Media agency networks invested heavily in digital and direct personnel this year, with staff levels in those areas growing about 32% worldwide according to the French research firm RECMA.
The major media networks added about 1,500 people in diversified services, with the biggest investments made by GroupM (450 people) and Publicis (320 people).
RECMA also pegged Omnicom Media Group’s flagship media agency OMD as the world’s largest, with projected global billings of US$31.7 billion and a 12% share of the market in 2008.
Diversified services will account for about 20% of all global billings in 2008, totalling about US$51.5 billion, said RECMA. However, spending on diversified services is expected to “vary significantly” by country, ranging from 9% of total media billings in Mexico up to 27% in the United Kingdom. The United States and the U.K. together represent more than half of global diversified services billings, at US$22.3 billion and US$7.3 billion respectively.
Just behind OMD on the top billings list is Starcom MediaVest Group, a unit of Publicis, with projected billings of US$30.5 billion and an 11.5% share, followed by sister Publicis agency ZenithOptimedia with projected billings of US$24.5 billion and a 10.8% share. Rounding out the top five are WPP Group’s Mindshare, with projected billings of US$28.1 billion, and Carat—which moved up from seventh in the 2007 global billings—with projected billings of US$27.9 billion.
Carat’s performance also helped parent Aegis Media move up to fourth among the agency groups. That list is topped by WPP’s GroupM, with global billings of $82.9 billion split between its Maxus, MediaCom, Mediaedge:cia and Mindshare agencies.
GroupM is projected to control nearly one third, 31.4%, of all global billings in 2008 according to RECMA, well ahead of second place Publicis—which controls 22.3% of the market with projected 2008 billings of US$58.9 billion. Omnicom Media Group is third with projected global billings of US$40.4 billion (15.3%), followed by Aegis Media at US$33.3 billion (12.6%), Interpublic’s Mediabrands at $31.9 billion (12.1%) and Havas Media at $16.8 billion (6.4%).
