GroupM retains crown as India’s top media agency in 2023

GroupM surged ahead with a new media business value exceeding $654 million, demonstrating its continued dominance in the Indian advertising market. It was followed by IPG Mediabrands, with a new business value of over $200 million, and Omnicom Media Group, securing a new business value of approximately $128 million.

In the agency realm, Wavemaker, Mindshare, and Lodestar UM emerged as dominant players, followed by EssenceMediacom and Havas Media. In 2022, Zenith from the Publicis Media Group stable and Wavemaker from the GroupM umbrella led the media agencies’ ranking. The 3rd rank was tied between Initiative, Havas Media and Spark Foundry (Publicis Media Group) followed by Madison Media and Carat.

Maruti Suzuki, Reckitt, PhonePe, Proctor & Gamble (digital), Swiggy, Pernod Ricard, Vivo Mobiles, Beiersdorf, Ferrero, Berger Paints and Jaguar Land Rover were among some of the account moves and retentions that dominated the Indian advertising market from January to December 2023.

“In 2023, the FMCG category led new business, very closely followed by the automotive category,” said Priyanka Mehra, regional director, South Asia & India COMvergence. “What we have also seen in the last three years in India in new business has been an increase in the brands from smaller cities spending monies on digital. In fact brands from smaller cities are launching themselves on digital first, albeit the spends are smaller but the number of brands are steadily increasing.”

The 2023 report unveiled that out of 215 account moves and retentions — the clients which asked for media pitches and then changed or retained their media agencies — assessed by COMvergence, the cumulative media spends (spends on media advertising like TV, print, digital) were estimated to hover around $1.4 billion. Remarkably, local pitches took the lion’s share, constituting 91% of the total pitches within India, far surpassing the global average of 55%.

COMvergence revealed that 192 local pitches (account movements based in India) accounted for approximately $1.4 billion, while 23 global and multi-market pitches contributed an estimated $132 million to India’s advertising expenditures.

In 2022, 81% of total pitches were local, accounting for $1.29 billion in size, whereas global and multi-country pitches made up 19% of the pie with $297 million. The global average of local pitches was at 66% in 2022, which also came down to 55% in 2023.

The report also points out that India saw a lower number of account moves and retentions in 2023 compared to 246 in 2022. However, the media spends was estimated at the same level at approximately $1.5 billion.

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Published: 03 Apr 2024, 01:32 PM IST