AD Agencies
GroupM raises U.S. TV spending forecast to 3.4 per cent
MUMBAI: In what comes as a welcome news for the American advertising and television industry, leading media buying agency GroupM, has re-evaluated U.S. TV spending in 2016 to 3.4 percent growth from 2.3 per cent.
The reason for this raise, a new report from GroupM clarifies, is the influx of campaign money to the ad spends of local TV networks, as both the political parties get more aggressive prior to the country’s presidential election.
Along with that, there is a return to low single-digit growth in national TV, which is coming from some shifting in spending from digital in the consumer packaged goods category as well as continued spending growth from the heavy TV-centric pharmaceutical sector, GroupM said.
For 2017, GroupM expects TV growth to decline to 2.1 per cent as local TV cools off in a non-election year. The healthier TV market is also facilitating an increased advertising spending overall in the U.S. for 2016, which the agency estimates to be at 3.1 per cent, up from 2.7 per cent.
Digital investment will continue to grow at three times the rate of overall advertising spending but will be lower than the double-digit levels seen in recent years.
“The combination of global economic headwinds coupled with moderate domestic growth as well as continued procurement pressure to extract media efficiencies and cost savings will confine ad market potential to its current low-single digit growth levels,” the GroupM report stated.
When it comes to worldwide ad outlook for 2016, GroupM has reduced the earlier prediction of 4.5 to 4 per cent as China and Brazil markets cool down. India, though, remains the fastest-growing large economy in the world, increasing at a 14 percent to 15 per cent rate in 2016 and 2017.
For 2017, GroupM sees ad volume rising at 4.3 per cent to USD 552 billion and total marketing services topping USD 1 trillion for the first time.
To answer the several Brexit related nervous queries and fears within the industry, author of the forecast Adam Smith said, “At this time, there is no tangible evidence of a Brexit effect in macro indicators nor budgeting decisions. However, in the next six months to a year, it is likely companies will invest less. Job creation, wage growth and productivity will be lower than it otherwise might have been. This is a difference of degree, not magnitude.”
“There is no evidence of a Brexit-driven recession at the time of this writing, and though some have deferred 2016 advertising investments, worst-case we still see that U.K. advertising growth will reach 4.5 per cent this year, propelled exclusively by the growth of digital. Our base case remains 6.3 per cent, which we will revise as usual in November,” he added.
(source: broadcastingcable.com)
MUMBAI: Mar-tech network Wondrlab Network is in talks to acquire advertising major Madison World, according to media reports, in a move that could reshape India’s agency landscape.
In a statement shared with Social Samosa, Wondrlab Network founder and CEO Saurabh Varma, confirmed that the group is actively evaluating acquisition opportunities but declined to confirm any specific transaction.
“We have consistently stated that Wondrlab is building for scale, and acquisitions remain an important part of that strategy. We are in discussions with multiple companies across capabilities that strengthen our platform-first, full-funnel marketing and technology offering. Any development will be communicated at the appropriate time,” Varma said.
Wondrlab has pursued acquisitions as part of an ambitious plan to buy 26 agencies across three phases. In 2025, it completed its seventh acquisition, underscoring its appetite for inorganic growth.
According to reports, Madison founder Sam Balsara is seeking around Rs 1,000 crore for the agency. If the Wondrlab deal goes through, it would rank as the largest acquisition of an Indian agency by another Indian agency.
Wondrlab was launched in November 2020 by Saurabh Varma, Vandana Varma, and Rakesh Hinduja. Its first acquisition followed swiftly with the December 2020 purchase of Amit Akali’s creative shop, What’s Your Problem.
Since then, the group has steadily expanded its footprint. It acquired influencer marketing firm Opportune and performance marketing agency Neon in 2022. In 2023, it bought Salesforce consultancy and data analytics firm Cymetrix, alongside Poland-based WebTalk, marking its entry into Europe. It later added influencer marketing agency OPA and, last year, took a majority stake in BigStep Technologies, a generative AI and cloud-native software firm.
Madison, meanwhile, has long been a target for global advertising groups. Over the years, it has drawn interest from WPP, Publicis Groupe and Dentsu. In May 2025, Havas was reported to be the frontrunner, with an offer of about Rs 700 crore for a majority stake.
Earlier talks with WPP in 2015, when Madison was valued at roughly Rs 500 crore, collapsed over valuation and equity differences. Discussions with Publicis and Dentsu also failed to yield a deal.
