Tim Armstrong, Keith Weed Eyed For WPP's Top Job; Amazon Nixes Google PLAs

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Fresh Perspective

Oath CEO Tim Armstrong and Unilever CMO Keith Weed are being considered for the top job at WPP Group, Financial Times reports. Armstrong, who ran AOL during its $4.4 billion sale to Verizon and now oversees the combined AOL and Yahoo subsidiary, is seen as a fit because “he knows all about restructuring,” a person close to the search process said. WPP hired recruitment firm Russell Reynolds and is looking into external options to replace longtime chief Martin Sorrell, who stepped down in April. But WPP co-COO and former Wunderman chief Mark Read is still in the running for the job. More.

Shop Til You Drop

Amazon has stopped buying Google’s Shopping ads, also known as product listing ads (PLAs). The Dentsu performance marketing agency Merkle spotted the sudden disappearance of Amazon PLAs last month, and Bloomberg confirms Amazon formally cut the Google ecommerce inventory. The two companies have sniped at each other before. Amazon pulled Google’s voice-enabled home devices (i.e., the biggest competitor to Amazon’s Echo and Alexa products) from its site inventory and Google blocks YouTube streaming to Amazon’s smart devices. More.

A Juicier Bite

Apple is letting publishers use DoubleClick for Publishers (DFP) to serve display ads inside Apple News articles, Digiday reports. Apple hopes allowing publishers to use the industry’s most dominant ad server will make it easier for publishers to manage inventory across Apple News, Google AMP and Facebook Instant Articles and generate real revenue from Apple News. So far, Scripps is testing DFP in Apple News and seeing a peak fill rate of over 90%, Beth Lawrence, EVP of digital sales for Discovery, told Digiday in an emailed statement. But targeting options are still limited to context and demo, thanks to Apple’s strict privacy stance. More.

But Wait, There’s More!