Conglomeration among the top American public relations agencies: A case study

• This study employed industrial organization theory to measure the extent of conglomeration among the top American PR agencies. It also measured various characteristics of conglomerated PR agencies such as net fees, location, number of employees, agencies’ primary service, and range of services.
• Using O'Dwyer's rankings and Mergent database, the authors coded the top 100 American PR agencies and extracted the variables from the relevant literature. The study found 24% of the leading PR agencies in the United States are part of conglomerates.
• Using statistical correlations, the study found mainly positive relationships between being conglomerated PR agencies and their characteristics. Conglomerated agencies are more likely to be located in metropolitan areas, tend to provide PR as a primary service, and net fees tend to be highe.

Conglomerates have been increasing in size to also include different media industries. Public relations has not been immune from conglomerate mergers. However, the inter-related economic and structural dimensions of public relations within a conglomerate are often undermined in the relevant literature. The existing literature shows lack of studies on these dimensions. This research investigates the degree of conglomeration among the top American PR agencies and the characteristics of these conglomerated agencies. Using industrial organization theory as the theoretical framework, the findings revealed that 24% of the leading public relations agencies in the United States are part of conglomerates. These agencies tend to be located in large metropolitan areas, have a relatively small number of employees and have considerable net fees. The study also found strong and positive statistical correlations between conglomerated PR agencies when compared to un-conglomerated in variables such as agency's location, primary service and net fees.