Publicis Groupe grew organic revenue, an vital measure of agency health, 5.9% yr over yr to 3.87 billion euros, or about $4.57 billion, in Q4 2025, according to an earnings statement. Those figures topped analyst estimates but landed below the year-ago period, when Q4 organic growth got here out at 6.3%.
Full-year organic growth got here in at 5.6% YoY at the ad-holding group, which is celebrating its centennial and owns agencies including Digitas, Saatchi & Saatchi and Leo. Publicis attributed its performance to superiority in areas like artificial intelligence, but executives acknowledged a few of the roadblocks in realizing the full potential of the notoriously costly technology.
“Now as we enter our next century, we are going to go even further in prioritizing transformative growth over legacy asset restructuring,” said CEO Arthur Sadoun on a call discussing the Q4 and full-year results with investors. “In this booming AI world, our ambition is to be the MVP. In this case, not the Most worthy player, but the Most worthy partner for our clients, our people and our shareholders.”
Last yr saw the group rating several major accounts, including The Coca-Cola Company’s North American media and data business and media duties for Mars. Publicis’ net-new business across 2025 totaled greater than $8 billion while the agency suffered no “material” account losses, according to Sadoun.
AI-supported creative and media functions account for greater than 85% of Publicis’ net revenue. Creative, which made up roughly 1 / 4 of 2025 revenue, saw fewer cuts in the traditional promoting arena than anticipated for the end-of-year period that features the holidays, Sadoun added. Growth at the firm’s Sapient consulting arm was roughly flat as clients remained cautious with spending due to the economy.
Sadoun noted that AI, despite being positioned as revolutionary for promoting, is “difficult to scale, expensive to put in place and fails to deliver measurable value in 95% of cases.” Publicis is leaning on assets like Sapient and its Epsilon data-marketing unit to speed up the pace of change in the category and improve Publicis’ standing as a change partner.
“To cut the long story short, consumer adoption of AI is healthier and faster than company adoption,” said Sadoun.
Publicis offered 2026 guidance in the range of 4% to 5%, the same growth targets it set in 2024 and 2025. Shares traded lower following the earnings report. The company plans to remain acquisitive in areas including AI, identity resolution, latest media channels, production and business transformation following purchases of firms like Lotame and Captiv8 last yr.
The Paris-based group is contending not only with fast media and technology changes, but in addition a shifting agency landscape in the wake of Omnicom’s blockbuster acquisition of Interpublic Group. The $13 billion-plus deal formed the world’s largest marketing services provider and set the stage for further category consolidation as scale becomes the name of the game.
“I believe that Omnicom is unquestionably a robust player, it was before this acquisition,” said Sadoun in response to an investor query. “The big difference between Omnicom and us is that we’re investing in latest capabilities that may help our clients grow on this AI world. They are consolidating more of the same.”
Read the full article here
