We are delighted to offer this free preview of the Spring 2025 Agency by Agency Industry Report, including commentary from across the sector as we publish the results of our comprehensive agency sector mapping for the first time.
With the launch of Agency by Agency we publish our first ever Industry Report, in which we show the results of our mapping of the UK’s marketing, advertising, creative and media agency sector, presenting it in comprehensive detail for the first time.
“This new analysis provides industry insight that we’ve never had in such detail before. It not only sheds light on the make-up of the agency sector but also offers valuable data for agencies to benchmark their performance and identify areas for growth.”
Jason Neale / Managing Director, Agency Works
How big is the agency sector anyway?
In the Spring 2025 edition of the Agency by Agency Industry Report we reveal that there are:
- 25,495 agencies, which employ…
- 265,000 people, who create…
- £20.5bn in Gross Value Added (GVA) to the UK economy
Working with our partners at The Data City, we have also mapped the complexity of the sector for the first time, identifying 28 subsectors based on services agencies offer, with more to come.
“This unique data set from Agency by Agency demonstrates just how critical agencies are to the UK creative industries. At last we can shine a detailed light on the industry as a whole and see 25,000 UK agencies generating 35bn of turnover and employing over 250,000 people. The report also highlights some of the challenges around scaling agencies and where opportunities exist to provide investment and support.”
Paul Mead / Chair of We Discover, Beacon lead at the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising
Does agency size matter?
The Spring 2025 Agency by Agency Industry Report shows the importance of agencies to the sector both big and small. Micro and small agencies (defined as those with less than 10 employees or less than £500,000 turnover) make up more than 80% of all agencies across the sector, and the data shows that small agencies and freelancers really matter. For example, agencies with 1-2 employees contribute £1.3bn GVA to the UK economy.
Total number of agencies by size (headcount)
About the data
We map the number of agencies in the UK agency sector together with our partners at The Data City, whose sophisticated machine-learning tool allows us to find and categorise active agencies after adjustment for dormant companies and those in liquidation or administration.
Data for employees / headcount is provided by our partners at The Data City based on reporting to Companies House. As there can be a lag in reporting, The Data City’s machine-learning platform can make an accurate best estimate. If an agency has less than three years reported data on employee number, no estimate is made and no data is reported.
If part of the chart is empty, this means that there were no agencies mapped in that particular interval.
At the same time, the largest of agencies have a big influence. Four in ten employees across the sector work for companies with a headcount of 251 or more, while the 158 agencies we have mapped with a turnover of more than £50m are responsible for 59% of the total turnover of the entire agency sector.
“We always knew instinctively the agency sector was built on small, independent businesses, but seeing the hard data behind this should give founders of these smaller businesses confidence in their legitimacy and place in the industry.”
Claire Hutchings / Founder & MD Chime Agency
Growth is not uniform
The overall number of agencies continues to rise, but the number of new agencies being founded has slowed since a peak in 2019. Across the industry, an overall growth rate of 7.3% (based on headcount and turnover growth) only tells part of the story. The percentage of agencies growing, stable or contracting varies markedly by size of agency or subsector. For example, subsector growth rates vary from 2.8% (Design and branding) to 20.4% (Amazon/Marketplace).
“The high annual growth rate of over 7% which is impressive in the current climate will be in part driven by the independent sector and therefore reinforces the idea that the industry offers a wealth of choice when it comes to agencies, ensuring diversity and competition is buoyant for the foreseeable future.”
Dominic Greary / Founder & Managing Director 1671
In May 2025, Agency by Agency subscribers will have exclusive access to the full Agency by Agency Growth Report, exploring these trends in even more detail.
The trends are in the subsector detail
Our mapping has (so far) identified 28 subsectors based on the services that agencies offer. They range from subsectors with thousands of agencies, such as those offering Website & UX/UI design or Digital services, to niche subsectors including Internal comms and employee engagement, Amazon/Marketplace and Brand strategy.
In the Agency by Agency Industry Report we explore the subsectors showing the highest proportion of growing agencies, including those offering Influencer services, Data and marketing analytics, and Conversion. Subsectors with the highest proportion of shrinking agencies include Translation and localisation, and Brand strategy. Subsectors including agencies offering Design and branding, or Copywriting offer the highest proportion of stable agencies.
Growth rate traffic lights for Design and branding and Amazon / Marketplace agencies
“It is interesting to see the sub-sector opportunities outlined in the data. With Influencer and Amazon/Marketplace agencies a scarcity, but growing fast, more established agencies should look to build strong partnerships here to bolster their offerings.”
Claire Hutchings / Founder & MD Chime Agency
Independents, London and women in the agency sector
Elsewhere in the Agency by Agency Industry Report we have used our sector mapping to pull out the data from independent agencies as opposed to those belonging to the ‘Big Seven’ holding companies. Of the 25,495 agencies in the sector, 99% of them are independent and contribute £17.7bn in GVA to the UK economy. Our forthcoming ‘IndieNation: Uncovering the UK independent agency landscape report’ will be published in April 2025 for our subscribers and explore this important part of the agency sector in more detail.
“There has been much reporting that the agency landscape and their business models are in decline – well again we are seeing, particularly for independent agencies, that this community is only increasing.”
Clive Mishon / Co Chair & Founder, Alliance of Independent Agencies
We also look at regional distribution and agency clusters, where our mapping recognises the importance of London to the UK agency sector, but also identifies interesting differences in distribution across the different subsectors. We explore how being inside or outside of London influences key financial metrics such as turnover-per-head and growth rates.
Ahead of our ‘Women in the agency sector’ report, to be published in June, the Agency by Agency Industry Report explores some of the headline data on gender and the agency sector. Our mapping has uncovered that 27% of all agencies are women-founded, while 34% of all agency directors are women.
of agencies are founded by women
of agencies are led by women
of agencies directors are women
About the data
Gender data for founders, leaders and directors of agencies is provided for us by our partners at The Data City, based on declared titles of officers at Companies House and the UK Government definition of Persons of Significant Control. The Data City does not use machine-learning to estimate gender.
A ‘women-founded agency’ is a company with officers appointed as a director within two years of it being incorporated. An agency can be only founded by women or men, or it can have mixed founders. A ‘women-led agency’ is a company with more active women directors than men directors.
The subsectors with the highest proportion of women directors are Copywriting, PR and communications and Social media. In contrast, the subsectors with the lowest proportion of women directors are Conversion, Digital product design and Data and marketing analytics.
“The number of women-led and women-founded agencies, along with the proportion of women directors, isn’t surprising – but now, we’ve got the data to back it up. I’m looking forward to Agency by Agency’s gender report to see the real story across different subsectors, agency sizes, and propositions. This is more than just numbers – it’s a chance to highlight the leaders, challenge the industry, and push for real, lasting change.”
Becca Doram / Agency Transformation Director, Jnr. Studio
The journey into agency data begins
Of course, the launch of our Agency by Agency Industry Report is just the beginning. Subscribers who take advantage of our early adopter launch offer already have access to the full report as well as Data Shots for each of the 28 agency subsectors we have mapped so far.
In the coming months we will be publishing our IndieNation Report, Growth Report and Women in the agency sector Reports, exclusive for our subscribers, as well as launching new Data Shots for subsectors based on, among other things, agency target markets that we are mapping as you read this. We have also started some very exciting work mapping and analysing the languages agencies use on their websites, exploring agency proposition and why language matters.
“A brilliant ‘never been done before’ data set that puts the spotlight firmly onto the key levers of growth for the whole agency industry. The robustness of the data, given the breadth of all types of agencies involved, makes this very powerful. It will be enlightening for agencies to actively track and use the key data points that really matter.“
Emma Hillary / Growth Director, Verity Relationship Intelligence
Find out more…
If you would like to learn more about how we get our data and definitions for all the data points we have mentioned in this preview, please check out our FAQs page.
If you would like to read the Spring 2025 Agency by Agency Industry Report in full, early subscribers can take advantage of the special launch price of £1,600 excl. VAT here.
If you are intrigued but would like to learn more, you’ll find our schedule of free webinars where we introduce our report, Data Shots and future plans here.
“Agency by Agency’s analysis shines a true light on the innovation, opportunity and diversity across the breadth of the UK’s agency sector for the first time. This is exactly why we’ve built sophisticated mapping and data technologies at The Data City. We’re extremely excited about Agency by Agency’s launch and our joint roadmap to deliver real-time insights for the agency sector”
Alex Craven, Co-Founder and CEO, The Data City