Credit" Dmytro Koplyk via Unsplash
The divide between global advertising companies is now so large and deep that it’s impossible to ignore.
In past years there had been a hierarchy of size but the percentage growth gaps could only be determined with a fiscal microscope.
Now, the distance has widened between the haves, with revenue growth, and the have-nots sliding into the dark side of the spreadsheet, cutting thousands of staff and trying to catch up.
The December quarter 2025 earnings season exposed a three-tier hierarchy in global advertising.
Publicis Groupe at the pinnacle (+5.9%), followed by fellow France-based company Havas (+3.7%).
In the middle is Omnicom, in integration mode (+4%) and cutting $US1.5 billion into costs.
At the bottom are WPP (-5.4%) and Dentsu (at +0.5% but with its international business dragging on a profitable Japan market).
WPP and Dentsu are fighting on separate restructuring fronts, seeking a turnaround.
Across all five companies, three themes dominate.
AI-powered media is seen as a primary growth engine and, in some cases, a way to help lower overheads.
The client-agency commercial model is also being re-engineered from time-and-materials to outcome and performance-based pricing.
And generally, there’s a drive to integrated operating structures to eliminate internal silos.
At Publicis, growth is structural rather than cyclical, driven by data and technology.
"Since the rise of GenAI three years ago, we have consistently demonstrated that artificial intelligence is not a headwind for Publicis,” said CEO Arthur Sadoun.
“For us, it is actually a strategic driver of growth and margin expansion."
In a booming AI world, Publicis’ ambition is to be the MVP. In this case, not the most valuable player, but the most valuable partner for clients, its people and its shareholders.
“Let me break that down for you,” Sadoun told analysts in a briefing.
“First, being the MVP of our clients, means we want to be their indispensable partner in their agentic business transformation.
“No doubt, AI is going to revolutionise everything we do. But so far, it is difficult to scale, expensive to put in place and fails to deliver measurable value in 95% of cases.
“To cut the long story short, consumer adoption of AI is better and faster than company adoption.
“To realise the true potential of artificial intelligence, clients need partners that can build enterprise-grade AI solutions and leverage them to deliver profitable growth.
“Concretely, this means a partner that is able to implement the right tech infrastructure, build business agents on the top, put data at the core, orchestrate an agentic platform and leverage the best capabilities, particularly in media and creative for our sector.”
Havas posted 3.1% full-year organic growth, slightly above its own upgraded guidance.
The company's integrated client model resonates in the current environment, with major retentions — Hyundai/Kia via Innocean after 16-18 years, BBC — complementing wins including Emirates, the European Commission and The Travel Corporation, a client that had been in-housing work before returning to agency.
"We are very pleased to be the challenger,” said CEO Yannick Bolloré.
“It's clearly giving us an extra boost of energy."
Omnicom's underlying business performed about 4% organic growth in the December quarter on a like-for-like retained-portfolio basis, with media and experiential the standout.
However, the company's numbers are substantially obscured by the IPG integration.
Omnicom expects revenue growth of 4% this year and reports “solid progress” in cutting $1.5 billion in costs by mid-2028, including $US900 million in 2026 and $US1.3 billion in 2027.
The cuts focus includes offshoring, nearshoring, automation, real estate optimisation and “other measures”.
The combined Omnicom and Interpublic revenue was $US26.3 billion for the twelve months ended September 2025, the last period that each company reported standalone results.
"In all the major markets that we operate in, there has been a lot of enthusiasm... the attitude and the optimism that is shared all the way down through our employee base about what position Omnicom Group Inc. is in,” said CEO John Wren at an investor day presentation to market analysts.
WPP, the UK-based company, reported a -5.4% full-year revenue drop, and a steeper -6.9% in the December quarter, reflecting the effect of client losses that accumulated through 2024 and 2025, particularly in CPG, automotive, and tech across its US and UK markets.
New CEO Cindy Rose, who has been in the role for about six months, has revealed a wide ranging restructure, with siloed agencies in the frame and tweaked incentives to get staff to work together across business units.
"Our performance is not where it needs to be... after several years on the WPP board of directors, I took this role with a clear thesis in mind as to what we need to do differently,” Rose said.
WPP is seeking a return to growth, but that isn’t expected until sometime in 2027.
The advertising group, once the world’s largest, posted full year 2025 revenue of £13.55 billion, down 8.1% on a reported basis and down 3.6% like-for-like.
According to Rose, new business already secured in 2026 to February exceeded the total impact of wins for the whole of 2025.
In a plan called Elevate28, the company plans to get back to growth sometime in 2027 after GBP 500 million in cost cutting, merging back office functions, and consolidating leadership at global, regional and at market levels.
“WPP will no longer be a holding company,” said Rose, who has spent six months on a plan since replacing Mark Read last year.
In Japan, dentsu also has a new CEO, Takeshi Sano, the long time head of the domestic Japan business
Dentsu's 0.5% full-year organic growth masked significant regional divergence. Japan, which accounts for 42% of group net revenue, delivered 6.2% growth but all three international regions posted negative growth
Americas was down -3%, EMEA at -1.8% and APAC at -6.8%.
The company cancelled its year-end dividend for 2025 and has indicated no dividend for 2026, owing to the goodwill impairment's effect on distributable profits at the parent company level.
Dentsu, recording extraordinary losses and failing to hit forecasts, changed CEOs after writing down the value of its troubled international business by billions of dollars.
After replacing Hiroshi Igarashi as CEO, Sano has been cutting layers of management. He wants to be closer to the action, those executives who speak to clients.
Dentsu expects organic growth for 2026 to range from 0% to 1%, with the Japan business to grow by 2% to 3%. The international business is projected to be broadly flat.
The league table:
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