Three of the four major ad holding companies reported Q2 earnings last week with mixed results. 

And Wall Street remains disappointed.  

Shares of Interpublic, which reported losing ground from an organic growth standpoint for the second straight quarter, are down 20% over the last five days. 

Omnicom Group reported some growth but slower than expected. Its shares are down 15% over the last five days.  

Of the holding companies reporting Q2 results so far, Publicis Groupe turned in the best performance with 7.1% growth, maintaining the level it achieved in Q1.  

But sector performance sent its shares down as well—3.4% over 5 days.  

And WPP, which doesn’t report Q2 results until next month has also been dragged down 5% over the last five days.  

While results varied, ad industry consultant (and former president of GroupM’s Business Intelligence unit) Brian Wieser notes some common themes, “such as reference to marketers delaying their budget commitments in the face of uncertainty and weakness in spending from technology and telecom companies.” 

He also noted IPG’s acknowledgement that it was reconsidering becoming a principal-based media seller (i.e. buying media and reselling it to clients).  

The practice, he noted, has become a “useful new revenue stream that is already an important component of results at Omnicom and Publicis.”