WPP Media
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Media |
| Predecessor | Mediaedge:CIA, Mindshare Worldwide |
| Founded | 2003 |
| Headquarters | New York City , United States |
Area served | Asia, Australia, North America, EMEA, United Kingdom |
Key people | Brian Lesser (Global CEO) |
| Products | Media buying and planning, advertising services |
| Owner | WPP plc |
Number of employees | approx. 10,000 (EssenceMediacom network) |
| Parent | WPP plc |
WPP Media, previously known as GroupM, is a media enterprise based in the United States and owned by the global holding company WPP plc. By 2023, GroupM held the position as the largest media buying agency worldwide.
The company’s headquarters are situated at 3 World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan, with operations spanning subsidiaries throughout Asia, Australia, North America, and the EMEA region.
Among its principal subsidiaries are Essence Global, Mindshare, and Wavemaker. EssenceMediacom stands out as the globe’s largest network of media agencies.
In May 2025, GroupM underwent a rebranding process, adopting the name WPP Media.
History
WPP plc launched GroupM in 2003 by merging Mediaedge:CIA and Mindshare Worldwide to strengthen its media investment capabilities. In 2015, GroupM required all media partners to obtain anti-piracy certification from the Trustworthy Accountability Group, thereby enhancing brand safety measures. By 2019, it established a coalition aimed at helping brands engage with multicultural audiences, initially setting a goal to allocate two percent of media investments to Black-owned outlets by 2021. This commitment was broadened in 2023 to encompass AAPI, Hispanic, and LGBT media organizations.
After Elon Musk acquired Twitter in 2022, GroupM classified Twitter as "high risk" for advertising purposes. However, this designation was reversed in 2023 following Linda Yaccarino’s appointment as CEO and collaborative efforts on brand safety initiatives.
In 2022, GroupM introduced a carbon calculator designed to assess the environmental footprint of advertising activities and partnered with Good-Loop to minimize carbon emissions linked to ads. It became the first agency holding group in Australia to offer carbon offsetting services and established a decarbonization coalition with 20 clients. The carbon calculator was further enhanced in 2023.
A notable action in 2023 saw GroupM removing made-for-advertising (MFA) sites from its programmatic inventory, setting a new industry benchmark. This built upon efforts by its UK team, which maintained a list of roughly 6,000 domains excluding MFA content. Additionally, GroupM launched a tool aimed at guiding brands toward investing in quality journalism, reinforcing its dedication to responsible media expenditure.
In May 2025, GroupM rebranded as WPP Media, integrating EssenceMediacom, Mindshare, T&Pm, and Wavemaker into a single unified entity. This strategic restructuring involved workforce reductions.
Operations and organizational structure
WPP Media’s headquarters occupy 15 floors and cover 700,000 square feet at 3 World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan. Prior to centralization, GroupM’s various brands operated out of several offices located across Midtown Manhattan.
Irwin Gotlieb served as CEO from the company’s inception until 2012 before transitioning to the role of global chairperson until 2018. He was succeeded by Dominic Proctor, Kelly Clark, and Christian Juhl. In 2024, Brian Lesser was appointed global CEO.
Subsidiaries
WPP Media manages subsidiaries throughout Asia—including India, Indonesia, Pakistan, South Asia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam—as well as Australia and New Zealand, EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa), North America, and the U.K. In 2017, GroupM acquired a majority stake in MediaCom India through a joint venture with Madison Media group’s principal shareholder Sam Balsara. Between 2020 and 2022, GroupM North America employed approximately 6,000 personnel and managed $17.6 billion in media investment billings.
In 2016, GroupM reorganized its management structure to unify media investment and platform services. By 2017, it phased out Maxus by merging its operations into Essence and MEC (now Wavemaker). Until 2022, five media agencies were maintained before Essence merged with Mediacom to form EssenceMediacom—currently the world’s largest media agency network with about 10,000 employees across 120 offices managing $21 billion in annual ad billings. During this restructuring, Mindshare integrated Neo.
GroupM Entertainment was founded in 2009 and later rebranded as Motion Content Group. Expanding into the U.S., it was renamed GroupM Motion Entertainment in North America in 2023. The unit partnered with Warner Bros. Discovery to support GroupM’s Diverse Voices Accelerator initiative.
In 2013, WPP merged its programmatic advertising arm 24/7 Media into Xaxis to scale operations. In 2023, WPP acquired London-based agency Goat and combined it with GroupM’s influencer division Inca under GroupM Nexus to enhance influencer marketing offerings.