According to the latest global media agency study Final 2023 Global New Business Barometer published by COMvergence, Wavemaker came out as the #1 global media agency network with a total new business value of +$2.4B including retentions ($1.7B, of which Perfetti and Church & Dwight global, Huawei in China, and Adobe in the US).
OMD ranks #2, scoring the largest amount of new client wins (+$1.7B) notably due to several sizeable global wins (including Beiersdorf, Tchibo, Under Armour, Vans and Versuni). Spark Foundry takes the 3rd position, following strong new business results in the US.
However, in terms of net new business (excluding retentions), Spark Foundry shows the best score among the top 20 media agency networks, with an incremental total billing of +$1.3B; followed by OMD (+$970M net) and Hearts & Science (+$870M net).
At the group level, Publicis Media leads both rankings, in total (incl. retentions) as well as in net, scoring the largest totals of new client wins (+$5B) and retentions ($2.9B) – alongside with GroupM.
Also, OMG ranks 2nd in both rankings with a total net new billings of +$2.85B. Whilst Mediabrands takes the 3rd place in terms of net new billings with a total of +$2B (including US massive wins of Geico, Constellation Brands, and Bristol Myers Squibb). And when including retentions, GroupM ranks 3rd after successfully defending $2.9B of existing client billings in 2023.
In 2023, COMvergence assessed 4,380 media account moves and retentions (2,790 advertisers in total) across 48 countries totaling $35B (+9% vs. 2022). The US accounts for 37% of the total spend reviewed globally.
Local pitches represent 55% of the total reviewed spend amounting to $19B.
The average retention rate is only 25% (vs. 34% in 2022). It is the lowest rate since 2016. Wavemaker, Mediaplus, Zenith and OMD have been the most successful agency networks to retain their client relationships, whilst Publicis Media scored the best retention rate among the Big 6 groups (61%).
The largest global and multi-country reviews resulted in $16B. The 20 largest reviews include:
About $4.2B (10%) of the total reviewed spend were won by alternative solutions / standalone agencies from the media agency networks owned by the Big 6 groups. Most of them being US top advertisers (BMS, BMW, Geico, LVMH, Pfizer, Signet Jewelers or Walgreens).
Of the total media spend reviewed in 2023, $5.2B (or 15%) went to independent agencies or in-house. Horizon Media, the largest independent agency worldwide, contributed 30% of the total figure.
Sources: Information on account moves is derived from industry news websites and then validated by all the agencies studied (a total of 900+ agencies across 48 countries cooperating with COMvergence).