WPP Stays Optimistic About Its Turnaround Plan; Versant Media Braves Linear Losses

WPP reported a 4.7% year-over-year revenue decline to $6.38 billion in the first half of 2025, but beat analyst estimates and saw its stock gain 29% in a single day, its biggest since its 1995 IPO, as CEO Cindy Rose highlighted progress on the three-year 'Elevate28' turnaround plan and the integration of its AI-powered WPP Open platform across four new units. Versant Media Group, spun off from Comcast, posted a 3.8% drop to $1.64 billion in Q2 but plans to launch subscription services for MS NOW and CNBC, with CNBC developing AI-powered investing tools. Cloudflare introduced an answer engine optimization (AEO) tool to help marketers measure AI search visibility, providing metrics like citation rate and share of voice.

Turnaround, Bright Eyes WPP’s revenue declined year over year 4.7% to $6.38 billion in the first half of this year, according to the agency holdco’s latest quarterly earnings report on Thursday. But for WPP, which is six months into a massive 3-year turnaround plan called “Elevate28” , that’s actually good news. The British company ended up beating analyst estimates and saw a 29% growth in stock yesterday morning – its biggest single-day gain since it first went public in 1995, according to Tech Times https://www.techtimes.com/articles/323402/20260806/wpp-stock-posts-biggest-single-day-gain-since-1995-ipo-ai-platform-bet.htm . Of course, it’s not all smooth sailing from here on out. Over 8,000 jobs have been cut since the first half of 2025, and hundreds more are likely on the way before the end of this year. But these new cuts, CEO Cindy Rose suggested, will be less about cost savings and more about trying to streamline, so WPP can be “more agile and simpler to navigate.” Naturally, that also involves AI – more specifically, WPP Open, the holdco’s agentic marketing platform. The system is now integrated across all four of WPP’s new streamlined units: WPP Media, WPP Creative, WPP Production and WPP Enterprise Solutions, which just went live at the start of July. Versant Versus Linear Versant Media Group closed Q2 with $1.64 billion, representing a 3.8% year-over-year drop. It’s only Versant’s second quarter as a standalone company since Comcast spun off https://www.adexchanger.com/tv/comcast-spinoff-versant-media-stakes-its-future-on-streaming/ the media portfolio that sits under Versant, which includes Fandango, MS NOW, CNBC and USA Network. But the company is not discouraged. Instead, it insists that linear losses are par for the course as it lays the groundwork to better monetize its grouping of cable networks. Ironically and perhaps unsurprisingly , a good way to monetize linear assets is expanding them beyond linear. Which is why Versant plans to launch subscription services this year for MS Now and CNBC. Don’t get it twisted, though; “we are creating direct-to-consumer products, not streaming products,” CEO Mike Lazarus told investors during the company’s earnings call on Thursday. The new MS NOW product will give users more ways to interact with programming hosts, while CNBC is developing AI-powered investing tools for retail investors. Which isn’t to say streaming has no role in Versant’s future. Fandango expanded its platform with more free ad-supported titles. But considering how competitive the streaming space is, Versant clearly doesn’t want to pigeonhole itself as yet another streaming company. RIP SEO On Thursday, Cloudflare introduced https://blog.cloudflare.com/aeo/ a new answer engine optimization AEO tool into client dashboards so marketers can see exactly when and how their content has been cited in AI search. The tool is being introduced at a moment where AI search visibility is top of mind for marketers, but measurability is murky at best and inconsistent at worst though, the IAB is making inroads https://www.adexchanger.com/ai/iabs-new-advice-on-how-to-measure-ai-search-visibility/ in the conversation around consistency . Cloudflare’s solution tests prompts that mimic real-world inquiries and churns out metrics, including citation rate, prominence within AI responses, share of voice and mention rate similar to citation, but the brand’s own site might not be the source . “Answer engines and AI assistants are increasingly deciding which businesses get found and recommended,” Lara Cohen, Vice President of Strategic Partnerships: Media, Creators & AI at Cloudflare, tells AdExchanger. “Our data will help brands understand what’s working and what’s resonating with the LLMs.” Besides, Cohen adds, if a brand can better understand the content that gets “picked up” by LLMs and drives referrals, that brand can work those insights into future media efforts for better results. But Wait There’s More PubMatic also announced its second-quarter results today, which were well ahead of guidance. Release https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260805668883/en/PubMatic-Announces-Second-Quarter-2026-Financial-Results Cutwater, an Anheuser-Busch canned cocktail brand, is the first to publicly announce that it will advertise during the 2027 Super Bowl. Adweek https://adage.com/brand-marketing/food-beverage/aa-cutwater-super-bowl-2027-confirmation/ OpenAI is bringing product carousels to its ChatGPT ads. Digiday https://digiday.com/marketing/openai-brings-product-carousels-to-chatgpt-ads/?utm campaign=digidaydis&utm medium=rss&utm source=general-rss A Canadian citizen pled guilty to hacking Snowflake and stealing first-party data from more than 165 customer companies, including AT&T and Ticketmaster. TechCrunch https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/06/hacker-pleads-guilty-to-stealing-data-from-more-than-165-snowflake-customers/ The FCC voted to repeal a restriction on the number of TV stations a national broadcast company can own. WSJ https://www.wsj.com/business/media/fcc-votes-to-repeal-national-tv-ownership-limit-750c28dc?mod=pls whats news us business f The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority approved the Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger. Statement https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6a7451ea3a690e9ef0ea6ca5/Summary of phase 1 decision 6 August 2026.pdf You’re Hired Pinterest hires David Brinker as global head of content. Axios https://www.axios.com/2026/08/06/pinterest-david-brinker-global-head-content