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Two announcements this week have bemused but perhaps not surprised me. And they reflect the changing nature of the relationship between media agency and media owner, not all of which is healthy.

Last week, Viacom, the network that owns channels including MTV and Nickelodeon, presented their findings on their biggest global study of the Millennial generation to date, shedding light on their attitudes and media habits. Millennials are a generation born in the 80s and 90s – they’re also known as the ‘Peter Pan generation’ due to their tendency to delay adulthood, or as digital natives as they were the first generation to grow up with the Internet (though for the sake of covering the whole Viacom audience their study included a slightly wider age range, children and young adults aged 9-30).

You have probably heard about the new social video tool called Vine and wondered what is all about. Well it’s owned by Twitter and it has designs on becoming the new way to distribute video socially. It’s quite hip, potentially a fad, but with Twitter pushing it, it’s worth keeping an eye on it. I personally love it and all the signs are there to suggest that it will last the course.It’s an interesting time as it ushers in a new challenge for creative agencies and brands who now will have to think about how they can tell a six second story that people will want to share. But we shouldn't forget that the real value for brands will be the ability to show what’s happening right now or to encourage further engagement from their social community.

What will the year ahead hold for broadcast planning? Walker Media's Jon Horrocks shared his thoughts on the topic in a recent article in Campaign magazine. Overall, he predicts that the TV market will benefit from the popularity of online video – however, agencies will have to respond to this change by altering their buying habits:

It has been reported in the Evening Standard and The Daily Telegraph that WPP and Channel 4 have reached an impasse in their re-negotiation of the deal done between the two companies two years ago, which runs out at the end of this month .

The Telegraph states ‘’although such negotiations often become fraught, tensions are running higher than usual and the issue has been referred to the Channel 4 board. More than a quarter of the broadcaster’s advertising revenues come through Group M, handing the media buying agency enormous leverage.’’