June 6, 2025  |  SIGN UP

Jim Cooper
DIGIDAY, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Trying to divine where the digital media economy is heading as we march toward the third quarter next month has proven, well, confounding.

A sharp analysis by our own Seb Joseph based on the latest forecast from Madison & Wall’s Brian Wieser, found that, despite all the Sturm und Drang about the whip-saw nature of the Trump administration’s economic policies, money is still active with a six percent ad spend lift expected for Q2 and for full year. While those stats from Wieser sound encouraging, the ad economy, as Joseph points out, hews tightly to the general economy which is a riddle wrapped in uncertainty. Time will tell.

Also, this week we wrote about the disappearance of big brand support for Pride month – let’s hope there is still some quiet back-channel support happening across the rest of June. And we are of course on deck for Cannes Lions. You can keep up with our coverage by signing up for our Cannes Briefing. Read more below ICYMI – Happy Friday!

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MANAGING THROUGH ECONOMIC CRISIS

Madison and Wall’s Brian Wieser warns: the U.S. ad market is up, but the cliff’s still there

Specifically in the U.S. where ad spending (excluding political ads), is expected to grow 6% in the second quarter, and for the full year. That’s a notable jump from Madison & Wall’s March forecast, which pegged growth for the year at just 3.6%.

THE CREATOR ECONOMY

Pride, but no budget: LGBTQ+ creators hit by ad spend drop

As advertisers curb their Pride marketing spend, some LGBTQ+ influencers are seeing their brand partnership revenue for June’s Pride Month — which is often their most active month — dwindle to almost nothing. These creators are among the individuals whose livelihoods are directly impacted as big businesses rush to distance themselves from DEI initiatives.

SPONSORED BY VIOOH

Why brands like Gucci are leveraging premium DOOH to drive performance

Brands need guaranteed access to premium screens, but traditional OOH buying methods aren’t able to offer the dynamic data-triggered opportunities marketers have grown accustomed to in digital display. A recent Gucci campaign demonstrated the benefits of using both programmatic guaranteed and non-guaranteed deals to drive foot traffic. 

STRATEGIZING FOR THE FUTURE

Publicis and IPG win Paramount’s media business

Digiday has confirmed that U.S. media for streaming service Paramount+, which has been handled by Horizon Media, was won by IPG’s Mediabrands. In total, Paramount is reported to spend about $600 million in media across its films, streaming service and other TV properties (including the former Viacom cable networks). 

SPONSORED BY WRIKE

Virtual event: Why marketing teams are choosing visual collaboration over project management tools

Traditional project management platforms weren’t built to support modern cross-functional marketing teams. In this webinar, marketers explore how visual collaboration tools are helping departments align faster, reduce friction and deliver stronger creative and strategic outcomes.

Register

DIGIDAY @ CANNES

‘A conscious decision’: Agencies still choose to go to Cannes amid economic uncertainty

This year the backdrop of luxury comes with a sobering reality: Shrinking marketing budgets, slower client decision-making and economic headwinds are forcing agencies to rethink how they afford to show up at Cannes without bowing out of what’s easily the industry’s biggest event. 

GENERATIVE AI

WPP Media launches its ‘Manhattan project’ tech solution into a crowded AI market

At its center is a “large marketing model” that, according to Evan Hanlon, CEO of WPP data business Choregraph, provides “an accurate representation of the world that helps us predict consumer behavior.” In more straightforward terms, it’s an AI model filled with data drawn from consumer panels, retail media networks and CTV providers.

SPONSORED BY OPTABLE

In the post-cookies era, publishers are monetizing first-party data

Publishers are preparing for a privacy-first future, taking critical steps to activate and monetize audience data. However, according to a Digiday and Optable survey, 74% of publishers still mostly rely on third-party identifiers, while only 4% say more than half of their audience data is first-party.