• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, October 15, 2018

Search engine marketing came in at No. 2 in an Association of National Advertisers (ANA) survey conducted in August, with 30% saying they handle the media planning or buying services in-house, up from 27% in 2013

Social media at 40% -- up from 28% in 2013 -- topped the ANA’s 2018 list. Search engine optimization came in at 28% for the No. 3 spot -- up from 22%, respectively. About 45% said they do not handle any media services in-house, down from 47% in 2013.

Overall, 55% of marketers who responded to the survey -- The Continued Rise Of The In-House Agency -- said their media planning or buying services are handled in-house more often these days.

The percentage came in much lower than creative traditional media at 89% and digital media and creative for digital media at 96%.

ANA members were surveyed in August 2018. About 412 respondents participated. The data was compared with survey results from 2013.

Interestingly, search engine marketing at 23% is the least-moved service from an external agency to an in-house agency during the past three years, even behind collaterals at 27%.

Social media tops the list at 46% as the most-moved service from an external agency to an in-house agency during the past three years, followed by mobile display at 44%, desktop display at 40%, email at 40%, mobile video at 37%, desktop video at 35%, website development and design at 35%, and infographics at 30%.

When it comes to creative services, search engine marketing at 17% tops the list at No. 3 -- behind programmatic and social media -- as being the media and or/buying service most moved from an external agency to an in-house agency. Search engine optimization came in at 12%.

Content marketing tops the list at 75% -- up from 34% in 2013 -- when considering specialty services offered by in-house agencies. Data marketing and analytics services came in at No. 2 with 59% done in-house, up from 42% in 2013.

The survey also analyzed new services not provided in the past. For example, in the past three years, 36% of respondents said their company’s in-house agency began providing new services such as content marketing and video production that were not previously handled by an external agency.

Some 30% of respondents also said they have programmatic capabilities in house, and 15% said they considered adding the capability.