Paramount Skydance finished the first quarter with $7.3 billion in revenue, representing a 2% year-over-year increase. Meanwhile, its planned acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) is proceeding apace. It expects to finalize the deal by the end of Q3.
The key findings show that seven in 10 shoppers are likely to trust personalised ads, compared to generic advertising, which is trusted by just a quarter. It also finds that 91% are comfortable sharing transactional data if it leads to more relevant advertising.
Retail media struggles with fragmented, self-reported measurement that is difficult to compare across platforms. It needs to change, as advertiser expectations are more sophisticated, says IAB Europe’s Marie-Clare Puffett.
Netflix is stepping deeper into mobile-first behaviour with the launch of Clips, a new vertical video feed designed to make content discovery faster, more intuitive and more aligned with how users already consume media on their phones.
In advance of this week’s Association of National Advertisers’ Advertising Financial Management Conference here I spoke with Ralph Pardo, CEO of Omnicom Media North America and a speaker at the event, about today’s ever-changing media environment.
There is an ongoing debate about whether advertisers are ready for agentic agents to take complete control of advertising platforms — and even rewrite them in real time with the ability to create, build and serve personalized ads to consumers.
Omnicom posted first quarter revenue growth of 6.7% year over year for its core operations, which excludes the businesses the company plans to sell or release through dispositions following its acquisition of Interpublic Group — for a total of $5.6 billion, per an earnings release. Integrated media made up 51.5% of revenue for the period ended March 31, while advertising made up 16.8%.
Will artificial intelligence replace communicators? The Davos Communications Summit, held in Switzerland last week, suggested that this question is too narrow. The more important issue is what happens when AI helps institutions produce messages faster, while people become the media that decides whether those messages are trusted, challenged or dismissed.
While the inclusion of AI-hallucinated research in the draft South Africa National AI Policy caused embarrassment for the communications department and minister Solly Malatsi, there is a silver lining. According to Adams & Adams partner Darren Olivier, Malatsi’s rapid withdrawal of the policy was the right move, as it demonstrated awareness of the seriousness of the issue and prevented further damage.
Boxer Superstores has launched Bmedia, a retail media division that connects brands directly with the heart of South Africa’s consumer base, to be led by Adrian Naidoo.