What’s On/Operations
The big agency networks are shrinking. What should brands expect?
Job cuts at WPP, Omnicom and The Trade Desk, and a fall in US advertising employment, point to an industry reorganising around consolidation and AI. Here is what is happening and what it means for businesses that hire agencies.
If your brand works with one of the global networks, 2026 may have felt unsettled. Teams have merged, faces have changed and some services have moved elsewhere. The figures from the past few weeks show why.
What the numbers say
- In the United States, employment in advertising, public relations and related services dropped from 482,900 in August 2025 to 476,000 in August 2026, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data analysed by eMarketer. That is 6,900 fewer jobs, and US figures only.
- Reuters reported on 1 September that WPP will cut up to 1,000 more roles by the end of the year, after about 11,000 since the start of 2025. It employed 97,388 people on 30 June 2026.
- Omnicom and IPG removed about 8,200 roles in 2025 before completing their merger in late November. In February 2026 Omnicom doubled its savings goal to 1.5 billion dollars by 2028, with a billion of it from labour, although some of the planned reduction comes from selling units and outsourcing.
- The Trade Desk told staff on 3 September that about 15 percent of its workforce, roughly 575 people, would go, after second-quarter revenue growth slowed to 3 percent.
Why it is happening
Three things recur. Mergers create duplicate teams, and only one survives. Restructuring plans, such as WPP's Elevate28, announced in February 2026 with a target of 500 million pounds in savings by 2028 and the merger of Ogilvy, VML and AKQA into one creative group, strip out cost and sell non-core businesses. And AI is being used both to automate work and to justify reorganising around data.
Senior hiring continues all the same. On 29 September WPP Media appointed Laura Ryan, formerly global chief executive of IPG's Orion Worldwide, as chief media officer, while its APAC chief client officer, Sindhuja Rai, is due to leave in November. WPP Media said no significant restructure was under way.
What brands should ask their agency
- Who exactly works on our account, and how senior are they? Get names, not a team diagram.
- What has changed in the past year, and what is planned? Mergers often move work to shared centres elsewhere.
- Where is AI used in our work, and who checks it? Automation should save time, not replace judgement on your brand.
- How quickly can we reach a decision-maker? Fewer layers usually means faster answers.
- What are we paying for: hours, outcomes or a retainer? Make sure the scope is written down.
Read the headlines carefully
Some figures are less certain than they sound. Reports disagree on whether Omnicom's further reductions land by the end of 2026 or by mid-2028, and on the headcount they start from. The employment data covers the United States, not the world.
ALXO is an independent team in the UAE that works directly with the people who run your brand. If you want senior attention and a clear scope, we would be glad to talk.
