August 20, 2025 | SIGN UP
PRESENTED BY
Michael Bürgi
SENIOR EDITOR, MEDIA BUYING AND PLANNING
Yesterday I was fortunate enough to host a conversation among several major media agency executives from holding companies and independents alike, talking about 2025 client budgets and looking ahead to 2026.
And it came as a slight surprise that this year is going to end up with budgets up modestly, somewhere in the lower single digits. This all despite a chaotic political environment, the on-again, off-again and on-again threats of tariffs, and massive change wrought by the onslaught of generative AI (looking at you, search). No one's popping the Dom Perignon at single-digit budget gains, but it certainly beats being down.
As for 2026, that's a bit more uncertain when you factor out the big marketing tentpoles expected – the Winter Olympics in Italy, the World Cup in the U.S., and mid-term elections in the most virulent political environment America has experienced in decades.
Taking all those events out, the agency execs said they expect small gains as with this year. Surprisingly, a few said clients are actually much more bullish on 2027, believing the instability of the current environment will have settled and marketers can put the proverbial pedal to the metal. That, of course, remains to be seen once we get there.
The reason I spoke with these execs in the first place? Digiday's research arm will be issuing its annual Media Agency report, which features stats and anecdotal commentary gleaned from our discussion shortly before Advertising Week New York.
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