Havas and Horizon Media Launch Horizon Global, $20B AI-Native Network Built on BluConverged
Horizon Media and Havas formed Horizon Global, a New York JV with $20B billings for U.S.-led multinationals. BluConverged fuses Blu and Converged.AI for AI-driven media.
Horizon Media and Havas launch Horizon Global to court U.S.-centric global marketers
Horizon Media Holdings and Havas have formed a joint venture, Horizon Global, announced Sept. 29, 2025. With an estimated $20 billion in global billings and headquarters in New York, the entity targets U.S.-led multinationals and combines Horizon's Blu with Havas' Converged.AI as a new platform called BluConverged.
Horizon Media and Havas Media Network will continue to operate independently with separate clients, brands, and new business pitches. Executives position Horizon Global as the first agency network built in the AI era, promising an AI-native client experience focused on performance, transparency, and outcomes.
What this means for marketers
If your global budget and strategy are led from the U.S., Horizon Global is pitching a single, AI-driven approach across planning, activation, and measurement. Expect tighter links between media investment and business results, with more scrutiny on model transparency and data governance.
The pitch is straightforward: reduce waste, improve speed to insight, and make performance commitments more accountable. The test is execution across markets, partners, and data sources.
Inside BluConverged
BluConverged fuses Horizon's Blu and Havas' Converged.AI. The promise: use AI to surface insights faster, automate optimization, and provide clearer attribution across channels. Success will hinge on data quality, identity resolution across regions, and how well the platform integrates with your existing martech stack.
Bob Lord, interim CEO of Horizon Global and president of Horizon Media, said the venture was built to meet "growing demands for performance-based media models" and to drive enduring growth for client brands.
Leadership and scale
Bob Lord, formerly IBM's first chief digital officer, will lead as interim CEO while retaining his role as Horizon Media's president. Renata Spackova has been named global COO and will oversee deployment across 100+ markets.
The move lands amid industry consolidation. Omnicom Group and Interpublic Group are progressing toward a combined entity following a finalized consent order from the Federal Trade Commission. For marketers, scale is increasing on the supply side, which impacts pricing, access, and flexibility. FTC updates are worth tracking.
Action plan for CMOs and media leads
- Pilot first, then scale: Run a 90-day test in 1-2 priority markets with clear KPIs (CAC, MER, offline sales lift). Require a pre-commit on how optimization decisions will be made.
- Measurement discipline: Align on a primary source of truth (MMM, geo experiments, or incrementality testing). Use model comparisons to validate lift claims.
- Contract for outcomes: Tie fees to agreed performance metrics with guardrails (brand safety, reach quality, market share). Include audit rights for data and optimization logs.
- Data and privacy: Map data flows and consent. Confirm data retention, regional processing, and how third-party data enters models.
- Interoperability: Require plug-and-play with your CDP, analytics, and creative tooling. Validate export formats and real-time API access before committing budgets.
- Transparency questions: Ask for line-of-sight into model features, training data sources, frequency of model updates, and how bias and drift are monitored.
What to watch
- Integration speed: How fast BluConverged unifies planning, buying, and reporting into one client view.
- Talent moves: Senior data science, analytics, and account leadership assigned to your business.
- Client conflicts: How independence is maintained across Horizon Media and Havas Media Network client rosters and pitches.
- Proof points: Independent case studies showing incremental sales, not just platform engagement metrics.
- Regulatory and consolidation: Impacts from large-scale mergers on pricing, inventory access, and tools parity.
Context: more consolidation
Empower Media and Ocean Media merged this month to form Empower Ocean Media Group, consolidating roughly $1.5 billion in media billings. Expect more combinations as agencies seek scale, data breadth, and AI capabilities.
If you're upleveling AI fluency on your team
Strengthen your internal capability to brief, evaluate, and govern AI-driven media. These resources can help your team get practical, fast:
