MediaCom rises 7% to push Carat from number one

by Jennifer Whitehead,, Brand Republic 20-Feb-03, 11:00

LONDON - MediaCom has moved to the top of the media agency group billings table, pushing Carat from the top spot to number three behind Zenith Media, which remains at number two.

However, the research, compiled by Nielsen Media Research, has sparked a debate about the way the agency groups have been compiled.

MediaCom, part of Grey Global Group, saw its billings rise by 7.08% to £610.84m, while Carat's fell by 7.22% to £563.25m. However, Carat's figure does not include its regional Feather Brooksbank network, or BBJ, its negotiating partner. This is because they operate under different brandnames to Carat -- although the companies are both 100% owned by Carat and all report to Mark Craze, group chief executive.

Despite the advertising downturn, several agencies saw billings rise substantially. Omnicom Group-owned OMD was the biggest riser of the top 10, up 25.25% to £401.89m, pushing it up the chart from number eight to number five.

Billings for Starcom Motive, now part of Publicis Groupe, rose by 21.44% to £372.36m, making it the number seven agency group in the rankings.

Fallers included PHD Group, another of Omnicom's media agencies. It slipped from number seven to number 10 after its billings fell by 5.33% to £311.04m. MediaVest was down by 2.58% to £378.38, dropping one position to the sixth-largest media group in the UK.

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