BenchPress 2026: State of the Agency Nation

After a challenging few years, the latest BenchPress results for agencies under £1m bring some welcome progress. Growth has edged up, rates are rising again, profits have improved, and owner pay is on the up.

But despite those positives, most agency leaders aren’t feeling comfortable just yet. Confidence has stalled, uncertainty is still high, and AI is raising big questions about what the future holds.

In this session, Peter Czapp shared the key insights from this year’s data and highlighted three shifts that will shape how successful agencies operate going forward.

Here are the key takeaways:

AI is improving performance - but only for those using it properly

There’s no doubt that AI is already changing how agencies work.

Across the board, agencies reported delivering work faster, creating more value for clients and reducing delivery costs. At the same time, many are achieving this with leaner teams, helping to drive the uplift in profitability we’ve seen this year.

But there’s a clear gap emerging.

While most agencies are using AI in some form, far fewer have embedded it into how their business actually runs. The opportunity now is to move beyond experimentation and start building AI into workflows, team structures and service delivery.

Focus beats breadth when it comes to growth

The data continues to show that agencies with a clear point of difference perform better.

Those that are more defined in what they do, whether by sector, service or positioning, are more likely to grow, command higher rates and generate stronger profits.

One of the standout insights this year is around service offering. Agencies delivering between two and five services consistently outperformed those that were either too narrow or too broad.

There’s also a shift in how agencies need to communicate their value. The focus is moving away from deliverables and towards outcomes - demonstrating the real commercial impact of the work, not just the work itself.

Building a valuable business creates better results

A particularly interesting finding this year is that agencies focused on building long-term value outperform their peers.

Those prioritising the creation of an asset, a business that could be sold in the future, tend to show stronger performance across key metrics.

It’s not about planning an exit. It’s about adopting the discipline that comes with it: hitting profit targets, having a clear growth plan, building systems and reducing reliance on individuals.

In practice, this leads to a more resilient, more profitable and ultimately more valuable business.

Watch the full webinar

This is just a snapshot of the BenchPress 2026 results for agencies under £1m.

To explore the full findings, including the benchmarks, deeper insights and practical actions, you can watch the full webinar below.