ast week, the rich got richer among the global media networks. After an eight-month, 50-market search, WPP Group�s GroupM and Publicis Groupe�s ZenithOptimedia prevailed over Interpublic Group�s (IPG) Universal McCann in Nestl�s $1.5-billion global media buying and planning review. For GroupM, the win accelerates a two-year trend. Once it absorbs MediaCom as part of WPP�s acquisition of Grey Global Group, it will vault into the top position among global media networks, with about $49 billion in worldwide billings - some $14 billion ahead of second-place Publicis. Falling further behind after the Nestl� decision is IPG, the least centralised of the Big Four media operations and the only one to see its global billings shrink since 2002.

Of course, the rankings can change again. If IPG loses its estimated $1.3-billion Unilever business in Europe, which is seen as a "heritage" account for the IPG network, it would drop closer to fourth-place Omnicom Media Group. (A decision in that review, in which IPG�s Initiative is competing against GroupM�s MindShare and Aegis Group�s Carat, is expected soon.) ... more