WPP Reports Q2 Earnings; Gannett Bets On The Banner

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WPP Media Revs

WPP Group’s revenues rose 2.7% to reach $9 billion in the second quarter as the holding company acquired research firm InsightExpress. Read the earnings release. In an investor note, Pivotal Research analyst Brian Wieser notes WPP’s gross revenues this year are inflated “because of the inclusion of media inventory it takes possession of before selling along to advertisers. Including this activity, like-for-like revenues were up by 10.2%. The figure clearly is unrepresentative of WPP’s actual performance.” Hm. Are we talking about an agency or an ad platform?

Bringing Back The Banner

Banner ads and home page takeovers may seem dated in the native era, but Gannett Co. doesn’t see it that way. Commenting on its new display formats, VP of Revenue Solutions Steve Ahlberg tells the WSJ, “We are really trying to push the idea of premium. We think this will create a natural extension from TV to online. Instead of video ads in little boxes we want to make the entire screen a TV set.” Gannett’s willing to gamble viewers would rather be hyperaware they’re seeing an ad, rather than deceived by sponsored content. Read more.

Rubicon’s Long Game

Rubicon Project CEO Frank Addante talks of grit, determination and petabytes in an interview with Forbes’ Bruce Rogers. “Seven years ago, I felt like I was pushing a boulder up a hill, and now the largest agencies in the world that are talking about automation.” There’s some fun Rubicon trivia here, including the fact that the company created a “RubiCube” data center and programs its own chips. Read on.

Partnering For Programmatic TV

Turn is bolstering its programmatic offerings through a partnership with TV ad-buying platform AdMore, the companies said Monday. Turn, a DSP with DMP baked in, first delved into automation several months ago. Speaking to MediaPost, AdMore CEO Brendan Condon commented, “Programmatic TV can only be considered possible when you can dynamically insert an ad campaign into linear programming content – which is not available today but definitely on the horizon for the industry.” It’s only a matter of time before the digital takeover. Read it.

But Wait. There’s More!