EssenceMediacom retained the top spot among media agencies in terms of new business wins between January 2025 and September 2025, according to COMvergence’s ‘New Business Barometer’ report. The agency won new business (including retention) of USD 214 million followed by Starcom (new business value of USD 70 million) and PHD (new business value of USD 62 million).

COMvergence is an independent research and data consultancy which analyses media spend investments and produces benchmark studies on new business performances, billings, and market share of media agencies.

In terms of media agency groups, WPP Media (new business value of USD 287 million) leads the list. Publicis Media (USD 89 million) and Omnicom Media Group (USD 82 million) lead the media agency groups.

Among the 103 moves and retentions with media spends estimated to be USD 770 million assessed by COMvergence in the Indian market for this period, only 19 were global and multi-market pitches with a new business value of USD 84 million, while 62 accounts moved and pitches with a new business value of USD 686 million were local in nature.

This places India above the global average of local pitches, which were at 56% whereas India saw 96% of the total pitches being local in nature.

Godrej Group, Hero Motocorp, Dabur, Marico, Mars, Linkedin, and Suzuki Motorcycles were among  the account moves that dominated the Indian market from January 2025 to September 2025.

APAC

The top media agency across APAC was Zenith (new business value of USD 487 million), followed by PHD (new business value of USD 401 million). PHD replaces Wavemaker, which was second on the list in the first half of the year. Mindshare was third with a new business value of USD 253 million.

Publicis Media (new business value USD 1,395 million), Omnicom Media Group (new business value USD 558M), and Dentsu (new business value of USD 293 million) respectively led the media agency groups.

The big account moves across Asia Pacific included Mars, Pepsico, Friesland Campina, Godrej Group,Volkswagen, Mercedes Benz Group, Honor, Shanghai General Motors, Hero Motocorp, Kimberly Clark, Disney Park and Resorts,Honor, and TikTok.

In Q1-Q3 2025, COMvergence globally assessed nearly 2,890 media account moves and retentions across 49 countries, involving 1,700 advertisers and totaling USD 26.2 billion (-10% vs. Q1-Q3 2024).

Local reviews accounted for 57% of the total spend, while global and multi-country reviews reached USD 11.4 billion, driven by major accounts such as Mars (USD 1.8 billion), Paramount (USD 1 billion), Aldi (USD 900 million), Coca-Cola (USD 835 million), and Bayer (USD 620 million).

This data appeared first in the December issue of Manifest as part of a data partnership with COMvergence. Get your copy here.