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If AI agents can plan and buy media, who needs a holding company? Good question. It came up during Omnicom’s Q3 earnings on Thursday.

Netflix has a tracking pixel; the FTC signs off on Publicis acquiring LiveRamp; and Apple’s ad ID ban is no big deal next to its product plans.

Omnicom is halfway through a major sell-off of IPG agencies. Its future looks healthier as it prunes lower-growth firms, including eliminating certain specialist firms and overlapping agencies in certain countries.

For the first time, Omnicom can directly compare ad frequency and performance across multiple major streamers, which typically prefer to keep data locked inside their walled gardens.

Omnicom is rebuilding its media machine around Acxiom and agentic AI in a bid to push more spend to publishers and sidestep the “messy middle.”

Ad agency holding companies are among the most adaptable businesses out there. In recent years holdcos like Publicis, WPP and Omnicom-IPG have stretched our notions of what an agency business even is exactly.

Omnicom just reported its first earnings since closing the IPG deal and, shocker, it’s saying AI is main growth driver for combined holdco.

Retailers court luxury goods to compete with Amazon; indie agency Tombras acquires Opinionated; and talk of an AI bubble dominates discussion at Davos.

Omnicom unveils the latest version of its ID and analytics tool; there’s a new Google Search update in town; and Omnicom Media addresses CTV ad frequency.

Omnicom is making more cuts; investors aren’t interesting in publishing; and OpenAI is still on the fence about ads.

Omnicom revamps its revenue reporting; Amazon will now charge for access to its Selling Partner API; and brands seek sponsorship deals with all sorts of social creators.

Dentsu is for sale; Associated Press is scraping its own archives; and AI is infiltrating newsrooms.

What does it feel like to be a media buyer and planner in 2025? That question launched a fascinating “Ask Me Anything”-style discussion at Cynopsis ScreenShift in New York City on Tuesday.

Delivery apps are launching social networks now; Google is the latest Big Tech company to write a huge check to Trump; and ad agencies of all sizes apparently aren’t big enough.

AI marketing company Cognitiv updated its contextual targeting tool, ContextGPT, to provide brands with more relevant and nuanced content.

Ad agency hold cos have broadcasted their earnings. As AI and acquisitions transform their businesses, there are clear winners and losers. With media as a strong spot, we discuss the paradox of “transparent nontransparency.”

During what was supposed to be a quarter marked by financial uncertainty, IPG did slightly better than expected.

Water is wet, the sun sets in the west and Omnicom still says it expects to close its merger with IPG in the second half of this year.

Critics say the FTC’s deal with OMG/IPG prohibits agency practices that don’t exist. And it distracts from legitimate concerns about brand safety news blocking and principal media.

Have agency holdcos put too many eggs in the AI basket?; Temu has come back to us now at the turn of the tariff tide; and Cloudflare wants to help sites from getting scraped.

The FTC approved the Omnicom-IPG merger, but with a brand-safety caveat: The agencies cannot create agency-level blocklists of any media that’s political or ideological. With Ad Fontes CEO Vanessa Otero, we unpack the consent order’s ramifications.

The FTC puts some odd stipulations on Omnicom-IPG; influencer marketing is the new normal; Google is cutting its smart TV group.

Expect more ad agency holdco consolidation in the next year; people are starting to talk like ChatGPT; inside the weirdness of matching political funds.

Sports sponsorships can play well for small brands; Perplexity was first to AI search ads, but advertisers waited for Google; and GroupM officially rebrands to WPP Media.

Transparency has become the currency of credibility in advertising. Larger holding companies and black box AI platforms must recognize that their opaque practices are no longer sustainable.

Omnicom Group CEO John Wren told investors during Tuesday’s earnings report that the first quarter represented a “good start to the year” for the ad agency holdco. 

Agencies around the globe weigh in on principal-based buying; live sports are king, but new sports like F1 are having trouble gaining traction; and Adobe gets roasted by Bluesky’s artist community.

As the newly appointed president of Horizon Media Holdings, Bob Lord is dubious that megamergers between holding companies are actually good for the client. “Bigger is not always better,” Lord says.

Omnicom and IPG have both received additional information requests from the FTC about their merger. Plus, publishers don’t know how AI overviews fit into their referral traffic.

Google has been spotted triple serving ads to search pages. Plus, good luck getting ads next to Oscars content this year.