Since 2005, a few giants have ruled programmatic advertising. And if you were anyone, you had to work. The Big Five (WPP, Omnicom, Publicis, IPG, and Dentsu) built massive empires by mastering complexity and using scale to shut out smaller challengers. But now things are changing, and here.
The shift we’re seeing is more than just a minor disruption. Thanks to automation and more innovative tools, companies that once needed 30-person agency teams are now doing the same work with just one. That’s not an exaggeration. It’s what most holding companies are pushing for internally: cut the team down to a couple of account managers, use tech to fill the gaps, and hope no one notices.
But here’s the problem: by pushing for this so hard and quickly, they create the conditions for their demise. This efficiency is opening the door for independent shops and even solo operators to step up and compete. The big guys spent years building their business on things like complexity and cost control. Now, those same things are starting to drag them down.
The Old Pitch Doesn’t Work Anymore
For a long time, the agency pitch was simple. This stuff is too complicated for you to handle on your own, and we’ll save you money by doing it all at scale.
And for a while, that was true. If you wanted great media rates or access to top-tier ad tech, you had to go through one of the big players. But things have changed.
There are now hundreds of ad tech tools that are simpler and easier to use. You don’t need a dozen people trafficking creative and setting up campaigns. You don’t even need a full-time team. One clever person can do it all part-time using the right platforms.
Need to find new audiences? Most tools now make that super easy, combining tons of data sources and surfacing new targeting opportunities without a whole analytics team behind it.
Need to create ads? Platforms like AdCreative, Pencil, and Canva let you build on-brand creative in a matter of minutes. No design team required.
Need to make sure your budget is being spent wisely? Campaigns now adjust automatically based on performance. The days of babysitting bids and constantly pulling reports are gone.
Need reporting? Tools are already giving real-time insights in plain language, so you don’t need to know SQL or spend hours in spreadsheets.
The bottom line is this: one person with the proper setup can now run a campaign that looks and performs like something you’d get from a holding company but with less overhead, quicker turnaround, and more flexibility.
Holding Companies Can’t Move Fast Enough
Big agencies were built for scale, not for speed. And when the world speeds up, scale starts to become a liability.
Here’s what a typical holding company campaign still looks like. You start with a multi-week onboarding. Then comes a lengthy approval process, maybe a few meetings with vendor partners. After that, the team builds custom reports from scratch and slowly starts launching creative that’s already gone through four rounds of revisions.
Compare that to a small, focused team using newer tools. They can launch campaigns in hours. Creative gets tested and adjusted in real-time. Performance insights come straight to their Slack or Notion doc. If something’s not working, they pivot. If something’s working, they double down. No meetings needed.
That’s not a slight improvement. It’s an entirely different way of operating.
Creative Is Finally Moving at the Speed of Culture
For years, creative was the choke point. Producing new assets took too long, testing was limited, and most campaigns recycled the same handful of videos or banners across platforms.
Now that’s changing too. Brands are using tools like Midjourney, Runway, and others to create fresh images and video content quickly. They can tailor ads to different audiences, languages, or platforms on the fly. Even voiceovers and edits can be swapped in seconds.
You no longer need a $10 million budget to iterate like a top brand. With $10K a month, you can now test like the big guys and probably move faster while you’re at it.
Media Buying Is Getting Lighter and Smarter
On the media side, we’re seeing new platforms pop up that are fast, clean, and focused purely on performance. No clunky and complex UI. Just better outcomes. These tools handle everything from targeting to bid adjustments, and they do it in a way that actually works for lean teams. Strategists don’t have to spend time messing with settings. They focus on testing ideas and improving results. Increasingly, we’re seeing that smaller, more innovative platforms can drive better outcomes and do it with less hassle.
This Is Just the Beginning
Agencies aren’t going away. But the idea that bigger is always better? That’s over.
What we’re seeing now is the start of a serious rebalancing. When the tools are easy to use and the playing field is level, talent and ideas matter more than scale.
There’s more room now for creators and strategists who really understand culture.
What Comes Next
We’re about to see a wave of new voices rise. Not because they have the biggest budgets but because the barriers are finally low enough for them to compete.
It’s going to get noisy. It’s going to get crowded. And it’s going to get a whole lot more interesting.
Just like Shopify helped a new generation of e-commerce brands break through. Just like Substack gave writers a platform of their own. The new media landscape is being built right now by independent operators, solo agencies, and scrappy teams who never would’ve had a shot before.
And in that mess?
The best ideas will rise.
