What early Q2 earnings tell us about the ad market

Plus, copyright theft of news articles

Hi there,

We’ve now seen Q2 financials from a number of major players in the digital advertising space – namely Google & Meta, as well as ad agencies Publicis, Omnicom, and IPG. And most signs point towards an ad market that’s still relatively weak. For Google’s advertising business, as well as all three ad agencies, revenue growth in Q2 was well below last year’s growth.

Performance varied significantly by client category. At IPG, the tech and telecom categories continue to be a significant drag, while auto and financial services grew. At Publicis, tech is also underperforming, while there is notable growth in food & beverage, healthcare, and auto.

The exception to the overall narrative is Meta, which posted a strong quarter. Advertising revenue grew 12%, after falling 1% in Q2 last year. One driver is that Meta appears to have recovered from the damage inflicted by Apple’s ATT privacy initiative. And it looks like some of Meta’s investment in AI is starting to pay off.

Looking ahead, IPG and Publicis shared that they expect 2023 full-year growth to be well below 2022 growth. IPG expects to grow 1-2%, compared to 7% last year; and Publicis expects to grow 5%, compared to 10% last year. 

Taken together, these earnings reports point toward continued challenges in the ad market, particular for publishers dependent on the tech sector.

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And here’s the latest news in digital media:

• Copyright theft of news articles is rising, according to one content licensing organization. 

• The LA Times appointed Matthew Ballinger deputy editor for content business strategy. 

• Pittsburgh’s The Incline, run by Whereby.Us, continues to downsize. 

• Some eSports organizations are starting to look more like media companies than sports teams. 

• Barbie continues its successful run at the box office.

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