Global intelligence firm ComVergence has released its twice-annual New Business Barometer, which ranks agencies based on both new business they’ve won and accounts they’ve retained.
The results show that WPP’s Mediacom dominated globally, while in Canada, Carat reigned supreme.
The global report (which covers the first six months of 2018 and includes additional information on regional markets), is based off of assessments of 915 media account moves and retentions across 31 countries. Using ad spend figures (deflated in most markets) sourced from both Kantar and Nielsen Media (both of which have a strategic partnership with ComVergence), the firm gathered information on transactions and wins from industry news websites, all of which were validated by the agencies in cooperation with ComVergence.
The total number of moves and retentions studied represented a value of US$12.2 billion.
Local pitches and moves generated 75% of that total, while major global and regional reviews contributed $3 billion. Most of the biggest accounts were for U.S. advertisers. Approximately 10% of accounts in review were won by independent media agencies, although none of those indie wins took place in Canada.
Canadian results
Dentsu shop Carat took the #1 spot for new business with $36 million (U.S.) in wins and retentions. That was followed by Touché ($21 million), Dentsu Media ($20 million), Wavemaker ($18 million) and Media Experts ($15 million).
Dentsu Aegis Network was also the top agency group for new business, nabbing $64 million in new and retained accounts. That was followed by IPG Mediabrands ($36 million), Publicis Media ($11 million) and Omnicom ($7 million). Havas Media Group’s new business value was in the negative at $3 million, and GroupM’s was negative $24 million.
The most valuable account move in Canada, according to ComVergence, was Microsoft, valued at $30 million, which went to Dentsu earlier this year. The total value of new media in Canada was $230 million.
Global results
Although its presence in Canada was not as dominant, Mediacom was the top global media buying agency for new business for the first half of this year.
Globally, the GroupM shop generated a total new business value of $800 million U.S. Notable wins with business in the Canadian market included Adidas (estimated at $264 million) and Shell. It also won business for U.K. broadcaster Sky, with its consolidated account worth an estimated $474 million.
The second place spot went to Publicis Media’s Blue 449, which does not work in the Canadian market. Initiative took third, followed by Spark Foundry.
For agency groups, Publicis retained the top spot on the list, although the strongest markets for its collective agencies (Zenith, Spark, Blue 449 and others) included China, France and the U.S., not Canada. IPG Mediabrands jumped to the #2 spot (up from #5 in the previous ranking), followed by GroupM, Omnicom, Dentsu Aegis Network and Havas.
Five of the six big international holding companies showed gains in new media business: Publicis ($1.9 billion), IPG Mediabrands ($949 million), GroupM ($871 million), OMG ($846 million) and Dentsu Aegis Network ($402 million). According to ComVergence’s research and estimates, Havas’ net new business value decreased by $28 million.
Retention rates are up across the globe: the average rate is now 29% (up from 26% in 2017). The number of dedicated media/digital media units developed at the media group level have also increased (ComVergence noted that the trend first emerged in 2016).
