2018 Holding Groups PR Ranking | Holmes Report

Holding Groups/Networks  Global Top 250 PR Agency Rankings

The following is the ranking of 2017 revenue from the PR operations of major holding groups and independent networks.

20182017AgencyHQFee Income 2017 ($)Growth 
13WPP 1UK1,579,500,0006.4%
21Interpublic Group 2USA1,500,000,0000.0%
32Omnicom Group 3USA1,380,000,0000.4%
44DJE Holdings 4USA958,201,7846.2%
55PROI Worldwide 5UK868,455,16523.6%
66Publicis Groupe 6France455,000,0000.0%
77BlueFocus Communication Group 7China321,849,60712.3%
89Huntsworth Group 8UK265,950,0009.4%
911Next 15 9UK265,680,00015.1%
108IPREX 10USA248,000,0003.3%
1110Havas PR 11France215,000,000-2.3%

2018 PR Holding Group Ranking: WPP Reclaims Top Spot

WPP benefited from a weaker US dollar to reclaim top spot in 2017 among holding group PR operations in USD terms. On a constant currency basis its growth (+6.4%) took it to almost $1.6bn.

While Interpublic's CMG unit reported $1.5bn, this includes several firms that do not specialise in PR; accordingly Omnicom's PR operations at $1.38bn are likely to be the second-largest in the world.

The holding group table also features good growth from China's BlueFocus Communication Group (+12.3%) and Next 15 (+15.1%) and, in a turnaround, Huntsworth (+9.4%). PROI Worldwide — which remains the largest collection of independent PR firms in the world — grew at an impressive rate in 2017 (+23.6%) after adding several new firms during the year.

Rankings: Top 10 | Top 250 | Fast MoversHolding Groups / Networks
Analysis: Global PR industry growth slows to 5%
Research: Global Communications Report