"The UK advertising industry continues to show mixed signals, according to the IPA Agency Census 2025. The total workforce at member agencies fell 6.8% year on year to 24,963, driven by a 14.3% decline at creative and non-media agencies. The census reflects a broader slowdown in hiring even as gender and ethnic representation showed modest improvement. In regulatory news, Apple and Google have formally agreed to reform their app store practices in the UK, marking the first commitments under the country's new digital markets regime."
"Meta on the other hand faces EU antitrust scrutiny over restrictions on AI competitors within WhatsApp, pushing back against regulatory claims, while Alphabet's AI investments continue to accelerate. Finally, on the AI front, Alibaba made a major splash in China. Its Qwen chatbot vaulted to the top of China's Apple App Store rankings after a high-profile giveaway campaign, overtaking Tencent Holdings' Yuanbao in hours."
"Alphabet is making headlines in debt markets as it prepares to issue a rare 100-year sterling-denominated bond part of an expanded borrowing strategy to fund soaring AI investment. The company is also preparing to issue bonds denominated in Swiss francs, according to people familiar with the matter. Restructuring and antitrust tensions also persist across Big Tech. Ad tech firm Scope3 implemented another round of redundancies, its second in under six months, as it refocuses on agentic media capabilities."
UK advertising agencies saw a 6.8% year-on-year fall in total workforce to 24,963, driven by a 14.3% decline at creative and non-media agencies, alongside modest gains in gender and ethnic representation. Apple and Google agreed to change app store practices in the UK as part of the new digital markets regime. Meta faces EU antitrust scrutiny over WhatsApp restrictions on AI competitors. Alphabet is increasing AI investment and preparing long-term and Swiss-franc bond issuances to fund that spending. Alibaba’s Qwen chatbot rapidly topped China’s App Store after a giveaway, and Scope3 implemented further redundancies.
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