The WIR: The Trade Desk Returns to Form, GroupM Lays Off Staff Amid Rebrand Rumours, and DAZN Expects to Cancel its Ligue 1 Contract

In this week’s Week in Review: The Trade Desk returns to hitting its targets, GroupM is rumoured to be planning a rebrand, and DAZN terminates its contract with France’s top football league.

Top Stories

Ad Tech Stocks Rise After Strong Earnings from The Trade Desk

Demand-side platform The Trade Desk saw 25 percent year-on-year revenue growth in Q1, according to the company’s earnings released on Thursday, a return to form after it missed its targets in Q4. CEO and co-founder Jeff Green said the business felt the benefits of “strategic upgrades” which it implemented the previous quarter, and claimed it is well positioned to capture a greater share of digital ad spend amid macro volatility.

Last quarter’s miss spooked investors, and caused The Trade Desk’s share price to drop by over a third in the aftermath. Green at the time played down the results, pointing out it was the first time the company missed its targets in 33 quarters. But some analysts alleged a few of the company’s strategic moves — particularly the rollout of its upgraded AI-powered platform Kokai — weren’t delivering as quickly as The Trade Desk had hoped. Now however, Green says the Kokai rollout is running ahead of schedule, with around two-thirds of clients using it, and the bulk of The Trade Desk’s spend now runs through Kokai.

While it’s still well below its peak, The Trade Desk’s share price was up by over 15 percent in after hours trading, and the positive results seemingly helped fuel share price growth in the wider ad tech market.

GroupM Lays Off Staff Amid Consolidation and Rumoured ‘WPP Media’ Rebrand

WPP’s media arm GroupM began laying off some of its staff this week as part of a restructure, which will see GroupM move to “a single operating model” across its various sub-agencies. The entire unit is reported to be planning a rebrand to ‘WPP Media’, more closely mirroring naming conventions used by rival agency groups, sunsetting a brand which has been in use since 2003.

WPP has already taken a number of steps to simplify its structure and trim the number of individual agency brands it runs. Within GroupM itself, recent changes include the combination of Essence and Mediacom into EssenceMediacom, and the bundling of Finecast, Xaxis, and GroupM Services into GroupM Nexus. Now the company wants to streamline operations further. Reports suggest the group isn’t killing off its individual agency brands entirely, but they will “no longer operate as distinct business units,” according to an internal memo from CEO Brian Lesser seen by Ad Age. Brand names will reportedly be used primarily to house teams for specific clients.

The consolidation also means GroupM is “sunsetting” agency-specific job titles, which at least in some cases is resulting in those staff being laid off.

DAZN to Terminate Ligue 1 Contract and Collaborate on LFP DTC Streaming Service

DAZN is expected to terminate its five-year contract with France’s Ligue 1 after just one season, according to L’Equipe, after struggling to attract the number of subscribers required to break even on its €400 million investment. But the sport streaming service has suggested collaborating with the Ligue de Football Professionnel (LFP) to help distribute the league’s proposed direct-to-consumer (DTC) service, which plans to show all Ligue 1 games in France.

“There is an option to exit the contract that binds us to the League, because it wants to launch its channel project,” DAZN told L’Equipe. “Coming to France, losing money and stopping after a year doesn’t make much sense. We are convinced that we can bring significant added value to the league through this channel project. Leaving the clubs in the dark with a channel project that hasn’t yet begun to materialise seems extremely risky to us three and a half months before the start of the next season. We are ready to invest around €100 million for this channel.”

The Week in Tech

AppLovin Offloads Apps Business as Ad Revenues Continue to Climb

Mobile ad tech business AppLovin has agreed the sale of its video games business, according to a filing on Wednesday. The deal sees London-based Tripledot Studios acquire the games unit for $400 million in cash, while AppLovin will take a 20 percent stake in Tripledot. The deal is expected to close in Q2 2025. Later in the week the company reported its earnings for Q1 2025, showing another 71 percent YoY uptick in advertising revenues, versus a 14 percent fall for its owned-and-operated apps. This balanced out to a 40 percent YoY increase in overall sales, bringing total revenues close to $1.5 billion for the quarter. Read more on VideoWeek.

DOJ Pursues Divestment of AdX in Google Ad Tech Monopoly Trial

The US Department of Justice (DoJ) has proposed that Google sell its ad exchange AdX, as a remedy for restoring competition to the ad tech market, after a federal judge ruled that the tech giant illegally monopolised two markets in online advertising. Google opposes moves to force the sale of parts of its business, but has said it supports behavioural remedies, such as

making real-time bids available to competitors. “The DOJ’s additional proposals to force a divestiture of our ad tech tools go well beyond the Court’s findings, have no basis in law, and would harm publishers and advertisers,” Lee-Anne Mulholland, Google’s VP Global Head of Regulatory Affairs told Reuters. The judge has set a September trial date to hash out the proposals.

Trump Prepared to Extend TikTok Deadline Again

Donald Trump is prepared to extend the deadline for ByteDance to divest TikTok’s US operations, the US President told NBC News last week, saying he has a “sweet spot in his heart” for the Chinese-owned video app. The app faces a ban in the US if it fails to find a new owner before the deadline, which Trump has already extended twice. A deal had reportedly been in the works that would spin off the US business into a new firm based in the US, but the negotiations were put on hold amid the tariff dispute between the White House and Beijing. 

PubMatic and Overtone Partner for News Inventory Curation 

Ad tech company PubMatic has announced a partnership with Overtone, a contextual intelligence business, to help advertisers invest in brand-safe news environments. The partnership will see Overtone’s AI technology applied across open internet inventory available in PubMatic’s platform, in order to segment the inventory into contextual audiences. This will enable advertisers to run campaigns in relevant environments, according to the partners, including previously excluded inventory such as trusted news content. “This partnership with Overtone enables us to help brands show up in meaningful, contextually relevant environments that were previously out of reach due to blunt brand safety tools,” said Emma Newman, CRO EMEA at PubMatic. “By applying nuance and intelligence to inventory curation, we’re unlocking new value for advertisers while reinforcing our commitment to funding a diverse, accessible, and sustainable digital content ecosystem.”

StackAdapt Brings Email Marketing and First-Party Data into Single Platform

StackAdapt, a Canadian ad tech firm, has announced new email marketing and Data Hub solutions, enabling users to upload and segment first-party data, orchestrate customer journeys, and measure outcomes across media and messaging channels. Advertisers can connect customer behaviours across channels, according to the company, triggering a CTV ad view after an email message or optimising campaigns based on purchase signals, for example. “Bringing email into the StackAdapt ecosystem gives our clients an entirely new way to activate their first-party data and close the loop between media and messaging,” said Vitaly Pecherskiy, Co-Founder and CEO at StackAdapt. “As marketers face increasing pressure to do more with less, consolidating tools and proving performance is critical. We have always believed the future of advertising lies in agility, intelligence, and connectedness, and this evolution brings that vision to life in a powerful way.”

Magnite and ITN Launch Programmatic Local Linear TV in US

Magnite, a sell-side platform (SSP), and ITN, an ad tech firm specialising in local TV, have launched a programmatic solution for local linear TV advertising in the US. The companies said the partnership enables advertisers to transact live linear ads from local TV stations programmatically “for the first time”, with multiple Fox TV stations successfully testing the product. “Programmatic linear TV is finally happening,” said ITN CEO Todd Watson. “Linear TV is still one of the most powerful mediums available to advertisers, but it was getting squeezed out of media plans because it was harder and more expensive to activate than its digital counterparts. This collaboration changes all that.”

DoubleVerify Extends Brand Suitability Controls to Google’s Search Partner Network

DoubleVerify, a media measurement and verification business, has announced the launch of AI-driven pre-bid controls for Google’s Search Partner Network (SPN). Brands can now apply DV’s brand safety and suitability tools across SPN inventory, according to the company, helping them to safely scale their advertising across non-Google third-party websites. “As advertisers seek greater performance and transparency across every digital channel, our mission is to provide scalable solutions that uphold brand reputation and improve performance,” said Steven Woolway, EVP, Business Development at DoubleVerify. “With this launch, DV is extending our industry-leading protections to an important piece of Google’s ecosystem – empowering advertisers to make smarter, safer, and more efficient media investments.”

Meta Tests Video Ads on Threads 

Meta will begin testing video ads on Threads, the social media giant announced at its NewFronts presentation on Thursday. The tests follow last month’s roll-out of ads on the social platform, which were limited to image-based ads. Now the company says a “small number” of advertisers will test 19:9 or 1:1 video ad creatives that will appear in the Threads feed.

The Week in TV

Streaming and Sports Drive Quarterly Growth at Disney

Disney posted 7 percent YoY revenue growth in its latest quarter, driven by 8 percent uplift in its streaming division. Disney CEO Bob Iger said bundling Hulu and Disney+, alongside the addition of sports content on the streaming services, was helping to fuel subscriber growth. “The presence of Hulu embedded in Disney, basically from a user experience perspective, and the addition of sports content is definitely having a positive impact,” he said on the earnings call. “Not only is engagement up, but churn is down significantly. And as we look ahead … we’re optimistic about being able to execute against it to turn the streaming business into a true growth business.”

Channel 4 Launches Competition for SMEs to Win TV Advertising

Channel 4 has launched a new competition to offer small businesses in the UK a professionally produced broadcast TV ad. ‘Small Business, Big Break’ is a collaboration between Channel 4,  digital marketing and automation company Constant Contact, and small business support platform Enterprise Nation. Entrants will need to submit a short application explaining their business and why they deserve a chance to be on TV, with submissions closing on 15th May. The top three winners will receive a TV ad developed by “a leading creative agency”, strategic support from a team of experts to define and target their audience, and a share of £300,000 in Channel 4 advertising airtime. “Television advertising provides SMEs with unparalleled scale and conversion potential,” said Nick Archer, Client & Business Development Leader at Channel 4 Sales. “It is a highly trusted platform delivering memorable brand experiences like no other platform, in turn driving significant customer growth. By tapping into TV’s mass reach, SMEs can convert a vast, untapped market of non-buyers into loyal consumers.”

ProSieben to Cut 430 Staff in Digital Transformation

ProSiebenSat.1 is to cut 430 employees in a business reorganisation as part of its digital transformation. The job cuts will be carried out through voluntary redundancies, according to the German broadcaster, in efforts to “streamline the process structure and increase cost efficiency.” The company will incur a one-time restructuring charge, with cost-savings expected to materialise in the second half of 2025, and full-year savings realised in 2026. “We have a clear strategy and are implementing it consistently,” said ProSieben CEO Bert Habets. “At the same time, the economic environment remains very challenging for us. This makes it all the more important that we continually strengthen our competitiveness and improve our cost structure. Against this backdrop, the announced job cuts are a difficult but necessary decision. In order to adapt to the profound structural change in the media industry and return to sustainable growth, we must become even faster, more efficient, and more digital. With our new structure and the planned measures, we are setting the course for this.”

WBD Posts 10 Percent Revenue Loss Despite Streaming Gains 

Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) saw its revenues drop 10 percent YoY in Q1 2025, with 35 percent growth in streaming ad revenues unable to make up for declines in linear TV advertising (-11 percent), distribution (-2 percent) and content revenues (-27 percent). WBD gained 5.3 million new streaming subscribers during the quarter, bringing its total to 122.3 million, and expects to surpass 150 million by the end of 2026. But the content business was hit by tough comparisons to Q1 2024, when Dune: Part Two and Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire drove box office revenues. WBD CEO David Zaslav also noted that “numerous aspects of our business, most particularly advertising” were sensitive to macroeconomic uncertainty caused by trade tariffs.

Paramount+ on Track to Turn Domestic Profit This Year

Paramount Global beat Wall Street estimates for its Q1 revenues, driven by 9 percent YoY revenue growth for its streaming division. Total revenue was down by 6 percent, but rose 2 percent when excluding the impact of last year’s Super Bowl, which was broadcast by Paramount and therefore skews the Q1 comparison. The broadcaster also expects Paramount+ “to reach domestic profitability for 2025”, and anticipates its merger with Skydance Media to close in the first half of this year.

Trump Plans 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films

US president Donald Trump announced on his social platform Truth Social this weekend that he intends to impose a 100 percent tariff “on any and all movies coming into [America] that are produced in foreign lands”. Trump paints the tariffs as a response to incentives offered in various other markets which are designed to attract film studios to create movies in those markets. The announcement raises a lot of questions. Given the international nature of film production, what will be the criteria used to decide which films count as US-made? How will this tariff be extracted? Will tariffs come for TV production too, since the same factors cited by Trump are at play in TV production? Will the film tariffs actually come to pass at all? Read more on VideoWeek.

The Week for Publishers

New York Times Reports 12.4 Percent Digital Ad Revenue Growth

US news giant the New York Times’s digital ad revenues were up 12.4 percent year-on-year, according to the company’s Q1 earnings this week, the highest growth rate reported by the company in three years. Thanks to digital’s performance, total ad revenues were up four percent year-on-year. CEO Meredith Kopit Levien said the strong growth was fuelled by “a diverse set of products in categories with broad marketer appeal, a large and deeply engaged audience that marketers are able to target effectively, and a suite of high-performing ad products that we continue to expand and improve”. Total revenues were up seven percent year-on-year, with higher-than-expected subscription growth also providing a boost.

BuzzFeed says AI Tools are Boosting Page Views

Digital publisher BuzzFeed says that a new AI tool which the company recently trialled boosted page views by an average of 25 percent, while AI also helped drive up total editorial output. BuzzFeed is betting on AI to help deliver a return to growth, though revenues continue to fall for the time being. The company’s Q1 financial results found that revenues fell to $36 million in the quarter, down $1 million from the previous year. Ad revenues however were up by $1.5 million, driven by a $2.5 million increase in programmatic revenue, which offset a $2.1 million decline in direct-sold ads.

Dotdash Meredith says Cutting Search Reliance and Embracing AI is Paying Off

US publishing giant Dotdash Meredith, which owns titles including People, Entertainment Weekly, InStyle, and AllRecipes, eked out one percent revenue growth year-on-year in Q1, according to parent company IAC’s earnings yesterday, with seven percent growth in digital revenues outweighing print declines. And while executives said the overall state of the ad market is mixed at the moment, the company believes its moves to build direct relationships with audiences and advertisers, while also embracing AI, are paying off. Read more on VideoWeek.

Financial Times Sees Payoff from Video Push

The Financial Times saw ten percent year-on-year growth in video viewership last year, according to an interview with Press Gazette, as the publisher grew its video output and expanded its video offering. The FT’s global head of video Veronica Kan-Dapaah explained that the company’s video strategy has evolved beyond its initial focus of adding extra analysis and depth to written stories. Now, the financial news outlet is creating more long-form video, with a greater focus on original reporting.

India Reviews Copyright Law Amid AI Lawsuits

India’s commerce ministry has established a panel to review whether the country’s existing copyright laws are sufficient to handle challenges posed by AI platforms, Reuters reported this week. A number of Indian news publishers are collectively suing OpenAI in a major court case, claiming unfair use of their content. And the panel of eight experts has been asked to “identify and analyse the legal and policy issues arising from the use of artificial intelligence in the context of copyright,” according to Reuters.

The Athletic Hits Five Million Newsletter Subscriptions

The Athletic, a sports-focussed publisher owned by the New York Times, has hit five million newsletter subscribers, The Drum reported this week, just a year after reaching three million. While newsletters are sent out to both paying subscribers and free readers, they’re a source of ad inventory for The Athletic, though the company says it keeps its newsletter ad load fairly light.

The Week for Brands & Agencies

Stagwell Confirms Full-Year Outlook After Solid Q1

Marketing group Stagwell posted its Q1 financial results this week, showing six percent year-on-year growth in net revenues. Total revenues were down by three percent, but excluding its advocacy business (which fluctuates across the political calendar), revenues were up one percent. The group said it still expects to hit its full-year target of eight percent net-revenue growth, despite economic upheaval. “Despite the macro noise from tariffs, Stagwell’s first quarter results were in-line with our expectations, setting us up for a strong year ahead,” said CEO and chairman Mark Penn. “We hit a record $130M of net new business and, consequently, we remain optimistic about our outlook for the rest of the year.”

All In Census Finds Steady Progress on Industry Inclusion

The All In Census, a survey of the UK ad industry launched by the AA, ISBA, and IPA which covers representation and workers’ experiences within the ad industry, released its latest results this week, finding that 78 percent of respondents enjoy working in advertising. The findings show signs of marginal progress on inclusivity, with 46 percent of C-Suite positions now held by women, up from 43 percent last year. Meanwhile the percentage of Black and Asian professionals who said they are considering leaving the industry due to a lack of inclusion and/or discrimination fell compared to 2023: from 30 percent to 24 percent for Black talent, and from 21 percent to 19 percent for Asian talent.

Chinese E-Commerce Firms Boost European Ad Spend Amid US Tariffs

A number of major Chinese e-commerce businesses, including Shein and Temu, are known to have slashed their US ad spend amid high US tariffs on Chinese imports. Data from market intelligence firm Sensor Tower shows that these same companies have upped their spend in Europe, Reuters reported this week. Shein increased its ad spend in France and the UK by 35 percent month-on-month in April, according to the data, while Temu upped investment in those two markets by 40 percent and 20 percent respectively.

Bountiful Cow Finds ‘Brand Unsafe’ Content on Premium Publisher Sites Drives Stronger Results

UK independent agency Bountiful Cow revealed the results of new research this week into the impact of brand safety filters on premium publisher sites, finding that content marked as ‘brand unsafe’ delivers stronger results than ‘safe’ content. Using its ‘RA:Unblocked’ programmatic tool, developed in partnership with publisher sales house Ozone, Bountiful Cow’s research found:

• An Attention Index of 126 for “brand unsafe” content, compared to 120 for content where brand safety filters were applied
• Brand lift of 40 percent on “unsafe” content versus 18 percent on “safe” content
• Significant uplift across all three brand metrics: action intent, preference, and consideration

IPG Mediabrands Signs Major Partnership with T-Mobile Advertising Solutions

T-Mobile this week announced a new strategic partnership with Interpublic Group’s media arm IPG Mediabrands, which it says creates a direct path for IPG Mediabrands agencies and clients to activate campaigns with T-Ad’s first-party data and product suite, while also opening up opportunities for shared innovation and test-and-learn initiatives. “We’re always seeking partners that can help our clients unlock new value through innovation, scale, and smart use of data,” said Justin Wroe, U.S. CEO of IPG Mediabrands. “This partnership with T-Mobile better positions us to not only deliver performance today, but to plan for what the advertising experience will look like tomorrow.”

Hires of the Week

Starcom US Appoints Chief Client and Strategy Officers

Starcom US announced the return of two former leaders this week, with Preeti Nadgar rejoining as chief strategy officer, and Kate Dubois returning as chief client officer, according to Adweek. Nadgar was most recently CSO at EssenceMediacom, while Dubois was global business lead at Initiative.

Ampersand Names Todd Braverman as Chief Revenue Officer

TV ad sales and technology company Ampersand (which is owned by Comcast, Charter Communications, and Cox Communications) this week announced it has appointed Todd Braverman as its chief revenue officer.  As CRO, Braverman will be responsible for leading Ampersand’s revenue strategy across its suite of data-driven, multiscreen TV advertising solutions. Braverman joins Ampersand from Nexstar, where he served as EVP, head of national sales.

Kochava Adds Peter Naylor to Board of Directors

Data solutions tech business Kochava has added Peter Naylor, known for his stints running ad sales at Netflix, Hulu, and Snap among other companies, to its board of directors. “Peter’s deep expertise in building successful advertising businesses and his track record of driving growth at some of the world’s most prominent media companies make him an invaluable addition to our board,” said Charles Manning, Founder and CEO of Kochava.

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