Q1 results show how the largest ad companies are weathering uncertainty around the Iran war and AI spending

WPP cut its full-year outlook after Q3 organic revenue fell 5.9% to £2.46 billion, its steepest quarterly decline since 2020. New CEO Cindy Rose said the company “hasn’t gone fast enough” to meet client needs and outlined a turnaround focused on AI, operational efficiency, and simplifying its agency network. WPP’s slump reflects broader challenges facing holding groups in the AI era: proving value through speed, integration, and measurable results as brands increasingly turn to self-serve, platform-driven ad solutions.

B2B digital ad spending is rising as marketers lean into formats that build visibility and engagement. Video and display are growing faster than search, reshaping strategies to reach decision-makers.

Despite its $999.99 price tag, the ROG Xbox Ally X is selling out, showing there’s still strong consumer interest in on-the-go gaming experiences. Preorders for the handheld gaming console sold out Friday, per Xbox. Xbox console prices are inching up at a not-so-subtle rate—with two price bumps this year—undercutting the old adage that waiting to purchase until post-launch leads to lower costs. Companies should bundle experiences, not just hardware, lean into mobility features, amd address price increases head-on.

The news: More than one-third (38%) of parents are stressed about affording back-to-school items, per Zip’s back-to-school survey. Our take: Given the level of strain for parents, BNPL providers have an opportunity to pitch their alternative credit models to overstretched families. Targeted marketing campaigns around back-to-school season and easy opportunities to use installments in store and online through BNPL-enabled cards and partnerships can strengthen spend.

The news: Netflix is proving its power as the dominant subscription streaming platform with several recent ad wins. The streamer announced that it’s sold all of its available commercial time in preparation for its two Christmas day NFL games, also noting sponsorship deals with partners like Google and FanDuel. Our take: With its strong lead in ad revenue growth, position as the most-used subscription video service in the US, consistently low subscriber churn rate, and content strategy tailored to unique markets, Netflix is likely to continue dominating advertiser investment in connected TV.

On today’s podcast episode, we discuss how YouTube is ahead in the video streaming wars, if Netflix’s next wave of content can keep audiences’ attention, and how much these new Netflix House locations might move the needle. Join our conversation with Senior Director of Podcasts and host, Marcus Johnson, Analyst, Marisa Jones, and Vice President of Content, Paul Verna. Listen everywhere you find podcasts and watch on YouTube and Spotify.

On today’s podcast episode, we discuss what area of people's lives artificial general intelligence (AGI) will change the most, the argument for AI developers asking permission from society to build these models, and when AGI might actually get here. Join Senior Director of Podcasts and host Marcus Johnson, and Analysts Jacob Bourne and Grace Harmon. Listen everywhere and watch on YouTube and Spotify.

Linktree, a popular tool that allows users to share multiple links on one customizable home page, is introducing new ways for creators to monetize their content.

The programmatic strategy known as curation is gaining traction in the ad tech space. Curation is a message from supply-side platforms (SSPs) to demand-side platforms (DSPs) that they’re ignoring valuable inventory. SSPs are increasingly using elevated data to make curated inventory more accessible, and in turn heighten advertiser value, before DSPs have the opportunity to commoditize ad buys.

86% of US adults have used self-checkout, and 70% have used mobile apps for shopping, per a September 2024 study from Morning Consult.

Organizations will prioritize governance in 2025 as they ramp up genAI investments in pursuit of business transformation.

The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) starts tomorrow, but companies have already begun announcing their latest consumer technology innovations. Here are two recent announcements and what they could mean for retail media.

The martech landscape is shifting from prompt-based AI to more sophisticated autonomous systems. Agentic AI—artificial intelligence that can independently execute tasks, make decisions, and learn from interactions—represents a significant evolution in how marketing teams can operate and scale their efforts.

B2B digital ad spending is expected to rebound in 2024. Trends in B2B buying behavior, programmatic advertising, and AI use are contributing to the shift in spending toward display, mobile, social media, and video.

The deal will bring 7,000 new customers and critical disaster recovery tools to tackle growing cybersecurity threats.

Netflix CFO Spencer Neumann is optimistic about the future of ads on Netflix. “When you get into ‘26 and beyond, [advertising] can be even more meaningful and, hopefully, it becomes to the point where it is a primary [revenue] contributor, given all of that engagement and reach that we’re building,” he said on the company’s earnings call last week.

Though ChatGPT has been publicly available for less than two years, we expect it will have 67.7 million monthly US users by the end of this year. That puts ChatGPT ahead of Reddit (60.8 million) and X (53.8 million) in monthly users. But because the tech is open-ended, the chatbot is only as useful as the people prompting it are. Here are seven creative uses for ChatGPT that have caught our eye.