Digiday Research: Nearly one third of agencies grew their headcounts in 2020
A wave of consolidation led to more balanced — if still grim — changes in headcount at agencies this year.
Despite every holding company reporting some staff reductions and predictions of a major bloodletting in the spring, nearly a third of respondents to a survey of 52 agency professionals said their agencies had increased their headcounts this year. Similar percentages said their head counts had stayed the same and decreased.
Those results contrast favorably to the ugly time that publishers faced this year, where more than half of respondents to a separate Digiday survey reported that their companies had shrunk their headcounts this year.
Sample: 52 agency professionals
In the early weeks following the crisis, many agencies, facing frightening cash crunches thanks to pauses in ad spending and lengthening payment terms among other challenges, cut talent mainly because they had no other options.
And while they’re not as bleak as the “Darwinian cull” that folks like Sir Martin Sorrell predicted, they are a sobering reminder that, in 2021, the ad agency world is likely to be a little less luxe, a little less fun as brands continue to squeeze it.
Yet for all that, agency professionals see a bright future for the coming year. More than 60% of the survey’s respondents are optimistic about the agency world’s prospects, and more than 80% are optimistic about their employer’s prospects in 2021.
-
Why two brothers are betting on creating new brands and e-commerce to grow their media company
Former Bonnier Corp. CEO Eric Zinczenko is the new COO/president of his brother David Zinczenko's company Galvanized Media.
-
Here’s what’s behind the rise of custom algorithms for digital ad decisions
As advertisers ingest more campaign data and demand more control over it, custom algorithms are getting more attention. Here's why.
-
Gannett relaunches CTV streaming channels as ‘home’ for original, long-form videos
Gannett is relaunching its CTV streaming channels with more long-form programming and on additional distribution platforms after a rise in views and time spent watching.
-
SponsoredHow the ad industry can use its borrowed time to future-proof first-party data solutions
Trent Lloyd, co-founder and head of brand solutions, Eyeota Google’s updated timeline for its Privacy Sandbox rollout, including its two-year delay of third-party cookie deprecation on Chrome, didn’t come as a surprise to many industry observers, given the limited utility of Google’s FLoC and the slow momentum of the Privacy Sandbox in the World Wide […]
-
Exclusive: Substack continues its acquisition streak with public correspondence startup Letter
The acquisition comes as Substack’s biggest, newest competitors are trying to position newsletters as one hub in a larger relationship between creators and their audience.
-
Now hiring: The FTC seeks ad tech and social media experts as it shifts its approach to investigating data abuses
The FTC's chief technologist aims to shift away from reliance on legalistic remedies to stop data abuses and wants technologists who understand ad tech and algorithms to help.