Top 10 Global
PR Agency Ranking 2019

2019	2018	Agency	HQ	Fee Income 2018 ($)	Fee Income 2017 ($)	Growth (Constant Currency)
1	1	Edelman ¹	USA	888,405,000	893,591,000	-0.6%
2	2	Weber Shandwick ²	USA	840,000,000	800,000,000	5.0%
3	N/A	BCW ³	USA	723,000,000	709,000,000	2.0%
4	3	FleishmanHillard ⁴	USA	605,000,000	570,000,000	6.1%
5	4	Ketchum ⁵	USA	545,000,000	550,000,000	-0.9%
6	6	MSL ⁶	France	450,000,000	460,000,000	-2.2%
7	7	Hill+Knowlton Strategies ⁷	USA	400,000,000	400,000,000	0.0%
8	8	Ogilvy ⁸	USA	388,000,000	354,000,000	9.6%
9	9	BlueFocus ⁹	China	336,372,995	321,849,607	10.8%
10	11	Brunswick	UK	280,000,000	260,000,000	7.7%

Global PR Agency Rankings 2019: Networks Rebound After Dismal 2017

Rankings: Top 10 | Top 250 | Fast Movers | Holding Groups / Networks
Analysis: Global PR Industry Growth Holds Steady At 5%

USD growth among the major global PR networks rebounded in 2018, to 2.6% compared to 0.9% one year earlier, with the world's top 10 PR firms reporting fee income of $5.5bn. On a constant currency basis, growth reached 4.9%, helping the Top 10 record its best performance since 2016.

Topline growth was led by strong performances from China's BlueFocus (up 10.8% in constant currency terms), Brunswick (which re-enters the top 10 after growing by 7.7% to leapfrog Golin), FleishmanHillard (+6%), Weber Shandwick (+5%) and Ogilvy (+9.6%, thanks in part to a beneficial restructuring that saw it accrue more PR and influencer work from across the agency).

Burson Cohn & Wolfe, the agency created by the merger of fifth-ranked Burson-Marsteller and 10th-ranked Cohn & Wolfe, emerges as the world's third-biggest PR firm, behind Edelman and Weber Shandwick. Edelman remains at the top of the tree, although its lead over Weber Shandwick narrowed after the independent agency reported a rare revenue decline in 2018. Weber Shandwick, meanwhile, returned to growth after a negative 2017.

Elsewhere, there were also improved performances from H+K Strategies and MSL although both were impacted by the divestment of subsidiaries; Group SJR in H+K's case, and China's Genedigi from MSL.

All growth figures are on a reported (rather than organic) basis. Overall, we estimate that the top 10 global PR firms generated fee income of around $5.4bn, a 4.9% increase in constant currency terms. A fuller picture of global PR industry size is provided by the analysis of our Global Top 250, based on submissions from almost 400 PR firms from across the world.

Date: 29 April 2019

Rankings: Top 10 | Top 250 | Fast Movers | Holding Groups / Networks
Analysis: Global PR Industry Growth Holds Steady At 5%