Leading public relations (PR) agencies worldwide 2023, by fee income

In 2023, Edelman continued to top the global ranking of public relations (PR) agencies by annual fee income, with its result surpassing one billion U.S. dollars. All the world's top five firms are based in the United States. Weber Shandwick and BCW rounded the top three, with estimated fee incomes of 776 million and 735 million dollars, respectively.

Edelman: a PR MVP?

According to the same source, Edelman's fee income peaked in 2022. That year, the annual result amounted to almost as much as in 2010 and 2011 combined. Edelman can be deemed the most valuable player (MVP) among multinational PR firms, but that depends on the game. The leviathan of advertising marketing holdings still has the upper hand. The PR operations revenues of Omnicom, WPP, and IPG all surpassed Edelman's parent holding, DJE, in 2022.

Growers, not (yet) showers

Albeit not reaching the top 10 by annual results, some smaller firms experienced double-digit increase rates in 2023. The ranking of the 10 fastest-growing PR agencies worldwide included companies headquartered in Spain, the United Kingdom, the U.S., Canada, German, and Brazil whose fee incomes grew by over 40 percent compared to 2022. Among the 10 fastest-expanding U.S.-based PR firms, growth rates surpassed 20 percent.