Accenture lifted revenue at its advertising arm Song by 8% to $US20 billion in the full 2025 financial, as the consulting firm reported increasing new business from gen AI.
The group, releasing full year results, was light on details about its advertising business.
However, a presentation to market analysts showed Song with “mid single-digit growth” for the fourth quarter.
This indicated a slowing in growth rates for Song, whose estimated revenue for the 2024 financial year was $US$19 billion, up 7%, and $US18 billion, up 14%, the year before.
But Accenture is upbeat about Song.
CEO Julie Sweet said an important part of the growth strategy is to be relevant to the core of client industries, such as digital manufacturing.
“Industry X (a hub for engineering and technology innovation) grew 10% and Song grew 8% in FY25,” she told analysts in a briefing.
“Both follow a similar pattern of needing a strong digital core and reinvention.
“The digitisation of digital manufacturing and engineering and the use of AI and data to reinvent customer experience is still in the early days.
“We're seeing strong demand across both areas and continue to invest both organically and inorganically.
“For example, we recently acquired Momentum ABM in the UK and Superdigital in the US, extending our edge in B2B and social and influencer marketing.”
Song has been moved into a new business unit, Reinvention Services. Accenture from September 1 brought services including strategy, consulting, Song, technology and operations together into a single “integrated” business.
The change came as Australian David Droga, the founder of creative shop Droga5, stood down as CEO of Accenture Song to become vice chair of the global consultancy as a whole.
Accenture earlier this year announced a $3 billion investment in AI.
In the latest results, the group reported new booking for generative AI at $1.8 billion for the quarter and $5.9 billion for the year.
“While still in the early stages, gen AI technology is maturing rapidly, and we believe it will be a significant source of value for us and our clients over time,” Sweet said.
“We now have about 300 projects. And I want to share a little colour on how this demand is coming through. We have projects across all our industries, with banking, public service, consumer goods and utilities leading in activity.
“Clients are doing a variety of different types of work, from strategy and use case implementations; to tech enablement; to scaling; to model customisation, tuning and training; to talent and responsible AI.
“For example, we're working with a multinational telecom company, Telefonica Brasil, also known as Vivo, to deliver a generative AI solution that helps its agents respond quicker to landlords' queries about property rental contracts for network towers.
“Some of the key ingredients of our success in gen AI are, first, ecosystem partnerships. As always, we are starting with deep relationships and leadership in the ecosystem from the hyperscalers to the model builders, to the start-ups and academics.
“It is important to emphasise that we are early in the maturity of gen AI for enterprise; and our depth, experience and insight on these platforms is essential to guiding our clients.
“We start with a deep technical knowledge and understanding of AI and gen AI and blend that with our industry and functional expertise to know how to reinvent across the enterprise, including processes and operating models, bringing together the depth and breadth of our expertise.
And that is where Accenture is different, building the bridge from as is to the future. And we have already trained approximately 600,000 of our people in the fundamentals of AI.”
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