The agency kill list (and who's not on it)

Forrester doesn't usually revise predictions like this.

When they do, they typically nudge the timeline or soften the language. Not this time. They doubled the forecast — and compressed eight years into one.

I've been deep in this research for months. Built and sold an agency. Watched what digital disruption looked like from 2008 to 2012. This is moving faster than that did.

Here's the one number I keep coming back to:

80%. That's how much of the best-performing holding company's media revenue now comes from AI-driven work. They grew 5.6% last year while competitors declined — without adding a single employee. They still cut people.

Even the winner is cutting.

In the video, I walk through exactly which roles are disappearing first (the breakdown is more specific than you'd expect), why the biggest agencies structurally cannot adapt even when they're investing billions trying, and what the math actually looks like for operators who are positioned correctly right now.

The industry isn't dying. The traditional agency job is.

There's a meaningful difference — and it might be the biggest opening for independent operators in a generation.

Watch the full breakdown →

To Your AI-First Success,
Jeff Sauer

P.S. I'm building something called the 99 Services List — specific, productizable services small operators can deliver profitably right now using AI. Comment on the video with "services" and I'll send it your way.

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