According to COMvergence’s newly-released study, H1 2024 Global New Business Barometer (NBB), PHD came out as the number one global media agency with a total new business value of $3.3 billion, including account retentions in the amount of $3.1 billion for the first half of the year. Volkswagen Group represents 75% of PHD’s total retained billings. All figures are in U.S. dollars.
OMD ranks number two globally with nearly $1.5 billion in new client wins and retentions, due notably to the consolidated win of the GAP in the U.S. ($590 million) and the retention of Mercedes-Benz Group in China ($110 million).
Starcom takes third position, scoring the largest amount of new client wins with an increase of $1.2 billion, including Lego global ($440 million) and Nestlé China ($420 million).
Looking at net new business results (wins minus losses), Starcom is the leader with an increase of $1.2 billion of incremental billings, followed by OMD up $769 million and Spark Foundry with a $470 million increase.
At the group level, Omnicom Media Group (OMG) leads the NBB global ranking with a total new business value of $5.3 billion, including retentions. OMG is the media services division of Omnicom and parent company of the OMD, PHD and Hearts & Science global media agency networks.
Looking at net new business, in second place, Publicis Media recorded the highest incremental billings growth figure with a $2.4 million increase. GroupM ranks third when including retentions of $1.3 billion, while Havas Media Network earned an overall net new business gain of $275 million.
In H1 2024, COMvergence assessed more than 1,740 media account moves and retentions, a total of 1,210 advertisers across 49 countries totaling $16.4 billion. (That’s a 14% YoY increase over H1 2023). Pitches and account moves in the U.S. represented 30% of the total spend reviewed globally, while China accounted for 21%. Local pitches represented 66% of the total reviewed spends, amounting to $10.8 billion.
The overall retention rate during H1 2024 was 39% versus 21% during the same period last year. PHD, Spark Foundry and OMD have been the most successful media agency networks to retain their client relationships after a pitch. At 89%, OMG scored the best retention rate among the Big 6 groups. Global and multi-country reviews resulted in $5.6 billion in billings.
A total of $3.8 billion came from the top 10 pitches for: Volkswagen Group, $2,300 million; Lego, $470 million; L’Oreal (UK), $260 million; Hasbro, $130 million; Spotify, $130 million; Pernod Ricard (EU), $110 million; HP, $130 million; L’Oreal (Benelux), $90 million; Levis, $75 million; and Sage $65 million.
COMvergence is a trusted independent research and data consultancy producing objective benchmark studies on new business performances, billings figures and strategic developments of the creative, media and digital agencies owned by the Big 6 holding companies, plus more than 150 independent agencies. Account move information is derived from industry business press and company news websites which are then validated by all the agencies studied, a total of 900+ agencies across 49 countries cooperating with COMvergence.
