• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, May 3, 2004

Media account volatility continued to ebb in April, with only $306 million in media account billings changing agencies, according to the April 2004 edition of Media Analysis Plus' MAP Barometer. That's down 64 percent from $850 million in April 2003.

Through the first four months of 2004, media account turnover totaled $1.662 billion--down 21 percent from the first four months of 2003 and 48 percent from the first four months of 2002, the year that Media Analysis Plus first began tracking media account shifts.

Part of the reason for the slowdown, says MAP CEO Jim Surmanek, is that some marketers have begun shifting to media audits, choosing instead to work on improving their relationship with--and service from--their incumbent media agency, as opposed to throwing their business into review.

"There is a lot of media auditing work going on, most of it very quietly, but the pace of media account changes has slackened considerably," he notes.

Media Account Turnover: April 2004

Account           Loser             Winner       Billings 
Equal        Wolf Group      Media Kitchen    $15 million 
Mitsubishi
Deutsch                PHD   $265 million 
Starbucks      Starlink   Wieden + Kennedy    $20 million 
Timberland       Fallon             Arnold    $11 million 
USA Today      In-house
Interpublic    $10 million 

April Total                                  $306 million 
Vs. April '03                                        -64% 

Year-to-April
$1,662 million 
Vs. YTD '03                                          -21% 

Source: Media Analysis Plus' April 2004 MAP Barometer.