U.S. Ad Agency & Services Business 1997-2009
Product Description
Study conducted by Dr. Joe Webb, Director of Economics and Research for WhatTheyThink.com
The $60 billion ad agency and agency services industry has over 38,000 individual businesses (each averaging about 10 employees), as well as 95,000 freelancers and sole practitioners, and spends more than $2 billion annually on capital investment.
Advertising and related services comprise a broad range of companies that go far beyond the general conception that the industry consists simply of large advertising agencies. In addition to advertising and public relations agencies, the industry consists of media-buying and display advertising firms, direct mail advertising agencies, advertising material distributors, and other advertising-services firms. We have compiled many independent data sources, and developed its own proprietary forecasting methodologies, to provide this perspective on this essential and comprehensive advertising business industry sector.
The foundation data for this report originate with U.S. Census data for the industry described in their NAICS industry code 5418, Advertising and Related Services.
This report provides an economic overview of the trends and demographics of businesses in the U.S. advertising industry, including data pertaining to the number of establishments, employees, sole practitioners, the types of services being offered, as well as revenues, capital expenditures, and other related data. A fair proportion of this report also provides a qualitative examination of the prevailing trends driving and impeding the various sectors that comprise the advertising industry. These trends have been gleaned from analysis and interpretation of the data, substantiated by a review of a vast wealth of secondary research, a portion of which is footnoted and/or presented in the Bibliography section of this report.
Please note that this study on the advertising and related services sector does not include businesses that primarily provide graphic design services.
This report is organized by NAICS code, the four- or five-digit code assigned by the U.S. Census Bureau to categorize industries and businesses economywide. Each NAICS describes a different sector of the ad agency industry; each sector has its own unique demographics (obviously), as well as its own market forces, drivers, barriers, and opportunities for companies subscribing to this report. When we speak of "the advertising agency industry" we're not referring to a single large, monolithic, undifferentiated thing; rather, we're talking about a wide variety of different sectors and markets which can only be spoken of en masse in only certain contexts.
Section 1 of this report is a general overview of the advertising industry (NAICS 5418). Each of the subsequent sections is devoted to each individual sector/NAICS category. When navigating this report, let NAICS be your guide.
Each major section of this report begins with demographic data, including:
the number of establishments receipts/revenues for each sector and average receipts per establishment annual payroll for each sector and average payroll per establishment number of employees for each sector and average employees per establishment
Following demographic data, each section then provides a list of product lines, or those services/products/projects performed by establishments. Data here includes how many establishments produce those product lines and what their revenue for those product lines is. This basically answers the question, "What do these firms do all day?"
Each section concludes with a discussion of the major trends affecting the industry, within the context of each individual industry sector.
The $60 billion ad agency and agency services industry has over 38,000 individual businesses (each averaging about 10 employees), as well as 95,000 freelancers and sole practitioners, and spends more than $2 billion annually on capital investment.
Advertising and related services comprise a broad range of companies that go far beyond the general conception that the industry consists simply of large advertising agencies. In addition to advertising and public relations agencies, the industry consists of media-buying and display advertising firms, direct mail advertising agencies, advertising material distributors, and other advertising-services firms. We have compiled many independent data sources, and developed its own proprietary forecasting methodologies, to provide this perspective on this essential and comprehensive advertising business industry sector.
The foundation data for this report originate with U.S. Census data for the industry described in their NAICS industry code 5418, Advertising and Related Services.
This report provides an economic overview of the trends and demographics of businesses in the U.S. advertising industry, including data pertaining to the number of establishments, employees, sole practitioners, the types of services being offered, as well as revenues, capital expenditures, and other related data. A fair proportion of this report also provides a qualitative examination of the prevailing trends driving and impeding the various sectors that comprise the advertising industry. These trends have been gleaned from analysis and interpretation of the data, substantiated by a review of a vast wealth of secondary research, a portion of which is footnoted and/or presented in the Bibliography section of this report.
Please note that this study on the advertising and related services sector does not include businesses that primarily provide graphic design services.
This report is organized by NAICS code, the four- or five-digit code assigned by the U.S. Census Bureau to categorize industries and businesses economywide. Each NAICS describes a different sector of the ad agency industry; each sector has its own unique demographics (obviously), as well as its own market forces, drivers, barriers, and opportunities for companies subscribing to this report. When we speak of "the advertising agency industry" we're not referring to a single large, monolithic, undifferentiated thing; rather, we're talking about a wide variety of different sectors and markets which can only be spoken of en masse in only certain contexts.
Section 1 of this report is a general overview of the advertising industry (NAICS 5418). Each of the subsequent sections is devoted to each individual sector/NAICS category. When navigating this report, let NAICS be your guide.
Each major section of this report begins with demographic data, including:
the number of establishments receipts/revenues for each sector and average receipts per establishment annual payroll for each sector and average payroll per establishment number of employees for each sector and average employees per establishment
Following demographic data, each section then provides a list of product lines, or those services/products/projects performed by establishments. Data here includes how many establishments produce those product lines and what their revenue for those product lines is. This basically answers the question, "What do these firms do all day?"
Each section concludes with a discussion of the major trends affecting the industry, within the context of each individual industry sector.
