Source: RECMA

Paris-based media agency research firm RECMA has released its “New Biz Balance” report for 2023 which ranks Mediabrands’ agency UM number 1 in net new business (new business wins minus departures). For full-year 2023, the agency won an estimated $1.139 billion in net new business expenditures. 

Omnicom Group’s Hearts & Science ($1.137 billion) was ranked second and sibling agency OMD was ranked third ($885 million).  

By comparison, for 2022 the top two finishers were OMD and Zenith, respectively with Dentsu X and PHD tied for third. 

RECMA pointed out that not included in this global agency network ranking are dedicated client units at the holding group level, such as Publicis Media’s win last year of the Pfizer media business. Also excluded are retentions, which are reflected in a separate “Success Index.” 

Aggregated over the past three years (2021, 2022 and 2023), OMD is top-ranked in net new business wins, followed (respectively) by Zenith, Starcom, Spark Foundry and PHD. 

In the “Success Index,” the top-ranked agency last year was GroupM’s Wavemaker with combined net new business wins and retentions totaling $2.022 billion, followed by OMD ($1.879 billion). Tied for third were Starcom & Zenith ($1.469 billion). The top three in 2022 were OMD, Zenith and Carat respectively. 

Aggregated over the past three years, the top-three-ranked Success Index agencies are Starcom, OMD and Zenith. 

At the Group level, Omnicom Media Group was ranked first in 2023 net new business ($2.990 billion), followed by Publicis Media ($2.954 billion) and IPG’s Mediabrands ($1,704 billion). The previous year’s top-three ranked groups were OMG, Publicis Media and Dentsu. 

The three-year aggregate group rankings for net new business: Publicis Media ($10.660 billion), Omnicom Media Group ($6.283 billion) and Mediabrands ($1.729 billion).  

2023 Success Index Group Leaders are Publicis Media ($6 billion), Omnicom Media Group ($4.640 billion), Mediabrands ($2.728 billion) and GroupM ($2.727 billion).  

Three-year aggregated Success Index Group Leaders: Publicis Media ($20.215 billion), Omnicom Media Group ($12.222 billion) and GroupM ($10.928).  

The biggest pitch last year was for Ferrero’s $1.741 billion assignment. Multiple agencies were selected to share the work including Dentsu X, Starcom, iProspect, Carat, Zenith, and Mindshare. Next was Pfizer’s $1.509 billion review that was won by Publicis Media. GEICO’s $1 billion review was the third largest during the year and won by Mediabrands with UM serving as lead agency.  

The rankings above were provided by RECMA in a free extract – a larger report detailing the findings is available by subscription.  

The research firm said it assessed $34.1 billion in pitches during 2023, of which about $11.6 billion worth was retained by incumbents. The total was slightly higher than 2022’s $33.3 billion but nearly $9 billion below 2021’s total of $42.9 billion.  

The top three most active categories last year were Food & Beverages ($6 billion), Retail ($4.240 billion) and Personal & Home Care ($3.558 billion).  

The U.S. accounted for 39% of last year’s pitch activity. Local pitches accounted for 63%, global pitches 24% and regional pitches 13%.