Revenue

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2021

Revenue [Abstract]

Revenue

Revenue

Nature of our services

We provide an extensive range of advertising, marketing and corporate communications services through various client-centric networks that are organized to meet specific client objectives. Our networks and agencies provide a comprehensive range of services in the following fundamental disciplines: Advertising, Precision Marketing, Commerce & Brand Consulting, Experiential, Execution & Support, Public Relations and Healthcare. Advertising includes creative services across digital and traditional media, strategic media planning and buying, and data analytics services. Precision Marketing includes digital and direct marketing, digital transformation and data and analytics. Commerce & Brand Consulting services include brand consulting, strategy and research, and retail ecommerce. Experiential marketing services include live and digital events and experience design and execution. Execution & Support includes field marketing, sales support, digital and physical merchandising and point-of-sale, as well as other specialized marketing and custom communications services. Public relations services include corporate communications, crisis management, public affairs, and media and media relations services. Healthcare includes advertising and media services to global healthcare and pharmaceutical clients. At the core of all our services is the ability to create or develop a client’s marketing or corporate communications message into content that can be delivered to a target audience across different communications mediums.

Revenue by discipline was (in millions):

	Year Ended December 31,
	2021		2020		2019
Advertising	$	7,959.3	$	7,511.4	$	8,664.2
Precision Marketing	1,194.8		944.6		927.2
Commerce & Brand Consulting	910.7		821.8		971.8
Experiential	545.9		426.8		670.0
Execution & Support	1,026.6		961.3		1,177.2
Public Relations	1,391.7		1,310.9		1,386.7
Healthcare	1,260.4		1,194.3		1,156.6
	$	14,289.4	$	13,171.1	$	14,953.7

Primarily as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, revenue for 2020 as compared to 2019 decreased in all our major markets and all disciplines except for Healthcare and Precision Marketing.

Economic factors affecting our revenue

Global economic conditions have a direct impact on our revenue. Adverse economic conditions pose a risk that our clients may reduce, postpone or cancel spending for our services, which would impact our revenue.

Revenue in our geographic markets was (in millions):

	Year Ended December 31,
	2021		2020		2019
Americas:
North America	$	7,709.7	$	7,577.1	$	8,478.8
Latin America	296.1		275.4		403.4
EMEA:
Europe	4,219.6		3,607.7		4,107.4
Middle East and Africa	267.6		207.2		314.6
Asia-Pacific	1,796.4		1,503.7		1,649.5
	$	14,289.4	$	13,171.1	$	14,953.7

The Americas is comprised of North America, which includes the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico, and Latin America, which includes South America and Mexico. EMEA is comprised of Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Asia-Pacific includes Australia, Greater China, India, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Singapore and other Asian countries. Revenue in the United States in 2021 and 2020 was $7,245.9 million and $7,186.1 million, respectively. The sale of ICON impacted revenue in the United States in 2021.

Contract assets and liabilities

Work in process includes contract assets, unbilled fees and costs, and media and production costs. Contract liabilities primarily consist of customer advances. Work in process and contract liabilities were (in millions):

	December 31,
	2021		2020
Work in process:
Contract assets and unbilled fees and costs	$	469.9	$	501.1
Media and production costs	731.1		600.1
	$	1,201.0	$	1,101.2
Contract liabilities:
Customer advances	$	1,644.5	$	1,361.3

Work in process represents accrued costs incurred on behalf of customers, including media and production costs, and fees and other third-party costs that have not yet been billed. Media and production costs are billed during the production process in accordance with the terms of the client contract. Contract assets primarily include incentive fees, which are not material and will be billed to clients in accordance with the terms of the client contract. Substantially all unbilled fees and costs will be billed within the next 30 days. The contract liability primarily represents advance billings to customers in accordance with the terms of the client contracts, primarily for the reimbursement of third-party costs that are generally incurred in the near term. There were no impairment losses to the contract assets recorded in 2021 or 2020.