WPP plans up to 1,000 more job cuts. For agency owners, the question is who keeps the AI saving

On September 1, the Financial Times reported that WPP plans to cut up to 1,000 more jobs by the end of 2026. Two days later, agency advisor Mat Bennett published survey results on where the time saved by AI is going in his agency panel. Much of it is going to clients.

WPP’s plan takes cost out. Many agencies in the survey hand the time saving to clients as extra work. For what this does to margin, see Marketing agency profit margins.

What WPP is doing

The Drum summed up the numbers on September 2:

• WPP has cut almost 11,000 roles since the start of 2025, including 1,267 in the first half of 2026.
• Total headcount stood at 97,388 at the end of June 2026, down 6.4% on the previous 12 months.
• WPP is targeting £500 million of annualized savings by 2028. At the Elevate 28 presentation in February, chief executive Cindy Rose said some redundancies would be part of the plan to restructure WPP.

A WPP spokesperson declined to comment on the planned redundancies, according to The Drum. The FT report, as summarized by ADVFN, also said WPP plans to sell businesses outside its core and reduce its office space.

WPP has not said that AI is the cause of these cuts. The reports tie them to a restructuring program under chief executive Cindy Rose. ADVFN noted that the program is expected to use AI to change WPP’s cost structure and operations.

WPP is not alone. The Drum noted that Omnicom announced around 4,000 job cuts after it bought IPG, and that Dentsu is cutting roughly 3,400 roles outside Japan.

What an analyst sees behind the cuts

Jay Wilson, a VP analyst at Gartner, told The Drum that the cuts reflect a wider shift in how agencies make money.

He gave three figures. Marketing budgets sit at 7.8% of company revenue. Agency fees take 19.2% of those budgets, a share that has fallen since 2023. Gartner predicts that the share will reach an all-time low of 15% by 2030. That last figure is a forecast.

Wilson believes WPP’s cuts are likely to come at the more junior levels. He also warned that cutting entry-level roles puts the future talent pipeline at risk.

He sees an opening for independents. “The often-bloated hold co model isn’t holding up to AI impacts and these large agency networks need to recalibrate, while independents, which have less overhead and sunk technology costs, are able to capitalize,” he told The Drum. Gartner research also found that most holding company agencies it surveyed had reduced staff over the past 12 months, while several independents had hired more.

Where the AI saving goes

Mat Bennett advises founder-led agencies. He runs a quarterly survey called the Agency Loop, which goes to a panel of more than 200 agencies. His September 3 article looks at one tension in the third-quarter data on AI: how agencies price the work.

Here is what he found:

• 81% of the panel have at least settled on shared AI tools and ways of working.
• 73 UK agencies answered a question on how AI affected the price they charge.
• The most common answer, from more than 40%, was “Same price, but do more for it.”
• Only 21% of the panel have deliberately turned any of the saving into margin, by raising their effective rate or changing what they sell and how they charge.

Bennett points out that saved time can end up in only three places. It can become agency margin. It can come off the client’s bill. Or it can go back into the job as extra work for the same price. Two of those three help the client.

He also flags a new cost. Subscription costs and token spend have become new lines that most agencies absorb into the P&L, often as overhead. He says spending per job seems to be rising, because newer models run many more prompts behind the scenes to finish a task.

This is one advisor’s panel of agencies that chose to take part. The pricing question had 73 answers, all from the UK. Treat the results as a signal from the agencies that took part. They are not an industry average.

What this means for an agency owner

WPP’s plan cuts costs, and jobs are part of that. An agency has another choice. It can keep its best people and still keep part of the saving. Here is one way to use the two reports above.

1. Find where your saved hours went. Look at last quarter. List the tasks AI now does faster. For each one, check whether the time became margin, a lower bill or extra unbilled work.
2. Count the AI cost. Bennett notes that subscription costs and token spend became new lines that most agencies absorbed into the P&L, often as overhead. Track that spend so it does not disappear into the margin.
3. Price the result instead of the hours. The 21% in Bennett’s panel raised their effective rate or changed what they sell and how they charge. Bennett says the hour was never what clients were paying for.
4. Tell clients what they get. Clients see the speed. Show them the judgment, the process and the results they are paying for.
5. Keep a path for new talent. Wilson’s warning about junior roles applies to small agencies too. Decide which work goes to AI agents and which work trains the next strong person you hire.

The holding companies are cutting jobs and cost. For an agency owner, the better question is how much of that saving you keep. Marketing agency profit margins shows the 2025 numbers and the steps that protect them.