• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, July 16, 2007

Affirming an earlier prediction that two-thirds of all media will be accessed via digital technologies within the next couple of years, Aegis Group Monday said it created a new chief information officer role to develop a new digital infrastructure across its various media agency networks. The move comes as a recent report by Paris-based RECMA found that Aegis now is the world's largest digital media services organization (Online Media Daily, June 22).

To ensure Aegis' burgeoning digital organization has the most optimal structure, Aegis has hired David Bulman as chief information officer. Bulman had previously been director of digital technology and operations at News Corp.'s News International division, where he oversaw Web sites for the U.K.-based publisher's newspapers.

Mainardo de Nardis, chief executive of Aegis Media, stated that the appointment was made to ensure that Aegis has the most advanced media technology solutions as the marketplace increasingly becomes digital. Reiterating Aegis' ongoing digital media tracking study, De Nardis stated, "We will continue to migrate our entire business towards technology-rich services."

Based on Carat's tracking, 50% of all media currently is delivered via digital technologies, including traditional electronic media like TV, radio and online, but also electronic extensions of newspapers, magazines and outdoor media.

"Digitization affects all facets of communications business - everything from back-end production and distribution processes through to the very nature of the channels used," reads the benchmark report Carat issued with the projections. "Digital media isn't just about new media channels like the Internet and wireless - it reflects all media. TV is going digital. Radio is going digital. Even outdoor/out-of-home is being affected."

The report projects that by 2020, 80% of all media will be digital, and that as more media becomes digitized, consumption of media will increase over time.

That view has largely reshaped Aegis Group into the world's largest digital media services organization. In the breathtaking span of only two years, Aegis' agencies - especially interactive media network Isobar - have either created or acquired digital agencies around the world, amassing a global workforce of 1,400 people, making it the biggest digital player on Madison Avenue by a wide margin, according to a new report by RECMA.

According to the report, Aegis now accounts for 28% of all digital media personal across the six agency holding companies (Aegis, WPP, Interpublic, Omnicom, Publicis, and Havas) that essentially represent Madison Avenue.

With a digital media organization of 1,224 people, WPP Group ranks second, accounting for 25% of Madison Avenue's digital workforce.

Digital Media Penetration
2007	50%
2010	66%
2020	80%
Source: Carat