2025: The Year Media Had to Choose
The holding companies consolidated, WPP collapsed, and publishers lost traffic to ChatGPT. Meanwhile, nobody's figured out what comes next.
Looking back at 2025, it’s clear this wasn’t just another year of industry change. Cannes Lions, the IPA Effectiveness Conference, INMA Subscription and Innovation Summits, NewsRewired—everywhere I went, the same reality kept surfacing: the old business models are broken, and nobody’s quite sure what replaces them.
The Holding Company Earthquake
November delivered the year’s biggest shock: Omnicom completed its almost $10 billion acquisition of Interpublic Group, creating the world’s largest marketing services company. Within weeks, the human cost became clear: 10,000 jobs lost as DDB, FCB and MullenLowe brands disappear by mid-2026.
DDB—named Network of the Year at Cannes Lions 2025—created defining work for Volkswagen, John Lewis and McDonald’s. All gone, consolidated into three global networks. The decision came down to “positioning, client relationships and internatio…
