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# You Don't Have To Be An Oracle To Know That Digital Advertising Is Brutal
- URL: https://tvrev2beta2.ghost.io/you-dont-have-to-be-an-oracle-to-know-that-digital-advertising-is-brutal/
- Published: 2024-06-13T20:51:52.000Z
- Updated: 2024-06-13T20:51:52.000Z
- Author: Mike Shields
- Tags: Oracle, adobe, IBM, AT&T, Verizon, Google, Meta, digital advertising, Retail Media, #sqs, #Import 2026-09-03 21:06

Advertising isn't for everybody.

Nearly a decade ago, I wrote a trend piece for the Wall Street Journal titled ["Marketing Cloud Companies Blow Into Cannes"](https://www.wsj.com/articles/BL-269B-3793?ref=tvrev2beta2.ghost.io). As data management and customer data platforms quickly became digital marketing staples, Oracle, Adobe, IBM and others were coming on strong. A few years and multiple acquisitions ago, Adobe pulled the plug. You don't hear from IBM much these days, and now Oracle has just bailed, as a $2 billion business suddenly became $300 million.

Advertising is a challenging nut to crack, even for deep pocketed companies seemingly built on technological prowess.

Just ask the phone companies. Just a few years ago, Verizon went big into ads, buying up AOL and Yahoo. We all know about AT&T's misadventures. And while T-Mobile is still hanging in there, a few weeks ago [Erickson shuttered its attempt to marry wireless data with ad targeting](https://www.businessinsider.com/ericsson-to-shut-emodo-advertising-divison-2024-6?ref=tvrev2beta2.ghost.io). Singtel did the same two years ago.

There are different reasons for why all these examples ultimately didn't work, but it often starts with where advertising fits inside of a company. It's not an easy thing to excel at when its not your core, especially when you are competing with titans like Google, Meta, The Trade Desk and so on - and *all they do* is ads.

I'm not saying this history will repeat itself - but it could be a cautionary tale for all these companies pushing into retail media. You've got to be all in, or ok with a lot of spending and potential losses for a while.

**Dig Deeper With These Links:**

- [Oracle is Shutting Down its Ad Business](https://www.adweek.com/programmatic/oracle-is-shutting-down-its-ad-business/?ref=tvrev2beta2.ghost.io) \- Catherine Perloff \[Adweek\]
- [Why Oracle is shutting down its advertising business, which once brought in billions in revenue](https://www.businessinsider.com/oracle-shuts-down-advertising-business-after-spending-over-four-billion-2024-6?ref=tvrev2beta2.ghost.io) \- Lauren Johnson \[Business Insider\]
- [Why Adobe’s Ad Business Never Took Flight; Why Data Ethicists Hope FLoC Never Will](https://www.adexchanger.com/ad-exchange-news/tuesday-06052021/?ref=tvrev2beta2.ghost.io) \- \[AdExchanger\]
- [Pinterest Launches AI Ad Format it Plans to Showcase at Cannes](https://adage.com/article/digital-marketing-ad-tech-news/pinterest-launches-ai-ad-format-it-plans-showcase-cannes/2564996?ref=tvrev2beta2.ghost.io) \- Asa Hiken \[Ad Age\]
- [Ericsson is shutting down its ad division, the latest in a long line of telco-adtech divorces](https://www.businessinsider.com/ericsson-to-shut-emodo-advertising-divison-2024-6?ref=tvrev2beta2.ghost.io) \- Lara O’Reilly \[Business Insider\]
- [This Is Yahoo's More Transparent Answer to Set-It-and-Forget-It Tools: Blueprint Performance](https://www.adweek.com/programmatic/this-is-yahoos-more-transparent-answer-to-set-it-and-forget-it-tools-blueprint-performance/?ref=tvrev2beta2.ghost.io) \- Trisha Ostwal \[Adweek\]