Ad agency networks have been the backbone of global advertising for decades. They helped brands scale internationally, coordinate complex campaigns, and deliver consistency across markets. For many years, the network badge was a mark of credibility. Clients saw it as a guarantee of reach, reliability, and access to world-class talent.
But the industry is shifting. Client needs have changed, in-housing has surged, and digital disruption is rewriting the playbook. The very structures that made networks powerful are now creating friction. Legacy processes slow them down. Conflicting incentives weaken collaboration. And the rise of independent agencies and platforms is forcing networks to reimagine their role.
This does not mean agency networks are finished. Far from it. It means the future will belong to the networks that embrace change, adapt faster, and see partnership not as an afterthought but as their competitive edge.
At Collective OS, we live in this world every day. We see where networks shine, where they struggle, and where they can unlock enormous value by rethinking how they collaborate. This perspective is not about critique. It is about care. Because networks remain critical to the future of advertising, but only if they evolve.
What Ad Agency Networks Do Well
Before we talk about the challenges, it is worth recognizing what agency networks continue to deliver better than anyone else.
Global reach and local nuance
Few organizations can match the ability of a major network to take a campaign from New York to New Delhi and maintain both consistency and cultural relevance. Networks understand the subtle differences in markets, and they have built the infrastructure to adapt creative and media strategies at scale.
Breadth of expertise under one roof
Networks bring together disciplines that independent shops would struggle to coordinate on their own. From brand strategy to data science, production to programmatic, networks can marshal integrated teams quickly. For global brands, this breadth is still a major selling point.
Client confidence
There is comfort in scale. Large advertisers still see network agencies as safe hands for multi-million-dollar campaigns. The procurement team feels better awarding global work to a name with offices in 80 countries than to a boutique player, no matter how brilliant that boutique may be.
These strengths are real. They are not going away. The opportunity now is to protect what works while addressing the very real weaknesses that threaten networks from within.
The Pressure Points Facing Agency Networks
1. In-housing is changing the rules, not leaving the game
In-house agencies are not a passing experiment. They are here, they are scaling, and they are reshaping what clients expect from external partners. Four out of five major brands now run some form of in-house team, and those teams are not just churning out social posts. They are moving upstream into strategy, programmatic buying, and production.
This shift does not mean networks are obsolete. It means their role is different. Instead of being the only player on the field, networks now need to design the system, coach the team, and step in where it matters most. The firms that win are the ones that see in-house teams not as a threat but as a built-in ally.
We see this inside Collective OS all the time. Some of the most effective partnerships are when in-house and network teams share opportunities, trade expertise, and stand up joint delivery pods. When that alignment clicks, both sides move faster and deliver more.
2. Complexity is outpacing coordination
Advertising today is a web of channels, platforms, and technologies. Networks built their model on being integrators, but complexity has grown faster than coordination. Too often, clients experience the seams: one office promising one thing while another delivers something different, or a brilliant creative idea slowed down by disconnected operations.
The challenge is not capability. Networks have the talent. The challenge is orchestration. Without better ways to unify information and streamline collaboration, complexity will keep dragging performance down.
3. Independent agencies are rewriting the growth story
While networks grapple with bureaucracy, independents are growing by being faster, hungrier, and often more cost-efficient. Clients are increasingly open to a “network of independents” approach, where they assemble a roster of specialized shops instead of relying solely on a single holding company.
This model is not perfect. It comes with its own coordination headaches, but it shows that clients are willing to experiment if it means they get speed and focus. For networks, the lesson is clear: agility matters as much as scale.
4. Economics are under strain
Procurement pressure has never been higher. Clients want more services at lower fees, and they are quick to run competitive reviews. Networks with high overhead struggle to compete with leaner rivals. The squeeze is real, and it forces hard trade-offs between investing in talent, technology, and margin protection.
The firms that survive will be those that find new efficiencies. Some of that comes from automation. Some comes from smarter resource sharing. But the biggest wins come from working across the network as one team instead of competing internally for scraps.
5. Talent expectations are shifting
The best talent no longer joins an agency to stay for 20 years. They want flexibility, career growth, and the chance to work across categories. Networks that do not adapt their talent models risk losing their edge. Culture and mobility are no longer soft issues. They are competitive advantages.
Opportunities for Reinvention
If agency networks want to thrive in the next decade, the path forward is not simply cutting costs or clinging to legacy models. It is about rethinking the fundamentals of how they create, capture, and deliver value.
From hierarchy to partnership
Clients no longer expect their agency network to be the sole expert. They expect a collaborator who can work seamlessly with in-house teams, independents, and other partners. Networks that embrace partnership as the default, not the exception, will win more trust and bigger opportunities.
From fragmentation to integration
The industry needs networks that act like networks, not loose confederations of offices. That means building systems where information flows, opportunities are shared, and expertise is visible across the whole organization. Without that, networks risk being outperformed by independents who can coordinate faster on Slack.
This is exactly where Collective OS fits. We built it because we saw how many firms waste opportunity through silos and misalignment. By giving networks a way to share opportunities, track expertise, and surface the right partners internally, we turn complexity into clarity.
From cost centers to growth engines
The networks that reframe themselves as growth partners rather than service vendors will reclaim their position at the table. That means owning a role in revenue expansion, co-innovation, and market entry, not just executing campaigns.
The Future Belongs to the Connected
Ad agency networks are at a crossroads. They can either double down on bureaucracy and watch relevance erode, or they can evolve into the kind of connected, trusted systems that clients actually need. The strengths are still there: reach, breadth, credibility. What is missing is speed, transparency, and integration.
The good news is that the industry does not have to reinvent everything from scratch. The tools, talent, and opportunities already exist. What is required is the willingness to see collaboration as the strategy, not just the execution.
At Collective OS, we believe the most successful networks of the future will not be the biggest or the cheapest. They will be the ones that can consistently match the right expertise, share opportunities seamlessly, and deliver more together than any firm could alone.
The network model is not dead. It is evolving. And if networks lean into that evolution, the next decade could be their most impactful yet.
