Forrester Report Finds Homogeneity Among Big Agencies
Forrester's Wave report assesses 12 biggest agency groups, finding increasing homogeneity, according to Digiday. Independents may gain market share due to this trend.
Original reporting · digiday.com
Original: “Media Buying Briefing: Forrester’s Wave report finds growing homogeneity among the 12 biggest agencies”
Read “Media Buying Briefing: Forrester’s Wave report finds growing homogeneity among the 12…” at Digiday →
How this was written. GMS Agency Desk wrote this article with a language model from Digiday’s reporting (model: @cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast); it describes that reporting rather than adding to it. The original, linked above, is the full story.
Key points from Digiday’s report
- Forrester's Wave report finds increasing homogeneity among the 12 biggest agency groups.
- Independents may gain market share due to the trend of similarity among large agency groups.
- Private-equity-backed shops like Wpromote performed well in the report.
- Publicis declined to comment on the report despite being credited for its media buying capabilities.
- Omnicom and WPP reacted positively to the report, celebrating their rankings.
The latest Forrester Wave Report on media agencies evaluates the 12 biggest agency groups, revealing a growing similarity among them, Digiday reported. This homogeneity may benefit independent agencies in gaining market share.
Consolidation has led to the largest agency groups looking more alike, which was a surprise to Forrester's vice president and senior agency analyst Jay Pattisall. Pattisall expected more differentiation in the marketplace due to consolidations and acquisitions.
The report identifies three leaders: Omnicom, Publicis, and WPP, based on a scoring system with 19 criteria. Dentsu and Havas led the 'strong performers' group, along with Wpromote, PMG, Tinuiti, and Horizon Media.
Private-equity-backed shops like Wpromote performed well, with Forrester praising their measurement capabilities and precision. Wpromote CEO Andrea Bendzick cited the opportunity for independents in a market being reshaped by AI and new consumer behaviors.
Publicis declined to comment on the report, despite being credited for its media buying and data capabilities. The report noted that Publicis scored the highest average in strategy but also received low scores in 'agentic media buying' and SEO/AEO.
Omnicom and WPP reacted positively to the report, with Omnicom celebrating its solid ranking as a 'leader' and WPP noting its capabilities in the media marketplace exceed its perception.
Stagwell scored lower in the report, attributed to the newness of its media strategy and relatively short operating time at this level. Other agencies, such as S4 Capital's Monks, were not included due to not meeting the billings threshold or lack of interest from Forrester clients.
Questions and answers
What was the main finding of Forrester's Wave report on media agencies?
The report found increasing homogeneity among the 12 biggest agency groups, which may benefit independent agencies.
Which agencies were identified as leaders in the report?
Omnicom, Publicis, and WPP were identified as leaders based on a scoring system with 19 criteria.
How did private-equity-backed shops perform in the report?
Private-equity-backed shops like Wpromote performed well, with Forrester praising their measurement capabilities and precision.
