Analysts: Omnicom’s IPG takeover caps off ‘year of reckoning for holding companies’

But while we wait for specifics, the macro tells its own story: as two top analysts tell us today, this deal, finally closed, is just one step in a massive recalibration of the holding company world.

How bullish will post-sale Omnicom be?

It’s headline news that Omnicom yesterday became the biggest holding company in the world by revenue. But arguably more interesting is the question of whether it can use its new scale to grow – and maintain the top spot.

Since the announcement of the deal almost a year ago, analysts have been clear about the tastiest dish on IPG’s menu for acquirer Omnicom: IPG data shop Acxiom, which was already worth $2bn to IPG when it bought it back in 2018.

The play for Omnicom is clear, says Jay Pattisall, principal analyst at Forrester. “Media and technology scale now form the foundation of agency strategy. Omnicom’s acquisition of IPG exemplifies this shift. The merger combines Omnicom Media Group, IPG Mediabrands, Acxiom’s proprietary data and technology and Omni – Omnicom’s marketing operating system – to deliver media clout and content velocity.”

Alongside Acxiom, another selling point of the deal is efficiency: as agency groups across the board have gone into consolidation mode, IPG and Omnicom have already begun cost-cutting this year, touting savings of $750m a year. But Ewan McIntyre, vice-president, analyst and chief of research at Gartner, tells The Drum today that neither scale nor savings are sufficient for success.

“Size is impressive, but it’s not enough on its own – especially now,” says McIntyre. “Omnicom and IPG need to show they’re more than just a cost-cutting story. That means investing in their data and AI capabilities, making sure their creative and strategic talent feels valued (not just like a line item to be trimmed) and being transparent about how the merger is actually going to benefit clients.”

• Omnicom boss John Wren's internal memo to staff on the day the deal completed

But for the last year, the organization has been locked down to such an extent that, in a recent conversation with The Drum, M&A expert Tim Rice predicted that post-takeover difficulties for Omnicom could “overshadow the WPP nightmare… That whole business has been on hold while they’ve spent six months trying to sort out a merger. It’s like part of the business is on fire and they didn’t even know who to talk to.”

For McIntyre, it’s time for Omnicom to open the doors to a positive vision of its future: “If Omnicom wants to keep that top spot – and really earn it – it has to use its new scale to innovate, not just to save money. That means putting real resources behind proprietary tech, client-centric solutions and, frankly, communicating a lot more openly about their vision.”

The ‘big six’ is no more

2025 has been tumultuous for the titanic holding companies (WPP, Publicis, Omnicom, IPG, Havas and Dentsu) that, until this year, made up the industry’s ‘big six.’

As the year closes, IPG no longer exists as it folds into Omnicom. WPP, after an annus horribilis that has seen two profit warnings to investors and an admission of “unacceptable” results from new chief executive Cindy Rose, has been subject to takeover rumors. Dentsu has been subject to similar rumors, that it will divest from its international holdings. Only Publicis (and perhaps Havas) can be truly bullish based on recent performance.

“It’s been a year of reckoning for the big holding companies,” says Gartner’s McIntyre.

“We’ve seen WPP wrestling with internal crises, Dentsu facing tough questions about its international business, Havas trying to balance growth with cost discipline and Omnicom and IPG keeping their cards close to their chest as they work through their merger,” McIntyre goes on. “Across the board, job cuts and a scramble to recalibrate around AI have been the norm.”

For Forrester’s Pattisall, the upshot is clear: “The big six global agencies are becoming the big three: Omnicom Group, Publicis Groupe and a WPP variant.” (“Variant” is a salient word there – WPP is set to release its own major strategic overhaul in January after hints that it will be majorly rethinking its holding company model.)

“All operate as burning platforms for change,” Pattisall continues. “While agency options contract, remits expand. They no longer act solely as partners delivering client-centric services. They also operate as merchants reselling proprietary media and software, vendors executing projects, consultants implementing technology solutions and affiliates contributing expertise to matrixed organizations. Put simply, your agency is no longer just an agency.”

Are holding companies still agencies?

Forrester’s Pattisall has been among those sounding an alarm all year that drives to efficiency and price erosion from AI are among factors that, particularly for holding companies with their shareholder-mandated growth requirements, jeopardize traditional agency and remuneration models. Just last month, his team declared the ‘agencies as agents’ era over as marketing firms pivot to productization and new commercial models with their partners.

The closing of the Omnicom-IPG deal is the tinder to light the spark of that transition, Pattisall says today. “The slow, reluctant agency evolution just exploded into the agency big bang. Shrinking margins from cost-cutting, competition from insourcing and consultancies, multiple client stakeholders and tech partner disintermediation pushed agencies to consolidate capabilities and include technology as part of their offerings. Agencies now race to keep up with the blistering pace of technology. Altogether, they’ve invested nearly $27bn since 2015 to fuel this change.”

Gartner’s McIntyre agrees. “The industry is at a crossroads,” he says. “Agencies are being forced to rethink what they stand for: are they just cost-cutting machines, or can they actually deliver new value in an AI-driven world? For 2026, I’ll be watching three things closely… First, can these companies move beyond just talking about AI and actually use it to drive better outcomes for clients? Second, how will they retain and motivate creative talent when so much is being automated? And third, will they rebuild trust – with clients, employees, and investors – after a pretty turbulent year? The agencies that can answer those questions positively will be the ones to watch.”