• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, February 3, 2021

Ad agency new business revenue dipped 5.8% last year due largely to a weaker creative agency market which was down more than 12%. Media agency new business revenue was up nearly 7%, according to an analysis by marketing consultant R3 Worldwide.

“The numbers tell us something deeper than a desire for greater efficiency,” said R3 co-founder and principal Greg Paull. “Technology has made media a key driver of marketing. Creative is reliant on media for form, visibility and engagement. Marketers recognize the shift and are looking for partners who can lead.”

Among the holding companies WPP led the pack with estimated new business revenue of $607 million. Publicis Groupe was a distant second ($345 million) followed by Interpublic ($320 million), Omnicom ($292 million), Dentsu ($239 million), Havas ($154 million), Accenture ($97 million) and MDC Partners (23.4 million).

In the U.S. Initiative led the way among media agencies with estimated net new business revenue of $100 million which includes the award of the massive T-Mobile account (reported in January but attributed to the 2020 totals by R3). Starcom was second ($73 million), helped in part by a new Samsung assignment. Horizon was third ($46 million) with wins including Sprint Boost and Jenny Craig.

Rounding out the top-5 were MediaCom ($37 million) and Havas Media ($25 million).

Globally, MediaCom was the leader ($122 million) followed by Initiative ($120 million), Wavemaker ($102 million), Starcom ($101 million) and OMD ($96 million).

Among creative agencies in the U.S. R3’s top-5 ranked agencies were Droga 5, Huge, Deutsch, R/GA and GSD&M. Globally the top-5 were Havas Worldwide, Droga5, VMLY&R, Isobar and Ogilvy.

More from the R3 analysis can be found here.