# Advertising agency
In the North American industry classification the business sits in NAICS 5418, inside [Professional](https://www.edgepedia.org/professional), Scientific, and Technical Services, a sector defined by human capital as its main input.[1](https://www.census.gov/naics/reference_files_tools/2022_NAICS_Manual.pdf)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| US market size | Total revenue for US advertising agencies (employer firms) was $63.8 billion in 2022, up from $56.1 billion in 2021 and $50.8 billion in 2020.[2](https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/REVEF54181ALLEST) |
| Dominant pay model | Fixed fee was the most utilized compensation model in a Q1 2024 4As survey of 149 agencies, in both project and retainer relationships; rate-based (hourly) pricing remains the industry's predominant form.[3](https://www.aaaa.org/wp-content/uploads/4As-ANA-Decoding-Compensation-Models-and-Implementing-the-Right-Model.pdf?access_pid=118450) • [4](https://www.aaaa.org/resource/4as-2025-billing-rate-benchmark-survey-agency-hourly-billing-rates/) |
| End of the 15% commission | Among the largest US national advertisers, commission-based compensation fell from 71% in 1982 to 61% in 1994 and 10% by 2003, when 74% used fees.[5](https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w14345/w14345.pdf) |
| Media billings scale | Media agency networks owned by the Big 6 holding companies plus major independents managed $263 billion in 2024 billings, 58% of an estimated $456 billion in global net media spend across 48 markets.[6](https://comvergence.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/PR-COMv-FINAL-2024-Global-Billings-Rankings-10.07.2025.pdf) |
| In-housing | 82% of ANA members reported an in-house agency in 2023, up from 42% in 2008; 65% had moved established business in-house over the previous three years.[7](https://www.ana.net/content/show/id/79185) |
| AI adoption | AI is used at over 99% of agencies, with 59.2% of agency professionals using it daily; 90% of agencies believe AI threatens their primary revenue streams.[8](https://basis.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2026-Advertising-Agency-Report-Basis.pdf) |
| Consolidation | Omnicom closed its acquisition of The Interpublic Group on November 26, 2025, and doubled its total cost synergy target to $1.5 billion.[9](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/omnicom-reports-fourth-quarter-and-full-year-2025-results-302691987.html) |
## What an advertising agency is
A creative agency makes the advertising and is paid in retainers and project fees. A media agency plans and buys media and is paid a small percentage of spend or a fixed sum, sometimes with undisclosed principal-media margins.[10](https://adranking.co.uk/craft/media-agency-vs-creative-agency/)
The split between creative and media work has a precise origin. On 30 October 1988, [Saatchi & Saatchi](https://www.edgepedia.org/saatchi-and-saatchi) merged the buying departments of its agencies into Zenith Media Buying Services, the first network to spin its media arm out as a separate company.[10](https://adranking.co.uk/craft/media-agency-vs-creative-agency/)
## How agencies are paid: from the 15% commission to fees and performance
For more than 100 years until the 1980s, the dominant compensation scheme was a fixed 15% commission on media billings. The practice began in the mid-19th century, when agencies worked as media-space salesmen for local newspapers; between the 1840s and 1880s agents worked for publishers on a 15% commission, and from the 1880s to the 1980s they worked for advertisers yet still received 15% on what they bought.[11](https://anderson-review.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Zeithammer-compensation-paper-Sep-2021.pdf) • [12](https://anderson-review.ucla.edu/the-long-history-of-middlemen-earning-a-lucrative-fixed-commission/) A 15% commission on gross media cost equals a 17.65% markup on net cost: on $100,000 of media spend, the agency received $15,000.[3](https://www.aaaa.org/wp-content/uploads/4As-ANA-Decoding-Compensation-Models-and-Implementing-the-Right-Model.pdf?access_pid=118450)
The rate survived an antitrust challenge. Agencies maintained the 15% commission through a collusive "recognition system" with publishers; advertisers won a 1956 consent decree under antitrust law, but commissions persisted into the 1980s.[12](https://anderson-review.ucla.edu/the-long-history-of-middlemen-earning-a-lucrative-fixed-commission/) As late as 1976, 83% of responding agencies were still paid commission on media billings, and four out of five of those still received the 15% rate.[11](https://anderson-review.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Zeithammer-compensation-paper-Sep-2021.pdf)
**The collapse came quickly once media buying was unbundled.** The share of advertisers using billings-based compensation who paid the fixed 15% rate fell from 82% in 1976 to 21% by 1994. Unbundling advertisers jumped from 18% in 1991 to 47% by 1994, and immediately after that jump, billings-based compensation dropped from 61% in 1994 to 10% by 2003, when 74% of large national advertisers used fees and 8% a combination.[11](https://anderson-review.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Zeithammer-compensation-paper-Sep-2021.pdf) • [12](https://anderson-review.ucla.edu/the-long-history-of-middlemen-earning-a-lucrative-fixed-commission/) • [5](https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w14345/w14345.pdf) By the mid-2000s three-quarters of American agencies were fee-based and the average commission rate on accounts still using it had fallen to 11 or 12%.[10](https://adranking.co.uk/craft/media-agency-vs-creative-agency/)
**Today's mix** is dominated by fees. The 4As Q1 2024 survey found fixed fee the most utilized model in both project and retainer relationships; the ANA's 2022 compensation report found 82% of marketers using fee-based models, up from 68% in 2016, and 53% of marketers spending $500 million or more per year employing fixed or output-based fees, up from 5% in 2016.[3](https://www.aaaa.org/wp-content/uploads/4As-ANA-Decoding-Compensation-Models-and-Implementing-the-Right-Model.pdf?access_pid=118450) • [13](https://www.ana.net/content/show/id/76981) Globally, a WFA/Agency Mania report covering 69 multinationals with $147 billion in collective spend found labor-based payment is now the main compensation model for just 19% of brands, down from 54% in 2011, while fixed-fee/output models rose from 20% to 33% and labor-plus-performance models doubled from 9% to 21%.[14](https://wfanet.org/knowledge/item/2026/09/29/global-brands-are-shifting-to-paying-for-outputs-not-time-wfa-research) • [15](https://videoweek.com/2026/10/01/global-brands-are-ditching-labour-based-agency-fees-finds-wfa/)
Performance pay takes two forms: Outcome Compensation, based solely on achieving the advertiser's business goals, and the more common Incentive Compensation, incremental to a base fee and tied to KPIs.[3](https://www.aaaa.org/wp-content/uploads/4As-ANA-Decoding-Compensation-Models-and-Implementing-the-Right-Model.pdf?access_pid=118450) Its weight is still modest: between 67% and 80% of surveyed brands say performance-based remuneration accounts for less than 20% of total agency compensation, though 63% expect to increase it.[15](https://videoweek.com/2026/10/01/global-brands-are-ditching-labour-based-agency-fees-finds-wfa/) Common hybrids pair a media commission with a fixed fee for strategy and creative, or a core retained team with a pre-negotiated price list.[3](https://www.aaaa.org/wp-content/uploads/4As-ANA-Decoding-Compensation-Models-and-Implementing-the-Right-Model.pdf?access_pid=118450)
**What the money amounts to.** Major advertisers are reported to pay fees equivalent to 1 to 2 percent of media spending for media services, a fraction of the old 15% commission.[5](https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w14345/w14345.pdf) Media agencies may also earn from principal media, buying inventory on their own account and reselling it; the ANA's 2024 principal media report found 47% of marketers surveyed had used principal media deals in the previous year while 18% did not know whether they had.[10](https://adranking.co.uk/craft/media-agency-vs-creative-agency/) A 2016 K2 Intelligence investigation for the ANA found media rebates to agencies of roughly 2% to 20% of aggregate media spend, mostly undisclosed, with principal-transaction reselling markups reportedly 30% to 90%.[16](https://legalclarity.org/how-do-ad-agencies-make-money-fees-markups-and-rebates/) On production, the standard industry markup is 17.65% on vendor net cost, producing a 15% margin on the gross amount billed.[16](https://legalclarity.org/how-do-ad-agencies-make-money-fees-markups-and-rebates/)
## Holding companies and market structure
The industry is organized around major holding companies.[6](https://comvergence.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/PR-COMv-FINAL-2024-Global-Billings-Rankings-10.07.2025.pdf) [Concentration](https://www.edgepedia.org/concentration) is old and deep: in 2007 the four leading holding companies owned 13 of the 15 largest media agencies operating in the US, and Census Bureau research found the four largest captured a fifth to a fourth of total US advertising and marketing services revenue each year from 2002 to 2006.[5](https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w14345/w14345.pdf) • [17](https://www2.census.gov/ces/wp/2009/CES-WP-09-16.pdf)
**WPP** illustrates the structure. Its 2024 revenue was £14,741 million, down 0.7% reported but up 2.3% like-for-like, with headline operating profit of £1,707 million at a 15.0% margin. Six agency networks, GroupM, VML, Ogilvy, AKQA, Hogarth, and Burson, account for around 92% of revenue less pass-through costs; about 85% of consolidated revenues came from Global Integrated Agencies and 15% from Public Relations and Specialist Agencies. Its 2024 billings were £50,354 million, 3.4 times group revenue, showing how much larger media pass-through flows are than the revenue agencies actually book.[18](https://res.cloudinary.com/wpp-cloudinary/raw/upload/v1778567140/wpp/migrated/wpp-2024-preliminary-results.pdf) • [19](https://www.publicnow.com/view/EE744D850FF737CA17C53292E7B6E2C4CD85FBE2)
**Billings versus revenue** is the key distinction in league tables. COMvergence put [WPP Media](https://www.edgepedia.org/wpp-media) (formerly GroupM) top among groups in 2024 with $64.6 billion in billings and a 14.2% market share, ahead of Publicis Media at $54.7 billion and Omnicom Media Group at $45.6 billion; among media agency networks, OMD led with $26.3 billion, ahead of EssenceMediacom ($24.6 billion) and Mindshare ($21.9 billion).[6](https://comvergence.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/PR-COMv-FINAL-2024-Global-Billings-Rankings-10.07.2025.pdf) RECMA, using a different methodology, put WPP Media at a 25.4% group share, with Publicis Media at 22.5%; the two datasets measure different bases and do not agree on the share.[20](https://www.adnews.com.au/news/global-media-agency-market-grew-6-2-in-2024) Revenue tables look different again: Ad Age's 2024 report found revenue for the world's 30 biggest agency companies rose 5.6% in 2023, with WPP top and Accenture Song close behind.[21](https://adage.com/article/datacenter/agency-report-2024-agency-company-revenue-growing-modestly/2550676/)
Independents remain a real segment. Horizon Media was the largest independent agency worldwide with $7.6 billion in 2024 billings, about 25% of all independent agency billings.[6](https://comvergence.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/PR-COMv-FINAL-2024-Global-Billings-Rankings-10.07.2025.pdf)
## In-housing and the client–agency relationship
In-housing is now the norm among large advertisers. 82% of ANA members reported an in-house agency in 2023, up from 78% in 2018, 58% in 2013, and 42% in 2008; 92% still use external agencies, and an average of 61% of all company marketing work is done in-house, up from 58% in 2018. 65% of respondents moved some established business from external agencies to their in-house agency over the past three years, most commonly digital creative services, and 54% of in-house agencies handle some media planning and buying.[7](https://www.ana.net/content/show/id/79185) Among major multinationals surveyed by the WFA, 66% had an in-house agency as of December 2023, a 16% rise on 2020, with a further 21% considering one; 83% expected to handle some social media buying in-house within three years, up from 37% at the time, with cost efficiencies the strongest motivation at 83%.[22](https://wfanet.org/knowledge/item/2023/12/20/In-housing-set-for-rapid-and-continued-growth-at-major-multinationals) The two surveys differ in population and result, 82% versus 66%, and the difference is not resolved by either source.
In-housing has a longer history than the current wave suggests. The 1956 consent decree ended trade practices that for half a century effectively precluded advertisers from owning in-house agencies; since then, large firms have internalized perhaps as many as half of the services formerly performed by external agencies.[23](https://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/10.1287/mksc.2021.1290)
**Relationships are churning.** COMvergence assessed 1,970 media account moves across 49 countries totaling $19.2 billion in reviewed spend in H1 2026, with an overall retention rate of 28%; in 2025 the global retention rate had plunged to 20%, an eight-year low, across nearly 2,890 account moves involving $26.2 billion in reviewed spend.[24](https://comvergence.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/COMvergence_H1-2026-NBB_Press-Release_21.09.26.pdf) • [25](https://www.e4m.co/advertising-news/publicis-initiative-dominate-what-2025s-global-media-pitch-battles-signal-for-2026-137663.html) What makes relationships work, according to the WFA, is not money: the strongest contributors to agency performance are great briefing (5.6 out of 6), respect and trust (5.2), and high-quality feedback (5.1), while financial incentives score 3.9. Brands report satisfaction with the money side, 89% believe they get value for money, but only 48% feel they have sufficient transparency into agency costing and profitability.[14](https://wfanet.org/knowledge/item/2026/09/29/global-brands-are-shifting-to-paying-for-outputs-not-time-wfa-research) Agencies feel the pricing pressure too: the IPA found only 27% of agencies felt they receive a fair price for their work under traditional FTE-based pricing, even as average paid social agency tenure rose from two years in 2018 to 4.3 years.[15](https://videoweek.com/2026/10/01/global-brands-are-ditching-labour-based-agency-fees-finds-wfa/)
## Recent developments: AI, consolidation, and jobs
**AI is now nearly universal in agency work.** It is used at over 99% of agencies, with 59.2% of agency professionals using it daily and 86.4% at least 3-4 times per week. Use is concentrated in ideation (86.9% of agencies) and research (84.0%), and much lower in media planning (29.1%) and media buying strategy (22.1%).[8](https://basis.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2026-Advertising-Agency-Report-Basis.pdf) The economics are unsettled: 75% of marketing agencies bear the costs of generative AI capabilities themselves without passing them to clients, an 83% increase from 2024, and agencies report AI raising speed to market by 80% or more on some projects and cutting production costs 40-50%.[26](https://www.forrester.com/blogs/the-ai-cost-center-crisis/) Only 20% of brands have evolved their commercial models in response to AI, although 61% intend to.[15](https://videoweek.com/2026/10/01/global-brands-are-ditching-labour-based-agency-fees-finds-wfa/)
**Jobs are shrinking at the big groups.** Collective headcount across the big six holding companies fell 1.6% in 2024 to 437,854 staff, the first drop since 2020, down 7,083 from the 2023 peak of 444,937. Interpublic shed 4,100 jobs (down 7.1%) and WPP 6,100 (down 5.4%), while Publicis added about 5,000 staff and has accounted for two-thirds of the 37,000 extra jobs created by the big six since 2019.[27](https://www.mmm-online.com/news/collective-headcount-at-global-agency-groups-drops/) WPP's total headcount fell to 108,044 at the end of 2024 from 114,173 a year earlier, and WPP Media told US employees that up to 45% would be impacted by its restructuring.[18](https://res.cloudinary.com/wpp-cloudinary/raw/upload/v1778567140/wpp/migrated/wpp-2024-preliminary-results.pdf) • [26](https://www.forrester.com/blogs/the-ai-cost-center-crisis/)
**Consolidation crossed a threshold in 2025.** Omnicom closed its acquisition of Interpublic on November 26, 2025, doubling its total cost synergy target to $1.5 billion, including $900 million in 2026, and authorizing a $5.0 billion share buyback. COMvergence calculated that the combined 2024 media billings of the two groups' media operations would reach $73.5 billion, making the merged entity the top-ranked global media group.[9](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/omnicom-reports-fourth-quarter-and-full-year-2025-results-302691987.html) • [6](https://comvergence.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/PR-COMv-FINAL-2024-Global-Billings-Rankings-10.07.2025.pdf) [Performance](https://www.edgepedia.org/performance) since the merger has been mixed: Omnicom's full-year 2025 revenue rose 10.1% to $17.3 billion, with Media & [Advertising](https://www.edgepedia.org/advertising) contributing 58.0%, and Q2 2026 Core Operations organic revenue grew 6.1% to $6.0 billion with adjusted EBITA margin expanding to 17.8% from 15.9% on synergy savings.[9](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/omnicom-reports-fourth-quarter-and-full-year-2025-results-302691987.html) • [28](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/omnicom-reports-second-quarter-2026-results-302836837.html) Meanwhile Publicis reported 4.8% net organic revenue growth to €3.6 billion in Q2 2026, with AI-powered marketing services representing 87% of total net revenue, while WPP reported a 3.2% like-for-like revenue decline to £6.4 billion in H1 2026 as it transitions from a holding company to a single integrated company with four operating units powered by its WPP Open agentic platform.[29](https://uk.themedialeader.com/more-of-an-operating-company-than-a-holding-company-agency-groups-transition-amid-mixed-growth-picture/)
## By the numbers
US advertising agency revenue (employer firms) reached $63.8 billion in 2022.[2](https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/REVEF54181ALLEST) NAICS 541800, advertising, public relations, and related services, employed 500,130 people in May 2023 at a mean annual wage of $88,310; marketing managers earned a mean $161,290 and market research analysts $74,980.[30](https://blsmon1.bls.gov/oes/2023/may/naics4_541800.htm) On the media side, the $263 billion in 2024 billings managed by Big 6-owned and major independent media agency networks represented 58% of an estimated $456 billion in global net media spend, and digital media accounted for 53% of global media billings, totaling $139 billion, up 13% versus 2023.[6](https://comvergence.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/PR-COMv-FINAL-2024-Global-Billings-Rankings-10.07.2025.pdf) The global media agency market grew 6.2% in 2024, up from 5.8% in 2023, with non-traditional activity (digital, data and analytics, content) up 9.9% while traditional media billings grew just 1.6%; non-traditional services now average 58% of total agency activity.[20](https://www.adnews.com.au/news/global-media-agency-market-grew-6-2-in-2024) Advertising spend is projected to surpass $1 trillion globally for the first time in 2026.[8](https://basis.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2026-Advertising-Agency-Report-Basis.pdf)
## References
1. [2022 NAICS Manual, US Census Bureau](https://www.census.gov/naics/reference_files_tools/2022_NAICS_Manual.pdf)
2. [Total Revenue for Advertising Agencies, All Establishments (FRED / Census Service Annual Survey)](https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/REVEF54181ALLEST)
3. [Decoding Compensation Models & Implementing the Right Model, 4As/ANA joint task force](https://www.aaaa.org/wp-content/uploads/4As-ANA-Decoding-Compensation-Models-and-Implementing-the-Right-Model.pdf?access_pid=118450)
4. [4As 2025 Billing Rate Benchmark Survey: Agency Hourly Billing Rates](https://www.aaaa.org/resource/4as-2025-billing-rate-benchmark-survey-agency-hourly-billing-rates/)
5. [The Unbundling of Advertising Agency Services: An Economic Analysis, NBER Working Paper 14345](https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w14345/w14345.pdf)
6. [COMvergence Final 2024 Global Billings and Market Share report](https://comvergence.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/PR-COMv-FINAL-2024-Global-Billings-Rankings-10.07.2025.pdf)
7. [In-House Agencies No Longer A Trend—They're Here To Stay, ANA](https://www.ana.net/content/show/id/79185)
8. [2026 Advertising Agency Report, Basis](https://basis.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2026-Advertising-Agency-Report-Basis.pdf)
9. [Omnicom Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2025 Results](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/omnicom-reports-fourth-quarter-and-full-year-2025-results-302691987.html)
10. [Media agency vs creative agency: what each actually does, AdRanking](https://adranking.co.uk/craft/media-agency-vs-creative-agency/)
11. [Advertising Agency Compensation: 200 Years of Evolution, Horsky & Zeithammer working paper](https://anderson-review.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Zeithammer-compensation-paper-Sep-2021.pdf)
12. [The Long History of Middlemen Earning a Lucrative, Fixed Commission, UCLA Anderson Review](https://anderson-review.ucla.edu/the-long-history-of-middlemen-earning-a-lucrative-fixed-commission/)
13. [Labor-Based Fees Remain Dominant Form Of Agency Compensation, ANA (Dec 2022)](https://www.ana.net/content/show/id/76981)
14. [Global brands are shifting to paying for outputs not time, WFA research](https://wfanet.org/knowledge/item/2026/09/29/global-brands-are-shifting-to-paying-for-outputs-not-time-wfa-research)
15. [Global Brands Are Ditching Labour-Based Agency Fees Finds WFA, VideoWeek](https://videoweek.com/2026/10/01/global-brands-are-ditching-labour-based-agency-fees-finds-wfa/)
16. [How Do Ad Agencies Make Money: Fees, Markups, and Rebates, LegalClarity](https://legalclarity.org/how-do-ad-agencies-make-money-fees-markups-and-rebates/)
17. [Concentration Levels in the U.S. Advertising and Marketing Services Industry, Census Bureau CES WP 09-16](https://www2.census.gov/ces/wp/2009/CES-WP-09-16.pdf)
18. [WPP 2024 Preliminary Results](https://res.cloudinary.com/wpp-cloudinary/raw/upload/v1778567140/wpp/migrated/wpp-2024-preliminary-results.pdf)
19. [WPP plc Form 20-F for fiscal year ending December 31, 2024](https://www.publicnow.com/view/EE744D850FF737CA17C53292E7B6E2C4CD85FBE2)
20. [Global media agency market grew 6.2% in 2024, AdNews (RECMA data)](https://www.adnews.com.au/news/global-media-agency-market-grew-6-2-in-2024)
21. [Ad Age Agency Report 2024](https://adage.com/article/datacenter/agency-report-2024-agency-company-revenue-growing-modestly/2550676/)
22. [In-housing set for rapid and continued growth at major multinationals, WFA](https://wfanet.org/knowledge/item/2023/12/20/In-housing-set-for-rapid-and-continued-growth-at-major-multinationals)
23. [Internalization of Advertising Services: Testing a Theory of the Firm, Marketing Science (2021)](https://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/10.1287/mksc.2021.1290)
24. [COMvergence H1 2026 Global New Business Barometer](https://comvergence.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/COMvergence_H1-2026-NBB_Press-Release_21.09.26.pdf)
25. [Publicis, Initiative Dominate: What 2025's global media pitch battles signal for 2026, Exchange4media](https://www.e4m.co/advertising-news/publicis-initiative-dominate-what-2025s-global-media-pitch-battles-signal-for-2026-137663.html)
26. [The AI Cost Center Crisis: Place AI In The Business Model, Forrester](https://www.forrester.com/blogs/the-ai-cost-center-crisis/)
27. [Collective headcount at global agency groups drops for first time since pandemic, MM+M](https://www.mmm-online.com/news/collective-headcount-at-global-agency-groups-drops/)
28. [Omnicom Reports Second Quarter 2026 Results](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/omnicom-reports-second-quarter-2026-results-302836837.html)
29. ['More of an operating company than a holding company': Agency groups transition amid mixed growth picture, The Media Leader](https://uk.themedialeader.com/more-of-an-operating-company-than-a-holding-company-agency-groups-transition-amid-mixed-growth-picture/)
30. [BLS OEWS May 2023: Advertising, Public Relations, and Related Services (NAICS 541800)](https://blsmon1.bls.gov/oes/2023/may/naics4_541800.htm)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Society and history › Economics and business › Business and work › Business and work overview › Marketing and sales › Advertising and promotion*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 10, 2026 · Edited: Oct 10, 2026; Oct 11, 2026; Oct 15, 2026 · Last review: Oct 10, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license