Publicis edges ahead of Omnicom in ad holding company fast-track race
Publicis has narrowly edged ahead of Omnicom in Q2 2024 with organic growth of 5.6% (Omnicom registered 5.2%) and ahead of the ad holding pack with half yearly growth 5.4%.
All regions were positive with the US, its biggest market up 5.3% in Q2, Europe 4.2% and APAC 7.7% with China, a troubled country for some, up 10.5%.
CEO Arthur Sadoun (above) says: “Publicis achieved a very strong first half of the year, with net revenue organic growth at +5.4% and +7.4% growth on a like-for-like revenue basis. We continued to win market share, with Q2 net revenue organic growth accelerating to +5.6%, above expectations.
“Despite a backdrop of ongoing macro-economic pressures, not only did our H1 performance demonstrate that our model is strong, it also showed that our outperformance versus our peers is sustainable, with our growth rate close to doubling that of our competitors since 2019.
“We are raising our net revenue organic growth guidance and now expect to deliver between +5-+6%. We will maintain our best-in-class financial ratios while continuing to make material investments in our talent and AI strategy.”
Publicis has, indeed, become a broad-based company, seemingly more resistant to geographic and client sector pressures than its competitors as the client breakdown below appears to indicate.
Publicis and Omnicom seem to constitute the ad holding company fast track although others including WPP, IPG, Dentsu and Havas have still to report. It’s not yet clear if the sector as a whole is growing positively or the two are just taking share from their rivals.
