Agencies

2024’s most popular guest columns offer a snapshot of an industry in flux – and one that’s grown cynical due to repeated promises of unrealized change.

The in-game advertising market’s stagnation is both unsurprising and frustrating. The onus is on the gaming industry to make gaming an essential channel for advertisers, rather than a nice-to-have.

Two perspectives have emerged on curation: The value argument highlights refined audience targeting, while the ad network argument emphasizes enabling smaller players to compete with scaled giants.

Omnicom is acquiring IPG. We unpack the proposed deal with ad agency expert Brian Wieser, founder of the constancy Madison and Wall.

Retail media and tech platforms now represent a return to agency scale dynamics. The proposed Omnicom and IPG merger is the latest example.

Antitrust regulation has counterintuitively favored the biggest ad industry players. Plus, another streaming service, anyone?

Publishers expect the agencies will eliminate tech redundancies as they consolidate, which could compel pubs to shed redundant tech themselves. The merger could also entrench principal-based buying, which may not be a bad thing.

Rival browsers raise an objection to Google being forced to sell Chrome; ad agencies pivot to software and services; and people are turning to chatbots instead of search, with error-filled results.

“It’s going to be harder for [indie agencies] to compete,” said Rob Rivenburgh, the CEO of Mars United, who also now leads the Publicis Commerce global group.

Ad industry growth will slow to single-digits next year; consolidation hits the CPG market; and predicting the future of the FTC based on a commissioner’s pitch to the president-elect.

Another big ad industry acquisition? Truly, it’s a Christmas miracle. Omnicom’s board of directors has unanimously approved a deal to acquire IPG, itself a major holding company.

If “Austin Powers” supervillain Dr. Evil wanted to hold the world ransom for $100 billion, the global advertising industry might actually be able to afford it – at least, according to GroupM’s end-of-year forecast.

IPG buying Node continues the trend of agencies trying new business models; IPG and Publicis support principal-based buying while WPP opposes it; and billionaire owners believe controlling their newsrooms will win back public trust.

Mediaocean has a new certified partner program. Plus, Google’s “site reputation abuse” search update is cratering publisher affiliate revenue during the year’s busiest shopping season.

Publicis outperforms its agency holding company rivals because of three primary factors: technology strategy, leadership and deal-making.

When industry-initiative-turned-nonprofit Go Addressable first launched in 2021, one-to-one TV ad delivery was just a small portion of overall media buys. But according to new findings released by Go Addressable and Advertiser Perceptions on Wednesday, adoption of addressable TV advertising has increased significantly.

Current ad pricing often doesn’t correlate to a site’s attention score, which means there’s an arbitrage opportunity for buyers and resellers.

Why the agency pivot to alternative payment models is good for M&A; Zeta Global responds to a short-seller’s explosive claims; and X sees a mass exodus after the election.

Former Dentsu CEO Wendy Clark, current president of consulting group Consello, sees the renewed controversy around principal-based buying as a symptom of a more fundamental issue: the lack of open dialogue between brands and their agencies.

Can Netflix do live programming? Plus, efficiency gains from generative AI are causing some ad agencies to rethink how they bill clients.

Brands need more automated tools for buying podcast ads at scale, says Publicis Groupe. Now, Barometer will provide brand safety rankings for all of Acast’s podcast inventory to assist pre-campaign planning.

For Carat US Chief Investment Officer Carrie Drinkwater, data is essential to driving success – but it’s not the whole story.

Prohaska Consulting debuted the ProNews Collective, a private marketplace of premium news publishers whose ad inventory will be exclusively available via Index Exchange.

Move over, Mr. Met — it’s Grimace’s time to shine. Plus, Zeta Global has acquired email marketing and identity company LiveIntent for $250 million.

For two days, retail media luminaries gathered to discuss how best to expand the category’s effectiveness (and budgets) for brands and advertisers – without, of course, overlooking how the end goal consumer will react.

Why streaming TV might adopt the cloud-usage model for content; MAGNA projects strongest ad market in two decades; and “go woke, go broke” gets proven wrong, again.

Albert Thompson, a buy-side veteran with 20+ years of experience, weighs in on attention metrics, the value of MFA sites, brand safety backlash and how publishers can improve their inventory.

Day Two of the Google antitrust trial in Alexandria, Virginia on Tuesday was just as intensely focused on the intricacies of ad tech as on Day One.

Artificial intelligence is often incorrectly touted as a one-size-fits-all solution to any problem. But Omnicom’s new generative AI virtual assistant, Omni Assist, is narrowing AI’s focus to solve for specific agency challenges.

In today’s newsletter: Google Demand Gen is the industry’s latest over-attribution controversy; data from third-party brokers might not be worth it; and The Trade Desk launches a CTV operating system.