Author: Ronan Shields

Search & Affiliate Marketing Strategist since 1993

The Rundown: Ad tech’s performance in 2025 was overshadowed by AI concerns and Big Tech

The latest round of earnings calls from the cohort of publicly listed ad tech companies concluded this week, with the results helping observers to grasp the challenges and opportunities in the sector.

The numbers filed with each company’s respective stock exchange in recent weeks, as shown in the table below, indicate an annual average revenue increase of 17.4% across the sector in 2025.* Although anomalies such as AppLovin (70% growth) and Teads (46% growth post-merger with Outbrain), as well as Perion and PubMatic’s declines of 12% and 2.88%, respectively, warrant closer inspection.

Closer analysis shows that revenue-weighted growth across the sector was 26.6% in 2025, although subsequent stock ratings were not reflective of this, with prices largely heading south after market disclosure as concerns around AI and Big Tech’s influence swelled.

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‘Nobody’s asking the question’: WPP’s biggest restructure in years means nothing until CMOs say it does

For all the headlines, LinkedIn posts and hot takes generated by WPP’s Elevate28 plan, the most consequential audience has been largely absent from the conversation: the CMOs and senior marketers at the world’s biggest advertisers. Most have no idea it’s even happened. They don’t read the trades. They hear about this stuff through consultants, or when an agency review forces them to run the rule over who they’re working with.

“Nobody’s asking this question. Nobody’s saying, ‘hey, what’s going on over there at WPP?’ It’s just not happening,” says Steve Mercer, founder of agency consultancy the Mercer Island Group, which is currently overseeing several pitches on behalf of major marketers.

Which is precisely why the hard part starts now for WPP. The narrative is set. What remains to be seen is whether the group can turn it into something clients actually feel — in their day-to-day work, in their pitches, in the results they’re being asked to deliver.

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