The ongoing effects of COVID-19 continue to be felt at Omnicom with the company indicating continued decline in revenue, with the CRM practices hit the hardest once again.
For the fourth quarter, the holding company’s decline in organic growth barely sneaked back into single digits at 9.6%, with its decline for the full year hitting 11.9%.
The impact was felt across the board.
Over the full 2020 fiscal year, the global holding company was able to make organic gains in the healthcare discipline, reporting a 3.3% year-over-year increase, the only discipline to do so. However, that was pulled down by a 2% decline in Q4.
Elsewhere, organic growth in advertising went down by 9.7%, slightly better than the 12.2% decline it posted for the full year. CRM consumer experience and CRM execution and support (including services like field marketing, point-of-sale, sales support and merchandising) reporting decreases of 15.8% and 13.7% respectively. PR was flat, with a slight 0.2% increase, though was down by 4.2% for the full year.
The U.S. continues to represent Omnicom’s largest market by revenue, with organic growth dropping 9.4% in Q4 and 10.1% for the year. In the rest of North America, Q4 organic growth was only down by 3.2%, versus 10% for the full year.
Travel and entertainment continue to be hit hardest during the pandemic, reporting a 38.9% decline year-over-year, and a 30.6% decrease for the year. Education (down over 30% in Q4), oil, gas and utilities (26.8%), and financial services (15.5%) follow closely behind.
Due to continued public health efforts to help stave off the spread of COVID-19, Omnicom expects revenue reductions to continue through the first half of 2021.