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CMO TLDR: Your Weekly Marketing Brief

Weekly Digest - October 24, 2025

Author

Peter Brendan
October 24, 2025

CMO TLDR: Omnicom Pays Up, WPP Automates, Google Deals

Agency Shake-Up: Consolidation Meets Automation

Omnicom Braces for IPG Deal as Costs Bite Earnings

Omnicom posted third-quarter revenue of $4 billion with organic growth of 2.6%, but operating income fell 12% as the ad giant absorbed $99 million in costs tied to its pending acquisition of Interpublic Group. The company reported diluted earnings of $1.75 per share, down from $1.95 a year earlier, though adjusted earnings rose to $2.24 when stripping out deal expenses and restructuring charges. CEO John Wren said the combination will create "the world's leading marketing and sales company" with the deal expected to close next month, banking on advantages in data, media, and technology to drive future growth.

WPP Launches Self-Service AI Platform to Chase Smaller Clients

WPP introduced WPP Open Pro, a self-service edition of its AI marketing platform, which enables brands to plan, create, and publish campaigns independently without hiring the agency's teams. The move marks the first time a major holding company has offered integrated AI tools directly to clients, targeting smaller businesses and regional marketing teams that previously couldn't afford WPP's services, while also providing existing clients with a more affordable option for routine work. CEO Cindy Rose pitched the platform as a way to expand WPP's addressable market beyond complex global brands, though the shift toward automation and DIY tools could ultimately threaten the agency's traditional service model.

AI Invades Your TV and Browser

Samsung Brings Perplexity AI to Smart TVs in Living Room Battle

Samsung will integrate Perplexity's AI search engine into its latest smart TVs, giving users a choice between the startup's technology, Microsoft Copilot, and Samsung's own assistant when they press the AI button. The free service marks Perplexity's first global TV partnership as tech companies race to plant their AI tools in the living room, with Google also embedding its Gemini assistant into Google TV through partner TCL. Voice-powered AI could solve television's longstanding search problem, though the living room remains a graveyard for interactive technologies that failed to catch on beyond passive viewing.

OpenAI Launches Browser That Could Upend Publisher Economics

OpenAI unveiled ChatGPT Atlas, an AI-powered browser for macOS that integrates the chatbot directly into web surfing, allowing users to summarize content, edit text, and complete tasks without leaving their current page. The move signals OpenAI plans to monetize through advertising as it competes with Chrome and other established browsers, presenting a costly long-term bet on capturing user attention. Publishers face a potentially existential threat as the browser could deliver answers and summaries within the chat interface itself, further eroding referral traffic and ad impressions that have already been squeezed by search engines and social media.

Google Cutting Deals

Google Opens Wallet to Agencies as Antitrust Pressure Mounts

Google's Ad Exchange began offering post-auction discount deals to media agencies this year for the first time, breaking with its historically closed approach to rate negotiations as the tech giant faces mounting antitrust scrutiny. The tiered discount program, pitched to buyers starting in January, offers savings for agencies spending $50 million to $100 million or more through AdX, though several buyers said the terms remain less competitive than deals with rival supply-side platforms. The outreach comes after a federal judge ruled in September that Google illegally monopolized the markets for publisher ad servers and ad exchanges, pushing executives to court agencies with pricing flexibility they've long refused to consider.

Comcast is making its entire linear TV inventory available for real-time programmatic bidding through FreeWheel, a shift that could help performance advertisers reach audiences across traditional and streaming channels through a single workflow.

Taboola is partnering with Paramount to launch Performance Multiplier, a tool that extends CTV advertisers' campaigns across its 9,000-publisher web network to help small and midsize businesses better measure return on ad spend through click and conversion tracking.

AppLovin is facing investigations by the SEC and multiple state attorneys general over allegations it improperly tracked users, including children, for targeted ads, following short seller reports that accused the $200 billion mobile advertising company of using digital fingerprints and forcing app downloads without consent.

AI search platforms like ChatGPT and Google AI Mode are sending growing referral traffic to publishers, but it remains under 1% of total traffic and drives near-zero conversions, prompting industry experts to say licensing deals with AI companies may be the only path to meaningful visibility.

WPP's VML agency won Pizza Hut's global creative account from IPG's Deutsch, a significant victory for the beleaguered holding company as major advertisers increasingly consolidate their agency relationships under single partners.

PayPal is partnering with e-commerce startup Rokt to display subscription service ads on its post-payment pages in Venmo and PayPal apps, leveraging transaction data to reach consumers at the moment their digital wallets are already open.

Key Article Takeaways - TLDR

  • AI is starting to embed itself in the screens we use most, Connected TVs and browsers. This will eventually impact marketers and ad tech platforms even more so than AI’s already significant impact on search and creative.

  • Google’s move to offer post-auction discounts marks a quiet but meaningful shift. Even if the deals are less competitive than rival supply platforms, they will help agency margins as agencies productize the savings to cross-sell to brands for more dollars upfront. If Google’s discounts become standard practice, Meta and others may eventually follow, putting pressure on pricing across the ecosystem.