Omnicom posted year-over-year organic growth of 3% in Q2 2025 compared to the same period 12 months prior.
However, net income continues its decline following Q1 earnings, decreasing 21.5% from 2024 Q2.
Overall, revenue is up and profit is down. CEO and chairman John Wren cited macro environment changes, the ongoing acquisition of Interpublic Group and the implementation of AI as key factors in the holding company’s performance.
“Our continued investment in our innovative operating platform, Omni, is driving superior business outcomes for our clients while enhancing operational efficiency across our organization,” said Wren on an analyst call. “We also achieved a key milestone in our transformational acquisition of Interpublic, successfully clearing U.S. antitrust review and moving closer to an expected close later this year.”
Recent client wins include Under Armour and British supermarket chain ASDA. Wren reported an “overwhelmingly positive response” from clients regarding the IPG acquisition.
Media and advertising continue to trend upwards
Organic growth by discipline saw increases across all disciplines except PR, healthcare, and branding and retail commerce. Compared to the equivalent period in 2024, the second quarter of 2025 saw increases of 8.2% for media and advertising, 5.0% for precision marketing, 2.9% for experiential and 1.5% for execution and support. The performance is partially offset by declines of 9.3% in PR, 4.9% in healthcare and 16.9% for branding and retail commerce.
The positive results for media and advertising follow a successful stint at Cannes for Omnicom, as DDB Worldwide won Network of the Year and OMD Worldwide won Media Network of the Year. More than 100 Omnicom agencies from 30 countries received recognition at the Cannes Lions festival, although some wins were deemed controversial, and won more than 155 Lions total. Omnicom placed second in the Holding Company of the Year category, following WPP.
Organic growth by region in the second quarter of 2025 compared to the second quarter of 2024 was strong across the board except for the U.K.: 3.0% in the U.S., 2.5% for Euro markets and other Europe, 6.5% for Asia Pacific, 18.0% for Latin America, 2.4% for other North America and 0.9% for the Middle East and Africa. The UK saw a 2.5% decline.
Out of the five market approvals that remain when it comes to the IPG transaction, the EU is the largest. Omnicom declined to share the remaining markets.
The cost of IPG
Compared to Q2 of 2024, operating expenses increased 7.0% to $3,576.4 million in the second quarter of 2025. Omnicom attributed the uptick to repositioning costs and severance actions related to the pending acquisition of IPG.
Omnicom’s effective tax rate for the second quarter of 2025 increased to 30.2% compared to 26.4% in Q2 of 2024, primarily due to the nondeductibility of certain costs related to the IPG acquisition.
Wren noted IPG has more relationships with CPG clients that Omnicom hasn’t had access to and said digital commerce business Flywheel Digital, acquired by Omnicom in 2023, will help improve this.
The deal, expected to close in the second half of 2025 subject to regulatory approval, is projected to deliver $750 million in annual cost reductions per year, as stated by Omnicom during its Q4 2024 earnings release in January this year.
“Aggressive” investment in AI
In addition to the acquisition, Omnicom is focusing on rolling out the next phase in its AI implementation to stay ahead of competitors. CTO Paolo Yuvienco shared that the holding company is “aggressively rolling out AI agents throughout workflows and now campaign lifecycles” after adopting generative AI in 2022, primarily for productivity.
The holding company intends to advance its AI capabilities and, according to Yuvienco, continue to inject the company’s datasets into the marketing workflow and put tools in the hands of employees. The cost of retraining employees with the skills to ensure widespread adoption has yet to be determined.
Omnicom’s steady Q2 earnings are in stark contrast to rival holdco WPP, which last week issued a profit warning for Q2. WPP blamed “tougher macro” economic conditions, “weaker new business performance” and “one-off” factors including “severance action at WPP Media” because of a major restructuring of the division, previously known as Group M.
