COMvergence has released its 2024 Billings and Market Share (BMS) report for Canada, covering the final numbers for all media agencies and groups, including digital buys.
For the seventh time since the first report in 2018, Omnicom Media Group (OMG) agency OMD ranked the number one media agency globally based on annual billings.
This trend is reflected in Canada, with OMD staying on top thanks to an estimated $874 million (all figures CAD converted from USD) in total billings, a 3.6% YoY increase. Dentsu agency Carat ranked second with $795 million in billings, a 2.5% rise from the previous year. UM, part of Mediabrands, is in third place with $740 million in billings.
Rounding out the top five Canadian media agency groups are IPG Mediabrands agency Initiative and EssenceMediacom, a WPP agency, following closely, with $575 million and $573 million in billings, respectively.
At the group level, OMG continues to top the market with 19% market share and total billings of $1.78 billion. Mediabrands took second place after posting $1.64 billion in 2024 billings, a notable 12.4% increase over 2023. WPP Media ranks third with $1.51 billion.
If the proposed Omnicom-IPG merger is finalized later this year, the combined 2024 media billings of Mediabrands and OMG would reach $3.4 billion. The new entity would clearly become the Canadian market leader with a 36.2% market share.
Last year, total media agency billings accounted for approximately 83% of Canada’s net media spend, which COMvergence estimates at $6.9 billion – an increase of 7% compared to 2023.
Digital media investments are estimated to have reached 60% of total measured spend in 2024, totaling $4.6 billion. This figure reflects the digital spend managed by the big six and top independent agencies.
Among agency networks, digital’s share ranges from 52% for OMD to 71% for Initiative.
Notably, among the independent agencies analyzed, Plus Company agency Cossette Media nabbed a place in the Top 10 with billings of $457 million. Collectively, the nine independent agencies included in the study accounted for 10% of the total measured agency billings.
COMvergence is an independent global research and data consultancy that produces benchmark studies on new business performances and strategic developments of creative, media and digital agencies and their respective holding companies.
