e4m Video Story:  Yannick Bollore: Havas is one of the most acquisitive agency groups in India 

They are counted amongst the top six holding companies in the world, and in the first quarter of 2025 registered a growth rate higher than some of its competitors like Omnicom and WPP. Last year has been an action packed one for the network, with Havas demerging with Vivendi, giving them greater autonomy for pursuing growth opportunities. Interestingly in 2024, the network also logged their highest ever revenue. On his India visit, Yannick Bollore, Chairman and CEO of the company spoke to IMPACT about the success of the ‘converged strategy’ which he announced at Cannes last year, how digital is accounting for 50% of their media buying globally and how exactly Havas is keeping up with the times and technology. 

Talking about Havas’ growth story, Bollore says, “We have seen excellent growth in APAC in the first quarter of 2025, especially in India, where we grew a little bit more than 10% and over 5% globally. So, we are very satisfied with our growth for the first quarter and especially satisfied with what's happening at Havas in India.”

Havas’ revenue in India has largely been steered by their media buying division, with their creative counterpart playing catch up for years. There has been a consistent effort to bring both on par ever since Rana Barua took over as the India chief. But has the Havas Chairman seen much of a development on that front? 

“So, Havas Media today is one of the strongest players in the industry with 8% market share as far as media buying is concerned in India. With regard to Havas Creative, would like to tell you that we have good material for Cannes Lions that is coming from India this year. So, I believe that we could have some good news, good awards to celebrate with our Indian creative agencies in Cannes in a couple of weeks.”

Havas has grown a fair bit on the back of acquisitions globally and in India they have acquired key agencies like Pivotroots, Think Design, Sorrento, PR Pundit, Shobiz and many more. Talking about their acquisition strategy Bollore says, “Havas is one of the most acquisitive groups in the industry, we have executed between 5 to 10 acquisitions every year, for the past 10 years. I’d say that we have had different transformative acquisitions globally.” 

We also asked Bollore about the possible acquisition of one of the most successful independent media agencies in the country, Madison World; and Bollore had an interesting response to give. 

Watch the full video interview to find out.