LONDON: Despite languishing in the lower half of UK media agency rankings for 2007, WPP Group unit Mediaedge:cia won the 'fastest growing' accolade with a roistering 45.9% increase in annual billings to £350 million ($682.89m; €463.22m).

The annual UK media agency rankings, calculated by Nielsen Media Research, see fellow WPP shop MediaCom retain its numero uno position for a sixth year, lifting billings by 6.4% to £971m – tantalisingly close to the beckoning billion.

No change either for second-placed Omnicom agency OMD, up 7.5% to £846.7m; while another WPP agency, MindShare, clung to third place with £721m despite a 2.5% billings blip.

The remaining top ten agencies are  …

4.  Starcom (Publicis Groupe) £656.5m

5.  Carat (Aegis Group) £647m

6.  ZenithOptimedia (Publicis Groupe) £571m
 
7.  Mediaedge:cia (WPP Group) £350m

8.  Initiative (Interpublic Group) £274.7m

9.  Walker Media (M&C Saatchi) £264m

10. PHD (Omnicom Group) £246.8m

A note of caution. Nielsen Media Research advises that the above figures were leaked ahead of embargo and should not necessarily be regarded as accurate. Any variations will be reported in WARC News tomorrow.

Data sourced from multiple origins; additional content by WARC staff