Top 10 Global
PR Agency Ranking 2020

2020	2019	Agency	HQ	Fee Income 2019 ($)	Fee Income 2018 ($)	Growth (Constant Currency)
1	1	Edelman ^nb	USA	892,039,000	888,405,000	0.4%
2	2	Weber Shandwick ^nb	USA	865,000,000	840,000,000	3.0%
3	3	BCW	USA	740,000,000	723,000,000	2.4%
4	4	FleishmanHillard ^nb	USA	605,000,000	605,000,000	0.0%
5	5	Ketchum ^nb	USA	535,000,000	545,000,000	-1.8%
6	6	MSL ^nb	France	450,000,000	450,000,000	0.0%
7	7	Hill+Knowlton Strategies ^nb	USA	360,000,000	400,000,000	-10.0%
8	8	Ogilvy ^nb	USA	345,000,000	355,000,000	-2.8%
9	9	BlueFocus ^nb	China	329,123,818	336,372,995	-1.5%
10	10	Brunswick	UK	324,000,000	280,000,000	15.7%

Global PR Agency Rankings 2020: Growth Remains Elusive For Networks

Rankings: Top 10 | Top 250 | Fast Movers | Holding Groups / Networks
Analysis: Global PR Industry Up 6% Ahead Of This Year's Slowdown

USD growth among the major global PR networks declined in 2019, to 0.4% compared to 2.6% one year earlier, with the world's top 10 PR firms reporting fee income of $5.4bn. On a constant currency basis, the top 10 contracted by 0.1%, underlining another disappointing year to cap a decade in which low growth became the new normal for publicly-held PR networks.

A significant component of the decline, though, can be attributed to the separation of SJR from H+K Strategies, causing the WPP network to report an overall contraction in revenue despite organic growth in the low single digits. Elsewhere, Chinese communications giant BlueFocus, a consistent source of growth during the past decade, reported its first ever PR decline, after undergoing considerable restructuring of its international operations.

For the first time in a decade, there was no change to the top 10. Edelman remains at the top of the tree, although its lead over Weber Shandwick again narrowed after the independent agency reported a marginal increase in 2019. Topline growth was led by Brunswick (+16%), Weber Shandwick (+3%) and BCW (+2.4%), the last of which was hampered by the poor performance of its PSB research unit.

All growth figures are on a reported (rather than organic) basis. Overall, we estimate that the top 10 global PR firms generated fee income of around $5.4bn, a 0.1% decrease in constant currency terms. A fuller picture of global PR industry size is provided by the analysis of our Global Top 250, based on submissions from almost 400 PR firms from across the world.

Date: 29 April 2020

Rankings: Top 10 | Top 250 | Fast Movers | Holding Groups / Networks
Analysis: Global PR Industry Up 6% Ahead Of This Year's Slowdown