'The glass is half full for me': Martin Sorrell's optimistic take on recovery

‘It’s not good preaching doom and gloom,’ said the S4 Capital executive chairman. ‘It won’t get you anywhere.’ June 15, 2020 "It’s not good preaching doom and gloom," said Martin Sorrell, executive chairman of S4 Capital. In the early throes of the coronavirus, Sorrell was one of the few executives predicting a “V-shaped” recovery in the marketing services business. He has since slightly amended that shape to a “reverse square root": a sharp decline, swift initial rebound, but taking a little longer to return to normalized levels of spending. Read more below. - Here are some highlights from Digiday’s [conversation with Sorrell]( during our Programmatic Marketing Summit Live last week. - [Quartz is the latest victim]( of a digital media industry in crisis. Last month, the company laid off nearly half its staff in a major restructuring and now it finds itself in a familiar media predicament: searching for diversified revenue streams in a bleak market. - For Digiday+ members, without being set up for success at agencies, Black employees often [don’t make it to middle management.]( - New Digiday research, exclusively for Digiday+ members, shows that about 74% of 127 publishing executives said that [the crises has driven ad CPMs down.]( - Subscriber numbers have spiked across media companies but, coupled with a crash in other revenue lines, that’s still [left robust subscription publishers vulnerable.]( Other things to know about - Tomorrow: On our next Digiday+ talk, we'll hear from Yann Le Bozec, marketing director EMEA at Crocs, on how to adapt your brand’s messaging, including how to set up internally to be in responsive, always-on mode. [Learn more and subscribe to Digiday+ for access to this exclusive conversation](. - [Join IAS, Roku, Digiday, and Dentsu]( as we explore the state of connected TV and how the current global coronavirus pandemic is shaping consumer behaviors, digital trends, and the future of cross-screen advertising. Sponsored by IAS. Top Stories Managing Through Crisis ['The glass is half full for me': Martin Sorrell's optimistic take on recovery]( ‘It’s not good preaching doom and gloom,’ said the S4 Capital executive chairman. ‘It won’t get you anywhere.’ howdy! Beyond Ads [Caught in the mushy middle: How Quartz fell to earth]( In July 2018, Uzabase co-founder Yusuke Umeda addressed a room of anxious Quartz employees. Staffers were reeling from the news that the business publication had been sold by Atlantic Media to a Japanese company largely unfamiliar to the U.S. media world. What, they wondered, did Umeda hope to achieve by purchasing Quartz? Umeda said his […] Sponsored by Twitter [In an age of cancellations and quarantine, people are turning to Twitter for connections — and premium content]( Each year around this time, digital publishers and tech platforms announce their content plans for the year ahead. These annual upfront and NewFronts pitches are a bid to partner with agencies and advertisers to reassemble audiences across the ever-changing video landscape. That process will look different this year. Advertisement howdy! DIGIDAY+ MEMBER EXCLUSIVE ['Never given a clear path forward': Black employees say it's hard to get to middle management at agencies]( Without being set up for success at agencies, Black employees often don’t make it to middle management. Sponsored by Vevo [Marketers shortening ads and rethinking targeting to boost reach]( As uncertainty looms, marketers are taking new steps to boost reach. Strategies include leveraging shorter ads, increasing investment in family-friendly experiences and adopting multi-cultural targeting tactics. howdy! DIGIDAY+ MEMBER EXCLUSIVE [Digiday Research: 74% of publishers have seen ad CPMs drop]( About 74% of 127 publishing executives surveyed by Digiday this month said the crises have driven ad CPMs down, while 75% said they’ve had difficulty in ad sell through. Programmatic ad CPMs have been driven down between 10% and 20%, with some publishers choosing to reduce inventory instead of selling it at an extremely low rate. Advertisement Sponsored by AdColony [Interview: As homebound consumers stay glued to their smartphones, brands are redirecting ad spend toward mobile games]( Mobile game downloads have increased by more than 60 percent during the pandemic. As a result, brand marketers are spending more on mobile gaming ads to target higher-income players in a time of quarantine. howdy! Subscriptions ['Churn and burn': Publishers are prioritizing subscription volume over immediate revenue]( The last few months have been a perfect storm for publishers who can’t quit the sugar rush of cheap acquisitions. howdy! Coronavirus Fallout [How Vox developed new video programming remotely]( But when coronavirus shut down nearly all of Vox Media Studio’s planned productions for the year, all areas of that integrated business were affected and the team had to pivot fast in order to stay on track. [All Latest Stories]( Equality and Opportunity [Teen Vogue editor-in-chief Lindsay Peoples Wagner on ‘long, sustainable change’]( Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Stitcher | Google Play | Spotify Teen Vogue editor-in-chief Lindsay Peoples Wagner believes the time is now for change in media and fashion. “I want to see brands, publications, everyone in the industry commit to a long, sustainable change,” Peoples Wagner said on this week’s episode of the Digiday Podcast. Peoples Wagner is a rarity in glossy media: […] You received this email because you’re a member of the Digiday community. If someone forwarded this to you, [subscribe for yourself here](#). [Unsubscribe from this newsletter or update your preferences](. I don't want to hear from Digiday anymore. [Stop receiving all Digiday emails](. Digiday Media, One Liberty Plaza, 9th Floor, New York, NY 10006 [Forward to a Friend](