In this week’s Week in Charts: Apple falls behind in the AI race, MAGNA downgrades 2025 ad forecast, and CPG brands embrace AI.
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Charts of the Week
AI Drives Digital Growth as TV Declines in MAGNA Forecast
Global ad revenues are expected to grow by around 5 percent YoY in 2025, according to MAGNA’s latest forecast, despite a downward revision caused by “deterioration in the economic outlook and a decline in business confidence.” Digital pure play channels are projected to benefit from AI innovation, e-commerce competition and retail media growth, while traditional media owners “may be most affected by the absence of major events and the deteriorating business environment,” according to the forecast.
L’Oréal and Coca-Cola Named Most “Future-Ready” CPG Brands
L’Oréal and Coca-Cola have been named the most “future-ready” CPG brands by the IMD Future Readiness Center, based on a series of factors including product innovation and future growth potential. The report noted the use of AI in both brands’ marketing efforts, including L’Oréal’s virtual try-on apps and Coca-Cola’s deployment of algorithms to assess the effectiveness of campaigns in real-time. “By democratising data access internally (making AI tools available to managers at all levels), Coke has fostered a culture of evidence-based decision-making and broken-down silos,” said the report.
Omnicom Stock Falls as IPG Merger Faces Potential Restrictions
Omnicom shares hit a 52-week low on Friday, after reports emerged that the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is considering imposing further conditions on the impending merger between the holding company and rival agency group IPG. The restriction would prevent the combined company from boycotting ads on platforms due to political content, amid ongoing investigations into various groups and brands for allegedly coordinating advertising boycotts of Elon Musk’s social platform X. Omnicom’s share price has declined by 8 percent over the past month, as the merger comes under scrutiny by the Trump administration.
Apple TV+ Leads in Daily Viewing Among its Subscribers
Although Apple TV+ has a smaller subscriber base in Britain than the likes of Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Disney+, its subscribers are more likely to watch the SVOD service on a daily basis than those on rival streaming services. According to YouGov, 53 percent of Apple TV+ subscribers aged 18-34 watch the service at least once a day, followed by Netflix (46 percent), Disney+ (31 percent) and Amazon Prime Video (24 percent), suggesting Amazon subscribers are less engaged with the video content included in Prime membership.
The Week in Stocks
Agencies
Shares in Publicis Groupe rose almost 3 percent last week, after the French holding company won the $1.7 billion Mars global media account from rival agency group WPP.
TV
Warner Bros. Discovery’s stock price surged on Monday after bondholders overwhelmingly approved a plan to split up the media company.
Publishers
Ströer’s share price fell almost 10 percent last week, and has dropped by around 20 percent over the last five years.
Ad Tech
Magnite and IAS bucked the trend for declining ad tech stocks, with Viant and Criteo seeing the steepest declines.
Tech
US tech stocks were volatile over the past week due to ongoing geopolitical uncertainty, amid escalating violence in the Middle East.
