Ad Age Datacenter produced Ad Age's 75th annual Agency Report. Ad Age released the complete Agency Report 2019 online April 29, 2019. Portions of Agency Report 2019 appeared in Ad Age's April 29, 2019, print edition.

Ad Age Datacenter subscribers have exclusive access to the complete report at AdAge.com/agencyreport2019. Exclusive subscriber content includes:

• Agency Family Trees 2019, available this year exclusively online as a database of world's 25 largest agency companies that shows agencies, networks and profiles.
• Expanded rankings of agencies by discipline, downloadable in Excel.
• Revenue and fast facts on more than 500 agencies and networks.

How to subscribe to Ad Age Datacenter

Go to AdAge.com/datathatleads
Call 877-320-1721
Email [email protected]

Additional copies

To order copies of Ad Age's print edition including the print version of Agency Report 2019 (April 29, 2019), email [email protected].

Terms and conditions

© Copyright 2019 Crain Communications Inc. The data and information presented is the property of Crain and others and is protected by copyright and other intellectual property laws. For personal, non-commercial use only, which must be in accordance with Ad Age's Terms and Conditions at AdAge.com/terms. Archiving, reproduction, re-distribution or other uses are prohibited. For licensing arrangements, please contact [email protected].

Contact list

Ad Age's exclusive 2019 agency executive contact list is available for purchase. The list includes names, titles and contact information for key executives at more than 600 U.S. advertising, media and marketing-services agencies. For information on purchasing that list, email Azalia Allen at [email protected].

Report methodology

Information for Agency Report 2019 came from questionnaires submitted by agencies and from analysis by Ad Age Datacenter. To see the questionnaire, go to AdAge.com/arq.

Most agencies submit revenue and data via the questionnaire. Publicly held agency firms sometimes prefer not to reveal revenue for specific agencies; figures for those agencies and some independent agencies are Ad Age estimates. An asterisk next to an agency name indicates an Ad Age Datacenter revenue estimate.

Revenue and rankings are based on data collected and/or edited in 2019.

Ad Age evaluates ad agencies and marketing services agencies for breakout rankings by discipline. For these rankings, Ad Age applies a 75% rule: If revenue from a particular discipline represents less than 75% of an agency's total revenue, only revenue attributed to that discipline is shown for that agency in the chart. However, if the discipline accounts for 75% or more of an agency's total revenue—implying the discipline is the foundation of that agency—then an agency is ranked in that discipline at 100% of revenue.

Accounting for change

Ad Age Datacenter calculated revenue figures for major agency companies based on new U.S. and international accounting rules, Accounting Standards Codification Topic 606(Financial Accounting Standards Board) and IFRS 15 (International Financial Reporting Standards).

These rules affect how companies account for so-called pass-through costs (third-party vendor costs, production costs, media costs and out-of-pocket expenses that are charged directly to clients).

Four of the five biggest agency companies disclose both revenue and net revenue (revenue less pass-through costs). Those four—WPP, Publicis, Interpublic and Dentsu—emphasize net revenue (or a similar term for net revenue) as a measure of performance. Omnicom is the exception; it only reveals revenue.

In Ad Age Agency Report 2019, the ranking of the world’s 25 biggest agency companies is based on revenue while agency and network rankings are modeled on estimates of net revenue.

Agency Report 2020

Questionnaires for Agency Report 2020 will be available in January 2020 at AdAge.com/arq. Agencies that want to receive a questionnaire for 2020's report may email [email protected].

Ad Age will publish Agency Report 2020 in spring 2020.

Agency Report staff

Datacenter directors: Bradley Johnson, Kevin Brown
Senior research editor: Catherine Wolf
Research assistants: Clair Hauser, Taylor Imel, Michael Kuhn, Matthew Watson and Jake Wittich

AdAge.com/datacenter
[email protected]