By Tim Bradshaw and Digital Media Correspondent

Digital revenues from Publicis Groupe?s US business are set to overtake those from traditional advertising this year, a first for a leading marketing services group in the world?s largest media market.

Maurice L?vy, Publicis chief executive, told the FT that digital media buying and creative work would constitute more than 50 per cent of its North American revenues this year after reaching 46.4 per cent in 2011 – providing a helpful bulwark against the French group?s more sluggish European division.

?This will be a magnet for clients,? Mr Levy said. His aim is for 75 per cent of group revenues to come from digital media and emerging markets such as Brazil and China in the ?pretty near

future?.

Barring any unexpected merger activity in the coming months, Publicis will reach this milestone ahead of rivals such as WPP and Omnicom, thanks to the acquisitions of three large digital agencies in recent years: Digitas, Razorfish and Rosetta. About a quarter of media spending in the US goes on digital companies such as Google, Facebook and AOL, making it the market which has shifted the most away from TV and print.

In another corner of the US media industry, digital track downloads overtook sales of CDs, in volume terms, last year, although in other activities – such as video viewing – the transition has been much slower.

Digital revenues made up 30.6 per cent of Publicis Groupe?s global total in 2011, up from 7 per cent in 2006, and represents the fastest-growing part of the business, up 13.7 per cent last year over 2010, excluding acquisitions and currency fluctuations.

?The most important aspect is that we will grow to a certain degree on par with the digital market,? Mr Levy said of Publicis? US business.

Analysts said that the shift towards digital would help maintain Publicis? historical outperformance of the market in revenue growth terms.

?If the environment gets tougher, they will benefit from their high proportion in digital,? said Patrick Kirby, media analyst at Deutsche Bank. ?Digital migration of marketing spend will insulate their revenues.?

Publicis said revenues, excluding the effects of currencies and acquisitions, grew by 5.7 per cent to 5.8bn euros in 2011. Its operating margin, a metric watched closely by analysts, increased from 15.8 per cent in 2010 to 16.0 per cent last year, with earnings per share up 14 per cent to 2.96 euros.

Mr Levy said that he expected Publicis? revenue growth this year to exceed its forecast 4.7 per cent increase in global media spending, even in western Europe despite a drop in sales in the region in the fourth quarter of last year. Publicis? loss of the General Motors media-buying account would result in a less than 0.5 per cent hit to revenues, he said.

However, despite this improvement in profitability and its 4bn euros in available cash, Publicis left its dividend pay-out unchanged at 0.70 euro per share, a disappointment to some analysts.

?Given it?s a cash generative business and the balance sheet is very strong, it?s surprising they maintained the dividend,? Mr Kirby said. ?During this results season, Publicis is likely to be the exception, since we think its peers will be announcing dividend increases and share buy-backs.?

Mr Levy explained that it needed to preserve funds in case Dentsu, Japan?s largest marketing services group by revenues, decided to sell its 11 per cent stake in Publicis. The two companies? partnership agreements are due to expire in July and if not renewed, Publicis has promised to buy back upwards of the 800m-euro to 900m-euro stake, and cancel the shares.

Dentsu sold down a portion of its stake in 2010 and the partnership has proved less fruitful than the two companies might have hoped, so some analysts speculate the agency groups are likely to go their separate ways.

Publicis shares closed broadly flat at 39.83 euros on Thursday evening in Paris.

? The Financial Times Limited 2012