Brief - The Hustle

Cuttin’ out the ad-man: Clients are moving their content creation in-house

Written by Lindsey Quinn | Sep 23, 2020 1:51:23 AM

Ad industry giants are getting bested at their own game as more and more clients move their media and creative strategies in-house, leaving little to no use for big, expensive ad agencies.

In fact, according to a new report from the Association of National Advertisers (ANA), 78% of the companies surveyed say they now have in-house agency functions (video production, editorial teams, social media-writing, etc.), compared to 42% in 2008.

In other words, David is actually defeating Goliath — and ad buyers are getting desperate.

‘Branded content’ has forever given ad execs a nasty eye-twitch

Now it’s a full-on aneurysm.

The trend has pushed advertisers into a financial corner over the years, leading to shady practices that favor their own agency’s production units. 

While these things may have helped in the short-term, it’s ultimately pushed even more marketers to go DIY — and invited the feds to start sniffing around.

The truth hurts

In this day and age, most 13-year-olds living in Ohio have an editing suite in their parents’ basement (and their pockets). Meaning there’s an endless pool of content-creating talent at the disposal of marketers like never before.

Now, we’re finally starting to see just how hard this is hitting agencies — whether they can recover is another story.