This article was originally published by Ad Age.
Activision, the Santa Monica, California-based video game developer, has consolidated its global media planning and buying with Omnicom’s OMD without a review.
The change comes about a month after Activision opted to stick with creative incumbent 72andSunny after a competitive review. The media assignment is effective immediately, according to a statement from OMD.
First-person shooter game “Call of Duty” is scheduled to release its next version, called “Black Ops 4,” on Oct. 12. Activision’s other titles include “Destiny” and “Crash.”
In 2011, Activision shifted its North American media business, which was $150 million at the time, from WPP-owned MEC to OMD without a review, Ad Age previously reported. MEC continued to handle the business in Europe and Asia Pacific. Activision conducted another review last year, opting to retain OMD and MEC.
GroupM’s MEC merged with sibling agency Maxus last year to form Wavemaker. The agency declined to comment.
Before the most recent shift, OMD was handling media in the North America and Latin American regions. It will now add the Europe, Middle East and Africa and Asia Pacific regions.
Activision declined to comment beyond OMD’s news release.
Activision parent company Activision Blizzard spent an estimated $87 million on measured media in the U.S. last year, according to Kantar Media. Activision Blizzard reported $1.97 billion in net revenues in the quarter ending March 31, up from $1.73 billion in the same quarter a year ago.
Consultancy R3 estimates Activision’s global media spending at around $100 million, while Comvergence, an international research company that tracks agency pitches, estimates the spending to be higher, at around $140 million in 2017.
