Revenue

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2020

Revenue from Contract with Customer [Abstract]

The Company’s revenue recognition policies are established in accordance with ASC 606, and accordingly, revenue is recognized when control of the promised goods or services is transferred to our clients, in an amount that reflects the consideration we expect to be entitled to in exchange for those goods or services.

The MDC network provides an extensive range of services to our clients offering a variety of marketing and communication capabilities including strategy, creative and production for advertising campaigns across a variety of platforms (print, digital, social media, television broadcast), public relations services including strategy, editorial, crisis support or issues

management, media training, influencer engagement and events management. We also provide media buying and planning across a range of platforms (out-of-home, paid search, social media, lead generation, programmatic, television broadcast), experiential marketing and application/website design and development.

The primary source of the Company’s revenue is from agency arrangements in the form of fees for services performed, commissions, and from performance incentives or bonuses, depending on the terms of the client contract. In all circumstances, revenue is only recognized when collection is reasonably assured. Certain of the Company’s contractual arrangements have more than one performance obligation. For such arrangements, revenue is allocated to each performance obligation based on its relative stand-alone selling price. Stand-alone selling prices are determined based on the prices charged to clients or using expected cost plus margin.

The determination of our performance obligations is specific to the services included within each contract. Based on a client’s requirements within the contract, and how these services are provided, multiple services could represent separate performance obligations or be combined and considered one performance obligation. Contracts that contain services that are not significantly integrated or interdependent, and that do not significantly modify or customize each other, are considered separate performance obligations. Typically, we consider media planning, media buying, creative (or strategy), production and experiential marketing services to be separate performance obligations if included in the same contract as each of these services can be provided on a stand-alone basis, and do not significantly modify or customize each other. Public relations services and application/website design and development are typically each considered one performance obligation as there is a significant integration of these services into a combined output.

We typically satisfy our performance obligations over time, as services are performed. Fees for services are typically recognized using input methods (direct labor hours, materials and third-party costs) that correspond with efforts incurred to date in relation to total estimated efforts to complete the contract. Point in time recognition primarily relates to certain commission-based contracts, which are recognized upon the placement of advertisements in various media when the Company has no further performance obligation.

Revenue is recognized net of sales and other taxes due to be collected and remitted to governmental authorities. The Company’s contracts typically provide for termination by either party within 30 to 90 days. Although payment terms vary by client, they are typically within 30 to 60 days. In addition, the Company generally has the right to payment for all services provided through the end of the contract or termination date.

Within each contract, we identify whether the Company is principal or agent at the performance obligation level. In arrangements where the Company has substantive control over the service before transferring it to the client, and is primarily responsible for integrating the services into the final deliverables, we act as principal. In these arrangements, revenue is recorded at the gross amount billed. Accordingly, for these contracts the Company has included reimbursed expenses in revenue. In other arrangements where a third-party supplier, rather than the Company, is primarily responsible for the integration of services into the final deliverables, and thus the Company is solely arranging for the third-party supplier to provide these services to our client, we generally act as agent and record revenue equal to the net amount retained, when the fee or commission is earned. The role of MDC’s agencies under a production services agreement is to facilitate a client’s purchasing of production capabilities from a third-party production company in accordance with the client’s strategy and guidelines. The obligation of MDC’s agencies under media buying services is to negotiate and purchase advertising media from a third-party media vendor on behalf of a client to execute its media plan. We do not obtain control prior to transferring these services to our clients; therefore, we primarily act as agent for production and media buying services.

A small portion of the Company’s contractual arrangements with clients include performance incentive provisions, which allow the Company to earn additional revenues as a result of its performance relative to both quantitative and qualitative goals. Incentive compensation is primarily estimated using the most likely amount method and is included in revenue up to the amount that is not expected to result in a reversal of a significant amount of cumulative revenue recognized. We recognize revenue related to performance incentives as we satisfy the performance obligation to which the performance incentives are related.

Disaggregated Revenue Data

The Company provides a broad range of services to a large base of clients across the full spectrum of industry verticals on a global basis. The primary source of revenue is from agency arrangements in the form of fees for services performed, commissions, and from performance incentives or bonuses. Certain clients may engage with the Company in various geographic locations, across multiple disciplines, and through multiple Partner Firms. Representation of a client rarely means

that MDC handles marketing communications for all brands or product lines of the client in every geographical location. The Company’s Partner firms often cooperate with one another through referrals and the sharing of both services and expertise, which enables MDC to service clients’ varied marketing needs by crafting custom integrated solutions. Additionally, the Company maintains separate, independent operating companies to enable it to effectively manage potential conflicts of interest by representing competing clients across the MDC network.

The following table presents revenue disaggregated by client industry vertical for the twelve months ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018:


		Twelve Months Ended December 31,
Industry	Reportable Segment	2020		2019		2018
Food & Beverage	All	$	205,939	$	280,094	$	313,368
Retail	All	148,293		148,851		152,552
Consumer Products	All	165,105		167,324		162,524
Communications	All	77,443		184,870		178,410
Automotive	All	67,339		78,985		88,807
Technology	All	181,057		118,169		104,479
Healthcare	All	100,727		102,221		127,547
Financials	All	91,438		112,351		110,069
Transportation and Travel/Lodging	All	44,510		88,958		86,419
Other	All	117,160		133,980		150,913
		$	1,199,011	$	1,415,803	$	1,475,088

MDC has historically largely focused where the Company was founded in North America, the largest market for its services in the world. The Company has expanded its global footprint to support clients looking for help to grow their businesses in new markets. MDC’s Partner Firms are located in the United States, Canada, and an additional eleven countries around the world. In the past, some clients have responded to weakening economic conditions with reductions to their marketing budgets, which included discretionary components that are easier to reduce in the short term than other operating expenses.

The following table presents revenue disaggregated by geography for the twelve months ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018:


		Twelve Months Ended December 31,
Geographic Location	Reportable Segment	2020		2019		2018
United States	All	$	959,636	$	1,116,045	$	1,152,399
Canada	All	81,930		105,067		124,001
Other	All	157,445		194,691		198,688
		$	1,199,011	$	1,415,803	$	1,475,088

Contract assets and liabilities

Contract assets consist of fees and reimbursable outside vendor costs incurred on behalf of clients when providing advertising, marketing and corporate communications services that have not yet been invoiced to clients. Unbilled service fees were $49,110 and $65,004 at December 31, 2020 and December 31, 2019, respectively, and are included as a component of Accounts receivable on the Consolidated Balance Sheets. Outside vendor costs incurred on behalf of clients which have yet to be invoiced were $10,552 and $30,133 at December 31, 2020 and December 31, 2019, respectively, and are included on the Consolidated Balance Sheets as Expenditures billable to clients. Such amounts are invoiced to clients at various times over the course of providing services.

Contract liabilities consist of fees billed to clients in excess of fees recognized as revenue and are classified as Advance billings and within Accruals and other liabilities on the Company’s Consolidated Balance Sheets. In arrangements in which we are acting as an agent, the revenue recognition related to the contract liability is presented on a net basis within the Consolidated Statements of Operations. Advance billings at December 31, 2020 and December 31, 2019 were $152,956 and $171,742, respectively. The decrease in the advance billings balance of $18,786 for the twelve months ended December 31, 2020 was primarily driven by cash payments received or due in advance of satisfying our performance obligations, offset by $152,361 of revenues recognized that were included in the advance billings balances as of December 31, 2019 and reductions due to the incurrence of third-party costs. Contract liabilities classified within Accruals and other liabilities at December 31, 2020 and December 31, 2019 were $112,755 and $216,931, respectively. The decrease in the balance of $104,176 for the twelve months ended December 31, 2020 was primarily driven by cash payments received or due in advance of satisfying our performance obligations, offset by $210,078 of revenues recognized that were included in the balance as of December 31, 2019 and reductions due to the incurrence of third-party costs.

Changes in the contract asset and liability balances during the twelve months ended December 31, 2020 and December 31, 2019 were not materially impacted by write offs, impairment losses or any other factors.

The majority of our contracts are for periods of one year or less. For those contracts with a term of more than one year, we had approximately $6,105 of unsatisfied performance obligations as of December 31, 2020, of which we expect to recognize approximately 92% in 2021, and 8% in 2022.