Salary growth at traditional media and communications agencies in India has slowed to low single digits as companies automate routine tasks and focus hiring on artificial intelligence-driven capabilities, industry executives and employees say.
Employees working in traditional communications and advertising agencies said their annual valuations in 2025 will be between 1% and 5%. With valuations in the low single digits, pressure to downsize and growing dissatisfaction among employees.
“Despite working hard, if you get a 2% annual raise, you’ll want to change jobs to make a living,” said one agency employee, who requested anonymity.
But changing jobs is also becoming more difficult as employers increasingly prioritize AI-enabled skills, analytics and digital strategies over traditional creative roles, experts said.
Data from talent platform Foundit found that hiring at traditional agencies has remained stable, centered around strategic growth areas, rather than broad headcount expansion. Companies are focusing on domain expertise, client engagement, and project leadership rather than execution-based roles.
Shreshth Trehan, senior manager at Accenture Song, said entry-level hires are increasingly focused on analytical skills. “At the entry level, we are looking for people with analytical skills who can process large amounts of data to derive insights related to demand planning and production efficiency,” he said.
Mid-level professionals are expected to bridge the gap between creative and operational understanding while becoming familiar with workflow tools and data systems. At the senior level, companies are looking for leaders who can drive AI adoption, grow service catalogs, and design global operating structures that can support customer needs 24/7.
As a result, traditional agency pay increases have been modest but differentiated by skill.
According to industry estimates, salaries for entry-level employees will increase by about 4% from 2024 to 2025, while salaries for mid-career professionals (3-8 years of experience) will increase by about 9%, and salaries for senior positions will increase by about 12%. However, AI and digital specialists recorded a premium of around 21% compared to traditional roles.
In contrast, India’s Global Capability Center for Media and Communications (GCC) reports that wage growth is particularly strong in AI, analytics and digital transformation roles.
According to data from Foundit, mid-level positions in the GCC countries saw salaries increase by around 12%, while senior positions saw a 17% year-on-year increase. Over the past year, AI and machine learning specialists have commanded a whopping 32% premium over traditional agency roles.
“Mid-level professionals are at the heart of growth as they operate AI within campaign execution and analytics environments,” the recruitment platform notes.
Neha Chopra, lead brand strategist at advertising agency Enormous, said India’s Gulf Coast Coalition (GCC) is evolving beyond a back-end execution role. “They’re becoming capability factories. They’ve built data spines, martech plumbing, measurement muscles, and now they’re building the AI operating system that global marketing runs on,” Chopra said, adding that this change is driving new roles, organizational redesigns, and reshaping pay structures.
Mr Trehan said agencies are increasingly losing talent to the GCC, which is benefiting from stronger and more efficient key organizations.
“GCC has qualitative solutions that enable better margin structures and efficiencies, allowing us to produce more at less cost. This fundamentally impacts our ability to pay higher than traditional agencies,” he said.
Executives said the divergence underpins a broader reorganization of India’s marketing and communications workforce, as companies prioritize automation, data capabilities and scalable AI-driven operations over traditional creative hierarchies.
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