New Business Barometer: Omnicom Wins Swiss Account Bid
The latest New Business Barometer from COMvergence shows that Omnicom Media dominated new business in Switzerland in the first half of 2026, while Mediaschneider Zurich won the largest single pitch by retaining the Helsana account.
New Business Barometer Confirms Omnicom as the Leader
COMvergence’s New Business Barometer for the first half of 2026 paints a clear picture for Switzerland: Omnicom Media dominates new business with a net gain of $33 million. In total, thirty pitches with a net total volume of $95 million were recorded in Switzerland during the reporting period from January through June 2026. During the same period last year, there were 32 account changes with a nearly identical total volume of $95 million.
Of the 24 pitches decided in the first half of 2026, only three accounts went back to existing agencies, according to COMvergence—the rest switched to media network agencies. Most of the pitches—18, to be exact—were international or global reviews, while 12 took place exclusively in Switzerland. According to the survey, these local reviews account for 33 percent of the media spending tracked in Switzerland. By comparison, worldwide, local pitches accounted for 58 percent of the reviews underway in the first half of 2026.
Publicis Media and Mediaschneider in second and third place
In the ranking of the eight media agency groups, Omnicom Media leads with a net profit of $33 million, of which $31 million is reportedly attributable to eight new clients. According to the press release, the accounts retained or newly won include Dyson, Adidas, and On. Publicis Media follows in second place with three new clients and a net volume of $11.4 million. Third place goes to the Mediaschneider Group, an independent company with a total volume of $11 million. According to the press release, Mediaschneider Zurich won the largest pitch of the first half of the year in Switzerland and successfully retained the Helsana account.
According to the report, the three largest individual pitches of the first half of the year were those from Helsana, Heineken, and Dyson, with a combined net volume of 27 million U.S. dollars.
Mediaschneider Zurich Reports Highest Volume of New Business in the First Half of the Year
Looking at the top five media agencies with the most successful new business, the New Business Barometer shows that an independent agency tops the list: Mediaschneider Zurich achieved the highest figure with a total net volume of 10.6 million U.S. dollars, thanks to its successful retention of the Helsana account. In second place, with a net total of $10.2 million, is Hearts United, which was formed from the merger of Hearts & Science (Omnicom) and Mediahub (Interpublic/Mediabrands). Third place goes to the PHD Network, which also belongs to Omnicom Media, with a net new business volume of $8.9 million, including the Adidas account. In fourth place is Dentsu’s Red Star, which is reported to have successfully defended the Heineken account, followed by WPP Media’s Wavemaker with a net new business volume of $4.4 million.
In total, COMvergence tracked and validated the budget changes of 23 media agencies from January through June 2026—including eight independent agencies and fifteen network agencies belonging to international holding companies.
