MarkLives Agency Revenue Rankings 2018

by MarkLives (@marklives) We’ve updated our 2014 agency revenue rankings to help assist marketers gain a comprehensive overview of the relative scale of agencies in the South African communications landscape.

• MarkLives Agency Revenue Rankings 2019

Revenue bands and staff count are not reliable indicators of the health of a business but they do offer important context in terms of the scale of new business an agency can take on and their relative positioning in the industry (in the categories small, medium and large). Agencies listed in the ranking are included based upon publicly available revenue bands for 2017/2018. The information was sourced directly from agencies and holding companies, through a survey run via MarkLives.com, and from publicly available information, including the business and trade press, such as AdFocus, and our directory service Ramify.biz.

Note: Billings is the amount of client money that flows through an agency — what you can touch but you can’t keep = billings. Revenue is the money agencies get to keep, and this is the number MarkLives is working on.

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• MarkLives Agency Revenue Rankings 2019

2018 ranking (largest to smallest)

R450m+
Agency	Network/independent	Staff count	Source
FCB Africa	IPG	640	Management
Incubeta Group (Global)	Independent	300 +	Management
Ogilvy South Africa	WPP	850	Management
Publicis Groupe Africa	Publicis Groupe	1500+	Publicis Groupe
R350–450m
N/A
R250–350m
Creative Counsel	Publicis Groupe	710	Publicis Groupe
Wunderman SA	WPP	400 +	Management
R200-250m
Joe Public United*	Independent	300	Management
JWT	WPP	200	Management
King James Group	Independent	309	Management
R150–200m
99c	Independent	314	Management
FCB Joburg	FCB Africa	284	Management
VML South Africa	WPP	300	Management
R125–150m
Net#work BBDO	Omnicom	85	Management
R100–125m
Hellocomputer	FCB Africa	137	Management
Iconic Media Group	Independent	160	Management
Liquorice	Publicis Groupe	151	Publicis Groupe
M&C Saatchi Abel	M&C Saatchi Group	200+	#AgencyFocus
Mortimer Harvey	Independent	85	FM AdFocus (2017)
TBWA\Hunt Lascaris	Omnicom	135	Management
R80–100m
Demographica	Independent	45	#AgencyFocus
McCann Johannesburg	IPG	76	Management
R70-80m
Grey Africa	WPP	85	Management
HKLM	Independent	22	#AgencyFocus
Penquin	Independent	39	Management
R60–70m
Clockwork Media	Independent	70	Management
FoxP2	Dentsu Aegis Network	65	Management
Leo Burnett	Publicis Groupe	102	Publicis Groupe
Riverbed	Independent	35	Management
Saatchi & Saatchi	Publicis Groupe	62	Publicis Groupe
R50–60m
1886	FCB Africa	44	Management
Arc	Publicis Groupe	50	Pubicis Groupe
Avatar Johannesburg	M&N Holdings	60	Management
Boomtown	Independent	45	Management
Carat	Dentsu Aegis Network	66	Dentsu Aegis Network
DDB South Africa	Omnicom	50	Management
Grid Worldwide	Omnicom	51	Management
John Brown	Dentsu Aegis Network	60	Management
Promise	Independent	74	Management
Publicis Machine	Publicis Groupe	100	Pubicis Groupe
Vizeum	Dentsu Aegis Network	43	Dentsu Aegis Network
R40–50m
Colourworks	Independent	25	#AgencyFocus
Edelman	Independent	40+	FM AdFocus
Havas South Africa	Havas	73	Management
HDI Youth	Omnicom	40	#AgencyFocus
Levergy	M&C Saatchi Group	40	M&C Saatchi Group
Mark1	Independent	50	Management
Tradeway	Independent	50	Management
R30–40m
34	Independent	53	Management
andPeople	Independent	14	#AgencyFocus
Collective ID	Independent	33	#AgencyFocus
Conversation Lab	Independent	70	Management
Creative Spark	M&C Saatchi Group	46	Management
FCB Cape Town	IPG	38	Management
Fort	Independent	35	#AgencyFocus
House of Brave	Independent	72	Management
Leratadima	Independent	20	#AgencyFocus
MSL Johannesburg	Publicis Groupe	50	Publicis Groupe
OFYT	Independent	50	Management
Switch Group	Independent	40	Management
The Odd Number	Independent	20	Management
R20-30m
BRANDTRUTH//DGTL	Independent	23	#AgencyFocus
Hoorah	Independent	16	#AgencyFocus
MADE Agency	Independent	22	#AgencyFocus
Minanawe	Publicis Groupe	24	Publicis Groupe
MPULL Group	Independent	40	Management
MullenLowe South Africa	IPG	53	Management
National Positions	Independent	17	Management
Retroviral	Independent	16	#AgencyFocus
Rogerwilco	Independent	45	Management
The Jupiter Drawing Room CT	Independent	20	Management
R10–20m
Avatar Cape Town	M&N Holdings	25	#AgencyFocus
Bamboo Network	Independent	20	Management
BWD Advertising	Independent	16	Management
Dalmation	M&C Saatchi Group	26	M&C Saatchi Group
M&C Saatchi Africa	M&C Saatchi Group	14	M&C Saatchi Group
M&C Saatchi Connect	M&C Saatchi Group	6	M&C Saatchi Group
Platinumseed	Independent	20	#AgencyFocus
SearchKings Africa	Independent	16	#AgencyFocus
SoulProviders Collective	Independent	25	Management
Xfacta	Independent	20	#AgencyFocus
Under R10
DarkMatter Agency	Independent	10	#AgencyFocus

The information provided by agencies is impossible to audit and MarkLives accepts such information in good faith.

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See also

• MarkLives Agency Revenue Rankings 2019

Updated on 13 August 2019; 8 August 2019; 22 July 2019; 5 July 2019; 21 June 2019; 21 May 2019; 17 May 2019; 3 May 2019; 2 April 2019; 22 March 2019; 12 March 2019; 1 March 2019; 10 January 2019; 30 November 2018; 12 October 2018; 9 October 2018; 4 October 2018; 3 September 2018; 29 and 30 August 2018.

 

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