semi-final - potential sanctions range from a fine to expulsion from the play-offs. Worth watching both for the football and for what the ‘Spygate’ verdict signals about competitive integrity, institutional authority and how governing bodies handle high-stakes misconduct under public scrutiny. UTT!
🏎️ Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix, Montreal (22–24 May) - one of the most commercially visible races on the calendar, Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve draws global broadcast audiences and remains a flagship moment for F1’s accelerating brand and entertainment crossover strategy.
🧱 Investec Champions Cup Final, Bilbao (23 May) - European rugby’s showpiece final arrives as the sport navigates an increasingly competitive broadcast and commercial landscape, with Bilbao’s growing profile as a sports destination adding an additional layer of interest.
⚽ UEFA Women’s Champions League Final, Oslo (23 May) - one of the most significant fixtures in the women’s football calendar, with this season’s final arriving against a backdrop of record attendances, rising media rights valuations and accelerating brand investment across the women’s game.
🏃 Edinburgh Marathon Festival (23–24 May) - one of the UK’s largest mass participation running events, spanning marathon, half marathon and 5km, and an increasingly visible platform for health, wellness and sportswear brand storytelling at grassroots level.