Omnicom Media Group has topped the 2016 Major Wins report from the Research Company Evaluating the Media Agency Industry (RECMA), ranking the net new business balance of wins and departures from January 1 – December 31, 2016. Winning 29 percent of the USD 20.1 billion in ad spend that changed hands in 2016 globally, while also keeping its share of the departure volume to 5 percent, which is the second lowest in the industry, across its three agency networks, Omnicom Media Group ended the year with a net new business balance of USD 4.4 billion.

Omnicom Media Group has had a good year in the Middle East & North Africa (MENA) region as well. In 2016, OMD added new businesses such as flydubai, Nissan and Infiniti and ADCB in the region, and cornered more business from its clients such as Jumeirah Group. PHD added the likes of Al Futtaim and Dubai Parks & Resorts to its roster.

Globally, Omnicom Media Group took the top slot through a combination of two historic wins by agencies PHD and Hearts & Science (totaling 15 percent of the total volume of new business awarded in 2016) and a net positive performance from OMD, making Omnicom Media Group the only multi-brand group with positive new business balance across all its agency brands.

Dubai was in fact the second office after North America, where Omnicom Media Group launched Hearts & Science last year.

Additionally, Omnicom Media Group had the smallest number of overall account moves. “These results are the outcome of smart people empowered by smart data and it validates our commitment to our fully integrated agile data platform that informs and inspires client strategies across our agencies,” said Daryl Simm, Global CEO of Omnicom Media Group.

RECMA’s Major Wins report is based on 900 media account reviews totaling USD 27.6 billion (including USD 7.5 billion in retentions) conducted between January 1-December 31 2016. Criteria for inclusion includes top 150 advertisers plus all regional or local reviews above USD 10 million.