Horizon Media surges to top global indie media rankings

US-based independent agency Horizon Media, a newcomer to the league, has claimed gold in the May indie media rankings.

Horizon has won $709.3 million in Campaign Red’s measure of net new-business billings for the year to date, according to preliminary data from COMvergence, more than 20 times greater than its nearest competitor. This win propelled it to second position in the overall global league as well. 

At the end of March, cable and internet provider Spectrum awarded its US media account to Horizon Media. The account was worth $772 million in new-business billings.

The shop also took home the US media account for streaming company StarzPlay, worth $120 million in billings. 

In total, Horizon Media actually brought in $969.3 million in wins, however, its loss of Sam’s Club ($171.4 million) to Publicis Media in April took the net number down.  

Another newcomer to the league, Turkish-based independent agency People, took second position, with $25.7 million in net new-business billings. 

In March, the shop won the media account for Turkish ecommerce outfit Hepsi Burada, worth $24 million. 

Following closely behind was US shop, The Many, with $18.6 million, which, in March, won the $18.6 million media remit for Panda Express in the US. 

Australia's Atomic 212 entered in fifth spot with $15.5 million, thanks to winning the Newcastle Permanent and Monash Health accounts. It has also reported retaining Greater Bank. 

Other significant wins came from UK indie shop Brainlabs. In April, Unicef USA selected the shop as its media agency of record, worth $12.5 million, following a competitive pitch. 

Brainlabs will take on full-service digital duties, including data, paid search, paid social, programmatic, strategy and planning, and SEO. 

Eleven new agencies made the rankings for the first time this month: Horizon Media; People; The Many; Atomic 212; Novus Media; Brainlabs; Cramer-Krasselt; Webranking; Ignis Media Agency; Heroiks Media; and Nova Expressão. 

Ionos wins that were previously reported have been excluded from these indie rankings while COMvergence seeks clarifications.

Campaign Red has produced the indie media rankings, using direct findings from COMvergence, to calculate the overall media billings sum of each agency, taking into account both wins and losses for the period. The formula is now wins – losses. Retentions are not considered in this formula, but are presented separately in the tables.

May refers to the publishing month of the rankings by Campaign. The data covers all 2025 account wins reported by COMvergence as of 1 May 2025. Next month’s rankings (June) will include accounts reported after this date. Reported figures may be revised in the future as more information becomes available.