Madison and Wall: Saturday Summary
Ad tech-martech industrial logic (via Google and Hubspot), new retail media data points, media agency client churn and some country-level analysis for Meta for the week ending April 5, 2024
This past week wasn’t particularly busy from a news-flow perspective, but there was some speculation in the press about the possibility that Google might be interested in buying Hubspot. Without opining on the specifics of the news, I reviewed some of the history and industrial logic around marketing technology and ad technology coming together based upon my experiences over the past twenty years.
In other research, riffing off a very worthwhile podcast published by Mi3 last month, I published some analysis on the relationship that Meta has with Australian media companies and the local government along with some country- sizing for several of Meta’s key markets. Most importantly, I illustrated why publishers would probably be better off avoiding dependence on Meta or governments and focusing on their own growth strategies in years ahead.
In a note focusing on a new data points (from a large manufacturer, my own market sizing estimates and the IRS), I highlighted some data points illustrating how some marketers have held their budgets somewhat stable while making major shifts into retail media.
I also published some original analysis on the media agency sector to quantify an important, if under-studied metric: client churn. The metric should be important to monitor because it helps identify how well the proverbial “barn door is closed” once a client’s business has been won. One question whose answer is implied by this data point is how well individual agency groups manage existing clients? With data from Comvergence, I looked at media billings and new business results for Publicis Media, GroupM, Omnicom Media Group, Mediabrands, Dentsu Media, Havas and the broader industry both within the US and at a global level.
Lastly, a plug for what should be a really exciting event: I’m speaking at the Ad Tech Economic Forum on April 24 in New York. You can register here and save 20% with discount code madison&wall (case sensitive).