Get the Latest Results
Delphi is an insights network designed exclusively for digital agency leaders.
How’d other agencies do last quarter?
Are pipelines improving?
What’s selling well and to who?
Join Delphi and get the answers to these questions and more!
Fourth Quarter 2025 Results
Cautious Optimism: Agency leaders are slightly more optimistic heading into Q4 2025 than they were mid-year. Over 60% expect Q4 to be better than Q3, pushing our Leadership Outlook Index up to 3.55 (on a 5-point scale) from 3.39 in the mid-year survey.
Leader sentiment has shifted from Q2 to Q4 2025 as mid-year outlooks were largely cautious or negative, with frequent references to uncertainty, fear, or the need to “survive” the rest of the year.
By contrast, Q4 brought a mix of continued caution but with new pockets of optimism. Some leaders reported that business had “picked up quite a bit compared to Q2”, leading to hopes for a strong finish, or that a once-frozen pipeline had begun to thaw by year’s end.
Still, many maintained a “cautiously optimistic” or tentative stance. They saw glimmers of improvement but were wary of challenges like slow sales cycles and budget-conscious clients.
Overall, the core challenges: hesitant clients, long sales cycles, and budget pressures persisted throughout 2025, but by Q4, agencies had adapted in various ways. Some saw modest rebounds or found new opportunities (through niche services or marketing efforts), while others continued to struggle. The overall mood evolved from widespread uncertainty in Q2 to a more tempered outlook in Q4, balancing optimism with the reality of ongoing market constraints.
Pipeline Stabilizing: New business pipelines showed signs of stabilization in Q3. About a quarter of agencies saw pipelines shrink last quarter, while the rest were evenly split between growth and holding steady. This marks an improvement from mid-year, when over half reported pipelines were weaker than usual.
4Q pipelines look about as strong as usual, which is a positive sign after a year when pipelines typically looked weak.
Agency leaders most frequently blamed macroeconomic uncertainty and budget caution among clients for pipeline issues. Many noted long sales cycles and delayed decisions from wary clients. A significant number also mentioned the impact of AI, both as a disruptive force in marketing (changes in search behavior) and as a factor in client hesitation (some clients pausing to re-evaluate strategy in light of AI).
Mixed Performance: Half of the leaders described their year-to-date performance as simply “Fair.” Only ~14% called it “Very healthy,” while ~11% admit it’s been poor. Despite this, 55% expect to end Q4 with higher revenue than Q3, indicating hopes for a strong year-end finish.
4Q Revenue: 58% expect to see revenue grow in Q4, while a third are holding steady, and 10% expect a decline.
Leaders predicting a better Q4 often highlighted specific seasonal or year-end demand drivers. Optimistic agency leaders cited clients in retail or consumer products ramping up marketing for the holiday season, or B2B clients with end-of-year budget spend that boosts Q4 projects. This translates into a spike in demand for services like campaigns, ecommerce, or fulfillment-related digital projects in Q4. By contrast, leaders expecting Q4 to be the same or worse lacked those seasonal demand peaks. They described steady or cooling demand.
“Most of our clients’ big pushes happened in Q3.”
“Q4 is typically quiet for our B2B clients.”
Those with a strong Q4 forecast are aligned with clients who have a busy Q4, while those with a weak outlook serve clients who are missing a Q4 bump.
Service Demand Shifts: Demand is highest for strategic and digital marketing services, while mobile app dev/design, graphic design, and AR/VR remain sluggish. Notably, demand for UX/UI work is on the rise since mid-year, while traditional graphic design and video projects have softened.
We evaluate relative service strength based on the percent of responses citing the service as “in demand” vs. those indicating “weakness” in the service. Higher percentages equate to more in-demand services and vice-versa.
Leaders report that clients in 2025 are prioritizing services with clear ROI or strategic value, which explains the strength we’ve seen in strategy, performance marketing, and UX.
In contrast, “nice-to-have” or large experimental projects (mobile apps, AR/VR, large video productions) are easier to cut when budgets tighten. Agencies that can tie work directly to business outcomes are seeing the steadiest demand, which tracks with what we’d expect to see in a stagnant economic environment.
Industry Variances: Agencies serving tech and finance clients report some of the strongest pipelines this quarter, whereas those focused on the manufacturing or industrial sectors cited weak demand. Other sectors like healthcare, higher education, and e-commerce saw mixed results.
Hiring on Hold: The vast majority (about 70%) of agencies plan to maintain current staff levels next quarter. Roughly equal minorities plan to add headcount (16%) or reduce staff (14%), reflecting a wait-and-see approach to hiring as we enter the new year.
