Entertainment titan Paramount has fired WPP Media, its media agency of record, after more than two decades of working together. Deadline first reported the news.
The entertainment giant’s media business will now be managed by Publicis. The changeup is not the result of an agency review, and reportedly came as a surprise to many, according to Deadline.
Paramount, WPP, and Publicis declined to comment.
The decision was made as Paramount’s planned merger with Skydance Media, first announced last July, remains pending. David Ellison, founder of Skydance Media and son of Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, is set to lead the merged company as chairman and chief executive
Though the merger has received regulatory green lights from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the European Commission, lingering uncertainty around FCC approval and an unresolved lawsuit levied by Donald Trump against Paramount’s CBS continue to cast a shadow over the deal’s timeline—and its ultimate fate.
As it readies for the possible merger that’s awaiting final approvals, Paramount may be particularly cost-conscious right now. Company leaders have suggested that the decision was part of a cost-cutting effort, Deadline reported.
Paramount has worked with WPP’s media arm since 2004, when it tapped the agency then called Mediaedge:cia to manage its media planning and buying business. Mediaedge:cia rebranded as MEC in 2010 and in 2017 merged with Maxus to form Wavemaker. Wavemaker, still under WPP ownership, expanded its work with the entertainment conglomerate in 2021, when Paramount-owned ViacomCBS appointed Wavemaker as its media agency.
In May, WPP consolidated its various media investment operations under the new brand WPP Media, retiring the GroupM name.
