• by Joe Mandese , April 30, 2010

WPP released stronger than expected first quarter earnings and said the global ad recovery is looking far more sustainable, led by a pronounced improvement in the U.S. marketplace. In fact, WPP said the ad industry has moved from "staring into the abyss" at the height of the financial crisis to a "less worse" scenario in 2009" to "stabilization" in 2010, though some markets continue to lag.

 

"Geographically, [the] USA has recovered first, with like-for-like revenue up 4.1%," WPP said in a report released to analysts this morning. "The U.K. [is] down 1.1% and Western Continental Europe [is] down 2.0%."

While WPP's revenues slid slightly from the first quarter of 2009, the agency holding company, which is the biggest buyer of media in the world, said its results nonetheless were 3% ahead of what it had budgeted for the quarter.

While advertising and media services revenues also continued to slide during the quarter, falling 1.6% from 2009, they were relatively stronger than WPP's overall revenues, which fell 1.8%. Public relations and public affairs, which slid 0.9%, was WPP's strongest relative sector, likely reflecting strong demand from marketers seeking to monitor and influence the expanding social media marketplace.

In fact, WPP indicated that direct, digital and interactive revenues continue to be among its strongest areas, totaling $908 million and representing 27% of its total revenues during the quarter.

WPP also reported that it has the best new business track record of any major agency holding company during the quarter. Citing RECMA's billing size scoring system, WPP said it was nearly twice as successful as its next strongest competitor, Publicis (see below).

Q1 New Media Services Business Performance Scores
GroupM	245 Points
Publicis	141 Points
Omnicom	126 Points
Interpublic	125 Points
Aegis	105 Points
Havas	95 Points
Source: WPP, based on RECMA data.