Close Menu
TechCentralTechCentral

    Subscribe to the newsletter

    Get the best South African technology news and analysis delivered to your e-mail inbox every morning.

    Facebook X (Twitter) YouTube LinkedIn
    WhatsApp Facebook X (Twitter) LinkedIn YouTube
    TechCentralTechCentral
    • News

      Jaltech backs solar firm Wetility in R500-million capital raise

      18 June 2025

      MTN CEO edges Vodacom rival in pay stakes – but just barely

      18 June 2025

      Stolen phone? Samsung now buys you an hour to lock it down

      18 June 2025

      New MD for Dell South Africa

      18 June 2025

      How a dowdy database maker became an investor darling

      18 June 2025
    • World

      Trump Mobile dials into politics, profit and patriarchy

      17 June 2025

      Samsung plots health data hub to link users and doctors in real time

      17 June 2025

      Beijing’s chip champions blacklisted by Taiwan

      16 June 2025

      China is behind in AI chips – but for how much longer?

      13 June 2025

      Yahoo tries to make its mail service relevant again

      13 June 2025
    • In-depth

      Meta bets $72-billion on AI – and investors love it

      17 June 2025

      MultiChoice may unbundle SuperSport from DStv

      12 June 2025

      Grok promised bias-free chat. Then came the edits

      2 June 2025

      Digital fortress: We go inside JB5, Teraco’s giant new AI-ready data centre

      30 May 2025

      Sam Altman and Jony Ive’s big bet to out-Apple Apple

      22 May 2025
    • TCS

      TCS+ | AfriGIS’s Helen Hulett on how tech can help resolve South Africa’s water crisis

      18 June 2025

      TechCentral Nexus S0E2: South Africa’s digital battlefield

      16 June 2025

      TechCentral Nexus S0E1: Starlink, BEE and a new leader at Vodacom

      8 June 2025

      TCS+ | The future of mobile money, with MTN’s Kagiso Mothibi

      6 June 2025

      TCS+ | AI is more than hype: Workday execs unpack real human impact

      4 June 2025
    • Opinion

      South Africa pioneered drone laws a decade ago – now it must catch up

      17 June 2025

      AI and the future of ICT distribution

      16 June 2025

      Singapore soared – why can’t we? Lessons South Africa refuses to learn

      13 June 2025

      Beyond the box: why IT distribution depends on real partnerships

      2 June 2025

      South Africa’s next crisis? Being offline in an AI-driven world

      2 June 2025
    • Company Hubs
      • Africa Data Centres
      • AfriGIS
      • Altron Digital Business
      • Altron Document Solutions
      • Altron Group
      • Arctic Wolf
      • AvertITD
      • Braintree
      • CallMiner
      • CYBER1 Solutions
      • Digicloud Africa
      • Digimune
      • Domains.co.za
      • ESET
      • Euphoria Telecom
      • Incredible Business
      • iONLINE
      • Iris Network Systems
      • LSD Open
      • NEC XON
      • Network Platforms
      • Next DLP
      • Ovations
      • Paracon
      • Paratus
      • Q-KON
      • SevenC
      • SkyWire
      • Solid8 Technologies
      • Telit Cinterion
      • Tenable
      • Vertiv
      • Videri Digital
      • Wipro
      • Workday
    • Sections
      • AI and machine learning
      • Banking
      • Broadcasting and Media
      • Cloud services
      • Contact centres and CX
      • Cryptocurrencies
      • Education and skills
      • Electronics and hardware
      • Energy and sustainability
      • Enterprise software
      • Fintech
      • Information security
      • Internet and connectivity
      • Internet of Things
      • Investment
      • IT services
      • Lifestyle
      • Motoring
      • Public sector
      • Retail and e-commerce
      • Science
      • SMEs and start-ups
      • Social media
      • Talent and leadership
      • Telecoms
    • Events
    • Advertise
    TechCentralTechCentral
    Home » Energy and sustainability » As Facebook fades, the Mad Men of advertising stage a comeback

    As Facebook fades, the Mad Men of advertising stage a comeback

    By Lionel Laurent2 August 2022
    Twitter LinkedIn Facebook WhatsApp Email Telegram Copy Link
    News Alerts
    WhatsApp

    The economy is weakening, and so is demand for advertising — at least, that’s how Facebook parent Meta Platforms justified its first-ever quarterly decline in revenue last week. Social media rivals Snap and Twitter echoed the gloom, worsening this year’s share price slump in the sector.

    Strange, then, that some of advertising’s more old-school players in Europe, from Mad Men-style agencies to billboard operators, are reporting a more upbeat experience. It suggests there are deeper shifts happening in tech and media after Covid-19 and the Ukraine war — and that the “Math[s] Men”, as author Ken Auletta styled them, don’t have all the answers.

    Paris-based Publicis, among the world’s four biggest agencies and owner of Leo Burnett and Saatchi & Saatchi, posted a 21% revenue increase in the second quarter and upgraded its sales outlook for the year. CEO Arthur Sadoun, who took over in 2017 from industry icon Maurice Levy, said the firm was “ready” to cope with a potential economic slowdown.

    In 2021, the top five biggest tech firms captured $409-billion of ad revenue, more than half the market total

    And while it was a patchy quarter for some broadcast and print publishers, French firm JCDecaux, the world’s biggest outdoor advertiser, reported a 22% increase in underlying quarterly sales growth as its array of billboards, bus shelters and other street furniture kept pulling in cash. The firm expects more revenue growth in the third quarter.

    This divergence is ironic given these are the kinds of firms that have been eclipsed by Big Tech’s ability to collect huge amounts of data, capture digitally native gen-Z eyeballs and swallow a huge slice of marketing spend in recent years. In 2021, the top five biggest tech firms captured US$409-billion of ad revenue, more than half the market total, according to GroupM; in 2016, it was $115.5-billion. In that intervening period, ad income at JCDecaux and Spanish broadcaster Mediaset Espana Comunicacion has declined.

    If the pattern is fraying now, it’s because the hold of social media on advertisers is weakening. While Amazon.com and Google retain intimate knowledge of our shopping baskets and Internet search terms, Facebook and some others have shown their limitations: A dependency on personal data that’s vulnerable to regulation and public opinion, a pervasive sense of distrust from advertisers over a lack of transparency and increased competition for attention from newcomer TikTok have loosened their collective grip.

    Social or antisocial?

    Online ads aren’t suffering equally: Jamie MacEwan, of Enders Analysis, points to advertisers prioritising search advertising and cutting back on the kind of display ads that populate Facebook feeds. That’s consistent with responding to a weaker economy, but also indicates longer-term issues being thrust to the surface, as content guidelines shift unpredictably. Fresh government pressure against misinformation and political polarisation make for an uncertain future: Europe is preparing to toughen oversight of content, while some US states are making noises about protecting free speech.

    Apple is making it harder for advertisers to track iPhone users activity, while Google is phasing out the use of third-party cookies on Chrome. Apple’s restrictions are clearly hurting Facebook’s ability to make money, with Mark Zuckerberg’s firm warning the changes will amount to a $10-billion contraction in revenue this year.

    And in a world described by Publicis’s Sadoun as “cookieless”, old-style media agencies and platforms are finding more ways to compete with social networks’ walled gardens. Publicis and its peers are buying up data companies such as Epsilon, offering clients better access to personal information obtained directly from consumers with their consent, known as first-party data.

    And at the same time, JCDecaux’s billboards have come a long way from the static posters that sprouted up alongside the consumer-centric car culture of 20th century motorways. They’re increasingly digital and involve some level of tracking knowledge, such as location data, that allow them to offer campaigns targeting “eco-conscious vegan” consumers, as one example.

    This isn’t to say that these companies are immune to an economic slowdown, but rather that recent post-pandemic trends have shifted in their favour. While JCDecaux’s revenue has suffered in China, where lockdowns continue apace, the stampede of consumers in other regions to airports, shopping malls and tourist hotspots — even at a time of high inflation — clearly resonated with marketers as heading out-and-about replaced being trapped in front of computer screens. The company’s top category of advertiser is luxury goods makers, which have proven resistant to inflationary pressures; their glossy lifestyle pitches translate better to posters than pixels.

    Agencies have also proven their worth in the wake of the pandemic. Ian Whittaker at media consultancy firm Liberty Sky Advisors reckons brands have realised they don’t have the bandwidth or ability to depend on in-house marketing answers to the new, evolving consumer environment, and are therefore turning back to the Mad Men of old.

    What happens next depends a lot on how bad the slowdown gets. The situation is clearly fragile, and even forthcoming ad-friendly events such as the World Cup might not be enough to offset a deep recession and energy rationing this winter. GroupM still reckons pure-play digital advertising platforms will grow 11.5% this year on an underlying basis, and represent 73% of the industry total in 2027.

    For the time being, though, Meta’s ad-sales algorithms are meeting their match — and that’s something for the mere mortals of marketing to celebrate.  — (c) 2022 Bloomberg LP



    Amazon Facebook Google JCDecaux Meta Platforms Publicis TikTok
    Subscribe to TechCentral Subscribe to TechCentral
    Share. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email Copy Link
    Previous ArticleGovernment says it’s serious about fixing the electricity crisis
    Next Article Eskom sets South Africa on edge with load shedding warning

    Related Posts

    Stolen phone? Samsung now buys you an hour to lock it down

    18 June 2025

    Major rift opens between Microsoft and OpenAI

    17 June 2025

    Meta bets $72-billion on AI – and investors love it

    17 June 2025
    Company News

    Disrupt first, ask questions later – the uncomfortable truth about incident response

    18 June 2025

    Sage brings together HR leaders to explore the future of payroll and people management

    18 June 2025

    Altron: a brand journey, a birthday celebration and a bet on Joburg’s future

    17 June 2025
    Opinion

    South Africa pioneered drone laws a decade ago – now it must catch up

    17 June 2025

    AI and the future of ICT distribution

    16 June 2025

    Singapore soared – why can’t we? Lessons South Africa refuses to learn

    13 June 2025

    Subscribe to Updates

    Get the best South African technology news and analysis delivered to your e-mail inbox every morning.

    © 2009 - 2025 NewsCentral Media

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.