• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, January 17, 2007

In the second major coup for a Publicis media network early in the New Year, Zenith Media has picked up North American broadcast, digital, out-of-home and magazine buying and strategic media planning for News Corp.'s Twentieth Century Fox Filmed Entertainment unit. The North American portion is believed to be the lion's share of the $1 billion-plus global media account, and Zenith is also considered to be in the running for an international consolidation that could happen later this year.

Coupled with sibling Publicis unit MediaVest's win of Wal-Mart's $580 million media account, Publicis has picked up more than $1 billion in media assignments in the first couple of weeks of the New Year, and positions the Paris-based holding company to take on a more dominant role in the media landscape.

While the Wal-Mart win did not include digital media buying duties, Zenith picks up Twentieth Century Fox's digital media account from Omnicom's Organic unit, which will be handled by Zenith's Moxie Interactive division. Combined with organic growth inside Publicis' other digital units, the growth of Denuo, and Publicis' soon-to-be-completed acquisition of Digitas, the French agency holding company is rapidly emerging as the big new digital media contender.

Zenith's win includes the consolidation of network TV buying, which has been handled by Twentieth Century Fox's in-house media team, but it does not include newspaper buying, which continues to be handled by the in-house unit.

Canadian media planning and buying responsibilities will be aligned with Publicis' ZentihOptimedia unit in Canada, which was the incumbent their. While international buying is not impacted by this assignment, Publicis' Starcom MediaVest unit currently handles Twentieth Century's business in the U.K.

The North American assignment includes planning and buying for all theatrical and home entertainment releases for Twentieth Century Fox, Fox Atomic, Fox Searchlight Pictures, Fox 2000 Pictures, and Twentieth Century Fox Animation.

In making the announcement, Fox Executive Vice President Media and Marketing Planning Cheryl Idell, a former agency media research executive, cited Zenith's "strategic, integrated approach" and research tools as contributing to her decision.

The account will be headquartered in Zenith Los Angeles and led by Julie Rieger, Managing Director, West Coast. Media buying will be located in Zenith New York under Peggy Green, President Broadcast. Digital media will be run out of Los Angeles, reporting to Kris Zagoria, CEO Moxie Interactive.