By group, Publicis Media overtook WPP Media for the top spot last year and significantly widened its first-place margin since the last edition of the report was issued in March.  

Meanwhile, WPP Media has fallen to third place while Omnicom Media has assumed the second-place position in the current report.  

RECMA notes that the latest report, released Nov. 3, continues to evaluate Omnicom’s and Interpublic’s agencies and groups separately because the proposed combination of the two companies has not yet closed (the companies say they expect it to close by the end of this month). 

But RECMA also notes that if it had assessed the two groups as one, it would have been the top ranked group globally and in all major regions (North America, Europe-Middle East-Africa, Latin America and Asia Pacific).  

By agency network in North America, Publicis Media’s Spark Foundry was top-ranked, followed by OMD, Starcom (also Publicis-owned) and IPG’s Initiative.  

The top three performing agencies, respectively, in EMEA were OMD, Havas Media and Starcom. In LATAM the top three performers were Havas Media, Initiative and UM. In APAC, it was OMD, PHD and Mindshare. 

The Diagnostics assessment measures 19 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. Each edition of the report evaluates performance over a three-year period. 

The fastest growing agency over the past three years, based on the report’s scoring system, was Dentsu’s iProspect. Rounding out the top-5, in order: Starcom, Heart’s & Science, Zenith and Spark Foundry. 

The report notes that iProspect was beginning its restructuring as a new Dentsu global brand three years ago, with notable wins in that period including BMW, eBay, Ferrero and Zalanda. And, per the report, Hearts & Science was launched globally by OMG in 2023. 

All three of Publicis Groupe’s media brands are now in the top-five fastest growing agencies, “highlighting the exceptional overall performance of the French group,” the report states. Big wins include Mars, Pfizer, Coca-Cola Co. North America and more.    

The report also noted the formation of the Horizon Media-Havas joint venture Horizon Global, which was announced in late September. Measured on a combined basis, the venture would have placed as the third-ranked media agency globally, the report indicated. 

RECMA publicly releases a small extract of the report, which assesses 692 agencies across 45 global markets. The full report is available for purchase.