Madison & Wall Expands Forecasting, Analysis and Advisory Services Globally With Hire of WARC’s James McDonald

Madison & Wall Expands Forecasting, Analysis and Advisory Services Globally With Hire of WARC’s James McDonaldMadison & Wall now covers the top global advertising markets: U.S., Canada, U.K., Germany, France, Australia, Brazil, India, Japan, and South Korea, with plans to expand to 50 markets during 2027.Madison & Wall, a data, research and strategy consultancy for the media, advertising and technology industries, today announced an expansion of its global advertising market coverage and the hiring of James McDonald, who joins the firm from WARC as managing director, global markets, and Michael Leszega, CFA, who joins from MAGNA as senior analyst.The expansion builds on Madison & Wall’s existing focus on the U.S. and Canadian advertising industries, the global agency industry and the companies whose businesses depend on marketing investments. It also bolsters Madison & Wall’s unique proposition as a firm led by financial analysts who integrate best-in-class industry data with syndicated research and advisory services.The new appointments will help Madison & Wall deepen that coverage over time, with plans to expand to 50 markets and add ongoing written research and analysis. The firm is releasing a new global advertising forecast today, covering the top markets across North America, Europe, APAC and LATAM.“Over the past three years we've been building out world-class capabilities to analyze and advise on the global advertising economy,” said Brian Wieser, CFA, founder and CEO of Madison & Wall. “With James and Michael joining us we will have, by far, more collective expertise forecasting the advertising economy than any other firm on earth.”McDonald joins from WARC, where he has spent more than a decade building and leading advertising data products and market intelligence offerings. His work has focused on advertising investment, media consumption, media costs and ROI across 100 markets worldwide. He has worked closely with advertisers, agencies, media companies and industry bodies across the U.K., Europe and other global markets.McDonald will lead the firm’s development of a broader global research platform, including new datasets, market analysis, visualization tools and client-facing products designed to make Madison & Wall’s research more accessible and actionable.His areas of focus will include: the creator economy; advertiser-level spending segmented across product categories and verticals; and tools that allow clients to access and use data more directly within their existing workflows.The opportunity to help build Madison & Wall’s global data and research platform drew McDonald to the firm after more than a decade at WARC.“WARC has been like family to me, and I never expected to leave,” McDonald said. “But I believe deeply in what Brian, Luke and the team are building at Madison & Wall. The advertising economy is becoming more complex, more global and more dependent on high-quality data. There is a real need for independent analysis, rigorous datasets and practical insights that help companies make better decisions in a fast-changing market,” he added.McDonald began his career at Informa, where he advised clients including Sony, Paramount and Warner Bros., before joining WARC in 2013. At WARC, he helped grow the company’s advertising data offering into an international product focused on advertising data leveraged by the world’s largest brands, agencies and media owners, as well as central banks and governments. He holds a degree-level qualification in machine learning, data engineering and DevOps, and recently led the development and successful launch of WARC's global Media product in March.Leszega joins from MAGNA, where he worked alongside Stillman for 11 years and helped bolster the firm’s U.S. intelligence by analyzing, modeling, publishing and presenting research on the U.S. advertising market.“As James said, the advertising economy is becoming increasingly complex, with interesting new channels emerging and consequential trends shaping this trillion dollar global market. There’s a need for deep, insightful analysis,” Leszega said. “I’m thrilled to join the team at Madison & Wall and have the opportunity to leverage my experience to help build out its research offering. I’m so excited to reunite with Luke and finally get the chance to work with Brian.”The firm’s latest expansion follows the additions of Luke Stillman, CFA, who joined as managing director in 2025 from MAGNA, and Greg McLelland, the company’s global chief revenue officer, who also joined in 2025 as general manager of Canada and CRO advisory practice lead.At MAGNA, Stillman established one of the industry’s primary global sources for digital advertising data, oversaw forecasting of client billings covering more than $10 billion annually and led an internal consulting practice serving publishers, ad tech platforms and brands.Stillman serves as a lead voice on Madison & Wall’s current U.S. and global advertising forecasts, while McDonald will focus on expanding global coverage, deepening written research and analysis, and helping build new data products and tools for clients.Together, the analysts will increase Madison & Wall’s capacity to provide independent market intelligence to senior decision-makers across the global advertising economy.About Madison & WallFounded in 2023 by Brian Wieser, CFA, Madison & Wall is a data, research and strategy consultancy for the media, advertising and technology industries. The firm provides proprietary research, market forecasts, analysis and consulting services to senior decision-makers across advertising, media, technology, marketing services and investment communities.Madison & Wall’s work is informed by Wieser’s experience across Wall Street, Madison Avenue and ad tech, including prior roles at Lehman Brothers, Deutsche Bank, Pivotal Research, WPP’s GroupM, Interpublic’s MAGNA and Simulmedia. Through its research, advisory work and publishing platform, Madison & Wall helps companies understand how advertising money moves, how markets are changing and what those shifts mean for strategy, investment and growth. Learn more at MadisonAndWall.Com. Madison & Wall testimonials can be found at MadisonAndWall.Com/Testimonials. Brian Wieserbrian@madisonandwall.comOlivia Morleyolivia@madisonandwall.comView source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260616632059/en/

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