Tuesdata: The fifteen biggest billing media agencies

Welcome to Tuesdata, where this week we reveal the results of the latest media agency billings data from Comvergence, covering 2021. 

The full content of this post is for Unmade’s paying members only. Others will hit the paywall a little lower down.

Comvergence is one of a handful of businesses that monitor agency billings information around the world. Last week numbers for 2021 unofficially emerged from Comvergence’s French rival Recma, which later insisted they were not correct. A third player well placed to understand billings is Standard Media Index, which has direct access to agency billings systems although it does not publish a ranking.

Methodology

To calculate its results – which are both a ranking and an estimate of spend – Comvergence bases its assessment on Australian clients whose ad budget is estimated at greater than $1m.

Comvergence does not disclose its exact methodology for ranking the agencies. It says it is based on its own system of monitoring digital spend, combined with Nielsen’s monitoring of above the line advertising and extrapolating that against rate card information.

Comvergence says it then cross-checks its calculations with the agencies which have the option of providing information from clients or the agency’s chief financial officer if there are discrepancies.

What does the Comvergence ranking tell us? 

Below, we feature a ranking of the top 15 agencies and an overview of the top five. In alphabetical order, they are AKQA Media, Atomic 212, Carat, Hearts & Science, Initiative, Mediacom, Mindshare, Nunn Media, OMD, PHD, Spark Foundry, Starcom, UM, Wavemaker, Zenith

Before we get to the actual ranking, it’s worth noting that three of the top five agencies are run by women, which – thanks to OMD’s dual leadership – means four female CEOs.

With other major media agencies run by women, such as Initiative (Melissa Fein), Mindshare (although Katie Rigg-Smith is transitioning to a WPP network role) and Spark Foundry (Imogen Hewitt) among others, the media agency sector is arguably leading the way in terms of female leadership. 

Let’s get to the ranking. The top agency leads by a long way.

THE TOP 5 MEDIA AGENCIES ANALYSED

1. OMD

Co-CEOs: Sian Whitnall & Laura Nice

Billings: $1.149bn

Clients: 69

Group: Omnicom Media Group

The only agency calculated to bill more than $1bn, OMD is almost twice the size of its nearest competitor UM. OMD has led the pack for more than a decade now.

Year on year it grew an impressive 22.5% and holds a 12.2% share of the market. 

This year will be a key year for the Omnicom Media Group agency, as it settles into a new rhythm with co-CEOs Sian Whitnall and Laura Nice following the departure of former CEO Aimee Buchanan to lead GroupM. 

While OMG CEO Peter Horgan lauded the agency’s ability to hire from within rather than having to look for talent at other agencies or internationally, the success of the co-CEO model is far from assured. Recent attempts at such a structure (think VMLY&R locally, but internationally there is Oracle, Salesforce, Pirelli, Netflix and SAP) have delivered mixed results. 

OMD has a good track record of enabling talent, however. 

The duo have jumped straight in at the deep end with Coles currently in market for a new agency model. OMG previously worked with the supermarket brand across a number of areas including OMD on media, but the network is reportedly one of two (along with Accenture Interactive) in the mix. 

It’s also one of two remaining for the NSW Government master media account, worth $78m. If it can win that account, it would be taking it away from incumbent UM. 

2. UM

CEO: Anathea Ruys 

Billings: $592m

Clients: 40

Group: Mediabrands

Just last week it was revealed that UM had retained Dutch bank ING as well as winning iconic appliance brand Dyson, which it took off GroupM’s Mindshare. Mumbrella reported that in doing so, it had beaten out OMD to Dyson, and that both accounts together were worth $35m in annual billings. 

It’s a solid first half for Mediabrands halo agency, led by Anathea Ruys, who took the lead role in March last year when Fiona Johnston moved to a London-based Mediabrands role. It also retained the Federal Government, Tourism Australia, and Menulog.

Comvergence data shows it has grown 35.4%, an effort which has seen it move up in the rankings to place ahead of Wavemaker and Carat, which it sat behind on last year’s rankings. 

In November last year the agency boosted its Sydney team by appointing Ben McCallum as managing director, a role that doesn’t yet exist in the Melbourne office due to size. McCallum moved across from Mediacom where he was managing director of Sydney.

It hasn’t all been plain sailing for UM, however, with the global move of Coca-Cola over to WPP agencies affecting the Australian business. 

3. PHD

CEO: Mark Jarrett 

Billings: $564m

Clients: 46

Group: Omnicom Media Group

PHD marched out of 2021 third from the top in terms of billings and with a fresh brand identity. But locally it also refreshed its leadership. 

Joint managing director Lucy Formosa Morgan departed while Stuart Bailey moved to the role of chief operating officer.

A number of other changes were made to the leadership team which included Stephanie Douglas–Neal becoming managing director for Sydney and Simon Lawson taking the role of managing director, Melbourne. 

Growth was impressive, up 31.4% to see it move from fifth last year to third. The ratio of clients to billings is also healthy, with just 46 clients contributing to the high billings number. 

The agency ended 2021 with a flourish, retaining the Google media account and winning Tennis Australia. It did, however, cede Bayer to Mediacom while the PepsiCo account which PHD had held since 2012 shifted away from the agency alone and into an OMG-run custom solution called Trio, which still involves PHD.

2022 has started well for the agency, winning the media account for wellness brand Swisse after it sold its own agency, Noisy Beast, to the management team. It also bolstered its senior staff poaching UM’s digital lead Gemma Beeley to become national digital chief.

4. Wavemaker 

CEO: Peter Vogel 

Billings: $529m

Clients: 62

Group: GroupM

As far as trade headlines go, last year could have been seen as relatively successful for Wavemaker. Winning L’Oreal, Journey Beyond and Door Dash among others. But the data from Comvergence tells a slightly different story. 

Of the top 15 agencies, only two other agencies failed to increase business as much as the GroupM agency. That was GroupM siblings Mindshare and AKQA Media, which recorded a 7% drop in billings and a 4.2% increase in billings YOY respectively. Wavemaker recorded a 7.2% increase. 

That result saw Wavemaker drop from second last year according to Comvergence to fourth this year, and only slightly ahead of Carat.

While it’s fighting to stay in the top five, it has started 2022 well with the global win of Audible, reportedly worth $50m locally while Philippa Noilea-Tani was promoted to chief investment officer. 

5. Carat 

CEO: Sue Squillace

Billings: $509m

Clients: 62

Group: Dentsu International 

Dentsu’s Carat rounds out the top five after growing 11.8% YOY. Despite this growth, it represents a drop from number three in the charts to number five. 

The data also shows that it is working with a larger amount of clients than most in this list to achieve these results, with 62 clients. 

Wins last year included the coveted South Australian Tourism Commission, General Motors Speciality Vehicles as well as retention of Beacon Lighting and Our Watch. It also works with brands including Red Balloon and BWS. 

This year will be pivotal for the business, with the search for an agency CEO in action as Sue Squillace looks to focus on her Denstu Media CEO role. The CEO role for Dentsu International in Australia is also up for grabs, after Angela Tangas was moved to head up the UK and Ireland business. 

The 2022 ranking?

The gap will be closed substantially in next year’s rankings with the emergence of WPP’s EssenseMediacom as a combined new force in the market.

Essence had already been bolstered by a merger with AKQA Media in September last year, which itself also had experience in the merger game after the media side of AKQA had been merged with Ikon Communications to form AKQA Media in February 2021. 

The 2021 rankings saw both Mediacom and AKQA Media listed in the top 15. As a crude method of attributing data to the new EssenceMediacom behemoth, the combined figures of the aforementioned agencies makes for $697m in billings from 61 clients.

That puts it comfortably in second place, $105m above UM without taking into account data from Essence, which did not make it on to the top 15 list supplied to Unmade. 

Adding it into the mix of the top five list gives GroupM a strong contender but may also push out one of its own agencies from the top five, with Wavemaker currently in a tight fight against Dentsu’s Carat for fourth and fifth. 

What about the indies? 

With the emergence of the IMAA (Independent Media Agency Association) there’s been a lot of talk in the industry about the opportunity for independent media agencies. 

Unsurprisingly, no independent media agencies make the top five. They don’t feature in the top 10 either, but you don’t have to look far beyond to find the top one. 

Sitting in 14th position is Nunn Media, founded by Matt Nunn and with Chris Walton as managing director in Sydney.

The agency is 100% privately owned and according to Comvergence has total billings of $139m across a healthy 30 clients. Last year was a big year for Nunn, acquiring Mumbrella Award winning performance agency Alley while also winning accounts including Silversea Cruises and Spinmaster. 

And Atomic 212 sits directly behind in 15th, with $130m in billings and 20 clients.

The ‘bloodbath’ continues on The Unmade Index

Yesterday’s report in the SMH entitled ‘Bloodbath: Almost $8b in value wiped from ASX listed media stocks in 2022’ and discussed on the Unmade Start the Week podcast looks to have well and truly set the tone early for this week.

The Unmade Index yesterday sank below 700 points for the first time since it began. That represents a drop of 30% this year. 

Of Monday’s big fallers was Seven West Media, down 6.19%, and HT&E, which dropped 4.89%. A little glimmer of hope was recorded by the only agency group on the Index, with Enero rallying to record a 2.07% gain. 

Time to rug up

It’s time I left you to your Tuesday, which if you’re on the bottom half of the east coast of Australia likely means trying your best to stay as warm as possible as we top out around the 16 degree celsius mark. 

If you care to warm up your fingers by providing feedback on this, or anything else in Unmade, please do so by writing to letters@unmade.media. We welcome all feedback. 

My colleague Tim Burrowes will be back tomorrow morning with another edition of the Unmade newsletter. 

Stay warm,

Damian