March 10, 2026 — Santa Barbara, Calif. — Foxwell Founders released the Foxwell Founders’ 2026 State of Digital Marketing Agencies Report, surveying hundreds of agency leaders worldwide on tech-driven shifts, including AI threats, client losses to in-housing, planned lift tests, and ad creative production challenges.
The report, produced in partnership with Motion and drawn from the Foxwell Founders community of over 550 marketing leaders across more than 30 countries managing over $1 billion in monthly ad spend, highlights critical industry benchmarks. Key findings show 30% of respondents citing AI as the biggest business threat over the next 12-24 months, 29% identifying in-housing as the top reason for client loss, 50% planning lift tests for clients in 2026, and 45% naming ad creative production as their primary challenge.
Key Insights from the Survey
The Foxwell Founders’ 2026 State of Digital Marketing Agencies Report details responses from over 100 agency founders and executives, with the full survey encompassing hundreds, roughly 80% owners and founders. It covers agency challenges, growth opportunities, profit margins, client retention, lead close rates, and AI usage. Respondents noted AI as both an existential threat—outpacing client churn, platform volatility, and margin compression—and the leading growth opportunity when productized into services.
Other trends include a shift toward strategy ownership over media execution, vertical specialization to combat commoditization, emphasis on holistic measurement like incrementality testing, and talent upskilling for adaptability.
Executive Commentary
Andrew Foxwell, co-founder of Foxwell Digital, stated:
“Between COVID, the rise of AI, and massive economic shifts, agencies have had very little access to reliable benchmarking data in recent years. We wanted to tap into our membership – which represents one of the world’s strongest communities of agency leaders – to provide objective insights into the shifting agency landscape.”
James Mulvey, Head of Content at Motion, added:
“In the next few months, the best agencies will crystallize where exactly AI can help them in the creative strategy process… The bigger utility of AI is in the research and creative analysis phases of their workflows.”
Additional Coverage and Analysis
The report’s release garnered coverage on Yahoo Finance and Performance Marketing World, emphasizing the AI threat statistic. Foxwell Digital’s blog outlined six critical takeaways, echoed in a LinkedIn post by Andrew Foxwell.
The full Foxwell Founders’ 2026 State of Digital Marketing Agencies Report is available for download via Foxwell Digital’s landing page, offering benchmarking data amid rapid industry changes.