RECMA has released yet another correction to its 2012 media agency billings list. It now appears that there is little daylight between Mitchells, MediaCom and OMD at the top of the pile.
The second RECMA revision puts MediaCom billings at $1.263 billion, up from $1.182 billion in the first revision. That is $48m higher than the first set of figures released by RECMA in July, which estimated MediaCom's 2012 billings at $1.215bn. As well as finding more billings for MediaCom, RECMA has also given the agency a 'Dominant' profile on its list.
It is hoped that the third set of results, which led to first Mitchells and then MediaCom contacting RECMA about its estimates, will be the final set for 2012 billings.
What happened?
In July, RECMA released figures which put MediaCom in the number one position, with $1.215 billion in billings, ahead of OMD at $1.201 billion and Mitchells at $887 million.
Then in August, RECMA sent out a correction to media agencies announcing that it had recalculated and found another $378 million in billings for Mitchell & Partners, taking the agency to $1.265 billion in billings and top of the tree. It is thought that some of the extra revenue came from big retail accounts that now reside within Carat but that had sat within Mitchells during the billing perod.
OMD's billings were also revised shifted to the top of the list to $1.262 billion. Conversely, MediaCom's billings were pushed down to $1.182.
Last week RECMA has released another correction, leaving Mitchells and OMD's numbers unchanged but uplifting MediaComs. The latest figures, following MediaCom questioning RECMA's methodology, mean that Mitchells ($1.265 billion), MediaCom ($1.263 billion) and OMD ($1.262 billion) can now all claim to be the biggest agencies.
When RECMA released its previous correction, it reignited the debate over its validity as a metric, with a number of agency heads questioning the accuracy of the RECMA figures.
When asked about the latest results, MediaCom chief executive Mark Pejic said the firm was "proud to be restored to our position at the top. We have fine competitors in OMD and Mitchells". He also pointed out that the agency is “still the only agency with a 'Dominant' profile in the Australian marketplace”.
OMD chief executive Peter Horgan said his position, that "scale is one dimensional" was unchanged from the last RECMA revision. "We take these figures with a pinch of salt. It's just one linear measure for us."
Mitchell & Partners had not provided comment at the time of writing.
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