These days Omnicom has been beating Publicis to the punch with the release of its quarterly numbers and its latest – for Q3 – have given the French market leader something to match. In Q3 Omnicom posted 6.9% organic growth on revenue of $3.88bn with net income (profit) of $385.9bn, up 9% and 4% year on year.
All regions recorded positive growth. Its biggest sector, advertising and media, posted top line growth of 9.4% to $2.08bn with media the big driver. Omnicom recently won Amazon’s giant media buying business in the US. it also reorganised its creative agencies – BBDO, DDB, TBWA – into Omnicom Advertising Group, in line with its unified media operation.
The recent Olympics and the forthcoming US presidential election are given as revenue drivers. Omnicom also bought commerce business Flywheel from Ascential for a record $835m.
CEO John Wren said in an earnings call: ‘We’re implementing efficiencies through initiatives like OAG and investing in AI to enhance our capabilities. While these investments have costs, they are crucial for staying competitive. We aim for margin expansion and double-digit EPS growth by leveraging these strategic investments.
“(On Flywheel) the integration is going well, demonstrated by the Amazon win. We expect Flywheel to continue growing, supported by our ability to measure marketing spend effectively. This integration enhances our offerings and distinguishes us in the market.”
There now seems to be a two-track growth market among the big ad holding companies with Omnicom and Publicis in the lead. Publicis, WPP and Interpublic have still to report.
This is an amended version of an earlier story.