If ever there were a word that makes YouTube content creators cringe, it must be “Adpocalypse.” This portmanteau of “advertising” and “apocalypse” brings to mind draconian and often inscrutable content regulations and a slashing of ad revenue. And for advertising and marketing services provider Interpublic Group of Companies (IPG), another one of these may be coming on a broader scale than anyone expected. And the news left its own investors concerned, sending shares down fractionally in Thursday afternoon’s trading.
One of Interpublic Group’s subsidiaries, Magna—part of IPG Mediabrands—put a dollar value on projections about the 2025 advertising market, which is now almost a quarter finished. It looks for advertising sales to reach $397 billion this year, which is up 4.3% from 2024. That also factors in the election season, which is a bi-annual event. The big ones, meanwhile, only come around every four years.
But the new forecast also represents a decline from 2024, where growth was up 12.4%, mostly due to political spending that will not be there in 2025. A combination of declining consumer confidence and overall economic uncertainty is causing advertisers to reconsider. There is, after all, little point in extolling the virtues of any product to people who will not buy.
Putting its Money Where its Mouth Is
For those who question this development, consider what a couple of other IPG firms are doing in response. Both the Weber Shandwick Collective and Golin have both “paused” their memberships in the PR Council, reports noted. They are out of the organization for the next year, a move not considered a “crushing blow,” at least as far as Kim Sample, PR Council president, is concerned.
The cited reason is that IPG is actually in the process of being acquired by Omnicom Group, reports noted. This suggests a short-term pullback to save cash and determine which subordinate firms are even still in play following a likely reorganization. But for the PR Council, this also means the loss of around $100,000 in dues; both Weber Shandwick and Golin had over $60.1 million in annual revenue, which means both were paying $50,000 in dues each.
Is IPG a Good Stock?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Moderate Buy consensus rating on IPG stock based on four Buys and three Holds assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 15.47% loss in its share price over the past year, the average IPG price target of $34 per share implies 28.74% upside potential.
