On Sunday Paris-based global advertising agency Publicis announced a deal to acquire data collaboration platform LiveRamp in an agreement valued at $2.2 billion.
The company said the buy will allow it to be a leader in so-called data co-creation, with LiveRamp’s platform will boost the data and collaboration underpinnings needed to help Publicis capitalize on, tap into and help shape agentic AI-enabled business changes for clients.
The all-cash $2.17 billion transaction, which is expected to close before year-end, is said to expand Publicis’ total addressable market (TAM) to new segments while also supporting existing advertising clients’ business growth via new datasets and more robust AI agents. Based on that Publicis raised its 2027-2028 outlook for net revenue and earnings per share growth.
“LiveRamp joining Publicis Groupe is the latest demonstration of our commitment to investing in new talent and innovation, ahead of market shifts,” commented Arthur Sadoun, chairman and CEO of Publicis Groupe in a statement. “After acquiring Epsilon in 2019 in the name of personalization at scale and enabling our clients to take back control of their data from the walled gardens, by shifting from cookies to identity, once again we are looking ahead to what’s next.”
In a video discussing the deal, Publicis explained how part of the strategic rationale for the agreement is about investing and creating the data foundation of “agentic transformation.”
Part of that involves bringing together different and unique data sets in a secure, interoperable manner and leading in “data co-creation to fuel more intelligent agents for our clients to thrive in this AI world,” Sadoun said.
So what does LiveRamp bring to the table?
It’s a data collaboration platform that allows companies to connect, unify and activate data across the digital ecosystem, with interoperability baked in. It connects data across all major cloud environments while protecting against exposure of sensitive data.
LiveRamp’s platform connects over 25,000 publisher domains and more than 500 data and technology partners across 14 markets. It already counts over 800 clients, including more than 25% of Fortune 500 companies across advertisers, retailers, publishers, platforms and more – enabling them to collaborate and connect data efficiently and securely.
Related Agentic AI comes into play for CTV ad planning, buying
Following the acquisition, LiveRamp will continue to be led by CEO Scott Howe, who will report to Publicis CEO Sadoun. The company will continue to operate as a neutral, interoperable platform and no current or prospective customer will be prohibited or restricted from using its services.
As for Publicis, it expects to quickly unite and deploy LiveRamps’s capabilities globally, adding it to the company’s ecosystem of Publicis’ Sapient, Epsilon (identity solution) and Marcel (agentic platform that activates the co-created data across clients’ enterprise functions).
“By building the future of data co-creation, we’re empowering our clients to generate new, exclusive and proprietary data, to build the smartest, most differentiated AI agents on top of the leading LLMs,” Sadoun commented. “It will be valuable for our clients’ business growth, and a new addressable market for Publicis.”
Helping build, connect datasets for AI agents securely
Agentic AI is abuzz throughout the CTV and ad tech industries, including agents for media planning, optimizing and buying.
However, as earlier survey research from MediaOcean found, while many marketers and advertisers appear interested in AI and agentic capabilities, the introduction brings its own concerns and complexities – particularly when trying to orchestrate AI systems and data across different platforms.
When MediaOcean’s findings released at the start of the year, AI and cross-platform orchestration debuted as two new categories that are considered critical ad capabilities and media investments to more than one-third of marketers, each cited by 39% of respondents.
“The rise of AI and orchestration marks a turning point, signaling that marketers are no longer just optimizing channel by channel, but architecting the unified, intelligent systems required for durable advantage in an increasingly fragmented market,” wrote MediaOcean.
And getting insights out of AI with infrastructure that can interoperate and be integrated with existing processes is also top of mind.
In terms of adopting genAI more broadly within marketing workflows, the No. 2 most-cited barrier in MediaOcean’s survey was difficulty connecting AI insights across multiple systems at 41%, while integration challenges with existing tech stacks followed closely at 39%.
With LiveRamp, Publicis in part looks to be trying to securely connect disparate systems and improve the underlying data to help clients build better agents.
In terms of “data co-creation,” Publicis defined this as the process “by which companies connect multiple high-value data sources across partners in a secure environment.”
By doing so it creates new data assets “that the companies could not build alone” which become “a proprietary asst that drives a competitive edge for clients…”
Closing the gap on AI investment and return
In the video discussing the deal, Publicis leaders noted an “AI Paradox” – whereby over $1 trillion is expected in AI investment, but only 5% of that delivers material value, highlighting a significant gap.
Per Publicis, the problem with agentic development isn’t the AI itself, but rather the data foundation, as most systems are relying on legacy or old data, as well as generic datasets that become commoditized and don’t provide competitive distinctions or advantages.
“The fundamental issue is that the agents that companies are building today do not have the data required to compete and grow their business,” said Carla Serrano, CSO of Publicis, Groupe, in the video.
With LiveRamp it aims to help clients have that robust data so they can build AI agents with more intelligence and close the gap between AI investment and return, she continued.
And when coupled with Epsilon’s identity, LiveRamp’s collaborative clean rooms, data connectivity, marketplace and partner and agent network will help underpin that data co-creation. Publicis said that will enable clients to do the following: Collaborate with great speed, security and scale; generate proprietary intelligence by creating new data assets from unique combinations of signals and sets; and continuously train and fuel AI models by powering enterprise-grade AI agents with anonymized, integrated, dynamic co-created data.
“We are thrilled to announce our agreement with Publicis, marking the beginning of an exciting new chapter for LiveRamp and all our stakeholders,” stated Howe. “Our customers and partners have always been our North Star, and by joining forces with Publicis, we will have greater resources and flexibility to scale our business, continue innovating our platform, and help them unlock even greater value from their data.”