Week in Review: ProSieben Forecasts Ad Revenue Drop, Google's Publisher Rankings Face EU Scrutiny, and IAB Tech Lab Launches Agentic Trading Framework

In this week’s Week in Review: ProSieben reports its Q3 results, the FT says the European Commission is investigating Google’s publisher rankings, and IAB Tech Lab launches a new framework for agentic trading.

The Week in Tech

Google Rejects Divestment in EU Antitrust Case

Google has defied EU regulatory calls to sell off parts of its ad tech business, according to Reuters, instead offering to make it easier for publishers and advertisers to use its technology.

In September the European Commission fined Google €2.95 billion for favouring its own online display tech services to reinforce the role of AdX, the tech giant’s ad exchange. Google said it has submitted its proposal to the Commission, which is broadly similar to the one offered in the US Department of Justice investigation on the same issue.

Index Exchange Becomes Latest Ad Tech Company to Sue Google

Index Exchange has filed an antitrust complaint against Google, seeking monetary damages over the tech giant’s Google illegal monopolisation of digital ad tech markets. The lawsuit claims that Google’s systematic anticompetitive conduct effectively excluded the ad tech firm from competing. The move follows similar filings from OpenX, Magnite and PubMatic.

Viant Revenues Jump on CTV Spend

Viant, a CTV ad tech firm, saw 7 percent YoY revenue growth in Q3, with CTV accounting for 46 percent of ad spend during the quarter. The company also said it has expanded the reach of IRIS_ID, its contextual identifier, through a new integration with Tubi. “We believe we are poised to meaningfully accelerate both top and bottom-line growth, attributable to a number of newly acquired brand and agency clients seeking to utilise our unique CTV product offering, industry-leading addressability solutions and ViantAI product suite,” said Viant CFO Larry Madden.

InfoSum Launches ‘Beacons’ for Cross-Cloud Data Collaboration

InfoSum, a data collaboration platform, has launched a new product called Beacons, which it says provides secure collaborative environments deployed directly within data owners’ cloud environments. The launch advances the company’s proprietary approach to non-movement of data for collaboration, according to InfoSum, with Disney among the first organisations to use Beacons for cross-cloud collaborations. “Unlike existing solutions that force data sharing and compromise control, security, and privacy, Beacons represent a fundamental shift,” said InfoSum CEO Lauren Wetzel. “They light the way from identity-based marketing to intelligence-led growth while prioritising control and privacy.”

PubMatic CTV Revenues Climb by 50 Percent

PubMatic, a sell-side platform (SSP), posted a 5 percent YoY decline in revenues for Q3 2025, but noted that Q3 2024 included $5 million in revenue from political advertising. CTV revenues were up 50 percent YoY (excluding political advertising), citing recent partnerships with free AVOD services including Tubi, Future Today and LocalNow. The SSP added that its new AI platform for buyers and publishers cuts campaign setup time by 87 percent.

Channel Factory Adds Attention Metrics From xpln.ai

Channel Factory, a contextual advertising business, has partnered with xpln.ai, an ad measurement firm, to bring attention-based metrics to its performance-driven contextual targeting tools. The partners said the combined approach was used in a recent campaign with shaving brand Wilkinson Sword Intuition, delivering 28 percent uplift across YouTube formats, compared to benchmarks. “Through our innovative partnership with xpln.ai, we are proud to offer a new layer of intelligence in media planning, enabling brands to achieve clear results and the confidence that their content is driving real impact,” said David Winstone, Trading Director, UK at Channel Factory.

IAS Receives MRC Accreditation for Amazon DSP Measurement

Integral Ad Science (IAS), a media measurement and optimisation business, has received Media Rating Council (MRC) accreditation for its server-to-server (S2S) integration of Amazon DSP impression, viewability and invalid traffic data into its digital ad measurement platform. The company said the integration gives advertisers access to MRC-accredited third-party measurement, which helps them understand delivery of Amazon DSP impressions. “With the addition of MRC accreditation for Amazon DSP impressions, viewability, and invalid traffic metrics, advertisers can remain confident that our measurement products meet the highest standards set by the industry,” said Kevin Alvero, Chief Compliance Officer at IAS.

First-Party Data Activation Company AUDIENCES Secures £2.1 Million in Funding

AUDIENCES, a first-party data activation company, has secured £2.1 million in funding to drive its go-to-market strategy, with FirstPartyCapital (FPC) as its main investor. The AUDIENCES solution enables advertisers and data owners to activate their first-party data within the customer’s own cloud environment, according to the company. “We bridge the last-mile to value for organisations which have first-party and proprietary data, enabling activation faster and with zero privacy and security risk,” said Rob McLaughlin, CEO and co-founder of AUDIENCES.

The Week in TV

ITV Launches Addressable Targeting on Linear TV and TikTok Ads Partnership

ITV has launched a new addressable advertising product designed to bring addressable targeting capabilities to ITV’s live linear broadcast channels for the first time, the UK broadcaster announced at its ITV Palooza commercial event. The ‘Live Addressable +’ product provides “thousands of addressable targeting options” for linear TV, covering ITV1, ITV2, ITV3, ITV4 and ITV Quiz. Targeting options include life stage, income bracket, location, auto purchase and shopping preferences, the company said in the announcement.

ITV also announced a new partnership with TikTok Pulse Premiere, a product that places ads directly next to content from premium publishers’ content on the platform. The offering enables brands to appear alongside “some of ITV’s most iconic and popular content on the platform”, according to the broadcaster, including I’m a Celebrity, Love Island All Stars, Six Nations Rugby and Britain’s Got Talent. Read more on VideoWeek.

ProSieben Lowers Full-Year Guidance in Weak Ad Market

ProSiebenSat.1 revenues were down 7 percent YoY in Q3, the German media group announced on Wednesday, citing ongoing macroeconomic challenges and the deconsolidation of its online comparison portal Verivox at the start of the year. ProSieben also forecast ad revenue declines for Q4 and the full year, and lowered its full-year EBITDA guidance. “The economic recovery forecast by research institutes at the beginning of the year has not yet materialised in 2025,” the company said. “In addition, the economic environment in the German-speaking region continues to be characterised by uncertainty. Against this backdrop, the Group expects Entertainment advertising revenues in the German-speaking region to decline in the low-single-digit percentage range in the fourth quarter, which is the most important quarter for the Company. For the full-year, ProSiebenSat.1 expects a decline in the mid-single-digit percentage range.”

Netflix to Launch More Than 50 Video Podcasts in Early 2026

Netflix has major ambitions for its video podcast push in early 2026, according to Business Insider, as the streaming giant seeks to challenge YouTube’s dominance in the space. The business reportedly seeks to have 50 to 75 shows at launch, with one source suggesting the company wants to reach 200 over time. The news follows last month’s announcement that Netflix has agreed a deal with Spotify to make video podcasts available on the SVOD service.

Disney Stock Falls as Linear TV Drags on Revenues

Disney stock was down 7.8 percent on Thursday after the media company reported mixed results in its latest earnings update. Revenues were flat in the last quarter, with ongoing declines for its linear TV business offsetting growth at the streaming and parks divisions. The direct-to-consumer unit (which includes streaming) saw 8 percent YoY revenue growth, but linear networks were down by 16 percent, and total entertainment revenues fell by 6 percent.

BBC Apologises to Trump but Refuses to Pay Out

The BBC has issued an apology to Donald Trump over the misleading edit of a speech made by the US President in 2021, but has rejected his demand for financial compensation. Trump threatened to sue the broadcaster for more than $1 billion after a Panorama documentary cut together different portions of his speech. BBC director general Tim Davie and CEO of News Deborah Turness resigned on Monday in the wake of the row, amid wider accusations of BBC bias. “The BBC has no plans to rebroadcast the documentary Trump: A Second Chance? on any BBC platforms,” said a BBC spokesperson. “While the BBC sincerely regrets the manner in which the video clip was edited, we strongly disagree there is a basis for a defamation claim.”

Amazon Launches AI Ad Tools at unBoxed Event

Amazon Prime Video now reaches 315 monthly viewers, up from 200 million in April 2024, the tech giant announced at its unBoxed event on Tuesday. The company also introduced a unified

Campaign Manager that combines Amazon DSP and its Ads Console into a single buying tool, alongside agentic AI tools built to generate creative, build campaigns and recommend targeting decisions. Amazon Ads also announced the expansion of its AI-powered Video Generator to the UK, enabling “businesses of all sizes to easily create high-quality video ads within minutes.”

UK SVOD Subscriptions Dipped in Q3 Finds Barb

The number of UK homes with access to an SVOD service dipped to 20.5 million in Q3 2025, from 20.6 million in the previous quarter. Netflix remained the most popular service at 17.6 million homes, with 35 percent of these on its ad tier, up from 31 percent in Q2. But Amazon Prime Video saw a slight decline, reaching 13.6 million homes, down from 13.7 million in Q2.

TF1 PUB and Implcit Bring Targeting Segments to TF1+

TF1 PUB, the French broadcaster’s sales house, has partnered with Implcit, a cookieless targeting and measurement company, to drive targeting capabilities on the TF1+ streaming service. The solution uses behavioural data from the Médiamétrie/Netratings panel to create segments based on purchase habits, in categories such as food, organic products, beauty, fashion, high-tech, sports, and automotive. “Thanks to this partnership, an advertiser can now target a behavioural persona (for example, an insurance comparison website visitor) and even an attitudinal persona (‘I’m confident in the future’) on TF1+,” said Philippe Boscher, Deputy Marketing Director at TF1 PUB.

The Week for Publishers

News Corp Posts Revenue Growth Despite Falling Ad Revenues

Global media group News Corp posted two percent year-on-year revenue growth in its most recent quarter, according to its filings this week, driven by strength in its Dow Jones and Digital Real Estate Services Segments. The Wall Street Journal, which sits within Dow Jones, saw flat ad revenues in the quarter, but an eight percent year-on-year increase in subscriptions. News Corp’s News Media segment meanwhile saw one percent revenue growth. Here, ad revenues were down, but circulation and digital subscriptions were up, driving overall growth. Across the whole company, ad revenues were down by 1.2 percent year-on-year.

Daily Mail Sees Major Clickthrough Impact from Google AI Overview

UK news business the Daily Mail says that its own traffic data shows that whenever an AI Overview appears within a Google search query, the average clickthrough rate is around 80-90 percent lower, Digiday reported this week. Speaking at the Digiday Publishing Summit Europe, the Daily Mail’s director of SEO and editorial e-commerce Carly Steven said that the Mail itself hasn’t seen too big of a traffic impact, since AI Overviews aren’t generally generated for breaking news stories.

Time Launches AI Agent for Archive Browsing

American news magazine Time has launched the Time AI Agent, an AI-powered platform designed to help readers understand and interact with Time’s content. The tool will deliver concise overviews of topics in text or audio, translate content into a number of languages, convert written stories into audio briefings, and answer search queries using Time’s archive of content. It will also offer conversational dialogue with users. “Readers can, for instance, generate a five-minute audio summary of recent interviews with world leaders, highlighting key themes and quotes, or stage a multilingual debate drawn from archival coverage around a question like ‘Is AI good for humanity?’,” Time said in a statement.

Telegraph Saw Low Revenue Growth in 2024

The Telegraph’s full year earnings for 2024 show that the newspaper eked out 1.2 percent revenue growth across the year, Press Gazette reported this week, amid its ongoing takeover saga. Operating profit was down by 0.2 percent, excluding exceptional costs, some of which were related to the takeover. The Telegraph says it saw overall growth in digital ad revenues during the period, despite a challenging advertising market.

Google Works on Fix for Discover Feed AI Spam

Google says it is working on a fix for an issue which has seen spam websites publishing fake news stories rank highly within its Discover feed, Press Gazette reported this week. Press Gazette had previously covered how numerous stories with fake or misleading headlines, which appeared on websites devoid of any other content, were appearing prominently within Discover. Google says its filters catch the majority of spam content, and it’s working on a fix for the specific types of spam flagged by Press Gazette.

Axios Cuts 19 Staff

US news website Axios has cut 19 jobs from its Product, Tech, and Design team, The Wrap reported this week. Jim VandeHei, co-founder and CEO of Axios, described the cuts as “a difficult, but necessary, move to meet our evolving tech strategy”, according to The Wrap. The layoffs come around a year after the news site cut 50 jobs across the business, citing “tectonic shifts” in the media industry.

The Week for Brands & Agencies

Former WPP Executive Sues Agency, Claiming He Was Fired Due to Whistleblowing

Richard Foster, a former executive of a business within WPP’s media arm, has filed a lawsuit against the holding company, claiming he was fired after raising concerns about an improper kickback scheme being run within GroupM. Foster claims that GroupM’s trading division would frequently secure rebates and other incentives from media owners using its buying power, but not disclose this information to its paying clients, according to Business Insider. Foster claims that when he raised his concerns within WPP, the company chose to fire him rather than investigating his concerns. WPP said in a statement that it will defend itself vigorously against the allegations.

Publicis CEO Calls Out Omnicom’s Gross Revenue Reporting

Arthur Sadoun, CEO of French agency group Publicis, has called for rival holding group Omnicom to change the way it reports its earnings, saying that Omnicom should report net revenue rather than gross revenue, Adweek reported this week. Speaking at a Morgan Stanley conference in Barcelona, Sadoun said that with Omnicom set to become the world’s largest agency group (when measured by market value), it needs to start reporting its earnings in the same way as the other major agency groups. Without this shift, investors and analysts aren’t able to properly compare the performance of the different groups.

IPG Beats Forecasts in Final Standalone Earnings

US agency giant Interpublic Group reported its final quarterly earnings before the anticipated closure of its merger with fellow holco Omnicom, reporting total revenues of $2.49 billion. This was above Wall Street expectations of $2.2 billion, according to Reuters, but still represents a fall of over $130 million compared with the same quarter last year. The earnings release was shorn of the usual press release and commentary, due to the impending merger with Omnicom.

WPP Brings in McKinsey to Help Plot Out Turnaround

Embattled agency business WPP is contracting consulting giant McKinsey to help advise on its ongoing strategic turnaround, Campaign reported this week. McKinsey is being asked to facilitate and stress-test WPP’s plans to correct its course, following a tough year which has included the replacement of its CEO and the loss of several high-profile clients. Just last month, WPP downgraded its full year outlook for the second time in four months, with new CEO Cindy Rose describing the company’s recent performance as “unacceptable”.

Stagwell Builds AI-Powered Marketing Platform with Palantir

Agency group Stagwell this week announced a new partnership with US tech business Palantir, with the two working together on a new AI-driven marketing platform. The collaboration will combine Palantir’s data management platform Foundry with software and data products drawn from Stagwell’s sub-agencies, into a client facing hub which will cover use cases including audience alignment optimisation and campaign management. The two companies say AI capabilities will enable clients to create agents which will implement complex marketing processes, informed by clients’ own marketing data.

Activist Investor Builds Stake in M&C Saatchi, Seeking Breakup

Activist investment business Harwood Capital has built a four percent stake in marketing business M&C Saatchi, becoming one of the firm’s ten largest shareholders, The Telegraph reported this week. Harwood is looking to pressure the company into a breakup or total sale, according to The Telegraph. The news comes shortly after rival ads business Brave Bison made an unsolicited bid for M&C Saatchi’s media arm, which M&C Saatchi rejected.

OMD Named Best Performing Agency in Latest RECMA Report

Omnicom-owned media agency OMD has been named as the best performing global media network in the latest Network Diagnostics report from media agency research business RECMA. The bi-annual report scores media agency reports to measure performance, looking at factors including business wins, billings volume, client portfolio, relationship stability, and digital/data/content resources. Publicis-owned agencies Starcom and Zenith took second and third place respectively.

Hires of the Week

WBD’s Clément Schwebig to Replace RTL Boss Thomas Rabe

RTL Group has announced that Clément Schwebig will succeed Thomas Rabe as CEO in May 2026. Schwebig currently serves as President and Managing Director Western Europe & Africa at Warner Bros. Discovery, and will also join RTL Group’s Board of Directors as Executive Director. Rabe is also stepping down as Chairman and CEO of RTL’s parent company Bertelsmann, after 15 years in the role.

WPP Appoints Elav Horwitz as Chief Innovation Officer

WPP has named Elav Horwitz as its first Chief Innovation Officer, a role created to spearhead the agency group’s AI developments. Her appointment follows a series of recent hires to drive AI innovation, including Daniel Barak as Global Creative and Innovation Lead, Sarah Salter as VP of Global Partnerships & AI Innovation, and Mathieu Albrand as Director of AI Strategy and Innovation. Horwitz also serves as an advisor to Spotify and Meta’s Creative Councils.

Nielsen Names Peter Naylor Chief Client Officer

Measurement giant Nielsen has hired Peter Naylor as its first Chief Client Officer. Naylor brings 30 years’ experience in media and advertising, having led ad sales at Hulu, Snap and Netflix, before joining the boards of Cadent and Kochava earlier this year.

Michael Peralta Returns as Future CRO

Publishing group Future has appointed Michael Peralta as Chief Revenue Officer, effective 3rd December. Peralta previously served as Future’s CRO from 2019 to 2021, then spent more than four years as Vice President and General Manager of T-Mobile Advertising Solutions. Prior to his original tenure at Future, he worked at ad tech companies including MediaMath and Criteo.