This Ad Tech Briefing covers the latest in ad tech and platforms for Digiday+ members and is distributed over email every Tuesday at 10 a.m. ET. More from the series →Publicis Groupe’s strategic rationale for acquiring LiveRamp for $2.1767 billion appears to center on accelerating its shift toward data-driven, higher-margin, “principal” operating models while tightening control over identity, addressability and closed-loop measurement.It’s a deal that’s also likely to have a downstream impact for LiveRamp’s relationships with rival holding companies, especially as its former parent company, Acxiom – the pair separated as part of Acxiom’s $2.3 billion sale to IPG – integrates into the largest holding company of them all, Omnicom.
Related Insights: Will Publicis Groupe keep exploring M&A, or does it need to focus on what it’s already got?
It also brings to an end LiveRamp’s quest for an exit, with several sources telling Digiday that it held merger-and-acquisition talks with Experian in 2023. Of course, it’s not the first time this year that Publicis and LiveRamp have been mentioned in the same headline, with the duo announcing an agreement at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show.
However, separate sources, who declined to be named to maintain industry relationships, said the announcement of the January tie-up was likely a face-saving measure after earlier hopes of a purchase didn’t materialize. ‘Everyone knew they were talking,” added one source speaking with Digiday in the days after this year’s CES. “I think it was very much in the works, and then [an all-out purchase] fell through.”
