For years, independents were told they couldn’t match the scale or sophistication of the holding companies. That story is over.
Our latest research, The Independent Agency Blueprint, shows independent agencies are blending old-school relationships with new-school automation, building open, composable systems that move light-years faster than agency monoliths.
Even as client budgets tightened in 2025, independents didn’t retreat. They reallocated, shifting spend toward channels and partners that deliver measurable performance, and away from tools that couldn’t justify their fees. That discipline is becoming their biggest advantage.
The Old Way: Fragmentation Without Control
For years, media buying meant managing a patchwork of vendors and tools, each with its own contract, login, and data set. In effect, every “solution” added another layer of complexity, another line item, and another fee. A single campaign could span 6-8 vendors and up to 20 systems that struggled to communicate with each other. The model worked when reach mattered most, but it left little room for transparency or control.
“Agencies are feeling more pressure, looking at their margins and wondering how much they’re funding ad-tech profit versus getting working media.” – Roundtable participant
So it’s no surprise that 94% of agencies say they’re worried about platform fees cutting into working media, with 42% actively monitoring those costs, and nearly 1 in 3 renegotiating or shifting budgets to lower-fee alternatives.
But this isn’t about penny-pinching; it’s about reclaiming value.
Independent agencies are no longer content to absorb inefficiency as the cost of doing business. They expect every partner to prove its worth through performance, not markup. That’s why many are embracing an open, composable infrastructure that restores control and accountability to every campaign.
The New Way: Flexibility by Design
Today’s independents are rebuilding around flexibility, replacing disconnected stacks with modular systems that adapt to every client’s needs. Instead of being locked into one buying model, they now compose portfolios of options that plug together seamlessly.
Nearly 9 in 10 independent agencies still buy direct from publishers, but most also use a mix of managed DSPs (87%), in-house programmatic seats (78%), and retail media networks (67%). A single client might run a managed DSP for cross-channel campaigns, a direct deal for a CTV buy, and a retail network for commerce activations—all within one cohesive plan.
“Independence used to mean you picked a lane. Now it means you know how to use every one of them.” – Roundtable participant
The smartest agencies aren’t chasing scale. They’re engineering controls by building systems that plug together rather than piling up.
That’s precisely where The Infillion Platform™ comes in. As the world’s first composable ad tech platform, we unify programmatic, direct, and commerce buying in a single transparent workflow for clients. Whether through managed service, self-serve, hybrid, or agentic, our partners can work the way they prefer, automate what they choose, maintain full visibility, and prove outcomes that connect attention, engagement, and conversion.
The Enabler: AI and Orchestration
Managing this level of sophistication once required entire departments.
Now, AI is making that orchestration possible, not by replacing people but by streamlining the mechanics of media itself.
Across the independent agencies we surveyed, nearly 9 in 10 use AI to automate reporting and dashboards, ensuring teams see results in real time. 86% apply AI to planning and research, accelerating audience discovery and RFP response processes, while another 83% lean on AI for forecasting and trend analysis, transforming raw data into actionable insight. And when campaigns go live, 79% let AI optimize bids, budgets, and audience targeting on the fly.
AI isn’t an add-on; it’s the new operating system for independent media buying, driving speed, scale, and proof.
Infillion’s agent framework takes that idea even further. Enabling AI systems or custom-built agents to interpret signals, update campaigns, and execute tasks without a human needing to click through a UI. This orchestration lets agencies automate more while keeping complete insight into every decision.
It’s AI that moves at machine speed but still operates under human direction.
Looking Ahead
The future of media buying will belong to agencies that master this balance — automation and control, speed and proof. The rebuild is not about process. It is about power.
By bringing openness, automation, and accountability together, independents are turning efficiency into a competitive edge.
This is independence, rebuilt for speed, scale, and proof.
