• by Dave Morgan , Featured Contributor, March 27, 2025

I am a close watcher of the agency business in the U.S., and am very big on independent agencies in 2025 and beyond. Here are my six reasons why:

Close to clients and their needs. First and foremost, independent agencies are much smaller than holding company alternatives, operating in flatter, founder-led organizations with few or no layers between top agency talent and the clients that they serve. They don’t just know the “media client” or “brand client,” but generally know client CEOs, founders, heads of sales and most of the top executives. Plus, independents' distribution across the U.S. guarantees closer real proximity to their clients and their businesses.

Massive range and diversity of capabilities and scale. Independents range from billion-dollar media independents to specialists to JAGs -- “just a gal” and just a guy” microagencies. Unlike holdco alternatives, they don’t have to deliver their services in one-sizes-fits-all boxes, which means that mid-sized clients and smaller brands can find agencies that fit them, and don’t need to fit their needs into large, inflexible offerings.

More focus on mission and less on Wall Street. Very few independent agencies in the U.S. are public, so stock price and earnings calls aren’t the heartbeats that they operate on.

Yes, many will eventually want financial exits for their owners and investors, but that doesn’t have to mean they will mimic the business models and approaches of today’s holdcos (which aren’t particularly in Wall Street’s favor) to do that.

Momentum is on their side, and CTV advertising could be a power boost. Independent agencies are growing. Top industry analyst Brian Wieser of Madison & Wall’s reports tell us that “the 30 largest independent, privately held agencies showed incremental gains in employment -- and implicitly, revenue growth -- on a like-for-like, pro forma basis” during most of 2024.

And, in response to Roku’s 2025 prediction that 20,000 new small and medium-sized businesses are poised to enter the CTV ad market, Wieser cautioned that this would probably happen over time, not at once. He was generally optimistic that this could be a realistic outcome over time and noted there are 20,000 U.S, businesses spending $500,000 annually on advertising that don’t spend on TV today. This could be a real boon to independent agencies, since many of those brands and businesses will need help.

Holdco competition can’t compete or properly serve 90+% of growth brands today, and have no ability to help the 20,000 small and medium-sized U.S. businesses that will be new CTV advertisers. Holdcos’ maniacal focus on costs, principal-based media and global forces aim to help their biggest clients, to the expense of all others.

AI is a force multiplier and equalizer. (Of course this column needs an AI reference!) AI is going to help those who avail themselves of it, not those in companies that try to make it a command-and-control exercise from the top. I will bet on  small agencies to do AI better and faster than holdcos.  Independents led the way when it came to embracing desktop publishing in the ‘80s, the Internet in the ‘90s, and video streaming in the '00s. They will do it again for AI.

What do you think? Bullish on independent agencies in 2025 and beyond?

This post was previously published in an earlier edition of Media Insider.