SYDNEY: Nielsen Media Research has questioned the credibility of a new media agency billings report released today by global research group RECMA.
Nielsen, which compiles its own media agency ranking list based on estimated billings, is not the only detractor of RECMA’s first Australian-only report, which ranks media agencies on a grading system. Harold Mitchell, executive chairman of Mitchell Communication Group, labelled the report as "largely judgemental".
"It’s a health report based on their judgements after reading AdNews and B&T," Mitchell said.
He said RECMA also considers staff numbers in its grading system, which is a measure agencies often fudge.
"OneDigital, which I own a part of, has 50 people designing websites. A lot of agencies outsource that kind of work. Some make it up and say bugger it," he added.
In the report, Mitchells has been given a B+ rating, despite being Australia’s biggest media buying group with billings between $680 million and $690 million, according to Nielsen Media Research.
AdNews has asked RECMA to provide a detailed breakdown of how its grading system works and the level of credence given to billings, agency revenues, staff numbers and new business wins. A RECMA spokesperson was not willing to provide any details of the report or how its grading system works.
On its website however, RECMA said it compiles estimated clients' budgets, declared financial figures from agencies, external sources, major trade press titles and ad monitoring companies to formulate its report. It's not clear whether it uses ad spend estimates by Nielsen, although some media agency heads claimed it does.
Peter Cornelius, managing director of Nielsen Media Research Pacific, said Nielsen Media Research had "nothing to do with RECMA".
"We’ve had no dialogue with them at all. If they [RECMA] have used our data and not sourced it, we would have a problem with it.
"I wouldn’t give it [RECMA's agency ranking] too much credence to be honest," Cornelius said.
RECMA's ranking list of 12 media agencies, reported today, has OMD Group at the top of the list with a grade of A+, which is also shared by Universal McCann. MediaCom scores an A, with a B+ going to Carat, Ikon, mediaedge:cia, MindShare, Mitchells, Starcom Group and Total. Initiative scores a B and ZenithOptimedia a C.
Interestingly, the list excludes Group M's Motivator, which spent an estimated $170 million on behalf of clients in 2006 - more than Total and Ikon - according to Nielsen Media Research. It also excludes the media buying arms of full-service agencies such as Marketforce, Adcorp, IdeaWorks and TMP Worldwide.
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