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Ad Tech Turbulence: Temu Returns Amid Mixed Analyst Views

Analysts present a mixed outlook for ad tech and agency holding companies. Barclays downgraded Interpublic Group, Omnicom Group, and WPP, while Publicis maintained its rating, citing AI as a near-term hurdle. Goldman Sachs argues AI could unlock new advertiser segments, including small businesses running CTV. Temu has resumed paid media on Meta and Google, now with 610 Meta ads and 300 Google ads; Temu’s monthly active users fell 51% from March to June. Meta plans to roll out tools by end-2026 to fully automate advertising and creative services on Facebook and Instagram. Cloudflare launched a pay-per-crawl policy to curb AI crawlers, detailing crawl rates (Google ~15 per visitor; OpenAI ~1,200; Anthropic ~6,000) and listing partners like Adweek and The Atlantic. The Senate removed the AI moratorium from the budget bill, and a de minimis repeal is under consideration.

Ex-Oracle Boss Kevin Akeroyd On Building A Marketing Cloud For Earned Media

Kevin Akeroyd, former GM of Oracle Marketing Cloud and now CEO of Cision, is driving a 'communications cloud' for earned media. Since taking the helm in 2016, he has led acquisitions and a $2.4 billion merger with Capitol Acquisition in March 2017. Cision owns PR Newswire, PRWeb and the Gorkana database, and reports more than 8,000 clients since its October 2016 launch, including Cisco and Procter & Gamble, growing at about 500 new customers per month. The company aims to measurably extend marketing cloud concepts to earned media by launching Cision ID and Cision Impact, and by partnering with MediaMath to use cookieless IDs for cross-channel tracking. PR Newswire counts roughly 300 million daily uniques. Akeroyd notes adoption challenges center on skill transformation, while competitors such as Google, Facebook, Adobe, Marketo, Criteo and The Trade Desk remain focused on paid/owned media rather than earned.

Oracle Marketing Cloud Honcho Kevin Akeroyd Leaves For CEO Gig At ‘Earned Media’ Firm Cision

Kevin Akeroyd, formerly SVP and GM of Oracle Marketing Cloud, left Oracle to become CEO of Cision, a media intelligence firm focused on PR. Cision had a rapid M&A streak, completing five acquisitions in under two years, including Viralheat, PR Newswire, and Gorkana Group, and expanding revenue from $130 million to $630 million. Oracle Marketing Cloud also pursued aggressive acquisitions, totaling nine deals worth over $6 billion during Akeroyd's tenure. At Cision, Akeroyd aims to build an Oracle-like stack for earned media by integrating assets such as Vocus, Viralheat, Visible Technologies, Gorkana, and PR Newswire into a unified platform. He notes that earned media has been under-focused and anticipates further consolidation in the content tech and PR space as vendors shift from point solutions to broader SaaS platforms.