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ZenithOptimedia mark Google as world's largest media owner

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Google’s dominance as the world’s largest media owner has increased even further according to a new report by ZenithOptimedia, with the gap between the internet tycoon and its nearest competitor widening significantly over the past year. Google is now 136% bigger than the second-largest media owner (Disney), up from 115% a year earlier. It is also bigger than the second-largest and third-largest (Comcast) combined. The Top Thirty Global Media Owners report is a unique ranking of the world’s largest media companies by media revenue, as estimated by ZenithOptimedia.

Google is now 136% bigger than the second-largest media owner (Disney), up from 115% a year earlier

The report defines media revenue as all revenue deriving from businesses that support advertising, in order to determine which companies are most important for the marketing industry. ZenithOptimedia defines media revenue as all revenues deriving from businesses that support advertising, be it television broadcasting, newspaper publishing, internet search or social media. This includes not only advertising revenues but also other revenues generated by these businesses, such as circulation revenues for newspapers or magazines. This model provides a clear picture of the size and negotiating power of the biggest global media owners that advertisers and agencies have to deal with. The report covers the financial year 2013, which is the latest year for which consistent revenue figures from all of the publicly listed companies are currently available.

Google’s dominance as the world’s largest media owner has increased even further according to a new report by ZenithOptimedia

Google has of course benefited from the constantly rising global sales of smartphones and tablets, making its central search function available to and convenient for consumers on the move. This has meant new opportunities to target consumers with ads, another important component of Google’s business. The main beneficiary of the transition to mobile, however, has been Facebook, which is the fastest growing of the top 30 media owners in the report. Facebook’s media revenues grew 63% over the past year, thanks in part to how it has actively embraced mobile technology in order to encourage its users to visit it regularly and frequently throughout the day. The next-fastest growing company is Baidu (China’s equivalent of Google), which grew by 43% over the year. Baidu’s growth has been driven by the rapid development of China’s ad market, as well as improvements in search technology, and it is now the world’s 14th-largest media owner, ahead of digital rivals Yahoo! (18th) and Microsoft (21st).

Google has of course benefited from the constantly rising global sales of smartphones and tablets

The third-fastest growing company is Grupo Globo, Brazil’s principal media owner, whose media revenues grew 15% year on year. Like Baidu, Globo has benefited from its presence in a fast-growing emerging ad market, but Brazil’s recent economic difficulties are likely to limit further growth in the short term. There is only one other media owner in our top 30 that is based in an emerging market and that's CCTV: China’s national state television company. CCTV accounts for about a quarter of China’s television ad market (the third-largest in the world) and has more than tripled in size over the past decade.

There are five purely digital media owners in the top 30 this year

There are five purely digital media owners in the top 30; Google, Facebook, Baidu, Yahoo! and Microsoft. Between them they generated $71 billion in media revenue, which represents 68% of all global digital ad spend, up from 67% in the previous year's report. Power in the digital advertising market is concentrated in the hands of a few large platforms, and is becoming even more concentrated.

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Ranking of Top 30 Global Media Owners 2015

In related news, ZenithOptimedia announced yesterday that it has acquired Czech-Slovak performance marketing agency B2B Group. The agency will be aligned with Performics, ZenithOptmedia's global performance marketing network. The Prague and Bratislava based B2B Group was founded in 2000 and has specialised in online marketing since 2006. It has a staff of more than 30 specialists, and offers a full range of performance marketing services, including: online strategy, SEM, SEO and programmatic buying. Nicole Prüsse, CEO Northern, Central and Eastern Europe, ZenithOptimedia, said: “The acquisition of B2B is part of our strategy to build ZenithOptimedia Czech into a full service communications planning agency. Our recent Nestlé win is a testament to this approach.”

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