• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, May 19, 2017

GroupM was tops in new business wins — totaling $838 million globally — among the major holding company media groups for the first quarter, according to new report by COMvergence.

The tallies include client wins and pitches resulting in retention of clients, minus losses.

GroupM’s top performance was led by MEC, which generated $506 million in wins, including the successful defense and expansion of its Kingfisher (UK-based retailer) business. It also won Daimler and Amazon pitches in China.

MediaCom also made a strong contribution to the GroupM total with $330 million in new business led by the Walgreens-Boot Alliance Consolidation.

For the quarter, Publicis Media was the second-best winning media holding group with $774 million in total wins. Dentsu Aegis Network was ranked third ($494 million) and Havas Media was fourth ($126 million).

According to the report, both Omnicom Media and Mediabrands ended in negative territory with losses outweighing wins on a billings basis.

This latest report on new business from COMvergence follows an earlier preliminary Q1 update that included global and regional wins only.

This final report for the period includes data on 200 global, regional and local pitches and account moves across 15 countries, including the U.S., Canada, Mexico, UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Poland, Russia, South Africa, India, China and Australia as well as the Middle East region.