# IPG Mediabrands
> Mediabrands · New York, New York
- Profile type: Company
- Profile status: baseline
- Last updated: 2026-05-03T00:00:00.000Z
- Canonical URL: https://thestateofstreaming.com/companies/mediabrands/
- Also known as: Mediabrands, IPG Mediabrands, Interpublic Mediabrands
## Summary
IPG Mediabrands was Interpublic Group's media-services holding company, housing UM, Initiative, Magna, Reprise, and Kinesso. Founded 2008 and headquartered in New York, it ranked among the legacy 'Big Six' media networks. After Omnicom's November 2025 acquisition of IPG closed, the Mediabrands brand was retired and its agencies folded into the new Omnicom Media platform under CEO Florian Adamski.

## Company facts

- Founded: 2008
- Headquarters: New York, New York
- Domain: mediabrands.com


## Key facts

- IPG Mediabrands was established in 2008 as Interpublic Group's media-services holding company, consolidating Universal McCann (UM), Initiative, and the Magna media-economics unit under a single management structure. — Interpublic Group corporate history: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Interpublic_Group_of_Companies
- IPG Mediabrands' agency portfolio at the time of the Omnicom acquisition included full-service media networks UM and Initiative; performance-marketing unit Kinesso (formed in 2023 by merging Kinesso, Reprise, and Matterkind); and Magna, the long-running media-economics, intelligence, and centralized-negotiations arm whose annual U.S. ad-spend forecast had been published continuously since 1948. — Marketing-Interactive: https://www.marketing-interactive.com/ipg-mediabrands-merge-kinesso,-matterkind-and-reprise-to-form-new-unit
- Eileen Kiernan was named Global CEO of IPG Mediabrands in 2023, succeeding Daryl Lee (who moved to lead McCann Worldgroup). Kiernan was the final Global CEO of the Mediabrands network, announcing her departure in an internal memo following the close of the Omnicom-IPG merger; her exit was timed for early 2026. — Adweek: https://www.adweek.com/agencies/omnicom-ipg-merger-mediabrands-eileen-kiernan/
- Omnicom Group closed its acquisition of Interpublic Group on November 26, 2025, at a final purchase price of $9 billion based on Omnicom's closing share price of $71.50. IPG was delisted from the NYSE on November 28, 2025. — Campaign Asia: https://www.campaignasia.com/article/omnicom-closes-interpublic-acquisition-for-final-purchase-price-of-9-billion/506188
- Following the merger, Omnicom announced a consolidated 'Omnicom Media' platform led by CEO Florian Adamski (formerly CEO of Omnicom Media Group). The IPG Mediabrands corporate identity was retired and the constituent agencies — UM, Initiative, and Mediahub — were folded alongside legacy OMG brands OMD, PHD, and Hearts & Science into the unified six-brand structure. — Adweek: https://www.adweek.com/agencies/omnicom-media-new-leadership-ipg-merger/
- In the post-merger structure, Susan Kingston-Brown was named global brand president of UM and Stacy DeRiso global brand president of Initiative — both reporting to Omnicom Media CEO Florian Adamski rather than to a Mediabrands holding-company layer. — Adweek: https://www.adweek.com/agencies/omnicom-media-new-leadership-ipg-merger/
- Magna — the IPG Mediabrands intelligence and investment unit — was sunset as a standalone operation post-merger; per Omnicom's statement, 'Magna capabilities have been consolidated within Omnicom Media' and the spend forecast 'is expected to be retooled as part of existing marketplace intelligence reports.' This broke a 77-year-old industry forecasting cadence dating to 1948. — MediaPost: https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/411054/omnicom-media-sunsets-mediabrands-kiernan-magna.html
- Kinesso — the combined data, identity, and addressable unit formed from the 2023 merger of Kinesso, Reprise, and Matterkind — was retained post-acquisition as a commercial and operational unit supporting Omnicom Media, alongside Acxiom and the Omni operating system. — MediaPost: https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/411054/omnicom-media-sunsets-mediabrands-kiernan-magna.html
- The mediabrands.com and ipgmediabrands.com domains both 301-redirect to omnicommedia.com as of early 2026, reflecting the corporate-identity retirement. — Omnicom Media (verified redirect): https://omnicommedia.com/


## Related

- interpublic group (Historical parent — IPG Mediabrands was IPG's media-services holding company from 2008 until the Omnicom acquisition closed November 2025) — https://thestateofstreaming.com/companies/interpublic-group/
- omnicom group (Current parent following the November 26, 2025 close of Omnicom's $9 billion acquisition of Interpublic Group) — https://thestateofstreaming.com/companies/omnicom-group/
- omnicom media group (Sister organization within Omnicom; the two media platforms were consolidated into a single "Omnicom Media" unit led by Florian Adamski) — https://thestateofstreaming.com/companies/omnicom-media-group/


## External coverage

- Omnicom Media: Omnicom Media — successor entity (mediabrands.com now redirects here) (https://omnicommedia.com/)
- Adweek: Omnicom Names New Media Leadership Team After IPG Merger (https://www.adweek.com/agencies/omnicom-media-new-leadership-ipg-merger/)
- MediaPost: Omnicom Media Sunsets Mediabrands, Kiernan, Magna, 'OMG' Too (https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/411054/omnicom-media-sunsets-mediabrands-kiernan-magna.html)
- Campaign Asia: Omnicom closes Interpublic acquisition for final purchase price of $9 billion (https://www.campaignasia.com/article/omnicom-closes-interpublic-acquisition-for-final-purchase-price-of-9-billion/506188)
- Adweek: IPG's Top Media Exec Is Out as Omnicom Merger Shakes Up Leadership Ranks (https://www.adweek.com/agencies/omnicom-ipg-merger-mediabrands-eileen-kiernan/)

## Profile
IPG Mediabrands was Interpublic Group's media-services holding company from its 2008 formation until the Omnicom-IPG merger closed on November 26, 2025. Headquartered in New York and led for its final chapter by Global CEO Eileen Kiernan, the network housed full-service media agencies UM and Initiative, performance-marketing unit Kinesso (which absorbed Reprise and Matterkind in 2023), and Magna — the investment and intelligence arm whose annual U.S. ad-spend forecast had been a fixture of agency-side market sizing since 1948.

Post-acquisition, Omnicom retired the Mediabrands holding-layer entirely. UM and Initiative were repositioned as global brand presidencies (Susan Kingston-Brown and Stacy DeRiso, respectively) reporting to Omnicom Media CEO Florian Adamski, alongside legacy Omnicom Media Group brands OMD, PHD, Hearts & Science, and Mediahub. Magna was sunset as a standalone unit, with its capabilities consolidated into Omnicom Media's marketplace intelligence reporting. Kinesso was retained as a commercial and operational layer supporting the new structure, sister to Acxiom and the Omni operating system.

This profile preserves the Mediabrands history because the brand surfaces frequently in our archive — through Magna's spend forecasts, UM and Initiative client work, and the holdco context for the post-merger consolidation reshaping media-buying competition. Going-forward news involving these agencies attributes to the current Omnicom Media structure.

## Tags

- holdco
- media-buying
- ad-agency-network
- omnicom-ipg-merger
- retired-brand

---
View this profile in a browser: https://thestateofstreaming.com/companies/mediabrands/
Browse the directory: https://thestateofstreaming.com/companies/
Machine-readable index: https://thestateofstreaming.com/llms.txt