Advertising & PR Agencies NAICS 541810, 541820

Aug 28, 2025 - Industry Employment Flat, Wages Rise Slightly

• Employment was flat but wages climbed slightly in the advertising industry in the first half of 2025, reflecting industry consolidation, a growing adoption of AI, and stagnant hiring. Employment fell 0.3% year over year in July 2025 and wages for non-supervisory employees rose 1.7% in June to an average of $37.21 per hour. The massive merger between ad giants Omnicom and Interpublic Group, which will be the world’s largest advertising company, is expected to control about 30% of the dollars among all media-buying agencies. The combined firm plans about $750 million in cost cutting, which will include headcount. Omnicom had already cut its US workforce by 11% in 2024, a loss of about 2,800 industry jobs. In addition, AI is taking over more of the heavy-lifting of research and creative services, reducing the need for headcount, and the industry is hiring more pre-MBA graduates who have lower starting salaries.
• Few industries are being as completely transformed by technology as advertising, and AI adoption by agencies and clients alike is driving that transformation. So far big ad agencies have struggled to adapt to AI doing more and more of the creative heavy lifting. Technology has already taken over the distribution side of the business, with half of all US ad spend last year going to Google and Meta, and now AI could be coming for the rest. Tech companies including Snapchat, Pinterest, and Google have created AI tools for creating and editing advertising campaigns, increasingly pushing out agencies as companies cut ad spend and bring those duties in-house. Now agencies are pushing ahead to catch up - WPP is spending $400 million to develop AI tools to sell to customers, and rival Publicis is also investing in AI tech.

• Non-management jobs at US advertising agencies have declined 10% since the beginning of 2022, according to Live Data Technology, as the industry grapples with significant change brought on by AI adoption. Entry-level jobs are the hardest hit, as most of those creative tasks have largely been taken over by AI in what is an industry-wide shift to technology. Executive and director-level roles, however, have remained stable. Mentions of AI in global job listings for advertising and marketing companies increased 67% year over year, according to Autodesk. The trend has opened the door for independent ad shops and those backed by private equity to boost hiring to compensate and compete. Overall advertising industry employment is stuck in pre-pandemic levels at about 220,000 jobs - agencies are down 4% year over year in employment, well below its high of 280,000 roles in 2023.
• Total US spending on advertising is expected to grow 4.5% in 2025, according to an S&P Global forecast, as consumers continue to spend despite growing fears about the state of the economy. The industry is expected to continue its shift towards digital advertising and away from legacy media (TV, radio, print). S&P expects digital advertising will expand by 9.1% this year, a slowdown from the 13.8% expansion in 2024 as the relatively new market normalizes. Digital ad growth is the fastest growing advertising segment as consumers shift away from traditional TV in favor of streaming and the technology offers detailed demographic user info to better target potential customers. National television advertising is expected to drop 8.9% in 2025 without the benefit of political ads or the Olympics as in 2024.