‘Trump tariffs’ earnings season recap: Insights for media buyers from 8 key companies
Illustration by Nick DeSantis / Getty / Shutterstock / The Current
The most important earnings season since COVID-19 is wrapping up, and it’s already shaping expectations for the rest of the year amid global economic uncertainty.
The key takeaway: President Donald Trump’s tariffs introduced major disruption across sectors. But according to some of the most influential companies in the advertising world, ad spend seems to be holding up remarkably well.
From streaming to agencies to bellwethers like Procter & Gamble, here’s what eight companies had to say about their first three months of business this year — and what it means for media buyers.
Netflix
Key quote: “We do have an ambition to achieve that same level of sophistication and maturity capability that we did on the personalized recommendations in the ad space.” — Greg Peters, co-CEO
What that means: Netflix is looking to bring the same cutting-edge tech that powers its content recommendations into its ad operation. “That means matching the right ad with the right audience, the right viewer and the right title,” Peters said.
What that looks like: At its upfronts, Netflix unveiled a set of ad tech enhancements, including a proprietary clean room and a GenAI ad format that blends “advertisers’ ads with the worlds of our shows.”
On the upfronts: Despite economic jitters, Netflix hasn’t seen “signs of softness” from media buyers ahead of the upfronts, Peters noted. Maybe that’s because of the company’s 94 million monthly active users on its ad-supported plan.
Disney
Key quote: “ESPN’s Q2 prime-time audience among the key 18 to 49 demographic was up 32%, making it ESPN’s most-watched Q2 in prime time ever.” — Bob Iger, CEO
Why that matters: Riding high on strong viewership figures, Disney announced robust pricing for its new ESPN streaming service — $29.99 a month (though still a steal compared to sports cable packages, which can top $100 per month).
What else: In February, Disney forecasted 3% growth in ad revenue this year. It now thinks it will push past that figure. “Advertisers are certainly demanding what we can offer,” CFO Hugh Johnston said.
The New York Times
Key quote: “We’ve got a suite of high-performing, well-honed ad products, and we’re still in the relatively early days of extending those products across the portfolio.” — Meredith Kopit Levien, president and CEO
What that looks like: At NewFronts, the Times announced that it’s expanding BrandMatch — its GenAI-powered targeting tool — beyond news to include sports (The Athletic), shopping advice (Wirecutter), cooking and games.
A rare sight: Even the Times acknowledged advertisers’ hesitance to buy ads around hard news. Still, its ad revenues increased more than 4%, signaling continued appetite for premium, trusted content.
The Trade Desk
Key quote: “Programmatic advertising is extremely agile. Because our technology buys one impression at a time and evaluates every single impression, we can adjust quickly.” — Jeff Green, co-founder and CEO
Why that matters: Green noted that headwinds have historically “accelerated the move to programmatic because of its data, its control, its agility and, of course, its performance.”
In today’s unpredictable environment, those characteristics will likely be assets to CMOs and CFOs trying to do more with less. The company posted 25% year-over-year revenue growth.
What’s new: Transparency will be just as important as agility moving forward. The company just announced OpenSincera, a free application that shows ad experience metrics, such as ads-to-content ratios. It also comes with a free, public API.
Publicis
Key quote: “Many of our clients are facing a very challenging situation due to uncertainty on tariffs, rising inflation and a geopolitical complex that is more volatile than ever.” — Arthur Sadoun, CEO
Digging deeper: The company’s slew of account wins lifted revenue this quarter. But Sadoun warned clients could cut ad spend going forward. Those worries were echoed by other holding companies in their respective earning calls.
Still… The Trump administration may start cutting more trade deals soon: A deal with the U.K. is done. A 90-day tariff truce with China is in place. That could bode well for global ad spend.
Procter & Gamble
Key quote: “We will not cut to save the bottom line for a quarter only to lose momentum for the year.” — Andre Schulten, CFO
What that looks like: P&G knows the value of maintaining marketing spend even in uncertain times — after all, it’s been around almost 200 years.
“Innovation is best supported with strong communication. So, media, advertising to our consumers is the primary vehicle of investment,” Schulten said.
Changing consumer behavior: Consumers have been hit “with a lot,” said the CFO. That’s driving them to “search for the best value,” he added: “Shifting into online, shifting into big box retailers and shifting into the club channel in the U.S. specifically.”
Key quote: “For AI Overviews overall, we see the monetization at approximately the same rate [as Search].” — Philipp Schindler, SVP and chief business officer
Digging deeper: When pressed on AI Overviews ad performance, Schindler said, “I don’t think this is the moment to go into the details of click-through rates and conversion and so on. But overall, we’re happy with what we’re seeing.”
In case you missed it: Google Network’s ad revenue dropped 2% year over year, even as its total ad revenue rose 8%.
Could AI Overviews be diverting monetizable traffic away from publishers and into Google-owned properties? It’s a trend to watch.
Key quote: “Reddit’s open nature is essential. It allows our content to surface across the open web and be easily found in search,” — Steve Huffman, co-founder and CEO
What else: Huffman said that users go to Reddit “for real opinions from real people.”
The focus on “real” stands in contrast to the AI-populated world of social media: Researchers recently found that on X, 20% of “chatter … about global events” came from bots. Meta, meanwhile, greenlit AI-created profiles on Facebook and Instagram late last year.
Advertisers seem to agree: The company reported a 61% year over year increase in ad revenue.
Fox
Key quote: “We do not want to lose a traditional cable subscriber to Fox One.” — Lachlan Murdoch, executive chair and CEO
What is Fox One? It’s Fox’s new direct-to-consumer streaming service that will include all of Fox’s offerings, including sports. It’s slated to launch before the start of the NFL season in the fall.
Why that comment matters: The company still gets lots of viewers from linear TV — Murdoch said Fox’s prime-time cable news audience share is “in the 60% range.”
But Fox One is squarely aimed at “cord-cutters and cord-nevers alike,” and will feature “advanced personalization technology” (read: a content recommendation engine) as well as live and video on-demand content.
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