Publicis Groupe reported double-digit organic growth in India in the third quarter of 2026, identifying the country alongside China as a key contributor to its Asia-Pacific performance as advertisers accelerate investments in AI-powered marketing.
India’s growth came as the French advertising group posted 5% organic growth in net revenue globally for the quarter, taking its growth for the first nine months of the year to 4.8%. Asia-Pacific recorded 5.4% organic growth in the third quarter, accelerating from 4.1% in the first half.
“China, but also India, remained key contributors, both up double digits,” Arthur Sadoun, Chairman and CEO of Publicis Groupe, said during the company’s third-quarter earnings call.
The performance comes as Publicis positions its combination of data, technology, media and creative capabilities as a competitive advantage in a market where consumers are increasingly using artificial intelligence to discover products, compare brands and make purchasing decisions.
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AI changes how brands reach consumers
Sadoun said the adoption of AI by consumers is moving faster than enterprise-wide technology transformation, creating different investment priorities for clients.
While large-scale enterprise transformation projects are taking longer to secure commitments amid macroeconomic uncertainty, marketing services are seeing more immediate demand as brands seek to adapt to changing consumer behaviour.
“As they turn to AI assistants for recommendation and comparisons, our clients need to adapt how they reach and engage with them,” Sadoun said. “The imperative to adapt is immediate.”
He said clients were committing budgets more quickly to marketing transformation because moving too slowly could cost them market share. Publicis’ Connected Media business, which accounts for 62% of net revenue, recorded high-single-digit organic growth in the quarter, driven by market-share gains, demand for AI-powered products and services, and new addressable markets.
Intelligent Creativity, representing 25% of net revenue, delivered low-single-digit organic growth, supported by new business wins and expanded assignments.
Sadoun said Publicis Sapient, the group’s technology and consulting business, was increasingly working alongside its media and creative operations to help clients adapt their marketing models. Publicis expects its technology business to return to positive growth globally in the fourth quarter, although it cautioned that a broader recovery in large enterprise AI transformation projects remains uncertain.
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New business wins strengthen visibility into 2027
Publicis said its new-business performance was improving as consolidation reshapes the global advertising industry following Omnicom’s acquisition of Interpublic Group.
Sadoun said the reduction in the number of major global agency groups had created opportunities for the remaining players to win more business and compete on capabilities and business outcomes rather than price alone.
Citing COMvergence data, he said more than 90% of local account wins in the first half of 2026 went to three global players, compared with less than 75% a year earlier.
Publicis’ net new business contribution to organic growth for 2026 has risen to 250 basis points, from an earlier estimate of 200 basis points, according to Sadoun. For 2027, the group expects its already-won assignments to contribute approximately 200 basis points to organic growth.
The company said its retention rate remained close to 100%, helping it build visibility into future revenue even as clients remain cautious about some discretionary spending.
Data and technology underpin the AI strategy
Publicis is betting that the ability to connect customer identity, data, technology and creative execution will become more important as AI changes how brands reach audiences.
Sadoun said clients increasingly want an AI-powered marketing engine built within their own environments, allowing them to retain control over their data and technology.
Under the group’s model, Publicis Sapient builds and modernises the technology infrastructure, Epsilon helps identify and engage customers, and the Marcel platform connects data, technology, agents and workflows. Media, creative production and commerce capabilities then activate that system across consumer touchpoints.
The objective is to help brands personalise interactions, produce content more quickly and optimise media in real time, while linking marketing activity to measurable business outcomes.
Sadoun said Publicis had won three significant AI-led transformation assignments during 2026 outside traditional pitch processes, reflecting demand for partners that can combine marketing capabilities with technology implementation.
The group has also been investing in AI skills and productivity. It said more than 90% of its 114,000 employees had been equipped and trained with AI productivity tools, with the company targeting a 25% reduction in manual and repetitive tasks through automation.
Publicis said the resulting productivity gains were contributing to its capacity to reinvest in talent, technology and capabilities.
Global growth remains broad-based
Beyond India, Publicis reported organic growth of 4.5% in Europe and 4.5% in the United States during the third quarter. China grew 10.6%, while Latin America recorded 23.8% growth, driven by Connected Media and Intelligent Creativity, particularly in Brazil and Mexico. The Middle East and Africa declined 1.4%, reflecting the impact of the regional conflict.
For the full year, Publicis reaffirmed its organic growth target of 4.5% to 5%, a slight improvement in operating margin over its 2025 record of 18.2%, and free cash flow of approximately €2.2 billion.
Sadoun said the group had completed 25 consecutive quarters of outperformance against its peers and expected to continue gaining market share as clients adapt to AI-driven changes in consumer behaviour.
For India, the double-digit growth puts the country among the markets supporting Publicis’ broader strategy: bringing data, technology, media and creative capabilities closer together as brands seek to protect market share and generate measurable growth in an AI-led advertising environment.
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First Published on October 13, 2026, 22:30:44 IST
