This Media Buying Briefing covers the latest in agency news and media buying for Digiday+ members and is distributed over email every Monday at 10 a.m. ET. More from the series →The recent sentencing of a former WPP Media executive on bribery charges and the collapse of Meta’s acquisition of AI company Manus provide clear signs that the ad dollar’s ability to vault borders has reached its limit in China.A decade ago, holding company chiefs looked eastward from New York and London in the belief that China’s runaway economy and massive consumer base would provide them with the sustainable growth increasingly hard to guarantee shareholders in the mature digital markets where they were headquartered. Western creatives and media planners could learn from superapps, Singles Day and China’s distinct influencer (or “key opinion leaders,” as they’re typically called throughout the Asia-Pacific region, referred here as KOLs) and e-commerce sector.
Back in 2015, then-WPP boss Sir Martin Sorrell declared himself a “raging bull” for the Chinese economy, while the British agency group then pulled in around $1.5 billion in revenue from the country. More than a decade later, the company he once led projected the Chinese ad market to grow 6.7% in 2026, but its own revenue in the country fell 12.2% in the first quarter of this year and has been contracting since 2021. Sorrell, now leading S4 Capital, has since switched his enthusiasm to India.
