Two seats left to attend the Digiday Media Buying Summit:

Join us Oct. 15-17 in Phoenix to connect with top media buyers

SECURE YOUR SEAT

Digiday Research: Agencies are struggling with demands for content

This research is based on unique data collected from our proprietary audience of publisher, agency, brand and tech insiders. It’s available to Digiday+ members. More from the series →

Digiday’s “Research in brief” is our newest research installment designed to give you quick, easy and digestible facts to make better decisions and win arguments around the office. They are based on Digiday’s proprietary surveys of industry leaders, executives and doers. See our earlier research on the European publishers preparing for the GDPR here.

The demand for advertising content has ballooned to a $10 billion market in the U.S. based on Forrester’s most recent report. Speaking on the importance of content, one anonymous source at a prior Digiday Content Marketing Summit said, “Content marketing isn’t a nice-to-have; it’s a must-have.” That pressure has been heaped onto agencies, and they are struggling to keep up.

In a survey of 50 agency executives at the Digiday Agency Summit in Charleston, South Carolina, one out of two reported that they are significantly or extremely concerned with their company’s ability to meet client demands for content. Comparatively, just more than a quarter thought it was not at all concerning or slightly an issue.

This has forced some agencies into compromising positions, with several scrounging ideas from their competitors or other sources. Some industry voices have called for brands to hire specialized content agencies of record as a solution to forecast demand. Elsewhere, publishers have rapidly emerged as a threat to agencies, with over 600 now offering in-house branded content solutions.

News that major brands are slashing their digital advertising budgets may come with a sliver of good news for the overworked masses of creatives. Companies like Unilever are cutting the amount of ads they produce and increasing the runtime of the new content they create. Keith Weed, marketing director for Unilever, admitted it produces an excess of content and will look to reduce its production by 30 percent in the coming year.

More in Marketing

Advertising Week Briefing: Podcast industry juggles using AI tools with maintaining medium’s intimacy

AI is having a transformative impact on content and advertising, and the audio space is no different. 

Future of Marketing Briefing: Sora’s promise — and peril — for the creator economy

Yes, this is another Sora story. But this one’s less about the tech and more about what it’s doing to the people behind it

Google ad tech antitrust trial

Tea in the courtroom: the gossipier side of the remedies trial over Google’s ad tech monopoly

Here’s a rundown of the gossipy sub plots and quiet power plays that emerged from the courtroom.