In this MadTech Podcast episode, ExchangeWire head of marketing Grainne Reid is joined by research lead Mat Broughton and Alex Powell, founder of Pixels, to discuss the latest in ad tech, media, and marketing.

They look at Mark Read's decision to step down from his position as CEO at WPP, publishers seeing an increase in referral traffic from social media, and the rise of partnerships between media agencies and supply-side platforms.

WPP chief Mark Read steps down as ad agency battles AI (The Guardian)

WPP’s CEO, Mark Read, has announced he will be stepping down at the end of the year. His announcement comes as the agency struggles against the rise of AI. WPP’s shares are at their lowest level in about five years, and have shed about half of their value under his leadership over the past seven years. The agency has experienced some significant client losses recently, including Coca Cola’s US media business and the ending of its relationship with Paramount.  

Nearly half of publishers report an increase in referral traffic from social (Digiday) 

Over the last year, nearly half of publishers have seen an increase in the referral traffic they get from social media platforms, according to Digiday+ research which surveyed more than 50 publisher professionals during the second quarter of this year. Forty-seven percent of publisher pros said that their companies had seen an increase in social referral traffic since January of last year. Fourteen percent said Facebook has driven most of the increase in social referral traffic over the last year and 11% said the same of Instagram. Eleven percent of publisher pros also said TikTok has driven most of the increase in social referral traffic they’ve seen since January 2024.

Agency-SSP partnerships are growing more common – and blurring programmatic’s old dividing lines (Digiday)

More media agencies are attempting to go around traditional ad tech gatekeepers to strike their own deals with supply-side platforms (SSPs). Media agencies are under pressure, positioned between marketers on tight budgets and the cost of doing business with major demand-side platforms. 

As a result, agencies are looking to tie themselves closer to SSPs, striking new partnership deals, leaning further into established ones, and consolidating their programmatic investments through the largest players in that space.