How agencies replace retainer revenue as clients do the work with AI. November 4, 2026 Clients now do with AI the work agencies used to bill for. Here is how agencies add a recurring line that doesn't depend on those hours. Add a recurring line that doesn't depend on the hours clients now do with AI. Bring your clients a product that shows them, every morning, which spend and which channels actually pay, in the CFO's own numbers, and earn 20% to 30% of the Proof of Value and every subscription payment for 3 years as a SQOR.ai partner. What is happening to agency revenue. Clients are using AI for work agencies used to bill for. In 2026 the agency group Enero forecast a 30% to 50% fall in revenue at one of its performance marketing units for exactly that reason, as AdNews reported. Brands are spending less with agencies because of it. In a Marketing Week survey of 2,350 marketers, 14.2% had reduced agency spend as a result of AI in the past 12 months, against 1.9% who had increased it. Retainers are harder to keep, too. In CallRail's 2026 agency outlook, only 3% of agencies said their clients stay 36 months or longer. The work that survives is the work that proves its value. A client who can see what your work returned is a client who renews. What to do next. * Pick the clients most likely to cut the retainer, and go to them first with a plan instead of a renewal notice. * Tie your work to their numbers. Show the CFO what each channel returned, matched to the books, instead of a report of clicks. * Make SQOR.ai the place those numbers live. It answers their questions in plain English, with no dashboards to build. * Stay in as their partner. You lead the client, SQOR.ai's team does the technical work, and you earn on the Proof of Value and every subscription payment for 3 years. * Price your own services on top, such as campaign strategy, data cleanup and training. Where SQOR.ai fits. Most agency reports stop at the marketing platform. SQOR.ai connects read-only to the systems a client already runs, including the CRM and the books, so the answer to "what did marketing return?" is the same number the CFO sees. How the SQOR partner program pays. * Refer, 10% once. Introduce a client and step away, and you earn 10% of the client's first-year subscription. * Partner, 20% for 3 years. Stay in as the client's lead contact, work with its team, and grow the account, and you earn 20% of the Proof of Value and every subscription payment for 3 years. * Premier Partner, 30%. From your 6th partner client each year, the rate is 30%, for 3 years. SQOR.ai engagements run $50K to $900K a year, and your share grows as the client adds teams, locations and use cases. Clients pay SQOR.ai's list price, and anything you do for them beyond it is yours to price. Sources and further reading. * AdNews, Hotwire clients are using AI to do the work it used to bill for, 2026 * Marketing Week, Is AI forcing a renegotiation of agency relationships?, 2026 * CallRail, 2026 Agency Marketing Outlook Report, 2026 * Digiday, Agencies look to AI agents for an edge, but must fend off brands looking to in-house with the same tech, 2026 Questions answered Frequently asked questions. How do agencies survive AI?+ How can a marketing agency make recurring revenue?+ How do I prove marketing ROI to a client's CFO?+

Enero and Vinyl Group slump on Unmade Index while Ooh sale gets shareholders' green light. November 3, 2026 9:06 Enero Group sank to another new low on Monday, with the owner of the BMF, Orchard and Hotwire agencies losing 7.3% to land on a market capitalisation of just $17.2m. It was also a bad day for Vinyl Group which reversed some of last week's gains to lose 7.9% and land on a market cap of $51.9m. Meanwhile, Ooh Media's price blipped upwards by 0.3% after sailing through the shareholders' vote on selling the outdoor advertising operator to Isquared Capital. A total of 90.5% of the shareholders at yesterday's AGM, and 99.9% of the total votes cast were in favour of the sale. The next stage of the process will be rubber stamping by the Supreme Court on 18 November. Nine had the best day on the Unmade Index on Monday, growing by 3.7%. This helped move the Unmade Index into positive territory, lifting it by 1.06% to 344.2 points. Tim Burrowes is the publisher of Mumbrella and Unmade. He co-founded Mumbrella in 2008 and sister title Unmade in 2021. He's worked in the UK, Middle East, Asia & Australia and has specialised in writing about the communications world for the last 25 years. He wrote the book Media Unmade, published in 2021, and became the presenter of MediaLand on ABC Radio National in 2025. Have your say. Or comment anonymously Your comment will be marked as unverified

Enero Group reported 9% EBITDA growth and 54% increase in net profit for FY 2026, despite a slight revenue decline. The group's EBITDA margin expanded from 10.2% to 11.8%, driven by AI implementation and cost management. Australian agencies BMF and Orchard achieved record performances with EBITDA margins of 23% and 21.8% respectively. AI deployment delivered significant efficiency gains, including 93% faster brief processing at BMF and 50% quicker brief-to-insight time at Hotwire. However, Hotwire faces challenges with 19% revenue decline and 33% EBITDA drop due to US market difficulties and AI disruption. The company's ROI-DNA unit expects 30-50% revenue reduction in FY 2027 as clients bring work in-house. Enero maintains a strong balance sheet with net cash of £24.5 million and zero leverage, with 60% revenue from retainers providing stability.