• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, May 13, 2018

Agency tracker COMvergence is out with a new media agency billings report for 2017 that shows OMD to be the top-ranked shop, with ad billings totaling $7.7 billion and with a 7.7% share of market. 

Independent Horizon Media is second-ranked with $6.6 billion (6.6% share), and Carat is a close third with nearly $6.5 billion (6.5% share). 

COMvergence says the report is based on billings activated in 10 markets that accounted for approximately 77% of last year’s global spend. Those markets are Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Spain, UK and the U.S. 

Rounding out the top-five agencies are Mindshare ($5.9 billion) and Spark Foundry ($5.7 billion). 

By holding company, the top five, in order, are: Publicis Media ($17.8 billion); GroupM ($15.2 billion); Omnicom Media Group ($13.9 billion); IPG Mediabrands ($8.1 billion) and Dentsu Aegis ($6.9 billion). 

Separately, COMvergence reports that media agency review activity is hot and heavy this year. Already, reviews with some $2.7 billion in billings at stake have been decided, including Microsoft, Liberty Mutual and United HealthGroup. 

And another $3.7 billion in client spend is currently in play, including reviews for McDonald’s, Mars and GSK. 

The agency tracker notes that its figures are based on accounts greater than $10 million. Account moves have been validated by all agencies surveyed.

Ad spend figures are sourced from Nielsen Media and Kantar Media. COMvergence has partnerships with both measured media spending trackers.