IBM iX ranked top of Econsultancy’s Top 100 Digital Agencies 2016 list for the first time

Today, Econsultancy launches the 2016 edition of its annual Top 100 Digital Agencies report, highlighting the biggest digital agencies across full service and marketing, design and build, technical, creative and media.

Consultancies are now dominating the top of the table, with Accenture Interactive in 2nd place behind IBM iX, and Deloitte Digital following in 5th place. SapientNitro and BAE Systems complete the top five, in 3rd and 4th place respectively.

The total fee income of the Top 100 has passed £2 billion, this year, with the top five agencies commanding 34% of the entire fee income of the 100 agencies listed.

Along with the report, Econsultancy has produced a comprehensive, interactive online index, allowing users to easily access information on agencies, in addition to charted trend data from 2002 – 2016.

As well as featuring agencies ranked by fee income, the report includes a regional breakdown, a list of the most respected agencies, most influential people and profiles of agencies, providing useful benchmarking data for digital agencies and supplier selection resources for marketers.

Key statistics from the Top 100 Digital Agencies Report 2016:

• The top five agencies hold 34% of the fee income of the entire Top 100.
• The average projected fee income increase for the next 12 months across the Top 100 this year is 20%.
• A third of the Top 100 are projecting that their fee income will rise by 30% or more over the coming year.

Since 2015, the total fee income of the 100 has increased by 20%, with 82% of agencies saying they were ‘very optimistic’ about the next 12 months, despite increasing competition for talent from consultancies and brands bringing expertise in-house.

Ashley Friedlein, Econsultancy Founder and Centaur Marketing President says: “As consultancies become more dominant and large-scale digital transformation projects become more common, agencies are having to adapt to a new role and relationship with their clients. Historically separate parts of the customer funnel are merging, forming a single view of the customer journey that can be personalised and targeted. In 2016, agencies are having to not only provide great creative ideas, but also ensure they can be tailored in myriad different ways. This year’s Top 100 Digital Agencies report highlights those agencies that are delivering on this already.”

The Top 10 agencies by fee income are as follows:

1.     IBM iX: £191,673,395
2.     Accenture Interactive: £176,527,487
3.     SapientNitro: £165,433,349*
4.     BAE Systems: £77,741,561
5.     Deloitte Digital UK: £75,000,000
6.     EPAM Systems: £74,035,110
7.     Digitas LBi: £71,689,000
8.     AKQA: £69,615,520
9.     Tribal Worldwide London: £60,826,475
10. Engine: £58,868,000

*the fee income of SapientNitro is taken from last year’s report as they were unable to release 2015 financials post-acquisition by Publicis Groupe.

The full report, and the free-to-access interactive version can be found by visiting digitalagencies.econsultancy.com.