OMD came out as the top global media agency network with a total new business value of $US1.4 billion, according to the latest New Business Barometer published by COMvergence for January and September.
The agency clocked new client wins including Beiersdorf, Bimbo, Uber and Under Armour.
Wavemaker ranked second with total new business value of $1.3 billion after successfully retaining about $1 billion in billings from marketers such as Huawei and Xiaomi in China, and Adobe in the US.
PHD ($964 million) and Hearts & Science ($913 million) follow.
Excluding retentions, OMD, PHD and Hearts & Science had the highest incremental billings growth among global media agency networks during the first three quarters of 2023.
Olivier Gauthier, COMvergence founder and CEO, says this marks the first time any media group had all of its agency brands topping the agency network ranking since the Media Agency New Business Barometer was first published in 2017.
At the group level, OMG and Publicis Media both rank first with a new business value of +$3.3 billion, including retentions, and +2.5 billion in net billings gain.
Mediabrands takes third place particularly due to strong results in the US (including wins of Geico, Constellation Brands, and Bristol Myers Squibb).
Between January and September 2023, COMvergence assessed 2,250 media account moves and retentions (1,700 advertisers in total) across 47 countries totaling $23.1B (+5% vs. Q1-Q3 2022).
The US accounts for 39% of the total spend reviewed globally.
During this period the average retention rate was only 21% (vs. 34% in Q1-Q3 2022). It is the lowest rate since 2016.
“Hearts & Science and Wavemaker have been the most successful agency networks to retain their client relationships over this period, whilst OMG scored the best retention rate among the ‘Big 6’ groups (44%),” says Gauthier.
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