• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, October 22, 2021

OMD remains the top-ranked global media agency network in the latest diagnostics report from media agency tracking firm RECMA. In March the Omnicom agency dethroned Dentsu’s Carat, which held the top spot for eight consecutive years.  

In the new report, Carat is ranked second, followed by Mediabrands’ UM in third place. Rounding out the top five are GroupM’s Mediacom and Interpublic’s Initiative, respectively.  

OMD had a firm grip on first place with 10.5 “quali-share” points. The next four agencies all achieved 8-plus points.

A Quali-share point is defined by RECMA as the ratio between an agency’s total points and the total score of the 17 global media agency networks that were assessed.  

The report also ranked media agency holding companies with GroupM in the top spot followed by Omnicom, Mediabrands, Publicis Grope, Dentsu International and Havas Media Group.

The in-depth assessment measures 19 different criteria including “vitality” metrics, such as competitive pitch performance, client portfolio growth and awards, as well as metrics evaluating “structure,” including group-wide specialized resources, international coordination of staff, client relations and data and analytics expertise.

OMD Worldwide CEO Florian Adamski credited the network’s “precisely calibrated offer of talent, tools and technology” for the strong performance in the report. Over the past year, the agency has won more than $2 billion in new business from brands such as Mercedes Benz, Philips, The Home Depot, LegalZoom, Stada, Decathlon and others.

The report assesses 700 media agencies across 47 international markets and is widely used by advertisers and agencies to monitor performance within the industry. RECMA confirmed the top-five ranked networks and holding group rankings, but most of the report remains available only to subscribers.