Media Buying Briefing: What holding companies’ 2023 earnings (so far) tell us about their future

In a recent Media Buying Briefing, Digiday+ members had exclusive access to insights on holding companies' 2023 earnings and what it tells us (so far) about their future. Get a taste of this member-only briefing below and [subscribe]( to unlock an edge with full access to original research, exclusive content, reports and guides, member events and much more. [SUBSCRIBE]( [Media Buying Briefing: What holding companies’ 2023 earnings (so far) tell us about their future]( [By]([Michael Bürgi, sr. media buying and planning editor]( [With four of the Big Six holding companies having released their 2023 financial results (still waiting on Dentsu and Havas), it’s safe to say that Publicis and Omnicom fared better last year than IPG or WPP. And though most analysts will gauge that hierarchy of success on organic revenue growth, it has more to do with the directions each holding company chose to go in with investments and types of clients won over the last few years — some of which paid off, and some that didn’t.]( [Omnicom and IPG formally presented their 2023 earnings over the course of the week, while Publicis and WPP revealed topline results a few weeks ago when they announced AI strategies and investments. (Publicis did hold a call with analysts this past week.)]( [In short, both WPP and IPG indicated they expect little to no growth in 2024, while Omnicom and Publicis forecast growth of 3.5-5% and 4-5%, respectively. Independent media analyst Brian Wieser, said he thinks all four are being a bit conservative in their expectations.]( [“To the extent that guidance is intended to convey a low bar each company expects to beat (and presuming that technology advertisers will stop cutting) growth should likely look better for this group in the year ahead,” Wieser noted in an installment of his Madison and Wall newsletter.]( [Client roster had something to do with the pecking order, since both IPG and WPP are more heavily stacked with tech clients — Google at WPP and Amazon at IPG — and tech as a category]([cut back on ad spending]([, as they also laid off thousands of employees.]( [READ MORE]( Recent Member Exclusives [Future of TV Briefing: Why CTV ad sellers are adopting universal IDs like Unified ID 2.0]( [READ MORE]( [Digiday+ Research: Most brands and retailers employ generative AI, with chatbots topping the list of uses]( [READ MORE]( [Marketing Briefing: Despite the rapid rise of the creator economy, the Super Bowl relied on traditional celebrities — a lot of them]( [READ MORE]( [Share]( [Tweet]( [Share]( [Forward]( Digiday Media 462 7th Ave Office 06-01 New York, NY 10018 You received this email because you're signed up to receive email from Digiday. Unsubscribing will remove you from ALL Digiday email. [Preferences]( | [Unsubscribe](