Q2 Earnings Recap: Scale, AI, and Retail Media Redraw the Industry Map
This quarter’s earnings season confirmed what Q1 only hinted at: the marketing and advertising landscape is splitting in two. On one side, platforms with scale and data — Meta, Alphabet, Amazon, Netflix, Reddit, and now Walmart — are compounding their advantages with AI, retail media, and closed ecosystems. On the other, legacy holdcos and independents are scrambling to reinvent themselves, consolidate, or simply hold on.
To fully capture how the market is evolving, we’ve expanded our analysis to include two new, critical players: Accenture and Walmart.
Why the change?
Accenture is one of the world’s largest agencies. Omitting them from our cohort felt like leaving out a core piece of the industry’s massive shift toward integrated services. (And yes, we might be a little biased — after all, we sold a creative company to Accenture Song in August.)
Walmart is quietly becoming a dominant force in digital advertising. With Walmart Connect and the Vizio acquisition, they are completely reshaping how retail media and Connected TV collide. We expect Walmart to be an increasingly central part of the conversation going forward.
Standouts:
Meta (+21% ad revenue) and Alphabet (+14% total revenue) proved AI isn’t a future bet—it’s already fueling engagement, pricing power, and margins.
Amazon (+23% ad revenue) and Netflix (ad revenue doubled) reinforced streaming and retail media as the new profit engines.
Reddit shocked the market with +78% revenue growth and its first profit, proving its dual play of ads and data licensing is working.
Challenged players: The Trade Desk (–39% stock drop despite a beat), WPP (–4.3% organic revenue), and Snap (+9% revenue but lowered guidance) underscore the risks of standing outside walled gardens or depending too heavily on brand spend.
The Bigger Picture:
Q2 confirmed that patience and scale compound just as quickly as neglect. Those investing in AI, retail media, and streaming are pulling away. Those waiting for macro relief or efficiency plays may find themselves on the wrong side of an “overnight” collapse years in the making.
This recap doesn’t even scratch the surface. Be sure to download our complimentary Q2 Earnings Analysis report here for the full story — including sector deep-dives, stock performance, and the M&A moves shaping tomorrow’s ad industry.
