COMvergence H1 2025: EssenceMediacom leads India with $217M, Starcom second at $70M

New Delhi: Independent research and data consultancy COMvergence has released its New Business Barometer H1 2025 for India, naming EssenceMediacom, Starcom and Havas Media as the leading agencies by new business value, while WPP Media, Publicis Media and Omnicom Media Group emerged as the top groups.

The study, which tracks media account moves and retentions between January and June 2025, assessed 73 account moves in India with an estimated total spend of $605 million.

EssenceMediacom led the agency table with $217 million in new business value, followed by Starcom at $70 million and Havas Media at $22 million. 

Mindshare and PHD tied for the fourth spot with $14 million each.

At the group level, WPP Media dominated with $242 million in new business value, ahead of Publicis Media at $76 million and Omnicom Media Group at $30 million.

Among the high-profile accounts that shifted hands were Godrej Group, Hero Motocorp, Dabur, Mars, LinkedIn and Suzuki Motorcycles.

A striking finding of the report was the highly local nature of Indian pitches. Of the $605 million in spend assessed, $544 million, or 98%, came from local, country-specific reviews. By contrast, only 11 pitches valued at $61 million were global or multi-market in scope.

This compares with the global average, where 61% of reviews were local, placing India significantly above the norm.

Globally, COMvergence tracked more than 1,840 media account moves and retentions across 49 countries in H1 2025, covering 1,195 advertisers and totalling $17.6 billion in billings, a 7% increase over H1 2024. 

The US accounted for 45% of the total spend reviewed, followed by China at 11%.