Procter & Gamble (P&G) is set to announce a review its media planning and buying business across North America, according to reports.

The FMCG firm – the world’s biggest advertiser – spends over $2.6bn on measured media in the US alone, according to Kantar Media, although this is down from the estimated $3.5bn adspend in 2013.

P&G uses both Publicis Groupe’s Starcom MediaVest Group (SMG) and Dentsu Aegis Network’s Carat in the region.

While the company only reviewed its Canadian media arrangements last year, when it appointed Carat, this is believed to represent the first review of its US media buying in nearly 20 years.

It follows the appointment of Kristine Decker as P&G’s new media chief for North America in January.

Last month, P&G revealed it plans to save as much as $500m in agency fees globally through a reduced number of relationships, as it continues a business-wide drive to cut costs.

Chief financial officer Jon Moeller told analysts the company also believes it can make “significant” savings in its agency roster.

“One non-media cost are which offers significant opportunity is agency spending, which includes fees and production costs for agencies we use for advertising, media, public relations, package design and development of in-store material,” said Moeller.

“We plan to significantly simplify and reduce the number of agency relationships, and the cost currently associated with the complexity and inefficiency, while upgrading agency capability to improve creative quality and communication effectiveness.

“We see an opportunity for up to half a billion dollars in cost savings in this area, along with stronger communication to consumers across all touchpoints.”

Moeller said the cost-savings would allow P&G to maintain “strong media weights” despite the cost pressure from foreign exchange, although he added that the firm is looking to continue to shift away from traditional media.

“By following the consumer, we’re improving marketing spending efficiency and effectiveness to deliver more for less. We’re shifting more to digital advertising media – search, social, video and mobile – which is where consumers are spending more of their time,” he said.