Google and Facebook now account for one-fifth of all global advertising expenditure, according to a new report by Zenith.
The Publicis Media agency has published its latest annual ‘Top 30 Global Media Owners’ study, which now only takes advertising revenues into account, excluding those from other activities.
Despite its well-documented problems, Twitter has been named as the fastest-growing international media owner, with ad revenues up 734% between 2012 and 2016.
Google-parent Alphabet is “by some distance” the largest media owner in the world with ad revenues of $79.4bn, according to Zenith, three times larger than second-placed Facebook.
Google and Facebook now account for 20% of all global ad spend, up from 11% in 2012. Collectively, the two digital media giants have captured nearly two-thirds (64%) of all new ad dollars.
The largest ‘traditional’ media owner is Comcast, says the report, with ad revenues of $12.9bn.
Five other pure-play internet businesses make the top 30, including Baidu, Microsoft, Yahoo, Verizon and Twitter. After the merger of AOL and Yahoo, Verizon will leap from twenty-first place to sixth on the list.
Two-thirds of the listed companies are based in the UK, with three from Germany (Bertelsmann, ProSiebenSat.1 and Axel Springer) and China (Bertelsmann, ProSiebenSat.1 and Axel Springer), and one apiece from France (JCDecaux), Brazil (Grupo Globo), Italy (Mediaset) and the UK (ITV).
“The scale of the biggest platforms highlights the importance of building strong partnerships between agencies and media owners. Brands need to deal with these platforms to communicate with consumers effectively and efficiently, and agencies need to ensure they do so on the best terms available,” said Vittorio Bonori, Zenith’s global brand president.
Rank |
Media owner | Rank | Media owner |
| 1 | Alphabet | 16 | Advance Publications |
| 2 | 17 | JCDecaux | |
| 3 | Comcast | 18 | News Corporation |
| 4 | Baidu | 19 | Grupo Globo |
| 5 | The Walt Disney Company | 20 | CCTV |
| 6 | 21st Century Fox | 21 | Verizon |
| 7 | CBS Corporation | 22 | Mediaset |
| 8 | iHeartMedia Inc. | 23 | Discovery Communications |
| 9 | Microsoft | 24 | TEGNA |
| 10 | Bertelsmann | 25 | ITV |
| 11 | Viacom | 26 | ProSiebenSat.1 Group |
| 12 | Time Warner | 27 | Sinclair Broadcasting Group |
| 13 | Yahoo | 28 | Axel Springer |
| 14 | Tencent | 29 | Scripps Networks Interactive |
| 15 | Hearst | 30 |
