Marketing and advertising agencies are enjoying some of their strongest demand in years, but late-paying clients turn that growth into a persistent cash flow problem. A new report by The Kaplan Group combines two years of Bureau of Labor Statistics employment data, two decades of Google Trends demand signals, and the latest B2B payment research to map where marketing agency demand is growing, and how severely late client payments are undermining the financial health of agencies across the country.
Key Findings
- Average U.S. search interest in “marketing agency” jumped from 12.9 in the 2010s to 47.3 in 2022–2025, a roughly 266% increase, while “advertising agency” interest fell about 15% over the same window.
- A handful of states—led by Oregon, Virginia, New York, New Jersey, and Maryland—combine strong demand signals with attractive labor-market fundamentals for marketing and advertising.
- In 2025, 97% of agencies reported dealing with late client payments and 71% said at least one in four invoices is paid late.
The AI-Era Surge in Marketing Agency Demand
Over the past two decades, search interest in “advertising agency” has faded while searches for “marketing agency” have taken off.
Using monthly Google Trends data for the U.S. from 2004 through early 2026, broken into five macro periods, the shift is unmistakable. Comparing the 2010s baseline directly to the 2022–2025 window:
- “Marketing agency” searches rose from an average of 12.9 to 47.3 — a gain of more than 34 index points, or roughly 266%.
- “Marketing” rose modestly, from 50.4 to 58.6, about a 16% increase.
- “Advertising” fell approximately 15%, from 43.4 to 37.1.
- “Advertising agency” fell approximately 15%, from 19.2 to 16.4.
The inflection in “marketing agency” interest is concentrated in two specific windows: a step-change in 2020–2021 (to an average of 27.3), followed by a sharper acceleration in 2022–2026 (to an average of 48.8). That second jump lines up directly with the mainstream adoption of generative AI tools.
Where Agency Demand Is Heating Up?
We created a state-level Trend Score to summarize where marketing and advertising activity looks like it’s “heating up” right now. The score is designed to be readable and comparable across states. Each state gets a Trend Score from 0 to 100, where a higher score means a stronger combination of demand signal (search interest) and labor-market signal (jobs and wages).
Top 5 states by trend score
- Oregon — 77.1
- Virginia — 69.2
- New York — 68.1
- New Jersey — 67.5
- Maryland — 64.9
Bottom 5 states by trend score
- West Virginia — 1.4
- Montana — 5.8
- Hawaii — 7.6
- South Dakota — 13.8
- Nebraska — 17.3
- Kentucky — 18.0
The Late-Payment Crisis Hitting Marketing and Advertising Agencies
Despite the demand surge for marketing, late payments have become widespread in the marketing and advertising sector. They now represent a structural financial threat.
Research from Ignition’s 2025 Agency Pricing and Cash Flow Report paints a difficult picture:
- 97% of agencies regularly deal with late client payments.
- 71% say at least one in every four invoices is paid late.
- 56% say late invoices typically take two weeks to two months past the due date to be collected.
- 84% of agencies spend between 3 and 10+ hours per month chasing overdue invoices.
- 63% describe their agency’s cash flow as unpredictable.
In the digital media and advertising supply chain specifically, late payments reached record levels in 2025. According to OAREX’s H1 2025 Digital Media and Advertising Payments Study:
- 58% of digital media payments were late in the first half of 2025, up from 49% in the prior period.
- 32% of payments were more than five days late — a record high.
- 18% were more than 15 days late — also a record high.
- The share of consistently on-time payers dropped from 53% to 43% in a single reporting period.
The forces driving unprecedented demand for marketing and advertising agencies are colliding with a late-payment environment that leaves even growing firms exposed to chronic cash flow risk. Agencies that proactively tighten payment terms, invest in collections, and align pricing with risk are far more likely to convert this AI-era boom into stable margins and long-term resilience.
Methodology
Google Trends data were pulled as monthly index values for four search terms — “Advertising,” “Advertising agency,” “Marketing,” and “Marketing agency” — for the United States from January 2004 through February 2026. Index values are normalized on a 0–100 scale relative to peak search interest in the full series. Period averages were computed for five macro regimes: 2004–2009, 2010–2014, 2015–2019, 2020–2021, and 2022–2026. A separate 2010–2019 vs. 2022–2025 comparison was computed to isolate the pre-AI-era baseline from the post-ChatGPT window. Google Trends is correlational and normalized; all trend observations in this study are described as associations, not causal claims.
BLS employment and wage data were drawn from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2023 and May 2024 tables for four occupations: Marketing Managers (SOC 11-2021), Advertising and Promotions Managers (SOC 11-2011), Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists (SOC 13-1161), and Advertising Sales Agents (SOC 41-3011). Data were available at the area level; national aggregates were produced by summing employment across all areas and computing employment-weighted average wages.
B2B payment and late-payment statistics are drawn from Ignition’s 2025 Agency Pricing and Cash Flow Report, the OAREX H1 2025 Digital Media and Advertising Payments Study, and supporting research from Atradius, QuickBooks, and the Association for Financial Professionals.
What goes into the trend score by state
The score blends three components:
- Google Trends demand proxy (state-level search interest for “marketing agency”, 2/16/21–2/16/26) Weight: 45%
- BLS growth proxy (percent change in employment from 2023 to 2024) across these occupations: Marketing Managers; Advertising and Promotions Managers; Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists; Advertising Sales Agents. Weight: 35%
- BLS value proxy (2024 employment-weighted mean annual wage across the same occupations) Weight: 20%
- To keep any single outlier state from dominating, each component is normalized using a 5th–95th percentile min-max scaling, clipped to 0–1, then combined into the final 0–100 score.
Sources
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2023 and May 2024 — Marketing Managers, Advertising and Promotions Managers, Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists, Advertising Sales Agents
- Google Trends, United States, January 2004 – February 2026
- Ignition, 2025 Agency Pricing and Cash Flow Report
- OAREX, H1 2025 Digital Media and Advertising Payments Study
- Performance Marketing World, Late Payments in Media and Advertising Hit Record Highs (2025)
