The agencies leading Poland’s €3.3 billion advertising market

Poland’s advertising market grew 6.9% to PLN 13.96 billion (about €3.3 billion) in 2025, according to Publicis Groupe’s annual estimate. This piece maps leading media buyers, creative agencies and PR firms, drawing on 2025 agency rankings and major industry awards from the past 18 months.

Video still takes half, but internet is gaining

Agora, which publishes its own market estimates, puts 2025 spending slightly higher at PLN 14.12 billion, also up 6.9%. Both estimates cover advertising expenditure in media. They exclude the broader non-media spending included in the Czech market total covered previously, so those totals are not directly comparable.

Inside the Publicis figure, video, meaning linear TV plus online video, took PLN 7.44 billion, or 53.3% of the market. Linear TV alone grew just 1.2% to PLN 5.02 billion. Internet advertising excluding video and classifieds rose 8.7% to PLN 4.19 billion, while advertising on streaming platforms jumped 44.8%. Radio added 8.3%, outdoor 7% and cinema 7.7%. Print barely moved: magazine advertising fell 0.4%, while newspaper advertising grew 1%.

Retail was the largest advertiser sector. Retailers spent PLN 3.56 billion, 25.4% of the total, and increased their budgets by 11.7%. Retail search advertising rose 31.2%, reflecting the growing importance of advertising close to the point of purchase.

IAB Polska and PwC, which use a broader measure of digital advertising, counted PLN 10.9 billion in online advertising expenditure for 2025, up 14.6%. That total is not directly comparable with Publicis’s internet category.

Media agencies: two rankings, two different leaders

Who leads Polish media buying depends on the measure used.

COMvergence puts WPP Media first among holding groups by estimated media billings, with $991 million (about €877 million) in 2025, up 6.7%, and a 27% market share. Publicis Media is second with $722 million (about €639 million), up 11.2%. Omnicom Media Group is third at $359 million, up 17%. Combining its billings with IPG’s Mediabrands, following Omnicom’s acquisition of IPG in late 2025, gives a total of $629 million.

At agency level, Publicis-owned Starcom leads with $340 million, ahead of three WPP Media agencies: EssenceMediacom ($326 million), Wavemaker ($302 million) and Mindshare ($251 million). Publicis’s Zenith also recorded $251 million and grew 13.4%, faster than those three WPP agencies.

RECMA reverses the group order, but its ranking measures something broader. Its Overall Activity metric includes media billings alongside services such as content, SEO, events, sponsorship, consulting, data and analytics.

On that basis, Publicis Media leads with €1.13 billion and a 29.7% share among the network groups, excluding the independents. WPP Media is second at €1.03 billion and is the only leading group to shrink, down 4.6%. The combined Omnicom businesses would rank third at €1.01 billion, up 18.9%.

RECMA also highlights the strength of agencies outside the international holding networks. Value Media, part of Poland’s Group One, ranks second at agency level with €472 million in overall activity, including Mediaplus. re58, owned by Orlen and PZU, accounts for an estimated €222 million.

Publicis also led COMvergence’s 2025 new-business ranking, with a $122 million net result including retained accounts. That comprised approximately $74 million in new client budgets and $70 million in retained budgets, less $22 million in losses. WPP retained the largest media billings in COMvergence’s estimate.

Zenith took Media Agency of the Year at Effie Awards Poland 2025, ahead of Starcom and OMD.

Creative and effectiveness: TBWA\Warsaw and VML set the pace

On the creative side, DDB Warszawa was named Agency of the Year at Effie Awards Poland in November 2025, scoring 42 points. Dentsu Creative and Ogilvy shared second place with 28 points, followed by McCann Poland with 24. The jury awarded seven golds and, for the second year running, no Grand Prix.

Two gold-winning McDonald’s campaigns included DDB among their credited agencies. McDonald’s also won Effie’s Company of the Year title. In March 2026, following Omnicom’s acquisition of IPG, DDB Warszawa became TBWA\Warsaw, retaining the same management and team.

The agency continued winning under its new name. At KTR 2026, held in September, TBWA\Warsaw was named Agency of the Year with 124 points. VML was second at 112.5, followed by Dentsu Creative (58.75), Feeders Agency (58.5) and Ogilvy (42.5). Netflix won Advertiser of the Year ahead of McDonald’s.

McCann Poland has also stood out internationally. Its “Public Money ATM” for Mastercard, which enabled residents of Ełk to vote on participatory-budget projects at cash machines, won two Silver Lions at Cannes in 2025 and a Grand Prix at Golden Drum.

GPD, named Agency of the Year by Press’s Panorama Reklamy after winning comprehensive creative and communications duties for Orange Polska, is another agency to watch. Both GPD and TBWA\Warsaw appear across the Effie 2026 nominations, although nomination counts need to distinguish between lead agencies, co-submitters and campaigns entered in multiple categories.

The campaign that won Poland a Grand Prix

VML’s “Lucky Fan Index” for football club Wisła Kraków was a major Polish creative success in 2026. The AI-based tool matched more than 200 match metrics against fans’ attendance, producing personalised “luck” scores.

At Cannes Lions in June, it won six Lions, including a Grand Prix in Creative Commerce and three golds. VML Poland was also named Experience Track Agency of the Year. Polish agencies took seven Lions in total, with McCann Poland adding a bronze for “Here to Stay”, created with Mastercard and the International Organization for Migration.

“Lucky Fan Index” also won Entertainment of the Year at KTR. Other category winners included Feeders Agency’s “Lubella Serwuje Rakiettoni”, which turned Iga Świątek’s viral comments about pasta into a racquet-shaped product, and Kierunek Kreatywny’s “Co jest prawdą?” for women’s rights organisation Feminoteka, which won Charity of the Year.

PR: K+ Group takes the top title

At Złote Spinacze, Poland’s principal PR awards, K+ Group won the Tytanowy Spinacz for the highest-ranked participant in December 2025. 24/7Communication, also credited on McDonald’s Effie-winning employer-branding campaign, came second, followed by MSL. The jury awarded 97 gold, silver and bronze statuettes, alongside special awards.

The 2026 edition introduces a Grand Prix for the first time, awarded to the campaign with the highest total of points generated by its awards.

What comes next

Growth is continuing, but slowing. Publicis forecasts market growth of 5.8% in 2026, while Agora forecasts 5.5–7%. Publicis’s first-half figures show expenditure up 5.6% to almost PLN 7.1 billion. Internet advertising excluding video and classifieds grew 8%, online video rose 17%, and linear TV fell 2.4%.

Three forthcoming events will update this picture before year-end: Golden Drum on 12–13 October, with winners announced on 13 October; the Effie Awards Poland gala on 9 November; and Złote Spinacze on 7 December. Effie will provide the next test of whether TBWA\Warsaw can retain its predecessor’s Agency of the Year title during its first year under the new name.