When Havas and Horizon Media launched Horizon International on Monday, an unbiased three way partnership between the 2 rival company teams, it was an indication of the occasions.
The tie-up underscores the stress going through mid-tier networks in a consolidating market. Omnicom’s $13.5 billion acquisition of IPG, anticipated to shut earlier than the top of the 12 months, will slim the sector of world media giants whereas creating a brand new largest participant. Publicis started consolidating its media enterprise greater than a decade in the past. In the meantime, WPP is restructuring its media arm by merging operations throughout its companies, and the way forward for Dentsu’s worldwide enterprise hangs within the steadiness.
Horizon and Havas—every robust of their house markets however smaller on the worldwide stage—see the three way partnership as a method to compete for world media briefs they’d in any other case wrestle to win.
Working out of New York and Paris, Horizon International manages $20 billion in billings and has a presence in additional than 100 markets. The brand new entity additionally scales every company’s entry to information by merging Horizon’s Blu platform with Havas’ Converged.AI right into a unified system known as BluConverged.
The JV highlights the stress on independents and mid-sized networks to develop as media critiques balloon in dimension. Up to now 12 months, manufacturers together with Bayer ($720 million), Mars ($1.7 billion) and Coca-Cola ($785 million) have launched launched sprawling critiques that require world scale and cross-market coordination.
Horizon International is an acknowledgement that consolidation is reshaping the market. “Consumer centricity…has been an enormous driving power for us,” stated Peter Mears, Horizon International board member and world CEO of Havas Media Community.
Bulking up
Led by Horizon president Bob Lord as interim CEO and Havas’ Renata Spackova as COO, Horizon International will function independently from each companies beneath a single P&L. Lord and Spackova will report back to a board led by Mears, Horizon founder and CEO Invoice Koenigsberg, and Havas chairman and CEO Yannick Bolloré. Havas and Horizon will cut up income from the JV equally.
Whereas the objective is to compete globally, Horizon International’s candy spot will likely be U.S.-centric purchasers with world attain—enterprise Horizon couldn’t credibly win by itself, however now can assist with Havas’ worldwide footprint.
Horizon International can also be a knowledge and tech scale play. Combining each companies’ information platforms “permits us to run a a lot leaner operation from a human perspective than a few of our opponents are,” stated Mears.
Lord added that with regards to tech, Horizon International’s “open ecosystem” method lets it plug in instruments from Amazon, Google, and Adobe: “An open ecosystem spurs innovation. A closed ecosystem stifles it,” he stated.
Most significantly, the brand new construction offers purchasers working throughout geographies “one throat to choke,” as Lord put it. He pointed to airways and footwear as areas the place Horizon International sees near-term alternative—although the company declined to verify whether or not it’s in any lively pitches.
A brand new terrain
Horizon International displays the truth going through many midsize networks that want extra scale to compete for world media accounts. With Horizon’s U.S. heft and Havas’ worldwide attain, each are betting that becoming a member of forces can win them a seat at greater tables in a market with fewer choices. Mears stated 2025 has been sluggish for brand spanking new enterprise, however that its wanting like “a really busy fall and a busy Q1 2026.”
Trade analyst Brian Wieser, nonetheless, stated the JV solely opens doorways to a slim set of critiques that require each U.S. heft and a small world footprint.
“There’s going to be some subset of entrepreneurs who’re primarily U.S.-based, who’re giant and have comparatively small world operations, and solely need to appoint one company,” he stated. “In that slim set of circumstances, they may get right into a pitch that they’d have in any other case [not].”
Requested if Horizon International narrows the hole with mega-holdcos, Wieser was blunt: “In no way. If the worldwide half had been huge, you’re not contemplating Horizon or Havas within the first place.”
Whereas each corporations see Horizon International as a long-term play, Lord stated there’s room to evolve the supply, together with potential acquisitions down the road.
“Due to the way in which that we’ve set this three way partnership up, it offers us a variety of flexibility for what’s going to come sooner or later,” he stated. “Are there belongings that we need to pull into this JV?”
By becoming a member of forces, Horizon and Havas are acknowledging that in the event that they need to chase huge, world media purchasers, going it alone is now not an choice.
