The latest COMvergence New Business Barometer for 2025 highlights a strong year of consolidation and competition within India’s media agency landscape, with WPP, Publicis, and Omnicom Media Group (OMG) leading the group rankings.
At the agency level, EssenceMediacom emerged as the clear leader, securing new business worth $233 million-significantly ahead of competitors. Wavemaker followed in second place with $73 million, driven by key wins such as Paytm (retention) and Reckitt India’s e-commerce mandate. Starcom and PHD jointly held third position at $70 million each, while Havas Media and OMD completed the top five.
On the group front, WPP Media led with $320 million in new business value, followed by Publicis Media at $223 million and Omnicom Media Group at $98 million-reinforcing the dominance of global networks in India’s evolving media ecosystem.
The report tracked 129 account moves and retentions, representing a total estimated media spend of $1.06 billion. Interestingly, India continues to be a largely local-driven market. About 79% of pitches were country-specific, significantly higher than the global average of 58%. Local accounts contributed $835 million in new business value, compared to $227 million from global or multi-market pitches.
Key advertisers driving activity included Godrej Group, Kenvue, Hero MotoCorp, Marico, Dabur, Mars, LinkedIn, Paytm, and Sony Pictures Network-signalling a year where both legacy brands and digital-first players actively reshaped agency partnerships.
